Our popular Intro to Paper Repair course of October filled quickly, so we have added a 2nd session of Intro to Paper Repair in November. Paper repair is an excellent place to begin your bookbinding studies because a book's pages are the foundation of any binding. Make Intro to Paper Repair the cornerstone of your bookbinding studies.
Introduction to Paper Repair November 2 – 3 $285
To Register for Classes:
- Call or email to confirm availability.
- Class tuitions can be paid for with a credit (VISA, MC, Discover, AmEx) or bank card (over the phone). Class tuitions can also be paid for by filling out a registration form for the class (available by clicking on the class name anywhere in this website) and sending the registration form with a check made out to Cat Tail Run. We provide receipts as proof of registration. If a course has a materials fee, please hold the money for that fee until the day of the class. Materials fees are only payable to the instructor of a course.
- Your payment confirms your registration.
- Please scroll down to "Policies" to see the policy statement pertaining to workshops.
Core Classes
Advanced Leather Binding Restoration‡
April 6 - 7 $285
•
New Cloth Binding Construction Workshop
May 18 – 19 $285
•
Introduction to Book Restoration
June 15 – 16 $245
July 20 – 21 $245
August 17 – 18 $245
•
Book Sewing Intensive‡
August 3 - 4 $295
•
Advanced Cloth Binding Restoration‡
September 21 - 22 $285
•
Hand Papermaking
October 5 - 6 $285
•
Introduction to Paper Repair
October 12 – 13 $285
Marbling Week ~ September 13 - 19
Pigment Grinding &
Marbling Ink Preparation
September 13 (Wed) $185 + $30 materials
Historical Marbled Paper Patterns
September 14 - 15 $285 + $50 materials
Beginning Paper Marbling
September 18 - 19 (Mon - Tue) $285 + $45 materials
Boxing Fortnight ~ October 18 - 27
Victorian-Era Box Structures
October 18 (Wed) $185
Clamshell Box Making
October 19 - 20 $285
Advanced Clamshell Box Making‡
October 26 - 27 $285
Preservation Enclosures for Rare Materials
October 25 (Wed) $225
To Our Students Past, Present, and Future
It seems I'm always pondering about bookbinding in one aspect or another. Over the years it has pleased me enormously to discover how many other people think about bookbinding--perhaps not as obsessively as I do--but at least some of the time. It would be lonely without kindred spirits.
When I started Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding in 1991, I little imagined that a life-long journey had begun. Starting first as only a bookbindery, Cat Tail Run quickly became a place where interested folk would come seeking instruction in the craft. Over time, what began as simple one-on-one instruction has grown into the entity we call The School for Bookbinding Arts, offering well over a dozen workshops each year with the bulk of those courses being held in our on-site instructional facility, "Studio 2."
The philosophy behind our workshops is one that I developed as a result of my own experiences during my bookbinding apprenticeship and internships. I came to believe that bookbinding could be effectively taught through short, focused courses within a carefully designed curriculum. In this way, people who were interested in the craft but who were unable to apprentice full-time could still gain competence and satisfaction in bookbinding by taking classes and then devoting regular periods of time to practicing what they learned. I have been gratified over the years to see my instincts in this were on target as I have watched our students learn and enjoy bookbinding, with quite a few working in the field of book repair and some going on to institutional conservation training.
The School for Bookbinding Arts is a place where those of us with a love of the book can continue the traditions of a craft that has been practiced continuously for hundreds of years and shows no sign of becoming obsolete. If you've never studied with us, please consider taking some of our workshops. I know your hands will enjoy the feel of the craft and your brain will be challenged as you come to understand something as commonplace as a book is at the same time one of mankind's most elegant, delightfully complex, and versatile inventions. Most of all, we will enjoy having you on our journey--we still don't know where it's going, but we can absolutely say there appears to be no end in sight.
Jill Deiss, Bookbinder
