Cordbound Bookbinding Workshop

Cordbound Bookbinding Workshop
Length of class time: 6 hours

All materials and a few tools are provided for each student.

Each student will make a traditional quarter leather hardcover book with raised cords, Italian leather spine and paper cover (your choice of printed and handmade papers from around the world).

Tools students need to bring:

*Cutting mat, cutting board or magazine to cut on
*Bonefolder
*Metal Edge Ruler
*Scissors
*Xacto Type Craft Knife
*Pencil

For this class a rotary cutter and clear plastic ruler are helpful. I'll bring mine to share but if you happen to have these useful tools, please bring them.

The style we are learning is the traditional 1/4 leather rounded spine hardcover raised cord book. They date back to the 5th century and were introduced when Byzantium monks established their firstscriptorium, Byblos, in modern Lebanon. The Arabs were the ones to bring this style to life with all sorts of decorative work, gorgeous gold embossing and clasp closures. They still make the most wonderful cordbound books in the world.

Below are a few of the cordbound books that Daniel and I have created in the last year.

8" x 10" Full Leather Cordbound Book

6" x 6" CordBound in Butter Yellow Italian Leather

6" x 6" Purple Cordbound in Purple Italian Leather with 500 pages

Cordbound 12" x 12" Photo Album with Metal Name Plate Inset

Close up of 12 x 12 Cordbound Album with Raised Letters

Two 8" x 10" Photo Albums with Leather Spines and Grey Lokta Covers

8" x 10" Photo Album

1/4 Leather with Black Leather and Peacock Blue Lokta

Cordbound Books with Raised cords all over cover

Curved Cords on Spine instead of traditional straight cords

Two Classes on Tuesday Night in Provo, UT

Tuesday July 26th, 2011

Starbooks from 5-6pm, class fee $10 

Coptic Stitch Books from 6-9 pm, class fee is $25 

Take both classes for only $30.

The Ethiopian coptic stitch dates back to the 4th century. It's a beautiful book with an exposed spine in which you can see the sewing of the pages. The coptic stitch book will open flat for maximum use of the pages. It works great for sketchbooks, photo albums and journals. It's also a nice book for recipes because you don't have to hold it open while cooking in the kitchen and it works great as a wedding guestbook too!

To sign up for the class, please email me at KarleighJae@gmail.com 

Please bring the following tools:

Pencil
Cutting mat (or old magazine to cut on)
x-acto type craft knife or utility knife
Scissors
Metal Edge Ruler
Bonefolder (available at Provo Art & Frame, ask for a student discount for taking my class! They close at 5pm!)

Classes held at Provo Art & Frame at 201 West Center Street in Provo, Utah. The class is held in the studio above the store.

Teaching and Traveling

I taught at the Focus on Book Arts Conference last week. So. Much. Fun.

Two of my room mates and fellow teachers gave me a total ab workout from laughing so much. Thank you Karen Hanmer and Peggy Johnston for the constant laughs and wonderful inspiration.

I taught a class on Raised and Inset Designs. The students created beautiful book covers. Here are a few snapshots of the class.

Ok, this isn't really from the class. It's just one of the samples I created for it. The gears were raised on the leather spine and the metal gears on the paper were to be placed in the inset on the book cover. The leather is being antiqued at this point.

Beautiful orange bookcloth with inset metal medallion.

The zebras were inset on the bottom and the raised design on top mimics the zebras stripes.

Action snapshot of the classroom.

I'll update again with more photos and telling tales from my trip.