Category Archives: workshops

Taking a book apart – 10 Sept

Canberra Craft Bookbinders' Guild Posted on by

At our next meeting with Chris we will be taking the binding of a book (s) apart which is called ‘Pulling’.

When: Saturday  10 Sept 2022, 9.30am – 12.30pm

Where: Room 3, (COTA) Hughes Community Centre, Hughes, ACT.

 

 

 

 

 

Pulling books – taking the binding apart

One source of books to bind is old books pulled apart.

The best books to start with are ones that are section-sewn and hollow back case bound (you can see the ends of the sections and can see light down between the spine covering and the bookblock when you open the book out).

Also good are paperback books that are section-sewn with a glued paper spine (such as pre-1960s Penguins), ideally where the glue is starting to crack apart. Some section-sewn paperbacks have old cracking glue and can be gently scraped clean; more recent books are hot glued on the spine, but most of these are single sheet. Removing the hot glue is possible but not as easy as older glues, and single sheets are rarely as good to bind as sections.

Book sources:  bookshelves; little street libraries; Lifeline and other book fairs; second hand bookshops.

What to bring:

  • A book or two or three to pull apart in preparation for binding
  • Your bookbinding kit
  • Bone folder
  • Retractable sharp knife with snap off blades
  • Boot knife or kitchen bread and butter knife with straight edge to be used for scraping
  • Cutting mat
  • Fine pencil and notebook
  • Camera/phone to take images

 

During the morning we will explore:

  • Extracting the book from its case by cutting or detaching the tapes or cords from the cover
  • Scraping off the spine linings either dry or dampened
  • Cutting threads
  • Gently pulling apart sections that are tipped together
  • Endpapers

 

Look forward to seeing you all there with your books!

Make a Pricking Cradle – Sat 13 March

Canberra Craft Bookbinders' Guild Posted on by

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When: Saturday 13 March 2021, 9.30am – 12.30pm

Where: Room 3 Hughes Community Centre, Hughes, ACT

Vicki will demonstrate how to make a pricking cradle so you too can bind in the bush.

A pricking cradle enables you to make perfectly position holes through the spine folds of sections in preparation for sewing. It is simple to make. It packs flat for easy storage and you can take it anywhere.

Materials (pre-cut) will be provided for people to construct a cradle during the morning.

What to bring

  • Cutting mat
  • Craft knife
  • Bone folder
  • Metal ruler
  • PVA Glue
  • Glue Brush and/or sponge roller
  • Pencil
  • Dividers if you have them

 

See you all at our first drop-in for 2021.

Hot Foiling – Sat 14 November

Canberra Craft Bookbinders' Guild

Hot Foiling

When:  Sat 14 November 2020 (rescheduled from 8 May 2020), 9.30am – 12.30pm,

Where:  Room 3 Hughes Community Centre, Hughes, ACT

Add decoration to your work using finishing tools to blind emboss or add a touch of colour to your design with coloured foil.

Sally will demonstrate hot foiling and blind embossing.

  • hand finishing tools (decorative and type) along with a range of coloured foils for people to use,
  • type that can be set into a type holder and
  • cloth and leather off cuts for people to use.

 

Come along, say hello and try your hand at hot foiling.

 

Sketch book, no stitching

Canberra Craft Bookbinders' Guild

Saturday 14 March 2020

9.30am – 12.30pm, Room 3 Hughes Community Centre, Hughes, ACT

Teresa and Wendy will demonstrate how to make this sketch book.

It is a robust A5 hardcover book made with very little equipment. It opens out flat, pages can be removed and replaced. No sewing and very little adhesive. It has been tested by young children, artists, and others over the past few months and seems to stand up well.

Materials will be provided so all of us can make this book after the demonstration to take home.

What to bring

  • Cutting mat
  • Craft knife
  • Bone folder
  • Metal ruler
  • Glue stick
  • Pencil

See you all at our first drop-in for 2020.

$5 each to go to room hire. 

Secret Belgian Binding with tutor Guy Begbie

Canberra Craft Bookbinders' Guild Posted on by

Cancelled

Guy Begbie will be in Canberra tutoring this two-day workshop in April. This workshop is designed for participants with or without bookbinding experience.

Date: Saturday 4 – Sunday 5 April 2020, 9.30am to 4.30pm both days at

Venue: Bookarts Bindery, Canberra

Fee:  $240 Deposit of $100 required to secure a place.

All materials will be provided for the workshop.

What to bring:  TBA

Please email: canberrabookbinders@gmail.com to secure a place.

Participants will have the opportunity to make a hardback book that has an elegant and distinctive thread pattern of sewing.

This is used to lace the front and back covers to the cover spine piece. The cover is made up of three separate components. The sewing is visible on the outside of the book. Measures are taken in the binding construction, to hide the interior thread on the inside of the covers.

The book block/pages are made up of signature folios that are attached in the sewing process to the inside spine of the cover. Learn variation in page structuring in each of the page sections with some gate folds and throw out pages. This binding is robust and durable and allows the book to lie flat when open.

Guy Begbie is a UK based interdisciplinary artist printmaker, bookbinder, independent bookbinding & book arts workshop provider and an associate art and design lecturer at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. Guy exhibited his work in ‘Code X: Contemporary Fine Binding’ at Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre, Canberra, 9th February-27th March 2017.

Hinged Parchment Binding with tutor Barbara Schmelzer

Canberra Craft Bookbinders' Guild Posted on by

The Hinged Parchment Binding is a full parchment binding using a combination of the classic German Parchment Binding and Edgard’s Polycarbonate Binding.

You will be dying and decorating your parchment, learn to sew the bookblock onto parchment tapes, round and line the spine and create hinges on the bookblock. The boards are prepared, covered and decorated separately from the bookblock. You will learn how to sand boards for bibliophile bindings, cover them with parchment, make the hinges on the boards, infill them and prepare and attach doublures.

Cost:         $650 (Material fee depending on usage of parchment, paper etc.)

Date:        April 18-22, 2020 (5 days/Saturday to Wednesday), 9.00am – 5.00 pm

Venue:     Unit 4/49-51 Mitchell Road, Brookvale, NSW 2100

A $150 deposit is due on enrolment with the remainder to be paid one month before course commencement.

Please enrol directly with: Barbara Schmelzer

phone:               02 9905 3117 or 0450 422 098

e-mail:                barbara@barbaraschmelzer.com.au

website:            www.barbaraschmelzer.com.au

Facebook:        Barbara Schmelzer

Workshop – Case binding with decorative stitching

Canberra Craft Bookbinders' Guild Posted on by

Waiting list Learn to make a case bound book with decorative stitching. Saturday 21 July 2018,  9.00am – 5.00pm, in the Hall, Hughes Community Centre Cost $110 ($70 for Guild members)   To book a place, please register at  admin@canberrabookbinders.org.au … Continue reading →