If you have heard about letterpress but are not really sure what it is or how it works, this class will allow you to peer inside the rich history and engaging techniques of letterpress printing.

This class introduces the process, the materials, the machines, and the satisfaction of printing by hand on a Cylinder proof press. Participants will learn the basics of setting type using SFCB’s vast collection of lead type and decorative ornaments as well as inking, locking up and pulling a print.

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: None

About the Instructor: Brian Lieske (he/him) wandered into SFCB many years ago and continues to haunt the place. He completed both the bookbinding and letterpress cores as well as several of the summer historic structure classes. He enjoys making fully hand-sewn books and still fights to not over-tighten his kettle stitches. He’s lived in San Francisco for more than 20 years having arrived shortly after completing an MFA at the University of Texas at Austin.

The Presentation Album was developed as an answer to a question: how to create a simple album which can house photographs in an elegant embossed page without swelling the book? 

The album is very handsome, with pages made from a good quality card. Each page has an impressed panel to house the photographs; the finished panels resemble the impression of an etching plate. The pages are hinged together on the inside with thick paper strips, and a small amount of PVA is all that’s needed to hold it all together — no need for sewing. The album has cloth joints for strength and an attractive cloth cover, and like the Ideal Sketchbook, opens beautifully flat.

If time allows, students will tool their finished binding with creative lines and circles, using traditional finishing tools and both carbon and colourful metallic foils. 

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 should have some experience working with glue and paper/cloth; Bookbinding Core 2 (flat back case binding) or equivalent experience.

Materials to bring: All tools and materials will be provided. Students are also welcome to bring any of their own favorite bookbinding tools.

About the Instructor: Michael Burke (he/him) studied bookbinding with Dominic Riley and paper conservation with Karen Zukor. Michael lives in England, where he teaches bookbinding as well at events across the UK. Michael researches the structures of ancient and medieval bindings and received his Masters degree in the History of the Book from the University of London in 2011.

Michael is a co-founder of Book Camp, an immersive residential bookbinding experience which aims to teach new generations of binders.

Strong, elegant and pleasing to use, this structure is modelled on the nineteenth century artists' sketchbooks and journals, similar to the ones used by Wordsworth and Ruskin as they wandered across the Lake District to draw and write. It is an honest structure made simply and from high quality materials, opens beautifully and is very durable. It can be made at home with no equipment, just a few simple tools, and since it is not 'cased-in' requires very little pressing.

The pages are made from good cartridge paper, ideal for pen-and-ink drawing, pencil sketching or writing. Working from full sized sheets, we will fold and slit the paper to give a beautiful, feathery deckled edge. We will then sew the book with linen thread on strong tapes, and sew in a cloth hinge for strength. The book is rounded, for easy opening, but not backed, eliminating the need for a press. The case, or cover, is made from cushioned boards covered in strong natural canvas that can withstand all the hard knocks associated with going 'out into the field'. Time permitting, the cover is then tooled with carbon and gold to personalise this simple handmade binding.

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 2 or equivalent experience preparing a textblock.

Tools/Materials to bring: None. All tools and materials will be provided. Students are also welcome to bring any of their own favorite bookbinding tools.

About the Instructor: Dominic Riley (he/him) is an internationally renowned bookbinder, artist, lecturer and teacher. He has his bindery in England, from where he travels across the UK teaching and lecturing. He spends part of the year teaching in San Francisco and across the USA. His work is mostly restoration and Design Binding, for which he has won many prizes in the Designer Bookbinders competition. He was elected a Fellow of DB in 2008 and is Patron of the New Zealand Association of Book Crafts. His bindings are in collections worldwide, including the British Library, the Grolier Club in New York and the San Francisco Public Library. In 2013 he won first prize, the Sir Paul Getty Award, in the International Bookbinding Competition. Dominic is a past President of the Society of Bookbinders. Dominic and Michael Burke are co-founders of Book Camp, an immersive residential bookbinding experience which aims to teach new generations of binders.

He has taught masterclasses in the USA, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, at the Centro del Bel Libro in Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Canada.

This workshop is an introduction to the Japanese marbling technique of Suminagashi or “floating ink”.

Participants will learn paper and ink preparation, as well as brush application techniques used to create a series of uniquely marbled ink prints on masa and kozo papers.

Students will leave this one-day workshop with a collection of prints that they can use as bases for additional drawing or printing applications, or as standalone works of art. If they want to sign up for Solange's Contemporary Gilding class the following day, they can then gild their marbled designs.

Experimentation is encouraged and all are welcome!

Prerequisite: None

Tools/Materials to bring: All necessary materials will be supplied, but please bring additional papers you would like to experiment with as well as alternative mark-making tools such as branches, a straw, toothpick, fork, etc.

About the Instructor: Solange Roberdeau is a visual artist and freelance art educator and she works primarily in paper, sumi ink and with contemporary gilding in her own studio practice. Solange received a BFA in Printmaking from RISD in 2005 and an MFA in Studio Art from MICA in 2012. She teaches private classes as well as has taught workshops in contemporary gilding at institutions including locally at Kala Art Institute, Berkeley; nationally at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore and internationally at Cairo American College, Egypt. More information about Solange can be found on her website: www.solange-roberdeau.com.

Gilding is the process of applying metal leaf to a surface. This contemporary approach to an ancient process allows for makers from every background to explore a painterly approach to using metal leaf.

Learn the technical aspects of this gilding technique in this one-day class. Gilding can be used on any material surface from paper to wood to stone and in any application from fine art drawings on Japanese paper to holiday cards!

This workshop will provide students with the step-by-by process of incorporating metal leaf and loose pigment into compositions on varied material surfaces. As a jumping-off point, students will complete projects designed to familiarize students with the nuances of applying and trouble-shooting working with metal leaf on paper and mixed media collages.

Prerequisite: None

Tools/Materials to Bring: All tools and materials are provided by the instructor. Please bring a pencil or preferred drawing tool, and small objects, papers or other materials to experiment on.

About the Instructor: Solange Roberdeau is a visual artist and freelance art educator and she works primarily in paper, sumi ink and with contemporary gilding in her own studio practice. Solange received a BFA in Printmaking from RISD in 2005 and an MFA in Studio Art from MICA in 2012. She teaches private classes as well as has taught workshops in contemporary gilding at institutions including locally at Kala Art Institute, Berkeley; nationally at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore and internationally at Cairo American College, Egypt. More information about Solange can be found on her website: www.solange-roberdeau.com.