#bookbinding class

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - R. L. Stevenson

(EDIT: have a look at the clamshell box I made for this book here)

My workshops for the summer session at SFCB are live today! Visit my Workshops page for specific offerings. I am dialing it down a bit this summer to open space for Dominic Riley and Michael Burke, who were unfortunately prevented from visiting for their usual summer regime during covid shutdowns and later. One workshop I am really excited about is an expanded Decorated Edge. It had always felt…

It´s necessary, I know (oh believe me, I know; we´ll probably have to re-open the “corona stall” at work, so yes I know!) but still so, so annoying. I was one single step from having a complete little notebook. Last week I glued the spine to the case, and yesterday I was supposed to have finished the rest.

Yesterday, I trimmed the bookcloth on the cover. That´s done with a huge-ass crafting knife. Anxiety galore! But it went kinda well. As well as it could, when it turned out I cut the board the wrong way, so the grain is off. Crap!

And last week, I got to use a SEWING FRAME! I mean, when I first started reading up on bookbinding, a sewing frame seemed to be an essential item, and at the same time really hard to get unless you could make one yourself. Then I went to the first class, and the teacher says we wont use those for our first project; it´s perfectly possible to sew signatures together without one. In fact, for most newbies it´s easier without the sewing frame! But now I´ve tried one, and I gotta admit, it makes you feel kinda badass. If you squint...

The bookbinding class yesterday was so much fun! Oh man! Due to covid-19, it was a smaller class than usual, so only 6 students; me and another girl were the only beginners. The rest of the students were at various skill levels, and while the teacher focused on us newbies, they kept working on waaay more advanced projects. Apparently you can take this class as many times as you like, and keep learning. Will I be back next semester? Is the pope a Catholic?!

To learn the basic technique, we'll start with making a few notebooks. We cut A4 papers and folded them into signatures, went all in sawing holes - yes sawing, not punching - and stiched them together into something that actually resembled a book... woohoo! At that step, the time was up. Three study hours gone in a blink of an eye! And best of all: the sewing part could easily be done without a sewing frame! Double woohoo! Can it be Monday again soon?!

Note 1: most tools in the studio are either made of ancient-looking wood or cast iron, and look like they can maim you, kill you or both.