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leek at 01:47am on 09/03/2011
leek at 01:47am on 09/03/2011Hello, fellow bookbinders!
I hope this kind of post is okay, but I recently taught my first workshop on bookbinding and wanted to talk about it a little and share some pictures.
At first, I was disappointed with the small turn-out, but twenty minutes into the workshop, I was pretty glad. The small group was intimate and allowed for more freedom in design and direction. It also gave me a chance to find some snags in my "lesson plans" without the catastrophe which could have come from a larger group.
We would be working on Eileen Wallace's simplified binding (found in The Penland Book of Handmade Books):
![Image](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/d5d8be489128/653741-812/i55.tinypic.com/spen40.jpg")
Our model
Surprisingly, I didn't forget anything! (This relief is in no way influenced from the several camping trips where I forgot to bring along the tent poles, oh no.)
Our table
I had cut the book boards and the paper from larger pieces ahead of time so we could get right down to work. The students seemed to have a lot of fun selecting their papers and designing their books. As soon as it was mentioned that, yes, the bulk of the text block was going to be white paper, but they were free to cut any decorative papers to size and go wild, they seemed pretty excited and got very creative.
Some of our students
They did some very nice work!
A spine in process
Some thoughts for anyone considering leading a workshop like this:
+Weights! Lacking proper weights or presses, I bought a big bag of aquarium gravel, scooped it into sandwich baggies, and used it to hold books in place during sewing (no sewing frames) and for some of the minor pressing. This worked really well! Of course, they had to take them home and press them under heavy objects while they dried, but for in-class pressing, it was great.
+Structure! I let it become too much of a free-for-all, with chatting and waaayyyy too much time spent designing, and not enough time describing the process of bookbinding.
+Educational materials! I would have liked to put together a hand-out which the students could follow as we worked. It would have started off with an "anatomy of a book" kind of thing, describing it from "book" on through "text block and case" to "signatures" right on down to "paper and thread."
+Simplified binding is not so simplified! It is actually slightly more difficult, I think, than the "unsimplified" binding. It did open up more design avenues, but was a challenge to explain. Again, hand-outs would have been helpful.
All in all, a great experience! It was fun watching the students get excited over the idea of an art book--something they hadn't really considered before--and watching them run with their own ideas of what that would be like.
I'll be doing a mini workshop like this (though a different binding) for a kick-off event for National Poetry Writing Month, and then another more in-depth workshop after that, so here's hoping I learn from my mistakes!
I hope this kind of post is okay, but I recently taught my first workshop on bookbinding and wanted to talk about it a little and share some pictures.
At first, I was disappointed with the small turn-out, but twenty minutes into the workshop, I was pretty glad. The small group was intimate and allowed for more freedom in design and direction. It also gave me a chance to find some snags in my "lesson plans" without the catastrophe which could have come from a larger group.
We would be working on Eileen Wallace's simplified binding (found in The Penland Book of Handmade Books):
Our model
Surprisingly, I didn't forget anything! (This relief is in no way influenced from the several camping trips where I forgot to bring along the tent poles, oh no.)
Our table
I had cut the book boards and the paper from larger pieces ahead of time so we could get right down to work. The students seemed to have a lot of fun selecting their papers and designing their books. As soon as it was mentioned that, yes, the bulk of the text block was going to be white paper, but they were free to cut any decorative papers to size and go wild, they seemed pretty excited and got very creative.
Some of our students
They did some very nice work!
A spine in process
Some thoughts for anyone considering leading a workshop like this:
+Weights! Lacking proper weights or presses, I bought a big bag of aquarium gravel, scooped it into sandwich baggies, and used it to hold books in place during sewing (no sewing frames) and for some of the minor pressing. This worked really well! Of course, they had to take them home and press them under heavy objects while they dried, but for in-class pressing, it was great.
+Structure! I let it become too much of a free-for-all, with chatting and waaayyyy too much time spent designing, and not enough time describing the process of bookbinding.
+Educational materials! I would have liked to put together a hand-out which the students could follow as we worked. It would have started off with an "anatomy of a book" kind of thing, describing it from "book" on through "text block and case" to "signatures" right on down to "paper and thread."
+Simplified binding is not so simplified! It is actually slightly more difficult, I think, than the "unsimplified" binding. It did open up more design avenues, but was a challenge to explain. Again, hand-outs would have been helpful.
All in all, a great experience! It was fun watching the students get excited over the idea of an art book--something they hadn't really considered before--and watching them run with their own ideas of what that would be like.
I'll be doing a mini workshop like this (though a different binding) for a kick-off event for National Poetry Writing Month, and then another more in-depth workshop after that, so here's hoping I learn from my mistakes!
(no subject)
i tend to ignore handouts during a workshop, but find them very useful months later when i'm making a similar book on my own and want to double-check myself. For beginners, i'd recommend a materials/tools list as well, and maybe listings for a few vendors.
(no subject)
Thanks for the recommendations. I thought the handouts would also be helpful as diagrams for some of the things that were difficult to explain (kettle stitch). I hadn't thought of the materials list or the vendors. Both would be helpful, especially since there aren't really any places in town for someone to get supplies.
Thanks!
(no subject)
I'm just curious where the differences are between simplified and traditional binding.
By the way, have you thought of two boards together with four screw clamps as a substitute to a press? Thet's the way it works here at home now for about two years.
(no subject)
This is an example of simplified binding: Image. I picked it up from The Penland Book of Handmade Books, and it's put together with the cover boards wrapped separately from the spine piece, and then are glue together, rather than all three pieces being covered by the same, single piece of paper or cloth.
I like your idea for a press! I might have to make one this summer if I can get access to some tools.
(no subject)
On the following picture you can see, how the press works. You won't need much tools.