Instructors: Jill Deiss & Alexis Candelaria

April 2 – 4 (Wed – Fri) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.   
$445 + $65 materials [materials fee due with tuition]

This course includes both loose hollow/tubed structures and tight-back volumes with raised bands. Students will go through the stages of preparing their texts and original covers to undergo restoration, leather paring, and rebacking. Leather paring techniques will be taught on both the Sharffix parer and with skiving knives.

*Prerequisite: SBBA’s Introduction to Book Restoration OR New Cloth Binding Construction

Instructors: Jill Deiss & Susan McCabe

April 10 – 11 (Thurs – Fri) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.   
$295 + $45 materials [materials fee due with tuition]

This course teaches the professional technique for restoring cloth-bound volumes when the boards have detached from the text. In a cloth reback, new matching material is taken under the original for a functional repair that also improves its presentation. Being able to reback cloth-bound books smoothly and with confidence is one of the most important skills needed by a bookbinder.

*Prerequisite: SBBA’s Introduction to Book Restoration OR New Cloth Binding Construction

Instructors: Jill Deiss, Susan McCabe & Rowland Kirks

May 15 – 16 (Thurs – Fri) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

$295 + $50 materials [materials fee due with tuition]

Historically, the making of new covers constituted the primary endeavor of a bookbinder and is no less important today. Each student will create a new, hard cover for a book of their own, plus receive instruction on two additional cover styles.

Students will learn to set type and gold-stamp their own titling layout. If you are interested in book restoration, this is an essential course for understanding book structure, allowing you better to assess damaged books you want to restore. No prerequisite.

Instructor: Jill Deiss  

June 9 (Mon) 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.     $225 no materials fee

Librarians take pride in the care they have traditionally offered the books within their libraries. This workshop is intended for librarians and library staff, although it is open to all interested students. Expand your expertise in the area of library book repair by learning to mend damaged joints and spines and to re-adhere texts that have become loose or detached at their inner hinges. Repairs for damaged pages will also be included. We emphasize the structural aspect of these repairs so that the books can hold their own while receiving heavy use. Even so, these practical and economical repairs are designed to deliver a neat, professional result. No prerequisite.

Instructor: Brittani Locke
Two Sessions: June 20 – 21 or June 27 – 28
Both sessions (Fri – Sat) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $80 materials [hold materials fee until class]

This workshop will allow you to create exquisite patterns in the marbling tank that then come to life on fabric. This class utilizes the timeless marbled designs seen for centuries in book and paper arts. The materials fee includes the necessary supplies including ample unhemmed cotton for producing marbled fabric. As you gain proficiency with the techniques, you may wish to move on to the more challenging work of marbling hemmed cotton pocket squares and long silk scarves which will be available for purchase and ready to marble at the workshop. Under the experienced guidance of instructor Brittani Locke, you will see your skill set expand and your stack of marbled fabric grow. No prerequisite.

Instructor: Karen Hanmer

July 14 (Mon) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.   

$240 + $75 materials [hold materials fee until class]

In this one-day workshop, students will gain competency and confidence using tools and techniques required for fine leather binding. Tools: English/Swiss/French paring knives, Scharffix paring machine, and the spokeshave. Techniques include: paring for spines, corners, headcaps, and all-over thinning of the leather; paring and edge paring for onlays; covering of a plaquette (practice board); forming corners; lining boards to accept and manage the pull from leather; and adhesives and drying procedures for leather binding work. Demos will be included on sharpening using micro finishing films and honing with a strop.  You must register by June 27 as the instructor has much preparation to do ahead for each student. Questions? Email workshops@cattailrun.com.

Instructor: Karen Hanmer

July 15 – 16 (Tue – Wed) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

$295 + $150 materials [hold materials fee until class]

*NOTE: This is a fast-paced, advanced-level workshop for students who have experience with traditional binding structures and are making bindings independent of the classroom setting. ALSO: You must register by June 27 as the instructor has much preparation to do ahead for each student. Questions? Email workshops@cattailrun.com.

The German three-piece Bradel structure is elegant and streamlined.  Different from most other binding structures, its spine leather attaches to the inside faces of the boards. The origins aren’t well known but is believed to hail from the 18th century and to be named after a French binder working in Germany (who perhaps didn’t invent the style). 

Students will sew and round & back their texts then affix to them rolled-leather endbands. The cover features a spine of leather, thinned by the students, worked over a stiffened paper “bonnet.” Boards will be attached to the text block after being covered with decorative paper. Emphasis will be placed on expanding students’ forwarding skills including endsheet construction, rounding, backing, lining the spine for support vs. aesthetics, paring leather, and how to minimize the transitions between different materials and layers so as to render them invisible. We won’t have time for titling, but the above example by Karen Hanmer shows one of the many possible methods of doing so.

Instructor: Karen Hanmer  July 17 – 18 (Thurs – Fri) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.   

$295 + $150 materials [hold materials fee until class]

*NOTE: This is a fast-paced, advanced-level workshop for students who have experience with traditional binding structures and are making bindings independent of the classroom setting. ALSO: You must register by June 27 as the instructor  has much preparation to do ahead for each student. Questions? Email workshops@cattailrun.com.

This workshop teaches the important Split-Board structure where hinging and other reinforcing elements are sandwiched between two layers of board creating a remarkably robust binding. Bookbinders need to know this structure as it is essential for work that involves heavy or extensively-used tomes. Its many components and steps are best learned on an in-person basis.         

This course will help students become more comfortable working with leather. Further, students will solidify forwarding skills including sewing, constructing reinforced endsheets, rounding and backing, preparing boards, paring leather. Focus will be placed on examining which features of a binding are necessary for function and protection of the text and when to consider additional refinements for aesthetic purposes.

Instructor: Robin Ashby
July 25 – 26 (Fri – Sat) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $70 materials [hold materials fee until class]

Without decorative papers our world would be all the poorer. Marbled papers grace the covers of books and are used in many other crafts including box making, matting & framing, and greeting cards. You will learn many traditional patterns with their origins in early Turkey. These patterns later spread throughout Europe starting in the 1500s. 

Instructor: Robin Ashby
July 28 – 29 (Mon – Tue) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $70 materials [hold materials fee until class]

Marblers, do not miss this workshop where you will be studying directly with the originator of the acrylic-pigment shell pattern. Prior to Robin Ashby’s development, the stone pattern could be made with acrylics, but not so the shell pattern (which required water-based pigments to form). By studying the historical formulas for the shell pattern committed to print in Fichtenberg’s 1852 book on marbling recipes, Mr. Ashby began his experiments (or spells, as some might say): Gall and oil, potash of chloride and metal salts, give up your secrets! The results are indeed nothing short of magical! For further excitement, students will learn the combed shell pattern which became prevalent starting in the late 19th century. No prerequisite.

Instructor: Brittani Locke
August 8 – 9 (Fri – Sat) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $75 materials [hold materials fee until class]

This workshop moves students through the marbling baths for day one and then on to creating a finished, useful product with their marbling: The Perfect Pouch. Brittani has several adhesive methods for securing seams. Only a minimal amount of hand-stitching is needed to make this most perfect of pouches. No prerequisite.

Instructor: Mary Sullivan
August 11 – 13 (Mon – Wed) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$445 + $90 materials [hold materials fee until class]

You must register by July 28.

This pair of classes is dedicated to that venerable, 19th-century record book into which information of all kinds was entered. Businesses, governments, and households relied on this workhorse of a binding from its development in the early 1800s. Even today the US Government Publishing Office (originally the Government Printing Office) makes these same solid, reliable registers for those agencies that still keep their records in print form. No prerequisite.

IMPORTANT

In Part I, you make the curved spine (which puts the “spring” into the springback structure), sew the text, and fashion the particular kind of endsheeting and linings that are critical to the springback’s function.
Part II is devoted to combining the components made in Part I and covering the text with a leather-spined binding plus decoration.

It is truly best if you can take both Parts I and II, but we have divided the subject to allow you to take either part. If you take Part I only, with that part comes Mary’s treatise of variations for using your text in a future project. If you only take Part II, you need to pay a higher materials fee that provides a text to be prepared for you.

Instructor: Mary Sullivan              
August 14 – 15 (Thurs – Fri) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$295 + $85 materials [hold materials fee until class]
NOTE: If you did not take Part I, the materials fee for Part II is $125 due at registration and includes a $40 nonrefundable prep fee.

You must register by July 28.

The name “springback” comes from the functionality built into the structure so that when opened fully, the text “pops” up through the space between the cover boards and is forced into a flat profile (see photo on page 14). This feature was invaluable for clerks who needed a suitable writing surface. Thus, thousands of springback bindings were produced and are found in courthouses, offices, and archives across the country.

This is a structure that is nigh impossible to learn other than with in-person study. There is very little written about making springbacks, and it represents yet one more binding technique that is kept alive only by the techniques being passed bookbinder to bookbinder. No prerequisite.

IMPORTANT

In Part I, you make the curved spine (which puts the “spring” into the springback structure), sew the text, and fashion the particular kind of endsheeting and linings that are critical to the springback’s function.
Part II is devoted to combining the components made in Part I and covering the text with a leather-spined binding plus decoration.

It is truly best if you can take both Parts I and II, but we have divided the subject to allow you to take either part. If you take Part I only, with that part comes Mary’s treatise of variations for using your text in a future project. If you only take Part II, you need to pay a higher materials fee that provides a text to be prepared for you.

Instructors: Jill Deiss & Alexis Candelaria

August 18 – 19 (Mon – Tue) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.    

$295 + $55 materials [materials fee due with tuition]

Clamshell boxes are ideal for storing books as well as various kinds of loose materials. The proper construction of these book enclosures is an essential element of any bookbinder’s practice. We place emphasis on the use of acid-free/pH-neutral materials and on the selection of box-making tools for the home-based studio. Anyone serious about bookbinding needs to be able to craft a solid clamshell box. No prerequisite.

Instructors: Jill Deiss & Mona Hayford

August 20  (Wed) 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.    

$240 + $45 materials [materials fee due with tuition]

This may not be the world’s most exciting class (although we think it is!), but it is a necessary class. If you want your clamshell work to have muscle, then you need to know these two tray structures that let you house heavy or loose materials with confidence.

Join us to learn the double-wall and the fourth-partial side. The double-wall has two layers of interlocking book board on its rails making it sturdy enough to house something massive. The fourth-partial side tray, as its name suggests, encloses a portion of the spine edge of the lower tray (an area in most clamshell boxes that is left open). The partial side allows loose materials (for example: photographs, ephemera, or a two-volume set of books) to be held in the lower tray as the clamshell opens thus preventing them from spilling out. The gap in the partial-wall side is meant to give good access for the hand in retrieving the materials. *Prerequisite: SBBA Cloth-Covered Clamshell Box Making or SBBA Leather, Rounded-Spine Clamshell Workshop.

Instructor: Susan McCabe

August 25 – 26 (Mon – Tue) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.   

$295 + $55 materials [materials fee due with tuition]

In this course, you will learn how to sew on tapes, sunken cords, raised bands, and split thongs all while using a traditional sewing frame (your own or one of ours). Students will also learn to determine when damaged sewing can be repaired and how to make those repairs.

*Prerequisite: SBBA’s Introduction to Book Restoration OR New Cloth Binding Construction

Instructors: Brittani Locke & Jill Deiss
August 30 (Sat) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$240 + $50 materials [materials fee due with tuition]

Customize the cover of a blank notebook, creating a masterpiece for yourself or to give as a gift. In edge marbling, dipping the edge of the book into a watery marbling tank seems like a recipe for disaster—but in fact it’s an artistic touch that takes a book from blah to breathtaking!

Under the expert guidance of marbler Brittani Locke, you will create a number of marbled sheets and then deftly marble the edges of a well-made blank notebook [proudly produced in the US by NewLeafPaper.com using 100% post-consumer recycled material]. The fruits of your labors will be used to create the glorious, marbled-covered notebooks you see pictured here—finished off with an elegant gold-tooled line. No prerequisite.

Instructors: Regina & Dan St. John

September 3 – 5 (Wed– Fri) 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.   

$445 + $95 materials [hold materials fee until class]

Prior to the introduction of plastics in the mid-20th century, marbling paints were either oil- or water-based. With the advent of plastic-based acrylic pigments to the world of marbling, some aspects of the craft became technically easier but at the cost of simplifying or even losing some of the refined patterns for which marbling had become so well known.

This workshop is both challenging and rewarding beyond any marbling experience you can imagine. You will learn firsthand the paint-making process which involves the preparation of paints by mulling together prepared natural pigments, a binder and a beeswax fixative. Although a labor-intensive process, learning how these pigments are made is crucial to understanding how they work in the marbling tank and on the resulting papers.

Once the pigments have been prepared, you will go on to marble classical patterns nearly lost to time when plastic-based paints were developed. You will learn the alchemy involved with the various additives that control or enhance the spreading of the paint so as to achieve the distinctive classical patterns of Shell, Stormont, Glouster, Italian Vein, and Tiger Eye. Because the beeswax is embedded in the paint, completed papers can be polished with an agate burnisher to bring them to a smooth, lustrous finish not possible with any other kind of marbling pigment. No prerequisite.

Instructors: Regina & Dan St. John

September 8 – 9 (Mon– Tue) 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.   

$295 + $70 materials [hold materials fee until class]

Half of the success with over-marbling comes from good planning while the other half is a combination of sound technique, happy accidents, and a sprinkling of magic. This class will take you through the concept and practice of laying multiple layers of design onto one decorative paper. Layer upon layer of color can easily become a muddy mess, but with the guidance of the St. Johns, you will learn to produce nuanced masterpieces of unparalleled depth and distinction. *Prerequisite: Past SBBA marbling courses or instructor approval.

Instructors: Regina & Dan St. John

September 11 – 13  (Thurs – Sat), 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

$445 + $95 materials [hold materials fee until class]

On our journey to marbled greatness, we all encounter some rough spots. This class is designed to smooth our rough patches in order to turn weaknesses into strengths. Also in this class, students will be encouraged to solidify their skill sets with patterns they have not yet mastered. Further, students will be encouraged to meet the challenge of replicating a pattern multiple times, with as little variation as possible among the pulled sheets. This ability to produce a production run that is consistent in pattern and color is a difficult yet important skill for all marblers. *Prerequisite: Past SBBA marbling courses or instructor approval.

Instructors: Regina & Dan St. John
September 15 – 16  (Mon – Tue) 9:30 – 4:00
$295 + $70 materials [hold materials fee until class]

*In this ground-breaking workshop, you will learn to take the simple marbled stone pattern and extend it into the shell pattern, distinguished by the ethereal halos that form around each stone. Until very recent times, it was possible to create the stone pattern using acrylic pigments but not possible to form the shells with acrylics. U.S.-based marbler Robin Ashby has developed methods that have pushed the boundaries of what is possible with acrylic paints: the acrylic shell pattern is here! Come to perfect and extend your stone work and get into the shell game! And raise a glass to Robin Ashby! *Prerequisite: Past SBBA marbling courses or instructor approval.

Instructor:  Lana Lambert
September 18 – 19 (Thurs – Fri)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $60 materials fee
[hold materials fee until class]

Instructors: Jill Deiss & Susan McCabe

October 2 – 3 (Thurs – Fri) 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.    

$295 + $55 materials [materials fee due with tuition]

This course teaches methods for repairing damage to paper plus the necessary preparatory steps of non-invasive surface cleaning, options for stabilizing pressure-sensitive tape, and humidifying and flattening rolled or crumpled pages. No prerequisite..

Instructors: Alexis Candelaria & Jill Deiss

October 9 – 11 (Thurs – Sat) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.    

$445 + $85 materials [materials fee due with tuition]

In this course, students will work with leather to fashion the ultimate classic book box: the rounded, leather-spined clamshell. Leather will also go on the corners of the clamshell’s case to give a satisfying 19th-century feel to the finished product. Also included will be instruction for flat-spine structures and raised bands. We will title the spines if time permits. No prerequisite. Box making experience helpful.

Instructor: Lana Lambert
October 17 – 18 (Fri – Sat) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.    
$295 + $70 materials [hold materials fee until class]

Developed during the Heian period (794 – 1185 CE), the retchōsō was used to record literature, poetry, and traditional Noh dramatic chants. This style is useful today as a sketch book, field journal, or chapbook.

This workshop begins with students printing from pre-carved wooden blocks to create the traditional Chiyogami decorative papers used on the covers of the softbound retchōsō. Students next fold their text pages to prepare them for sewing. The multi-section retchōsō features a charming and distinctive stitching pattern where the sewing threads within the book’s center finish as fetching tassels—just as are found in the historical examples from the Heian period.

Lana will demonstrate the beauty of raw pigments as she turns them into specially-formulated inks for woodblock printing. Please join us for this workshop that follows the bookbinding process through many stages of artistry. No prerequisite.

Instructors: Melody Krafft & Cate Whitehorne
October 20 – 21  (Mon – Tue) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. 
$295 + $40 materials* [materials fee due with tuition]

There are a few supplies students will be asked to bring to the workshop.

The edges of books have historically been showcases for specialized arts. This workshop focuses on two such art forms: the Vanishing Painting and the Gilt Edge. Melody Krafft is adamant that you need not be artistic at all and still will do a lovely vanishing painting using her failproof system of templates and tracings. Cate Whitehorne’s edge gilding session is perfect for anyone who wants to embark on the art of gilding book edges. No prerequisite.

Instructors: Jill Deiss & Susan McCabe
October 23 – 24 (Thurs – Fri) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.    
$295 + $65 materials [materials fee due with tuition]

Long before Playtex sold our grandmothers on the necessity of a “foundation garment” called a girdle, medieval monks and the well-to-do of Europe were sporting the latest fashion in books: The Girdle Book. These books had naught to do with undergarments but instead were worn on the outside at the waist where they attached to the “girdle” which we would call a belt. This way, a monk or other devout had no excuse for skipping a prayer time when the book was attached right to them—and in the handiest way possible! This design is a book lover’s dream! Who needs Kindle when there is a battery-less girdle book?

Come join us for this enchanting class where you’ll sew your pages together and then leather bind them into a girdle book—complete with a colored turban knot (also called a “woggle”) at the top.

No prerequisite.

Instructor: Lana Lambert

November 6 – 7 (Thurs – Fri ) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.    

$295 + $60 materials [hold materials fee until class]

From making paste to cutting paper, everything has a way and a purpose in the world of Japanese bookbinding. In this course, students will create a series of Japanese-style bound books based on historical models using authentic materials and processes. Featured styles include the elegant kochōsō (butterfly style), the hantori-chō (receipt book), the daifuku-chō (historically a merchant account book), the yamoto-toji (for binding manuscripts), the Nippon pamphlet stitch, and the yotsumi-toji (four-hole stab binding).

As part of the class, the instructor will make available her collection of antique Japanese books to aid in the understanding of these structures. Students will learn about the iconic Japanese paper called washi—how to use it and how it differs from western papers. The course will include a demonstration on properly cooking the all-essential paste adhesive. No prerequisite.    

Instructor: Samuel Feinstein

November 10 – 11 (Mon – Tue) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.    

$295 + $150 materials [hold materials fee until class]

This course will serve as an introduction to working with gold leaf and applying or “tooling” it onto leather using heated line pallets or decorative handle tools. The course includes instruction in all the basics to get you going: adhesive sizings to attach the gold to the leather, how to use the tools, where tools can be acquired, and the different types of gold. Most importantly, students will be doing their practice under the watchful eye of master gilder Sam Feinstein. No prerequisite.

Instructor: Samuel Feinstein
November 13 – 14 (Thurs – Fri) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.  
$295 + $125 materials [hold materials fee until class]

Fine bindings almost always include one or more gilt edges in their design. Learning to handle the leaf and apply it to a book’s edge is a touch of elegance and a wonderful skill for a binder to have. By knowing how to gild edges, a binder can use this skill to give any book the “Midas Touch.” No prerequisite.