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 class will focus on developing and practicing skills and techniques needed to make leather bindings.

Students will experience the difference between abrupt and gradual paring for turn-ins. We will make corners and line boards to manage pull. Students will practice beveled and feathered paring with a knife and scalpel, and develop competence in use of Scharfix and spokeshave for paring turn-ins and reducing the overall thickness of a piece of leather. Finally, students will practice leather covering skills on plaquettes using the leather they have prepared and experience how leather preparation affects the final product.

Prerequisite:
Ideally students will have taken Orientation to Leather, but it is not required.

Materials to Bring:
A sharp leather paring knife, if you have one

About the Instructor:
Beth Redmond (she/her) was first introduced to making books in the photography program at San Jose State. She loves binding books for their perfect marriage of functionality and creativity.  After learning the basics of a well-made book at SFCB she went on to study fine binding at the American Academy of Bookbinding in Telluride, CO. She works primarily with leather to create bindings for public and private collections. Her work can be seen at https://bredmond.weebly.com.

If you’ve taken either the Introduction to Digital or Analog Risograph Printing class and are looking to rent the Riso machine independently, this is the next step. 

The Risograph Certification class will reinforce proper usage and care of the machine through two projects, covering both analog and digital techniques.  We’ll reacquaint ourselves with the machine and troubleshoot when printing our first project from the glass. Then we will take a look at Spectrolite software, which can be used to prep digital files before printing or review files in desired color combinations. We will use Spectrolite to send files directly to the Riso for the second project. 

Each student will be required to switch drums, confidential a master and execute other basic functions. This class will be a fast-paced assessment of a student’s skills rather than a time for experimentation.

Upon satisfactory completion of the Risograph Certification class, you will be able to rent the Riso at SFCB to work independently on your posters, zines, or other printed matter! 

Prerequisite:
Introduction to Digital Risograph Printing OR Introduction to Analog Risograph Printing OR previous Riso printing experience. If your experience is from outside SFCB, please contact us before registering to request a skills review. 

Materials to bring:
Students will complete two separate projects, two colors each. Come prepared with designs ready to print. Both projects will be printed on 11” x 17” paper, they must have margins and images must not be larger than 10” x 16”.

One project should be ready to print from the glass of the machine (remember that two colors means two separate layers!). The second project should be digital files on a thumb drive, or digital storage that can be accessed from a shared laptop. Ideally you’ll work with one or more color photographs for this project, .jpg or pdf, please. The studio will supply paper for printing.

We suggest you download Spectrolite in the weeks before class to familiarize yourself with the software.

About the Instructor:
Meri Brin (she/her) has been teaching Printmaking around the Bay Area since 2007. Besides teaching at SFCB, she has taught Silkscreen at Mission Grafica, and was full-time faculty at Academy of Art University for a decade. Her prints have been exhibited in local, as well as national shows. She has a print in the Library of Congress, and also exhibits as Fixated Press at San Francisco Zine Fest. Her artwork examines the complexity and visual noise of the everyday world, or she just wants to show you some cats.

Meri is a member of the California Society of Printmakers, and is the Printmedia Studio Manager at California College of the Arts.

Building on the skills learned in Introduction to Western Paper Marbling, this workshop will take students through the techniques needed to marble on fabric.

Students will begin the day by advancing upon their marbling skills with the introduction of marbling on fabric. With the instructor's guidance, they will work on new patterns with an eye for nuance. The main focus will be on marbling fabric to create book cloth, and techniques for other textile uses will also be discussed.

At the end of the day, the instructor will demonstrate how to prepare dry pieces of marbled cloth for use in bookbinding. Students will leave with their own stack of 15 marbled fabric pieces.

Prerequisite:
This workshop is open to beginners who are specifically interested in marbling fabric, though it's best as a next step after an introductory class such as Introduction to Western Paper Marbling.

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

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.

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.

The four structures are:

Bookbinding Core 1: Coptic Binding
Students will craft one of the earliest structures in binding. In addition to coming away with a finished book made by hand, students will also make their own decorative pastepapers to be used on their book. Basic practices and equipment will be discussed as students familiarize themselves with both skills and safety measures needed for working in a bindery.

Bookbinding Core 2: Flat-Back Case Binding
Students will create what most of us refer to as a hardbound book. In bookbinding terms, it is known as a case binding; where a sewn textblock is glued into a separate structure known as a case. 

Bookbinding Core 3: Limp Paper Binding
Students will bind a book using limp vellum bindings as a model but employing thick paper as the folded and laced wrapper. They will learn to use a sewing frame and the skill of sewing headbands.

Bookbinding Core 4 :: Classic Rounded Back Cloth Binding (two sessions)
This final class 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.

The Weeklong Intensive rate is discounted $100 off the individual workshop fees.

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. The scholarship for this session has been awarded; more sessions and scholarship opportunities will be posted in July.

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to Bring:
All tools and materials are 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. 

Learn basic bookbinding structures and stitches that every beginning book artist should know!

Students will learn five staple structures of the bookbinding world: pamphlet stitch, two versions of one-sheet wonders, accordion folding, and a Japanese stab binding. If you’ve been curious about book arts basics, this is a great starter class; in three hours, you’ll gain the know-how to start making books of your own.

Students also learn about local resources, bookbinding tools, and SFCB’s Bookbinding Core Program, as well as protocol for studio rental. 

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:
All tools and materials will be provided.

About the Instructor:
Jane Knoll (they/them) was the San Francisco Center for the Book's 2025 Type Devil. After an undergraduate in writing and printmaking from Bennington College and a diploma in bookbinding from North Bennet Street School, Jane was awarded two fellowships at the Boston Athenæum's conservation lab and worked as Assistant Book Conservator at the Northeast Document Conservation Center. Currently preparing for a master's in book conservation, Jane studies the archaeology of the book, with special interests in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century structures, folk repairs, and personalized bindings, and has two publications on the American scaleboard binding.

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:
Jane Knoll (they/them) was the San Francisco Center for the Book's 2025 Type Devil. After an undergraduate in writing and printmaking from Bennington College and a diploma in bookbinding from North Bennet Street School, Jane was awarded two fellowships at the Boston Athenæum's conservation lab and worked as Assistant Book Conservator at the Northeast Document Conservation Center. Currently preparing for a master's in book conservation, Jane studies the archaeology of the book, with special interests in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century structures, folk repairs, and personalized bindings, and has two publications on the American scaleboard binding.

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'. The cover is then tooled with carbon and gold to personalise this simple hand made 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: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.