The School for Bookbinding Arts
2023 Course Listings
To Register
- Registration is on a first-come/first-serve basis. You must pay the tuition for a class in order to guarantee your spot in it.
- A number of courses have materials' fees in addition to the tuition. The amount of such fees are noted in the course listings below. Some of our classes require that the materials' fees be held until class time, while other materials' fees are due at the time of registration. With each class listing is a notation describing when the materials' fee is due.
- Email us at workshops@cattailrun.com or call (540) 662-2683 to confirm availability and/or receive advice about which course to enroll in.
- Upon payment for a class, we provide receipts as proof of registration.
- Note that some materials' fees are due at registration while other materials' fees are not to be paid until class time directly to the instructor. The class letter that goes out several weeks prior to the class will tell you the methods in which the instructor can take payment for the materials' fee.
- We accept credit card payments over the telephone for tuition and (where applicable) materials' fees. You can also pay with a check or credit card by printing, completing, and mailing the Workshop Registration Form. We cannot at this time process debit cards.
List of Workshops
(Scroll on down for Course Descriptions)
Asterisk * means prerequisite or experience required
Series: Bookbinding Courses
Scroll down for course descriptions & instructor bios
*Advanced Cloth Binding Restoration: The Cloth Reback
April 13 – 14 (Thurs – Fri) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$295 + $35 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
*Advanced Leather Binding Restoration: The Leather Reback
April 26 – 28 (Wed – Fri) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$445 + $60 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
New Cloth Binding Construction
May 15 – 16 (Mon – Tue) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$295 + $45 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Book Repairs for General Library Collections
June 5 (Mon) OR July 10 (Mon) OR October 27 (Fri) 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. $225
There is no material fee for this class.
Introduction to Book Restoration
June 8 – 9 (Thurs – Fri) 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. $295
OR
July 13 – 14 (Thurs – Fri) 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. $295
There is no material fee for this class.
Medieval-Style Binding
June 22 – 23 (Thurs – Fri) 9 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
$295 + $55 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
The Art of Miniature Bookbinding
September 21 – 22 (Thurs – Fri) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $65 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Introduction to Paper Repair
October 5 – 6 (Thurs – Fri) 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $35 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
*Book Sewing Intensive
October 11 – 12 (Wed – Thurs) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$295 + $45 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
*Endbanding Intensive
October 13 (Fri) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. $225 + $25 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
The Art of Japanese Bookbinding
November 2 – 3 (Thurs – Fri) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $50 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Series: Boxing Fortnight
Scroll down for course descriptions & instructor bios
Slipcase Construction
August 2 (Wed) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. $225 + $45 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Rounded-Spine Clamshell Box Making
August 3 – 4 (Thurs – Fri) 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. $295 + $55 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Clamshell Box Making
August 9 – 10 (Wed – Thurs) 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. $295 + $55 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
*Advanced Clamshell Tray Structures
August 11 (Fri) 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. $225 + $45 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Series: Marbling & Paper Craft
Scroll down for course descriptions & instructor bios
Marble! Sew! Bind!
July 17 – 18 (Mon – Tue) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $45 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Pop-Up Structures: The Essential Techniques
July 20 – 21 (Thurs – Fri) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $30 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Fore Edge Painting: The Elegant Edge
July 24 – 25 (Mon – Tue) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $40 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Quilling: It’s How We Roll!
July 27 – 28 (Thurs – Fri) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $40 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Making Custom Book Cloth
August 12 (Sat) 9 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
$225 + $35 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Fore-Edge Painting: The Split Double
August 14 – 15 (Mon – Tue) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $40 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Japanese Tea Box
August 17 – 18 (Thurs – Fri) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $60 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Beginning Paper Marbling
September 7 – 8 (Thurs – Fri) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $65 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
*Acrylic Marbling: The Next Step
September 11 – 13 (Mon – Wed) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$445 + $75 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Get Stoned! The Stone Marbled Pattern Intensive
September 15 – 16 (Fri – Sat) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $65 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
*Miniature Marbling
September 18 – 19 (Mon – Tue) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $65 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Handset Type and Flutter Books:
Give Wings to Your Words in a Flutter Book
September 25 – 26 (Mon – Tue) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $55 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Lasting Impressions: Block Printing Your Own Decorative Papers
September 28 – 29 (Thurs – Fri) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $65 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
*Pop-Up Book Making
October 2 – 3 (Mon – Tue) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $55 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Hand Paper Making
October 16 – 17 (Mon – Tue) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $50 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Ex Libris by Hand: Carve and Print Your Own Bookplates
October 19 – 20 (Thurs – Fri) 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $50 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Descriptions:
Bookbinding Series Workshops
This is the professional’s technique for restoring clothing bindings that are broken at their joints.
Bookbinding Series:
*Advanced Cloth Binding Restoration:
The Cloth Reback
April 13 – 14 (Thurs – Fri)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$295 + $35 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
This course teaches The Cloth Reback—the technique most often used in our bindery to restore cloth-bound volumes when the boards are detaching or have completely detached from the text. In a cloth reback, new matching material is taken under the original materials in order to make the binding usable again and to improve 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 and Alexis Candelaria
Jill Deiss established Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, host of the School for Bookbinding Arts, in 1991. She studied bookbinding and restoration first in Northampton, Massachusetts, then at Cornell University’s Department of Library Conservation and in the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Laboratories. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and received a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University, where she specialized in the study of archives and rare book collections.
Alexis Candelaria is a bookbinder at Cat Tail Run where she specializes in clamshell box making and book restoration. Alexis has a dual degree in Japanese Language and Japanese Culture which culminated in a two-year residency in Japan. Her love of antiquarian books is in her family’s DNA, and her literary interests are seemingly limitless. Alexis’ passion for music, ethnic foods, fantasy role-playing games, and etymology make her the perfect fit for the quirky world of bookbinding.
This is a hard-core restoration class and is the class after which you will come out feeling like a bookbinder.
Bookbinding Series:
*Advanced Leather Binding Restoration:
The Leather Reback
April 26 – 28 (Wed – Fri)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$445 + $60 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
This course teaches The Leather Reback for both loose hollow/tubed structures and for tight-back volumes with raised bands. Students will go through the stages of preparing their texts and original covers to undergo restoration, paring the leather, and accomplishing the reback. Leather paring techniques will be taught on both the Sharf-fix parer and with skiving knives. Prerequisite: SBBA’s Introduction to Book Restoration OR New Cloth Binding Construction.
Instructors: Jill Deiss and Alexis Candelaria
Jill Deiss established Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, host of the School for Bookbinding Arts, in 1991. She studied bookbinding and restoration first in Northampton, Massachusetts, then at Cornell University’s Department of Library Conservation and in the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Laboratories. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and received a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University, where she specialized in the study of archives and rare book collections. Alexis Candelaria is a bookbinder at Cat Tail Run where she specializes in clamshell box making and book restoration. Alexis has a dual degree in Japanese Language and Japanese Culture which culminated in a two-year residency in Japan. Her love of antiquarian books is in her family’s DNA, and her literary interests are seemingly limitless. Alexis’ passion for music, ethnic foods, fantasy role-playing games, and etymology make her the perfect fit for the quirky world of bookbinding.
Why this course? Japanese master Nobuo Okano says it best: “There’s no way to fix a book unless you know how to make one.” And in this class, you will learn to make a
variety of new covers.
Bookbinding Series:
New Cloth Binding Construction
May 15 – 16 (Mon – Tue)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$295 + $45 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Crafting new covers is an essential component of hand bookbinding. Historically, the making of new covers constituted the primary endeavor of a bookbinder and is no less important today. In this class, you will make a rounded-spine cloth, hardcover binding on a book of your own. Additionally you will learn to set type and gold-stamp your own titling layout for the spine of your book. Students will be taught two additional book structures: the flat-spine hardcover and the flexible cover.Emphasis will be placed on introducing the necessary bookbinding tools and their appropriate use. No prerequisite.
Instructors: Jill Deiss, Alexis Candelaria, and Rowland Kirks
Jill Deiss established Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, host of the School for Bookbinding Arts, in 1991. She studied bookbinding and restoration first in Northampton, Massachusetts, then at Cornell University’s Department of Library Conservation and in the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Laboratories. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and received a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University, where she specialized in the study of archives and rare book collections.
Alexis Candelaria is a bookbinder at Cat Tail Run where she specializes in clamshell box making and book restoration. Alexis has a dual degree in Japanese Language and Japanese Culture which culminated in a two-year residency in Japan. Her love of antiquarian books is in her family’s DNA, and her literary interests are seemingly limitless. Alexis’ passion for music, ethnic foods, fantasy role-playing games, and etymology make her the perfect fit for the quirky world of bookbinding.
Rowland Kirks studied studio art as an undergraduate and serves at Cat Tail Run as a papermaker, inventor, and bouncer. He studied papermaking with Jacques Brejoux of Moulin du Verger in Puymoyen, France.
This useful course is designed for librarians & library staff but is open to all.
Bookbinding Series:
Book Repairs for General
Library Collections
June 5 (Mon) OR July 10 (Mon) OR October 27 (Fri)
9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. $225
There is no material fee for this class.
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. The course will allow you to expand your expertise in the area of library book repair, teaching you to mend damaged joints and spines and to repair texts that have become loose or detached at the inner hinges. Tips for repairing damaged pages will also be included. The emphasis on these refurbishing techniques is structural so that the repaired 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.
Instructors: Jill Deiss, Alexis Candelaria, and Rowland Kirks
About the Instructors Jill Deiss established Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, host of the School for Bookbinding Arts, in 1991. She studied bookbinding and restoration first in Northampton, Massachusetts, then at Cornell University’s Department of Library Conservation and in the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Laboratories. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and received a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University, where she specialized in the study of archives and rare book collections.
This is a good first class to take if you are interested in learning how to restore books.
Bookbinding Series:
Introduction to Book Restoration
June 8 – 9 (Thurs – Fri)
9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. $295
OR
July 13 – 14 (Thurs – Fri)
9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. $295
There is no material fee for this class.
Shabby books need not be relegated to the dustbin! In this class, learn to repair damaged corners and tattered endcaps and to stabilize splitting joints on both cloth and leather books. Dyeing and toning-in of your repair work, reducing the effect of stains and discoloration on a book’s cover, and the polishing of leather bindings is included. The class also includes tutorials on how to reattach texts that have come loose from otherwise sound covers. This course is designed for those who are interested in learning how to refurbish antiquarian books and for anyone who wants to move on to our more challenging Advanced Restoration courses. For book dealers in particular, this class introduces many simple techniques that they or their staff can easily perform on ailing books, greatly increasing the shelf presence of treated volumes. No prerequisite.
Instructors: Jill Deiss and Susan McCabe
Jill Deiss established Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, host of the School for Bookbinding Arts, in 1991. She studied bookbinding and restoration first in Northampton, Massachusetts, then at Cornell University’s Department of Library Conservation and in the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Laboratories. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and received a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University, where she specialized in the study of archives and rare book collections. Susan McCabe Susan McCabe is a bookbinder at Cat Tail Run where she prepares texts for rebinding or restoration. Traditionally this position is called a “Forwarder” because the processes leading up to the point that a book receives its cover are known as “forwarding.” In addition to text sewing, the working of endbanding, paper repair, and the application of various linings and hingings that books require. Susan also marbles some of the decorative papers that are used in our bookbindery.
This is a fun workshop where you make a wooden-board book that you could image in a monastery library.
Bookbinding Series:
Medieval-Style Binding
June 22 – 23 (Thurs – Fri)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m. $295 + $55 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Many people are surprised to learn just how long ago it was that books were first made. The earliest structures date from the second century AD. It is the inventive method of page construction—called the “codex” style—seen in these second-century pieces that is a direct ancestor of book forms that followed. Only a few centuries later is St. Cuthbert’s Gospel (MS89000 in the British Library Collection) which dates from the early eighth century AD and is instantly familiar to us as a bound book. It is so fully crafted as a complete book, it is not hard to imagine that St. Cuthbert’s Gospel was far from the first book bound by the monk-bookbinder who must have undertaken its construction—meaning that bookbinding is a very ancient craft indeed.
In our workshop we will honor and investigate our book heritage by sewing pages in the signature-style codex form and follow with making a laced-in, wooden-board, leather-covered, raised-band binding. A number of our techniques will be fully anchored in medieval methods, but at the end of class we will allow ourselves to make use of the more modern application (mid-fifteenth century) of some gold tooling. No prerequisite.
Instructors: Jill Deiss, Susan McCabe, and Lana Lambert
Jill Deiss established Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, host of the School for Bookbinding Arts, in 1991. She studied bookbinding and restoration first in Northampton, Massachusetts, then at Cornell University’s Department of Library Conservation and in the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Laboratories. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and received a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University, where she specialized in the study of archives and rare book collections. Susan McCabe Susan McCabe is a bookbinder at Cat Tail Run where she prepares texts for rebinding or restoration. Traditionally this position is called a “Forwarder” because the processes leading up to the point that a book receives its cover are known as “forwarding.” In addition to text sewing, the working of endbanding, paper repair, and the application of various linings and hingings that books require. Susan also marbles some of the decorative papers that are used in our bookbindery. Lana Lambert is a resident book artist and printmaker at the Virginia Center for the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia. She graduated from the Corcoran College of Fine Art in Washington, D.C., where she received a B.A. in Art with a concentration in printmaking. Her studies also included bookbinding, letterpress, stone lithography, and Japanese woodblock printing. Her love of the Japanese arts stems from her feeling of kinship with the respect for tradition found within Japanese techniques and practices. Additionally, the emphasis on the use of organic and sustainable materials by many Japanese artists aligns with Lana’s own interests in art and sustainable living. For Lana, the compatibility of Japanese ways with her own beliefs inspires her to seek new ways to blend traditional Japanese arts with western techniques and to employ Japanese techniques to interpret American themes.
Bookbinding Series:
The Art of Miniature Bookbinding
September 21 – 22 (Thurs – Fri)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. $295 + $65 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Miniature books may be small in stature, but they are large in significance! Learn to craft a very small portable notebook along with a variety of ever smaller teeny tomes leading to the littlest of books that can be made into a pin or earrings. Join us to learn a variety of small book styles where you will use a variety of hand tools…some designed just for use with miniature bookbinding! If you have taken the Miniature Marbling course of immediately prior, you are welcome to use your marbled creations on your own miniature books, but know there will be plenty of miniature marbled papers available to incorporate into your work. This course teaches techniques and concepts for planning and crafting miniature bindings that students will find useful for working with books of all sizes.
No prerequisite.
Instructors: Regina and Dan St. John
Regina and Dan St. John In the world of decorative paper, the St. Johns hardly need introduction. Their work and teaching is known throughout the country and the world. Regina began studying marbling in the 1990s in Massachusetts with Faith Harrison and to this day continually seeks out new methods of paper decoration from across the globe that she incorporates into her own marbling practices and her courses. Dan’s specialty as a marbler is in the recreation of historical 18th-century patterns, especially the elusive Tiger’s Eye Pattern, which he hunts down with precision. Dan is also a professional bookbinder, having trained in the studio of William W. Streeter of Northampton, Massachusetts. By our estimate, Dan is nothing short of an alchemist and magician. Surrounded by honey, walnut oil, beeswax, and minerals, Dan concocts the compounds and potions that become his marbling pigments. It is from this deep pool of knowledge and experience that the St. Johns bring forth the practice and art of marbling to their students.
You’ll need this class, too, if you want to learn to restore books because the pages of books are often damaged.
Bookbinding Series:
Introduction to Paper Repair
October 5 – 6 (Thurs – Fri)
9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $35 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Book repair work by necessity has to include repairing damaged pages, as it is difficult if not impossible to restore the cover of a book if the pages—the very foundation of the book—are tattered and torn. This course teaches non-invasive surface cleaning techniques, tear repair using wet and dry techniques, and removal of pressure-sensitive tape (or how to accommodate it when it cannot be removed). In addition, student will learn how to humidify and flatten rolled or crumpled pages. No prerequisite.
Instructors: Jill Deiss and Alexis Candelaria
Jill Deiss established Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, host of the School for Bookbinding Arts, in 1991. She studied bookbinding and restoration first in Northampton, Massachusetts, then at Cornell University’s Department of Library Conservation and in the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Laboratories. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and received a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University, where she specialized in the study of archives and rare book collections. Alexis Candelaria is a bookbinder at Cat Tail Run where she specializes in clamshell box making and book restoration. Alexis has a dual degree in Japanese Language and Japanese Culture which culminated in a two-year residency in Japan. Her love of antiquarian books is in her family’s DNA, and her literary interests are seemingly limitless. Alexis’ passion for music, ethnic foods, fantasy role-playing games, and etymology make her the perfect fit for the quirky world of bookbinding.
We affectionately call this class “Sewing with Susan.” Susan McCabe is a kind and patient teacher…and strict! You will definitely learn the rudiments of book sewing in her class, and these fundamentals will see you through a myriad of sewing problems you might encounter.
Bookbinding Series:
*Book Sewing Intensive
October 11 – 12 (Wed – Thurs)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$295 + $45 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Knowing how to sew pages together to make a text is essential information for bookbinders. Susan is an expert at sewing texts, and her high standards and carefully designed course will allow you to learn numerous sewing methods over the two-day class. 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). The workshop includes sewing new texts as well as the resewing of older texts (which can be tricky to do). Students will also learn how to determine when damaged sewing can be repaired and how to make those repairs. Students will learn how to string up a sewing frame and will receive instruction on single-sheet sewing, whip-stitching, and overcasting. Prerequisite: SBBA’s Introduction to Book Restoration OR New Cloth Binding Construction.
Instructor: Susan McCabe
Susan McCabe Susan McCabe is a bookbinder at Cat Tail Run where she prepares texts for rebinding or restoration. Traditionally this position is called a “Forwarder” because the processes leading up to the point that a book receives its cover are known as “forwarding.” In addition to text sewing, the working of endbanding, paper repair, and the application of various linings and hingings that books require. Susan also marbles some of the decorative papers that are used in our bookbindery.
It’s difficult to learn how to create endbanding from a book or video. This one-day class will start you on your way, and then things you read and watch online will be much easier to follow.
Bookbinding Series:
*Endbanding Intensive
October 13 (Fri)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$225 + $25 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Instructor: Susan McCabe
Susan McCabe Susan McCabe is a bookbinder at Cat Tail Run where she prepares texts for rebinding or restoration. Traditionally this position is called a “Forwarder” because the processes leading up to the point that a book receives its cover are known as “forwarding.” In addition to text sewing, the working of endbanding, paper repair, and the application of various linings and hingings that books require. Susan also marbles some of the decorative papers that are used in our bookbindery.
Bookbinding Series:
Japanese Bookbinding
November 2 – 3 (Thurs – Fri)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. $295 + $50 materials
[Hold material 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 six different Japanese-style bound books based on historical models using authentic materials and processes. Featured styles include the elegant kochōō or butterfly style, the hantori-chō (receipt book), the daifuku-chō (historically a merchant account book), the yamato-toji (for binding manuscripts), the hantori-chō (ledger) and the four-hole stab binding based on the kangxi style. As part of the class, Instructor Lana Lambert will make available her collection of authentic antique specimens of Japanese book forms to aid in 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. Ms. Lambert will lead a demonstration on properly cooking the all-essential paste. No prerequisite.
Instructor: Lana Lambert
Lana Lambert is a resident book artist and printmaker at the Virginia Center for the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia. She graduated from the Corcoran College of Fine Art in Washington, D.C., where she received a B.A. in Art with a concentration in printmaking. Her studies also included bookbinding, letterpress, stone lithography, and Japanese woodblock printing. Her love of the Japanese arts stems from her feeling of kinship with the respect for tradition found within Japanese techniques and practices. Additionally, the emphasis on the use of organic and sustainable materials by many Japanese artists aligns with Lana’s own interests in art and sustainable living. For Lana, the compatibility of Japanese ways with her own beliefs inspires her to seek new ways to blend traditional Japanese arts with western techniques and to employ Japanese techniques to interpret American themes.
Descriptions:
Boxing Fortnight Series
Boxing Fortnight:
Slipcase Construction
August 2 (Wed)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$225 + $45 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
This course instructs students in the art of slipcase construction. Slipcases are by their very nature sleek, and a well-planned slipcase can employ numerous design options that allow it to complement the book inside to perfection. The class includes three different slipcase structures for students to explore and construct. No prerequisite.
Instructors: Jill Deiss and Mona Hayford
Jill Deiss established Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, host of the School for Bookbinding Arts, in 1991. She studied bookbinding and restoration first in Northampton, Massachusetts, then at Cornell University’s Department of Library Conservation and in the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Laboratories. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and received a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University, where she specialized in the study of archives and rare book collections. Mona Hayford is a retired accountant with a love of paper crafting and bookbinding. She has studied Book and Paper Arts at length at John C. Campbell Folk School and The School for Bookbinding Arts. In addition to teaching at the School for Bookbinding Arts, she has taught mixed media courses at the John C. Campbell Folk School.
Boxing Tournament:
Rounded-Spine
Clamshell Box Making
August 3 – 4 (Thurs – Fri)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$295 + $55 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
In this course, students will work with leather to fashion the ultimate classic book box: the rounded, leather-spined clamshell. The box will be taught with the option for a flat spine or one with raised bands. The class also features a different tray-construction style than that taught in the regular clamshell box making class, thus allowing students who take both classes to broaden their tray-making skills. No prerequisite.
Instructors: Jill Deiss and Mona Hayford
Jill Deiss established Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, host of the School for Bookbinding Arts, in 1991. She studied bookbinding and restoration first in Northampton, Massachusetts, then at Cornell University’s Department of Library Conservation and in the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Laboratories. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and received a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University, where she specialized in the study of archives and rare book collections. Mona Hayford is a retired accountant with a love of paper crafting and bookbinding. She has studied Book and Paper Arts at length at John C. Campbell Folk School and The School for Bookbinding Arts. In addition to teaching at the School for Bookbinding Arts, she has taught mixed media courses at the John C. Campbell Folk School.
Boxing Tournament:
Clamshell Box Making
August 9 – 10 (Wed – Thurs)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$295 + $55 materials
[Material 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. No prerequisite.
Instructors: Jill Deiss and Alexis Candelaria
Jill Deiss established Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, host of the School for Bookbinding Arts, in 1991. She studied bookbinding and restoration first in Northampton, Massachusetts, then at Cornell University’s Department of Library Conservation and in the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Laboratories. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and received a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University, where she specialized in the study of archives and rare book collections. Alexis Candelaria is a bookbinder at Cat Tail Run where she specializes in clamshell box making and book restoration. Alexis has a dual degree in Japanese Language and Japanese Culture which culminated in a two-year residency in Japan. Her love of antiquarian books is in her family’s DNA, and her literary interests are seemingly limitless. Alexis’ passion for music, ethnic foods, fantasy role-playing games, and etymology make her the perfect fit for the quirky world of bookbinding.
Boxing Fortnight:
Advanced Clamshell Tray Structures
August 11 (Fri)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$225 + $45 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
This course delves into the structure of two alternate cloth-covered tray structures: the double-wall and the fourth-partial side. The double-wall has two layers of book board on its side 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 is left open to allow full access to the enclosed book). The additional 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: the Clamshell Box Making class is the best preparation for this course. However, the Slipcase or Rounded-Spine workshops do provide an adequate although less thorough background for making more complex tray structures.
Instructors: Jill Deiss and Mona Hayford
Jill Deiss established Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding, host of the School for Bookbinding Arts, in 1991. She studied bookbinding and restoration first in Northampton, Massachusetts, then at Cornell University’s Department of Library Conservation and in the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Laboratories. She holds a B.S. in chemistry and received a Master of Library Science degree from Syracuse University, where she specialized in the study of archives and rare book collections. Mona Hayford is a retired accountant with a love of paper crafting and bookbinding. She has studied Book and Paper Arts at length at John C. Campbell Folk School and The School for Bookbinding Arts. In addition to teaching at the School for Bookbinding Arts, she has taught mixed media courses at the John C. Campbell Folk School.
Pushing forward in an uncertain world would be unimaginable without the positive touchstone of handcraft. This is the spirit that moves us each year to try and find ever more interesting and useful courses for our annual line-up. This year we believe we will not disappoint. For 2023, we have all kinds of Paper Marbling & Paper Craft, and our line-up is filled with all manner of Bookbinding workshops where you can make new bindings, restore old ones, and learn to make clamshell boxes & slipcases. So browse our offerings and see what takes your fancy.
We are often asked what classes a person should take and in what order to take them. Here is a bit of advice, but always feel free to contact us to go over this in more depth.
If you’re interested in restoration, be sure to include Intro to Book Restoration, Intro to Paper Repair, Advanced Cloth Binding Restoration, and Advanced Leather Binding Restoration in your plans. You should also consider taking New Cloth Binding Construction as it teaches valuable lessons about structure that are useful when undertaking restoration work—even if you never intend to make new covers. It doesn’t really matter which you start with (except Advanced Cloth Binding. Advanced Leather Restoration, and the book sewing/endbanding classes do have prerequisites which are listed with the course descriptions).
If you are interested in making new things, consider the New Cloth Binding Construction class, the box making classes, and any other workshop where you are making something from scratch. All of these kinds of courses will help you build a foundation of techniques that you will have under your belt and can use in any way you need for all of your future endeavors.
Above all, make sure you take some classes a little outside your planned path. Electives often yield worthwhile surprises.
Descriptions:
Marbling & Paper Craft Classes
Marble! Sew! Bind!
July 17 – 18 (Mon – Tue)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $45 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
This triathlon of a workshop starts you at the marbling tank where you will first marble paper then move on to sewing a blank book for which you will make a quarter-leather hardcover binding that uses your newly made marbled paper. For the marbling portion of the class, you will learn the fundamentals and experience the satisfaction of creating custom-marbled papers. This workshop presents essential elements of hand bookbinding and is a satisfying journey from raw materials to a finished product. The result is a beautiful blank journal—bound by your hands. All that’s left is for you to fill it with your hopes, dreams, lists, and bookbinding notes! No prerequisite.
Instructor: Robin Ashby
A lifelong student of history and art, Robin Ashby started his career as a bookbinder and marbler with studies at North Bennett Street School in Boston and The School for Bookbinding Arts in Winchester, Virginia. He continues to hone his skills under the regular tutelage of Regina & Dan St. John at their Chena River Studio in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Robin also worked on the team that restored Andrew Wyeth’s studio and home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and heads the Audit and Compliance department for a global software company. Robin is the author of The Industrialist’s Brush: Watercolors of Harry E. Cann, Chester County, Pennsylvania West Chester [PA]: Lucky Hill Road, 2022.
Pop-Up Structures:
The Essential Techniques
July 20 – 21 (Thurs – Fri)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $30 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
Students will learn a variety of pop-up structures—beginning with non-adhesive cut-and-fold pop-ups and progressing through a series of more complex, glued constructions. Students will receive instruction in folding and positioning techniques as well as suggestions for incorporating graphics into their pop-up designs. A slideshow of historical and artist-made pop-ups will be presented in order to provide models and departure points for the student’s own innovative new work. Students will be encouraged to explore new applications and to experiment with integrating visual content and text with their pop-ups. This is an ideal session for book artists, paper artists, art teachers, and graphic designers. No prerequisite.
See these two pop-ups poppin’ on up!
Instructor: Carol Barton
Carol Barton is a book artist, curator, and teacher who has published several editions of artists’ books and has organized both local and national shows of artists’ books. Her work is exhibited internationally and has been acquired by numerous institutions including the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. She served as curator for the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibition Science and the Artist’s Book. She has taught at elementary, high school, and university levels as well as conducted adult workshops at art centers across the United States. She is on the faculty at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the George Washington University’s Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, D.C., where she teaches courses in bookbinding and book structures. She has had residencies at the Bogliasco Foundation in Italy and the Sacatar Foundation in Brazil. Her pop-ups were featured in National Geographic Magazine’s July 2005 article Zip Code 20812: It’s Only A Paper Moon. Her instructional books, The Pocket Paper Engineer, Volumes 1, 2, and 3, are how-to guides on paper engineering.
Fore-Edge Painting:
The Elegant Edge
July 24 – 25 (Mon – Tue)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $40 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
As early as tenth century AD, people were putting brush and pen to the edges of books…some centuries before librarians could step in and discourage the defacing of books! Edge paintings from this early period can be viewed best when the book is closed as they sit directly on the edges of the pages—akin to the way marbling, gilding, and other edge treatments do.
It is unknown what prompted an artist several centuries later to consider placing the pigments not on the page edges but instead slightly on the top (or bottom) faces of the pages, extending onto the page surfaces the merest amount. In this new technique (“new” in this case meaning 16th century), the pigments did not settle on the page edges due to the presence of gold there that prevented the water-based colorants from adhering or the page edges were gilt after the fore edge painting was made (effectively hiding any painting on the actual edges of the pages). The result of this technical change meant that paintings so placed on the edges of book pages could be viewed only when the text was flexed, revealing the narrow painted strips that together made up the image as a whole. Fore-edge painting, as it is commonly called, continues to thrive to this day and has evolved to include placing hidden paintings along the top and bottom edges of a text as well as settling more than one painting along a single text surface.
Without a doubt, our book-loving ancestors were as charmed as we are by the magic trick presented by vanishing paintings—now you see it, now you don’t (who needs a rabbit in a hat when you’ve got a fore-edge painting?!). Come join in and learn this art from Melody Krafft, a renowned master and gifted instructor of the craft whose work has been exhibited and acquired throughout the U.S. and internationally. She is adamant that you do not need to be a good painter (or even a mediocre one!) to accomplish a solid and satisfying fore-edge painting. And who knows, fore-edge painting may be just the thing to unleash your inner Rembrandt!
The material fee is for the blank, gilt-edged journals students will use for their fore-edge painting work. There will be also be short list of supplies students will be asked to bring to the workshop. No prerequisite.
A spread about Melody Krafft is included in the book Hidden Treasures: the History and Technique of Fore-edge Painting by Jeanne Bennett.
See a fore-edge painting displayed:
Instructor: Melody Krafft
Instructor: Melody Krafft
Melody Krafft has developed and taught more than 100 different workshops as a psychologist and artist. Melody discovered fore-edge painting in 2009 and the following year learned the basic techniques in a workshop taught by Jeanne Bennett at the Langdon Center in Texas. In 2011, Melody traveled to England where she visited with fore-edge painter Martin Frost who generously shared his extensive knowledge of the craft. For over a decade, fore-edge paintings by Melody Krafft have been purchased by universities and private collectors around the world. In 2012, she participated in exhibition “The Edges of Books” hosted by the Cary Graphic Arts Collection of Rochester Institute of Technology. The exhibition included fore-edge painting by Martin Frost, Jeanne Bennett, Melody Krafft, and other luminaries in the field of fore-edge painting. Melody Krafft is featured in Hidden Treasures: The History and Technique of Fore-edge Painting by Jeanne Bennett (Calliope Press, 2012). For more information about Melody Krafft visit www.MelodyKrafftArtist.com.
Your eyes did not deceive you. It’s “quilling” not “quilting.” The art of quilling—sometimes historically called “paper filigree”—involves the rolling, pinching, coiling, and curling of narrow paper strips to create ornate flowers, flourishes, and arabesques that are then used as decorative elements in a multitude of ways. This is a centuries-old art form, the fruits of which are seeing as framed objets d’arts, as inset panels on furnishings, on greeting cards, and just anywhere calling out for a bit of pizzazz. No prerequisite.
Instructor: Naomi Geller Lipsky
Naomi Geller Lipsky received a PhD in Biochemistry from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, and enjoyed a satisfying career in research for many years. At the same time, she continued to develop her skills in the fine and decorative arts. When these latter interests finally became more compelling, she made the decision to retire from science and become a full-time decorative artist. She is best known for her work with quilling, an antique art in which paper strips are shaped and applied as ornaments, but she works in other media as well. Many of her pieces incorporate gold leaf. Her main body of work consists of Judaic ritual art and liturgical illustrations. She creates originals as well as limited edition lithographs, and she completes her artistic vision by doing all of her own matting and framing. Her award-winning work has been exhibited in museums and galleries, and featured in books and other publications.
In this scene from Sense and Sensibility, Lucy Steele is making a basket with quilling for Annamaria:
“I am glad,” said Lady Middleton to Lucy, “You are not going to finish poor little Annamaria’s basket this evening; for I am sure it must hurt your eyes to work filigree by candlelight. And we will make the dear little love some amends for her disappointment to-morrow, and then I hope she will not much mind it.”
This hint was enough, Lucy recollected herself instantly and replied, “Indeed you are very much mistaken, Lady Middleton; I am only waiting to know whether you can make your party without me, or I should have been at my filigree already.”
Making Custom Book Cloth
August 12 (Sat)
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$225 + $35 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
We all know this moment: THE perfect piece of cloth in front of you taken from the 5,000 yards of fabric we all have stowed in our craft spaces…it is the EXACT cloth you want on the book cover or box you’re making…but the second you hit it with glue ARRRGGGHHHHH!!! The glue goes straight through the cloth! But there is no bookbinding cloth available that has the design so perfect for your project! What can you do!? Help is on the way in the form of this workshop designed to teach you how to turn your natural-fiber fabric into real book cloth that will perform like a dream when used in your book, box, or similar projects.
In this one-day workshop, students will create four pieces of book cloth using their own cloth plus learn how to set up at home to create further batches of book cloth in the future. This is a “teach a person to fish” moment. Have a favorite shirt or dress of lightweight cotton, linen, or silk that got ruined by a stain? Turn it into book cloth and give it new life! Let’s make some book cloth and open up a way for your clothes closet and your local fabric store to become sources for some of your best book cloth!
No prerequisite.
Instructor: Lana Lambert
Lana Lambert is a resident book artist and printmaker at the Virginia Center for the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia. She graduated from the Corcoran College of Fine Art in Washington, D.C., where she received a B.A. in Art with a concentration in printmaking. Her studies also included bookbinding, letterpress, stone lithography, and Japanese woodblock printing. Her love of the Japanese arts stems from her feeling of kinship with the respect for tradition found within Japanese techniques and practices. Additionally, the emphasis on the use of organic and sustainable materials by many Japanese artists aligns with Lana’s own interests in art and sustainable living. For Lana, the compatibility of Japanese ways with her own beliefs inspires her to seek new ways to blend traditional Japanese arts with western techniques and to employ Japanese techniques to interpret American themes.
Fore-Edge Painting:
The Split Double
August 14 – 15 (Mon – Tue)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $40 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
What can be better than a banana split? Why a split-double fore-edge painting, of course! The split-double carries all the mystique and mystery of a simple fore-edge painting in that it only appears when the pages are flexed a certain way. But when it’s two fore-edge paintings on a single edge that function back to back…well that’s the fore-edge-painting equivalent of back-to-back triple toe loops and a double Lutz in ice skating—exciting!
Master fore-edge painter and instructor Melody Krafft will guide you through the steps in creating your own astonishing Split-Double Fore-Edge (it’s even thrilling just to say it!). You do not need to be skilled with a paint brush: Melody will have you sailing from the start using her method of patterns and templates.
The material fee is for the blank, gilt-edged journals students will use for their fore-edge-painting work. There will be also be short list of supplies students will be asked to bring to the workshop. No prerequisite.
A spread about Melody Krafft is included in the book Hidden Treasures: the History and Technique of Fore-edge Painting by Jeanne Bennett.
Melody Krafft has developed and taught more than 100 different workshops as a psychologist and artist. Melody discovered fore-edge painting in 2009 and the following year learned the basic techniques in a workshop taught by Jeanne Bennett at the Langdon Center in Texas. In 2011, Melody traveled to England where she visited with fore-edge painter Martin Frost who generously shared his extensive knowledge of the craft. For over a decade, fore-edge paintings by Melody Krafft have been purchased by universities and private collectors around the world. In 2012, she participated in exhibition “The Edges of Books” hosted by the Cary Graphic Arts Collection of Rochester Institute of Technology. The exhibition included fore-edge painting by Martin Frost, Jeanne Bennett, Melody Krafft, and other luminaries in the field of fore-edge painting. Melody Krafft is featured in Hidden Treasures: The History and Technique of Fore-edge Painting by Jeanne Bennett (Calliope Press, 2012). For more information about Melody Krafft visit www.MelodyKrafftArtist.com.[/expander_maker]
Instructor: Melody Krafft
Instructor: Melody Krafft
Melody Krafft has developed and taught more than 100 different workshops as a psychologist and artist. Melody discovered fore-edge painting in 2009 and the following year learned the basic techniques in a workshop taught by Jeanne Bennett at the Langdon Center in Texas. In 2011, Melody traveled to England where she visited with fore-edge painter Martin Frost who generously shared his extensive knowledge of the craft. For over a decade, fore-edge paintings by Melody Krafft have been purchased by universities and private collectors around the world. In 2012, she participated in exhibition “The Edges of Books” hosted by the Cary Graphic Arts Collection of Rochester Institute of Technology. The exhibition included fore-edge painting by Martin Frost, Jeanne Bennett, Melody Krafft, and other luminaries in the field of fore-edge painting. Melody Krafft is featured in Hidden Treasures: The History and Technique of Fore-edge Painting by Jeanne Bennett (Calliope Press, 2012). For more information about Melody Krafft visit www.MelodyKrafftArtist.com.
Japanese Tea Box
August 17 – 18 (Thurs – Fri)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $60 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Historically the chabako or traditional Japanese tea box housed the implements used in the tea ceremony. A similar chabako form was constructed specifically for the holding and shipping of tea. This structure is so ideal that larger ones came to be used for storing other foods and even for storing clothes! The interior of the boxes are lined with tin or metal foil and the outside covered in decorative papers called chiyogami. These unique and evocative boxes are delights unto themselves and opening one that has been used for storing tea exudes a fragrance that can only be described as heavenly.
Instructor Lana Lambert fell for Japanese tea boxes after seeing dozens of them stacked in a tea shop selling teas from all over Asia. These stunning containers were all full of different teas waiting to be scooped out for customers. The redolent shop had the feel of the most ancient and magnificent of apothecaries—and with the medicinal properties of tea, this wasn’t far from the truth. Lana used sheer restraint that day: while other customers were purchasing scoops of the various teas, she only purchased two whole tea boxes. It’s like this when you’ve been captivated. There is no turning back.
As this is a real tea box, you will be including traditional materials in the structure such as wood, paper, laminated paper, decorative chiyogami paper, along with and a mirror-like metallic lining. It is a sturdy box, ready for whatever job you give it. No prerequisite.
Instructor: Lana Lambert
Lana Lambert is a resident book artist and printmaker at the Virginia Center for the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia. She graduated from the Corcoran College of Fine Art in Washington, D.C., where she received a B.A. in Art with a concentration in printmaking. Her studies also included bookbinding, letterpress, stone lithography, and Japanese woodblock printing. Her love of the Japanese arts stems from her feeling of kinship with the respect for tradition found within Japanese techniques and practices. Additionally, the emphasis on the use of organic and sustainable materials by many Japanese artists aligns with Lana’s own interests in art and sustainable living. For Lana, the compatibility of Japanese ways with her own beliefs inspires her to seek new ways to blend traditional Japanese arts with western techniques and to employ Japanese techniques to interpret American themes.
Beginning Paper Marbling
September 7 – 8 (Thurs – Fri)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $65 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Marbled papers grace the covers of books both inside and out and are used in countless other arts from box making to matting & framing to greeting cards. You will begin this class by learning how to set up to do marbling and from there embark on your marbling journey. You will learn many traditional combed patterns and how to use the marbling inks to bring forth your own decorative vision from the marbling tank. This course includes numerous extras such as instruction in marbling the edges of book pages and leather. The course culminates with students creating their own marbled-leather, edge-marbled journal. In addition to the journal, students may reasonably expect to produce 20 to 30 marbled papers during the class.
The basis for the techniques of this course originated in ancient Turkey, Persia, and Syria and from there made their way west into Europe. No study of marbling would be complete without a foray into these methods that originated in the marbling communities of the late Middle Ages. Feel the storied history of this art form come to life under your fingers. So long as we continue to learn and practice it, this knowledge will never be lost. No prerequisite.
Instructors: Regina and Dan St. John
Regina and Dan St. John In the world of decorative paper, the St. Johns hardly need introduction. Their work and teaching is known throughout the country and the world. Regina began studying marbling in the 1990s in Massachusetts with Faith Harrison and to this day continually seeks out new methods of paper decoration from across the globe that she incorporates into her own marbling practices and her courses. Dan’s specialty as a marbler is in the recreation of historical 18th-century patterns, especially the elusive Tiger’s Eye Pattern, which he hunts down with precision. Dan is also a professional bookbinder, having trained in the studio of William W. Streeter of Northampton, Massachusetts. By our estimate, Dan is nothing short of an alchemist and magician. Surrounded by honey, walnut oil, beeswax, and minerals, Dan concocts the compounds and potions that become his marbling pigments. It is from this deep pool of knowledge and experience that the St. Johns bring forth the practice and art of marbling to their students.
*Acrylic Marbling: The Next Step
September 11 – 13 (Mon – Wed)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$445 + $75 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
PREREQUISITE of
Beginning Marbling or similar
This “Next Step” is a big one and to say the possibilities are endless is not an overstatement. This three-day acrylic marbling intensive pushes students to beyond the 21st century with patterns so outrageous, so unheard of, so breaking all the rules!
Instructors: Regina and Dan St. John
Regina and Dan St. John In the world of decorative paper, the St. Johns hardly need introduction. Their work and teaching is known throughout the country and the world. Regina began studying marbling in the 1990s in Massachusetts with Faith Harrison and to this day continually seeks out new methods of paper decoration from across the globe that she incorporates into her own marbling practices and her courses. Dan’s specialty as a marbler is in the recreation of historical 18th-century patterns, especially the elusive Tiger’s Eye Pattern, which he hunts down with precision. Dan is also a professional bookbinder, having trained in the studio of William W. Streeter of Northampton, Massachusetts. By our estimate, Dan is nothing short of an alchemist and magician. Surrounded by honey, walnut oil, beeswax, and minerals, Dan concocts the compounds and potions that become his marbling pigments. It is from this deep pool of knowledge and experience that the St. Johns bring forth the practice and art of marbling to their students.
Get Stoned! The Stone Marbled Pattern Intensive
September 15 – 16 (Fri – Sat)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $65 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
The stone pattern, named for its resemblance to smooth stones, is the first pattern seen in the marbled papers of Western Europe—likely emerging by the mid-15th century. This pattern is created when one or more colors are spattered onto the surface of the marbling bath from the bristles of a brush. The pattern further develops as additional colors are added that form delicate veins of color around and between the “stones.” This pattern is known by many other names—perhaps the most fitting being the “Turkish” pattern, for it is indeed a Turkish Delight. No prerequisite.
Instructors: Regina and Dan St. John
Regina and Dan St. John In the world of decorative paper, the St. Johns hardly need introduction. Their work and teaching is known throughout the country and the world. Regina began studying marbling in the 1990s in Massachusetts with Faith Harrison and to this day continually seeks out new methods of paper decoration from across the globe that she incorporates into her own marbling practices and her courses. Dan’s specialty as a marbler is in the recreation of historical 18th-century patterns, especially the elusive Tiger’s Eye Pattern, which he hunts down with precision. Dan is also a professional bookbinder, having trained in the studio of William W. Streeter of Northampton, Massachusetts. By our estimate, Dan is nothing short of an alchemist and magician. Surrounded by honey, walnut oil, beeswax, and minerals, Dan concocts the compounds and potions that become his marbling pigments. It is from this deep pool of knowledge and experience that the St. Johns bring forth the practice and art of marbling to their students.
*Miniature Marbling
September 18 – 19 (Mon – Tue)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $65 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
PREREQUISITE of
Beginning Marbling or similar
Miniature marbled patterns are larger than life! The teeth on combs for normal marbling can only be made so close together otherwise the teeth will drag the pigments and the solution on which the pigments float. Therefore, special accommodations to the marbling potions are necessary in order for miniature marbled patterns to be made. Lead instructor Dan St. John has built his knowledge for this specialized genre of paper marbling on the research of one Christopher Weimann (1946 – 1988). Weinmann was captivated by the small scale of the tools involved and the unique results that could be achieved. You too will fall under the spell of this art where, like Alice, the potions involved will make everything go smaller and smaller and smaller. Prerequisite of Beginning Marbling or experience
Instructors: Regina and Dan St. John
Regina and Dan St. John In the world of decorative paper, the St. Johns hardly need introduction. Their work and teaching is known throughout the country and the world. Regina began studying marbling in the 1990s in Massachusetts with Faith Harrison and to this day continually seeks out new methods of paper decoration from across the globe that she incorporates into her own marbling practices and her courses. Dan’s specialty as a marbler is in the recreation of historical 18th-century patterns, especially the elusive Tiger’s Eye Pattern, which he hunts down with precision. Dan is also a professional bookbinder, having trained in the studio of William W. Streeter of Northampton, Massachusetts. By our estimate, Dan is nothing short of an alchemist and magician. Surrounded by honey, walnut oil, beeswax, and minerals, Dan concocts the compounds and potions that become his marbling pigments. It is from this deep pool of knowledge and experience that the St. Johns bring forth the practice and art of marbling to their students.
Handset Type and Flutter Books:
Give Wings to Your Words in a Flutter Book
September 25 – 26 (Mon – Tue)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $55 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
This workshop will take you through setting type for your own short text, using a press to print it on paper, and then binding it accordion style. For the content of your book, you could write a short poem, use your favorite words, tell a joke, make a list, or anything you dream up.
And now, the fascinating backstory:
The scroll was an early structure for both eastern and western cultures. It is known that in China long strips of wood such as bamboo were inscribed with text which were then laced together and stacked back and forth in a zig-zag manner. From here it was an easy jump to folding paper in this way to make something we instantly recognize as a book. Exactly when, how, or why this folded structure emerged, no one knows for sure, but it was a game changer. No more scrolling endlessly to get to the back to read the ending first, no sir! You could just flip there in a zip!
Today we use a variety of different names—accordion, concertina, and flutter book—for this folded-page book form that is at once versatile and so easy to use. Like this folded book, printing originated in the east, yet it is Gutenberg’s movable type idea that we will work with in this class. If you can’t think of anything to use for the printed text in your book, don’t worry, we have plenty of ready-made options to choose from.
Come and experience the exquisite balance of West-meets-East in setting type and printing as Gutenberg intended and then housing your printed masterpiece in an elegant accordion-style binding. No prerequisite.
Instructor: Dianne L. Roman
Dianne L. Roman is a retired college educator with over 25 years of experience in both teaching and production in a wide range of design and fine art courses including typography and book arts. She utilizes a variety of tools and materials for projects, including found and recycled. Bookmaking, like art making, can have many different approaches for a similar final solution. Her doctorate is from Virginia Commonwealth University in Media, Art, and Text. As a scholar, she investigates the American woman in the nineteenth-century print shop and publishes and gives talks on the topic. She maintains a visual studio practice and is currently investigating the female involvement in the development and growth of printing across her home state of West Virginia.
Lasting Impressions: Block-Printing Your Own Decorative Papers
September 28 – 29 (Thurs – Fri)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $65 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
Block-printed papers were first seen in eastern Asia over 4,000 years ago and are still routinely made throughout the world. Papers printed in this way continue to be sought and used on a regular basis. This is not only due to their beauty but also for their practicality both in conveying meaning and information within their patterns or for their ability to mask stains and fingerprints. That such a venerable art form still maintains a vibrant and useful life in the 21st century inspires instructor Lana Lambert. It is with awe and a sense of responsibility she serves as both as a practitioner and teacher of this revered and important method of producing decorative papers.
Students in the block printing workshop will first learn the historical Japanese practice of moku hanga which is the traditional printing process for creating the chiyogami decorative papers of Japan. Students will then print European-style paste papers using pre-carved wooden blocks to create the distinctive raised-texture that has been characteristic of these papers since their inception in the late-16th century. There will also be lessons in exploring options for creating blocks from materials easier to work with than wood (carving into wood is indeed a laborious process, and it’s nice to know of easier methods!). Students will leave with a tidy stack of ready-to-use beautiful decorative papers. No prerequisite.
Instructor: Lana Lambert
Lana Lambert is a resident book artist and printmaker at the Virginia Center for the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia. She graduated from the Corcoran College of Fine Art in Washington, D.C., where she received a B.A. in Art with a concentration in printmaking. Her studies also included bookbinding, letterpress, stone lithography, and Japanese woodblock printing. Her love of the Japanese arts stems from her feeling of kinship with the respect for tradition found within Japanese techniques and practices. Additionally, the emphasis on the use of organic and sustainable materials by many Japanese artists aligns with Lana’s own interests in art and sustainable living. For Lana, the compatibility of Japanese ways with her own beliefs inspires her to seek new ways to blend traditional Japanese arts with western techniques and to employ Japanese techniques to interpret American themes.
Pop-Up Book Making
October 2 – 3 (Mon – Tue)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $55 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
This workshop will lead you in turning your pop-up book ideas into glorious three-dimensional marvels. The class will start off with instruction in the planning and development of pop-up story lines as well as methodology for incorporating pop-up and movable elements in the most effective ways. Over the course of the two days, you’ll work creating a number of pop-up structures for use in your projects and develop several small-scale accordion pop-up booklets as a warm-up to your final masterpiece: making a multi-plate, hardcover pop-up book!
Prerequisite: The best prerequisite is Carol Barton’s Pop-Up Structures course (July 20 – 21). Otherwise, ask to be put in contact with the instructor to discuss other ways to achieve the necessary level of experience for this class.
Instructor: Pam Buchanan
Pam Buchanan is a paper and print artist in Cumberland, Maryland, working out of her studio Gypsy Artist Designs. She maintains an active schedule as a working artist, exhibitor, and instructor. She received her BA in Art from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts where she trained under book artists and printmakers Melanie Mowinski, Tara O’Brien, and Valerie Carrigan. Ms. Buchanan studied pop-up construction from Carol Barton and out of that experience has increasingly integrated pop-ups, movable structures, and other elements of paper engineering into her work of designing and fabricating artists’ books.
Hand Paper Making
October 16 – 17 (Mon – Tue)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $50 materials
[Material fee due with tuition.]
This class is a must for anyone interested in art, bookbinding, or paper.
Artists: Produce your own paper for projects.
Bookbinders: Gain understanding of an essential material. After this class you’ll be better able to use and repair paper.
Everyone else: Become an artist and a bookbinder.
In this class, students will learn the basics of paper making including pulp sources, methods of pulp preparation, tools needed for hand paper making, how to pull pulp and create sheets. Also there will be instruction on a variety of techniques to add to your pulling technique that will allow you to create truly unique papers.
After taking the paper making class you will impress your friends, neighbors, and complete strangers by using words like “Mould & Deckle” and “Couching” (pronounced “kooching”) and “Post” and “Abaca” and “Pulling” and “Inclusions” and countless other terms of art in paper making. No prerequisite.
Instructors: Amy Jackson and Rowland Kirks
Amy Jackson has been a bookbinder for nearly 20 years, and works with Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding in Winchester, Virginia, on special projects— more complex the better. She holds BFA from Longwood University with a concentration in printmaking and book arts and an MLS from University of Illinois specializing in library preservation. Her additional studies of note include hand papermaking and book conservation studies with Jacques Brejoux and Christopher Clarkson at a workshop/seminar at Moulin de Verger in Puymoyen, France and studies in the medieval color palette with Cheryl Porter at Montefiascone, Italy. Ms. Jackson worked for several years as a contract Matter/Framer in the Conservation Division of The National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C. Ms. Jackson has been in numerous exhibitions for both book arts work and printmaking.
Rowland Kirks studied studio art as an undergraduate and serves at Cat Tail Run as a papermaker, inventor, and bouncer. He studied papermaking with Jacques Brejoux of Moulin du Verger in Puymoyen, France.
Ex Libris: Carve and Print Your Own Bookplates
October 19 – 20 (Thurs – Fri)
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$295 + $50 materials
[Hold material fee until class.]
The ex libris—or book plate—is evocative of fine books and a deep library. It’s time to carry on this tradition by creating your own unique book plates for your own library! Students will learn a light history of the bookplate and then choose from a variety of pre-drawn elements to design an ex libris which will be carved into an easily-cut rubber printing block. After completing the carving phase, students will then print their bookplates on pre-gummed paper. The finale will be the construction of a small case to house the completed set of plates. As part of the process, students will learn how to print more bookplates later when the supply made in class runs out. This is ideal for anyone looking to add a custom touch to their personal library or equally wonderful as a handmade gift. No prerequisite.
Instructor: Lana Lambert
Lana Lambert is a resident book artist and printmaker at the Virginia Center for the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia. She graduated from the Corcoran College of Fine Art in Washington, D.C., where she received a B.A. in Art with a concentration in printmaking. Her studies also included bookbinding, letterpress, stone lithography, and Japanese woodblock printing. Her love of the Japanese arts stems from her feeling of kinship with the respect for tradition found within Japanese techniques and practices. Additionally, the emphasis on the use of organic and sustainable materials by many Japanese artists aligns with Lana’s own interests in art and sustainable living. For Lana, the compatibility of Japanese ways with her own beliefs inspires her to seek new ways to blend traditional Japanese arts with western techniques and to employ Japanese techniques to interpret American themes.
Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.
—author Jane Smiley