UPCOMING EVENTS
Meetings are at the Hughes Community Centre, Wisdom Street, Hughes
Evening meetings are held at 7:30pm – 9:30pm on the second Thursday of February, April, June, August, October, and December.
Morning meetings are held 9:30am to 12:30pm on the second Saturday of March, May, July, September and November.
Meeting program for 2024/2025:
February 13, 2025 – Thursday
Activity – Longstitch binding structure in leather
To kick off 2025 we are exploring the Longstitch binding structure with Linda.
A non-adhesive structure with a flexible cover, which can be made in a wide variety of materials and opens flat.
The stitching is on show, so the thread used is one that highlights the stitching.
Linda’s work Spice Trade was in our members exhibition Guild 24 and contained several styles of longstitched books.
March 8, 2025 – Saturday
Activity – Longstitch binding structure in leather, continued
A non-adhesive structure with a flexible cover, which can be made in a wide variety of materials and opens flat.
The stitching is on show, so the thread used is one that highlights the stitching.
April 10, 2025 – Thursday
Activity – 10-minute presentations/talks by members
Several of our members will give a short presentation/talk on an aspect of bookbinding that they enjoy. The line-up includes:
- My latest book project
- Working with a commercial printer to produce a text block to bind
- Lino prints and working with plant material
- ‘Building Purulia’, 1984 conference and a wonderful and unusual book
These talks are sure to spark interesting conversations. Have your questions ready.
May 11, 2024 – Saturday – All Day session – FULL
Activity – Embroidering on leather
While many of us are familiar with stitching when binding books, embroidering the covers may be new to you. This activity is for those who have very little experience in embroidery. We begin by stitching samples on bookcloth and progress to embroidering on leather during the day.
Embroidered covers have been done by Hannah Brown, Sue Doggett and Erin Fletcher. There are a number of other artists, such as Anna Yevtukh-Squire and Adele Outtridge, who teach exposed and decorative stitching on the spines of books.
Cyril Davenport’s Book of English Embroidered Bookbindings from Gutenberg is an interesting resource – which can be downloaded free in many formats.
June 13, 2024 – Thursday
Activity – 5 section, Non-adhesive binding with decorative spine
July 13, 2024 – Saturday
Activity – 5 section, Non-adhesive binding with decorative spine continued
August 8, 2024 – Thursday
AGM: Please make sure your membership is current and discuss the achievements of your Guild and what’s in store in the year ahead.
Activity – AGM followed by a talk on Illuminated manuscripts. A snippet of what will be shared with the group.
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- The why and what of Illuminated manuscripts.
- Medieval periods and the importance of making manuscripts.
- Pigments, parchments, application of gold and the tools used in the art of making Medieval books.
- Examples, anecdotes and more …
- Q&A
September 14, 2024 – Saturday
Guild 24 exhibition launch, 11.00am, Mezzanine Level, Civic Library, London Circuit
Note: Launch of the members exhibition Guild 24 replaces the meeting at Hughes community centre.
October 10, 2024 – Thursday
Activity- Making Books a conversation with Donna
Donna is one of our newest members, joining the Guild in August 2023, and has challenged herself to make a different style of book a month. Donna will show us some of her previous crafts, the books she has been making.
We will explore – titles on books – what are they, why, where and how, along with a hands-on activity linked to titling.
November 9, 2024- Saturday
Activity- Bring along your bookbinding projects to work on.
In the glossary of the GUILD 24 exhibition catalogue, there are 28 binding styles which highlighted to the Committee that there is much to share on binding styles. There is a great deal of knowledge and experience to draw on from members in the group, who will be there and look forward to the conversations and questions.
So bring along your bookbinding projects that are those:
- on our work bench/kitchen table,
- in the making (eg building on activities from past meetings such as embroidery on leather, Keith A. Smith non-adhesive binding, creating a sculpted surface cover with letters of the alphabet),
- we are experimenting with for the Bind Challenge, Art and Architecture,
- in the design phase (an idea, you have made some notes about or have seen a style in a book or on social media) or
- anything else that you think of not covered here.
And as mentioned at the October meeting we will revisit/review progress with the Medieval Bind Along project that went for 4 Saturday morning sessions (Nov 2022 to July 2023). The main reference used was The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding by J.A. Szirmai. To assist people to have a go at making a medieval style book, six videos were made that were published on the Guild YouTube channel in June 2023. Take a look at them as it may give rise to questions about making this style of book. Good thing about videos is that you can watch them over and over at your leisure.
December 11, 2025 – Thursday
Bind Challenge 2025 – Theme ‘Australian Botanicals – Nature Interleaved”
Bind Challenge, pop up exhibition and talks by binders.
Who will receive the gift for participating in the 205 challenge ? Members share their stories about the design, materials, binding style and the making of their entry in the ‘pop up’ exhibition.
WORKSHOPS & OTHER LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Check out our dedicated Workshops page.
CURRENT / UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
GUILD 24 members exhibition, Mezzanine Level, Civic Library, Friday 6 September – Wednesday 2 October 2024