Festive books!

I recently conducted a little workshop making these festive books, perfect for Christmas tree ornaments and whatnot.

The structure was a drum leaf binding and each book had printed pages, with a bit of holiday music. We used Japanese chiyogami on the covers because there are lots of beautiful Japanese papers that have Christmasy colours!

This was a fun session to wrap up the 2022 workshop season. Thanks and Happy Holidays to all the folks who take my workshops and keep coming back for more!

Sewn Board Binding Workshop

I don't have many opportunities to use the sewn board binding structure, so it was a lot of fun to teach this in a workshop recently. It allowed me to make a few examples, which was fun, and then introduce it to a very eager group of students. And as expected, everyone loves this book structure.

Look at all the beautiful books they made!

Bookbinding around the world

I really enjoyed teaching the most recent version of my "Bookbinding Around the World" course. I have taught a few variations of this course, including some different book structures each time. The course is typically just four sessions so there are obvious limitations to what can be done in that time. In past versions of this course I have included projects such as the Nag Hammadi structure, the Secret Belgian Binding aka Criss Cross Binding, also the Ethiopian chain stitch, as well as various Japanese styles.

This time around we started in China, of course, since books and paper were invented in China. In the second class, we made palm leaf books, a structure that probably originated in India. Next we did one of the many Italian longstitch techniques, and then we jumped to USA and made some books in the style of the Roycrofters.

Nova Scotia Book Arts Group

The newly formed Nova Scotia Book Arts Group will be having its first official meeting this week! On behalf of the NSBAG organizers, I can say that we are very excited about this adventure and we are looking forward to connecting with the book arts enthusiasts in our area.

The first meeting is Thursday, September 29th, at 7:00pm at the Halifax Central Library. Details and updates are available online at NovaScotiaBookArts.blogspot.com.

---

Sunday Workshop Series

Anouncing a new Sunday Workshop Series starting this autumn! These are in-person workshops in Halifax, Nova Scotia. If you're looking for a quick fix of book and paper arts, then you might be interested in these upcoming workshops. Each is just two hours on a Sunday afternoon.

Box Accordion: This is a fun structure that can easily be expanded in length, incorporating more and more boxes. This type of accordion book can be used as an artist's book structure, as a display feature, etc.
Sold out.

Star Book: This structure is versatile and can be modified as a tunnel book or carousel book, which are both useful options for artist's books. This structure also works well as a unique photo album that can do double duty as an attractive photo display.
Sold out.

Christmas Book: Miniature book ornaments, incorporating beautiful Japanese papers and pages of Christmas music, bound using a modified drum leaf technique.
Sold out.



There will also be some more in-depth bookbinding workshops at the Centre for Craft this fall. Schedule to be announced soon.

Switching online sales platform

Big news! I have a new website for selling my bookbinding supplies! I've been selling supplies online for a while, but the online sales platform that I was using has become incresingly problematic and expensive. So, I took a plunge and set up the shop through Sellfy. Just click the "Shop for Supplies" link above.

I really like the Sellfy platform so far. I did some testdrives with other online store options before I settled on this one, and so far, it's working nicely. I will have to maintain both sites for a while, but hopefully I can consolidate them at some point.

As before, I am optimmizing the products and shipping for Canadian customers but I do also accept orders from USA. Right now, you can use the coupon code 2022Final15 and get 15% off orders before December 31st, whoot!

Winter workshop results

Just a quick update with some photos taken during recent workshops. These classes were all in-person sessions at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft.

Most recently I taught a workshop about making albums, for photos or other things. The students made books that used standard post or ribbon bindings and then we added some pizzazz with windows, fore-edge ties, and even some corner embellishments here and there.
Not long ago, I also taught another workshop where the students made bookcloth and then made a blank journal using the buttonhole binding technique. Everyone did a small practice journal with a paper cover, then used one of their prepared fabrics to make a hardcover journal. There was also a chain stitch workshop where everyone learned to make books with exposed chain stitch binding techniques. Different types of covers and cover attachments were explored.

Impressive work by everyone. I always seem to have the best students!
The spring session is coming soon now. Workshop links are in the right sidebar.