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(s):
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.

Learn how to exploit the natural beauty of leather to create several useful techniques which can enhance your binding. All of these techniques are used by Dominic in his Design Bindings. Each technique gives different tactile and visual results to the finished surface of the leather.

We begin with simple raised onlays which give a slightly raised effect; back-pared onlays which produce a smooth surface, and feathered onlays for a more painterly effect. We will then progress to inlays, useful for larger areas, which demand very accurate paring and cutting. We will then move on to impressed leather techniques, which allow all manner of surface patterns to be embossed in the leather grain. We will finish with Tudor Style, a way of covering a book in overlapping strips of thinly pared leather which gives a very handsome finish.

All these techniques necessitate mastering the precise steps involved in planning and execution so that the desired result is achieved.

Working on prepared panels, you will learn how to prepare the board for decoration, the correct working order needed for each technique, and how to design, cut out and apply the leather accurately.

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(s):
Bookbinding Core 1-4 or equivalent; Orientation to Leather, Practical Leather Skills, or other experience working with and paring leather.

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:
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.

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.

There are many considerations for the preparation of paper and press set-up in order to successfully print in a variety of situations where partial or full bleeds are required. This class will focus on patterns, images, and texts which bleed off some or all the edges of the page, and planning for post-trimming, along with choosing inks for overprinting.

Additionally, we will discuss printing jobs which will be sent to another printer or service bureau for foil stamping, die cutting, or photographic insertion.

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(s):
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.