If getting your type and images all locked up and into registration is problematic, SFCB Studio Director Chad Johnson has designed a workshop to get you back in the swing of things on the Vandercook.

In this four-hour workshop we will review the key elements of imposing on the press and then work through setting up multiple forms across several presses, working through 2-color registrations using both movable type as well as cuts and polymer plates.

While letterpress experience is a prerequisite, students will be printing a pre-established design to keep the focus on the practice of understanding how to build a stable, well imposed forms that can be registered and/or trimmed to. It will be a fun day of hard work building competencies and collaboration. Everyone will leave with a set of printed folding cards. 

This is the first in a series of Print Practicum workshops Chad will offer to help printers build skills and versatility for their letterpress printing practice.

Prerequisite: Cylinder Core or equivalent and/or working knowledge of printing on a Vandercook. If your letterpress experience is from outside SFCB, please contact us before registering to confirm eligibility.

Materials to bring: All tools and materials will be provided. 

About the Instructor: Chad Johnson (he/him) is an artist, printer, bookbinder, and teacher who has been living in the Bay Area for the past two decades. After earning an MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, he has worked in conservation labs, letterpress shops, and libraries. As SFCB's Studio Director | Resident Instructor, he brings knowledge and experience fueled by passion and enthusiasm for the art and craft of making books by hand. From digital typesetting to steamroller printing to fixing presses to talking about letterpress history, Chad is always happy to help students and artists learn to express themselves through the powerful medium of the handmade book.

Bookbinding Core Certificate Program

The San Francisco Center for the Book celebrates the craft and art of bookbinding. Our Bookbinding Core Certificate Program introduces students to four different binding models, leading them through the history and evolution of bookmaking.  It provides students a comprehensive foundation to delve into the practice of binding and qualifies them to rent studio time in our bindery. Core classes must be taken in order, 1 through 4.

Click here to learn more about the Bookbinding Core Certificate Program and how to receive a discount!

Bookbinding Core 4: Classic Rounded Back Cloth Binding

The final class in our Core Bookbinding series (taught in two sessions) uses skills learned in each previous class to create a beautiful and classic rounded back cloth binding. After sewing, the book will be rounded and backed before the boards are attached and covered. This binding style points to many historical structures that came before it, making it an ideal structure for anyone interested in learning to bind books with leather, or learning to repair books.  More terms, more tools, more techniques: such are the rewards of the skilled bookbinder!

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite: Bookbinding Core 1, 2 and 3

Materials to Bring: None, all tools and materials are provided.

About the Instructor: Erika Lindensmith (she/her) has been a book conservator for almost 30 years. She trained in library and archives conservation at the University of Texas and worked at institutions in Wales, Scotland and New York before settling in California. Her interests are historical book structures and repair. She is excited to share her love of making books.

Cylinder Core Certificate Program

The four class Cylinder Core Certificate Program allows students to move quickly through press basics while also addressing relief printing in general. Students who finish the four Core classes are qualified to rent press time as well as move on to more advanced classes and techniques. Core classes must be taken in order, 1 through 4.

Click here to learn more about the Cylinder Core Certificate Program and how to receive a discount!

Cylinder Core 4: Digital into Analog

Digital designs can be turned into photopolymer plates with a raised printing surface, allowing for artistic expression via letterpress that goes beyond lead and wood. You'll choose designs from our pre-made collection of polymer plates and create a coordinated stationery suite of cards, letter sheets, and envelopes using both plates and type from our collection.

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite: Cylinder Core 1-3

Materials to Bring: All tools and materials will be provided. Students will be designing on the fly from our collection of polymer plates, but can think ahead about whether they want traditional stationery with name/address, or something more whimsical.

Please note: Class projects are for learning particular skills and supporting class dynamics. Project ideas should be flexible, open to what class time and communal studio use will permit.

About the Instructor: Alan Hillesheim (he/him) has been wrenching around printing presses for 35 years. Printing presses need to be moved, oiled, inked, cleaned, and maintained, in short they need attention like a six year old. Maintenance is a dirty business, but a necessary one for beautifully printed anything. Alan has a passion for the mechanics of the print studio and enjoys encouraging others to roll up their sleeves and grab a wrench. His 35 years in the letterpress business and “all-ten-fingers” count speak for themselves. Join him and wear old clothes. Oh, and once the press is in fine order, Alan has a few secrets to divulge about perfect inking and stellar printing.

It’s been quite a year! Let's wrangle some of the craziness into a scary little book.

Learn how to create a “haunted village” using an accordion book structure with some playful pop-ups. This format is ideal for incorporating Halloween or Dia de los Muertos imagery which can be added with collage, stamping, ink, paint and cut outs. Make it as scary, funny, political or dystopian as you like!

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite: None

Materials to bring: 

- magazines/postcards/paper ephemera for collage

- any fun art supplies you like to use: decorative scissors, gel pens, etc.

About the Instructor: Stephanie Jucker (she/her) is an exhibiting artist who uses mixed media and printing techniques in her paintings, books, and art installations. Originally from London where she earned her BFA, Stephanie has an MFA from Syracuse in painting, printmaking, and ceramics. With 25 years of teaching experience, she currently runs art classes at College of Marin, Kala, and Art Works Downtown in San Rafael.

In this introductory class, students will gain a basic understanding of the history, techniques, tools and styles of European marbling.

Students will get hands-on experience of all aspects of Western marbling techniques from paper priming and preparatory mixing of water medium and paints, to the creation of classical patterns. Specific attention will be given to learning how to obtain particular designs using a diverse array of rakes and combs. Students will have ample time for experimentation with guidance from the instructor and will leave with a sampling of papers they've marbled themselves.  

*Please note that paper marbling is a wet process and papers made in the workshop may not be dry at the end of class. Students may return to SFCB after the workshop to retrieve any papers left to dry at the of the day or request mailed returns. 

Prerequisite: None

Materials to bring: All tools and materials will be provided. Please wear comfortable shoes for standing that you don't mind getting wet.

About the Instructor: Pietro Accardi (he/him) owned a Bookbindery in Turin (Italy) for 12 years. He worked for Turin’s main Library, Municipal Archives, and University Libraries restoring and binding documents and books. He also runs his own paper marbling and decorative box making business. Now he lives near Lake Tahoe with wife, cats and a studio. He is currently working for the library of special collections of University of Reno doing restoration work and teaches workshops.

This hands-on introductory workshop provides participants with a foundation in basic book and paper repair techniques commonly used to stabilize damaged collection materials. Designed for librarians, archivists, collectors, and anyone interested in the care of books, the course introduces participants to conservation-minded approaches that prioritize the long-term preservation of materials.

Participants will learn how to prepare wheat starch paste, one of the most widely used adhesives in paper and book conservation, and gain an understanding of its properties and applications. Additional topics include surface cleaning techniques for removing loose dirt and debris, localized humidification and flattening of creased or distorted paper, and basic paper repair using Japanese tissues.

Through demonstrations and guided hands-on practice, students will develop practical skills while learning to evaluate when treatment is appropriate and when an item may require the attention of a professional conservator. By the end of the class, participants will have completed several repair exercises and gained confidence in carrying out simple stabilization treatments on books and paper-based materials.

Please note that this workshop provides an introduction to fundamental repair techniques and collections care concepts. It is not a substitute for formal conservation training or graduate-level conservation education, and completion of the course does not confer professional certification or conservator status. Reusable materials provided in this class should be retained for Repair Core’s II-III.

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite: Bookbinding Core 1-4 certificate. Interested students who do not meet this prerequisite may consider the Basic Repairs on Hardbound Books workshop instead.

Materials to bring: All tools and materials will be provided. 

About the Instructor: Clair Emma Smith (she/her) is a bookbinder specializing in repair located in Oakland, California. She found her love of bookbinding during an art conservation internship at a historical society in Indiana, and she has been setting up her dream home studio ever since. Clair Emma relocated to the Bay Area after graduating from North Bennet Street School's bookbinding program in 2019 and works in private practice for both herself and other conservators as Bouguereau Bindery. 

Handmade boxes are not only lovely, they are also quite useful and can be used to store a range of objects, not just books.

Using hard board and marbled fabric, the instructor will walk students through the basics of creating decorative boxes. Expanding on these primary box building skills, students will learn about more complex functions by adding a hatch-top and bottom drawer.

This particular structure also features rounded corners, giving a pleasing twist to the standard pointed corner. Everyone will leave with a multi-purpose box that is ready to use.

Students will select their marbled fabric from a selection marbled by Pietro.

Prerequisite: None

Materials to bring: All tools and materials will be provided. 

About the Instructor: Pietro Accardi (he/him) owned a Bookbindery in Turin (Italy) for 12 years. He worked for Turin’s main Library, Municipal Archives, and University Libraries restoring and binding documents and books. He also runs his own paper marbling and decorative box making business. Now he lives near Lake Tahoe with wife, cats and a studio. He is currently working for the library of special collections of University of Reno doing restoration work and teaches workshops.

There are myriad instances where forms require special packing and pressure manipulation to achieve even printing. We will print the notorious pointed-flap envelope, a poem with varying line lengths, and images or ornaments within a text field. Situations where the form includes elements that need a generous amount of ink on the press, and/or a lot of packing, as well as elements with the opposite needs, will be addressed.

The class will use both Vandercook and platen presses; students who are only experienced on the Vandercook presses are welcome.

Ample time will be given to questions and show and tell from both the students and the instructors.

SFCB's Windgate Scholarship Fund is dedicated to providing need-based financial support to individuals interested in learning bookbinding, letterpress printing, and related book arts. Click here to apply.

Prerequisite: Students must have completed the Cylinder Core certificate program, or have equivalent printing experience. Please email us with your qualifications if you are new to SFCB.

Materials to bring: All tools and materials will be provided.

About the Instructors: Alan Hillesheim (he/him) and Lisa Rappoport (she/her) will team-teach this new series of workshops for intermediate printers.