In conjunction with Designer Bookbinders the Society organises an annual series of weekend workshops. These offer structured, intensive learning from established and well-respected teachers and are designed to stress the 'hands-on' approach, where students complete a structure or technique following demonstrations from the teacher. The size of each workshop is limited to allow students to benefit from individual attention.
The 2011/12 programme has been organised by George Davidson with assistance from Svetlana Taylor and Judith Ellis.
For full details about each of the five workshops, please choose from the tabs above.
The fee for each workshop is £125 plus a charge for materials payable 'on the day'.
We hope you will be tempted – but please remember that the workshops tend to fill up very quickly, so sign up early to avoid disappointment.
For further information please contact:
George Davidson
gddavidson@supanet.com
Judith Ellis
judithellis@sizzel.net
Edge Decoration
Tutor: Dominic Riley
Dates: 15-16 October 2011
Times: 10.00am - 5.00pm
Venue: Ulverston, Cumbria
Fee: GBP125.00 (plus GBP30.00 materials
payable on the day)
Every surface of the book is a canvas for decoration, and this includes the edges of the pages. This workshop will cover several methods of edge decoration which have been used throughout the ages in both traditional and creative binding styles, from the very simple to the advanced.
We will start with a few traditional ‘trade’ methods – the solid colour wash, often used on prayer books and cheaper bindings; the ‘newspaper sprinkle’, a very fast and easy method for large bound collections; the wash and sprinkle, used historically on inexpensive leather and vellum bindings; and the sprinkled and burnished edge, common on ‘ordinary’ leather bindings in the eighteenth century.
Next we do the very handsome graphite edge, common to German and Scandinavian millimetre binding, which gives a beautiful dark and shiny finish. We will end up with the contemporary and very artistic ‘painted edge’, seen nowadays on many Design Bindings, which allows for complex layering of colouring and shapes which enhance the overall design of the binding.
This workshop is suitable for binders of all levels. Dominic will provide a set of books, rounded and backed, to decorate, with covers made up for casing in at home.
Dominic Riley studied at the London College of Printing and has worked in London, New York and San Francisco, where he founded the bindery at the Center for the Book. He has his bindery with Michael Burke in Cumbria, teaches in the USA and across the UK, and is an accredited lecturer with NADFAS. In 2007 he won both first prizes and the Mansfield medal in the Designer Bookbinders competition and was elected a Fellow of DB in 2008. In 2009 he travelled to Brazil to teach for the bookbinding group ABER. He is Vice Chairman of SoB.
Variations on Forwarding (Sorry, this workshop is fully subscribed.)
Tutor: Mark Cockram
Dates: 19-20 November 2011
Times: 10.00am - 5.00pm
Venue: Allen Street, London W8
Fee: GBP125.00 (plus GBP20.00 materials
payable on the day)
During the 2-day workshop, which is designed for the beginner/improver, it is expected that the student will make 3 multi-sectional case-bound books and one break-away book (a book partially made to show the various steps in construction).
This workshop is intended to develop the student’s ability in the use of basic materials such as book-cloth and machine-made papers. It will give students the opportunity to explore the advantages and disadvantages of differing sewing techniques, adhesives and covering techniques in the production of 4 multi sectional, flat back case bound books.
The aims are: to develop craft skills related to book-cloth and paper work; to enhance professional skills, awareness and responsibility; and to stimulate creativity in design and awareness of choice of suitable styles of covering.
Each student will be supplied with a comprehensive kit with all the materials to make 4 books, including hand decorated papers.
Mark Cockram is a contemporary bookbinder, book artist and box maker based in London. He studied bookbinding at Guildford College of Technology, Studio Livre’ (Tokyo) and London College of Printing - BA Book Arts and Crafts (Hons). Mark opened his first studio in Lincoln in 1992 and Studio Five, London, in 2003. He teaches in Studio Five and in the UK, Europe, India and Japan.
He has been elected Fellow of Designer Bookbinders, Brother of the Art Workers Guild, The Tokyo Bookbinding Club and part of the Bookbinders Collective. Mark exhibits internationally on a regular basis with his work represented in public and private collections worldwide.
Leather Decorating Techniques (Sorry, this workshop is fully subscribed.)
Tutor: Nicky Oliver
Dates: 21-22 January 2011
Times: 10.00am - 5.00pm
Venue: Allen Street, London W8
Fee: GBP125.00 (plus GBP25.00 materials
payable on the day)
Dyeing your own leather can be an extremely creative process and it can enable the binder to produce beautiful and unique covers for their design bindings.
This workshop will be a mixture of some short demonstrations and hands on experimenting. We will be using a selection of different dyes and exploring each of their uses and limitations.
The aim will be to develop a different approach to how you illustrate your design pieces. Natural leathers and “mini blank canvases” will be prepared and provided. We will concentrate mainly on the dyes and their different applications but we will also take our work further by applying cold blind tooling, reverse transfer printing and back-pared leather onlays.
Materials (leather, dyes etc.) will be provided.
Nicky Oliver discovered bookbinding whilst studying for her Graphic Design and Illustration degree in Bath in 1996. After working over ten years in commercial binderies in London, she has established her own business Black Fox Bindery, specialising in commissioned and design bindings, box- and label-making. She became a Licentiate of Designer Bookbinders in 2010 and has won several awards in the last three Designer Bookbinders National Competitions culminating with winning ‘the Silver triple’ with first prize for set book, open choice book and the Edgar Mansfield Medal for best book.
Paste Paper Patterns
Tutor: Victoria Hall
Dates: 18-19 February 2012
Times: 10.00am - 5.00pm
Venue: Linton, near Cambridge
Fee: GBP125.00 (plus GBP20.00 materials
payable on the day)
Paste Papers have been used to decorate book covers since the 17th century and remain suitable and popular for use in contemporary bindings. This course will equip participants with the ability confidently to produce their own custom-designed paste papers requiring only modest materials and a zest for creativity.
Victoria will bring a selection of different pastes, a variety of colouring agents and an assortment of different papers to work on, not to mention a plethora of tools with which to mark and pattern the papers. The first day will be very hands-on, as students make a sequence of A4 papers covering all the basic building-blocks of paste paper pattern making – mixing paste, applying colour, texturing, combing, blocking and tooling. More complex patterns and ‘double’ images may be created on the second day, with plenty of resource material available for inspiration. The workshop will conclude with an examination of paste papers old and new from Victoria’s collection.
By the end of the course you will be able to recognise and better understand paste papers whenever they appear in bindings old or new, and have a portfolio of original papers for your own work.
Victoria Hall makes a wide variety of hand decorated papers in her Norfolk studio and added paste papers to her range of marbled papers in the mid 1990s. She has a particular interest in historic styles, many of which she is able to recreate in facsimile, and has studied historic paper collections in libraries of Europe and the USA. Her contemporary paste paper designs have been commissioned by notable Fine Presses including Incline Press. Rampant Lions, Libanus Press, & Simon King. She has recently completed marbling the papers for the Highgrove Florilegium.
A Drop-back Box with Leather Spine
Tutor: Stephen Conway
Dates: 17-18 March 2012
Times: 10.00am - 5.00pm
Venue: Conway Bindery, Halifax
Fee: GBP125.00 (plus GBP25.00 materials
payable on the day)
Boxmaking is an essential skill in the bookbinder’s repertoire, for housing rare and valuable books as well as suites of prints, drawings or ephemera. The rounded spine quarter-leather box is made to the highest standards, requiring accuracy in measuring, cutting and covering.
In this workshop, Stephen will guide participants through the steps involved in making a traditional quarter-leather drop-back box with felt linings and a rounded spine. Taking a step at a time, we will proceed to construct and cover two trays and a case, which will have a rounded wooden spine, raised bands and some decoration, including a blocked label.
This workshop is suitable for participants with some experience, including leather paring.
Stephen Conway was apprenticed at Edward Mortimer Ltd of Halifax and opened his own bookbinding business in 1985. The business is currently situated in Halifax, West Yorkshire. He won the Silver Medal in the Designer Bookbinders Competition 1998 and was elected a Fellow of DB in 2000. His work is held in many collections worldwide including The British Library and The Lily Library, Indiana U.S.A. He is currently serving a two-year term as President of Designer Bookbinders.
Registration Form
Click on the icon below to view / download a PDF version of the Joint Workshops Registration Form that you can print out and fill in.
