Using vibrant paints, we will experiment with free-form mark-making on covers. Option to add perforated texture with a rotary tool.Learn or review basic bookbinding terminology. Then we’ll fold inside pages and sew them into our covers. Exposed stitches are simultaneously functional and decorative. Great journal to keep or gift.

Basic sewing knowledge helpful, but not required.

Prerequisite:
None

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

About the Instructor:
Elaine G. Chu (she/her) has taught students of all ages, in person and online. Her work has been featured in “Greencraft” and “Somerset Studio” magazines as well as “1000 Artists’ Books.” She co-authored “Wood Paper Scissors,” a how-to crafts book. Elaine received a B.A. in music at Yale University and a B.F.A. in graphic design at University of the Arts. View more on Etsy and on Instagram @egchu1

Spend the day at SFCB making miniature book ornaments! In this class we will sew single signatures that will then be cased into decorative covers. Variations on covering will include full paper, full cloth, and quarter cloth bindings. Gold foil labels of the current year, 2025, will also be available to place on the front cover.

These miniature books make great gifts and decorations and can even be used to note special memories from the past year.

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. 

This year, wow your friends and family with the gifts you present. Learn how to wrap them beautifully in this one-night workshop.

Topics include how to measure the right amount of paper, how to wrap boxes with and without tape, and tips for tying the perfect bow. You'll experiment with ribbon alternatives and Japanese-inspired creations. Beautiful materials and a spot of tea will be supplied.

You'll end the night with sample gift wrappings to take home for use as decoration, or to un-wrap and re-use the gorgeous materials supplied by Billy. Your new gift-wrapping superpowers are also yours to keep.

You are welcome to bring one actual gift you wish to wrap, time permitting, but please bring your own materials (paper, ribbon, etc) for that project. 

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to Bring:
All tools and materials will be provided. Students who want to bring one actual gift to wrap should bring enough materials (paper, ribbon, etc) for that project.

About the Instructor:
Billy's passion for lettering began in pre-school with the assistance of Mommy Billie. Billy and Billie spent hours shaping letterforms day in and day out. Later in life, Little Billy parlayed that lettering passion into a calligraphic profession, creating a petit line of stationery, penning custom lettering for clients, designing a line of porcelain for San Francisco's luxury speciality store, Gump’s and of course as an instructor at SFCB—taking students through those first steps Little Billy took with Big Billie. Billy's lettering has been featured in magazines, wedding invitations, place cards, monograms, and brand identities.

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.

If you've been looking for a book with a nearly indestructible cover, or just a unique binding, this is your answer! 

Featuring an indestructible cover inspired by Italy’s 1970’s solution to broken Yellow Pages bindings in public phone booths, this 360-degree flexible binding offers many advantages because it bends and does not break! This binding style offers visual and tactile delight, employing strips of articulated hard board covered with marbled fabric made by the instructor.

In this workshop, the instructor will guide students through the art of this rare binding technique. Students will create an articulated blank journal that can beautifully withstand the ravages of time.

Prerequisite:
None

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:
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.

Developed in the Renaissance for studying perspective, the tunnel book is sometimes called a 'peephole book.' It is truly an adapted accordion with multiple panels bound on both sides, to be viewed from the front giving it a 3-D effect.

Students will collage the various layers out of their own postcards and photos to create a unique and personalized book. After attaching the pages to the accordion fold that holds them, the tunnel book will be glued into a simple cover for a more finished look.

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to Bring:
Several postcards (landscape orientation), old pictures, and/or magazines to cut up for images.

About the Instructor:
Bettina lives in San Francisco as a book artist and works as a letterpress printer with Kim Vanderheiden at Painted Tongue Studios, Oakland, California. She loves books and boxes both as physical objects and as containers of meaning. She is interested in a variety of folded, sewn and woven structures in which she can incorporate her printing.

Spend a joyful afternoon learning this centuries-old process that produces exciting, intricate designs, and offers endless possibilities for decorating paper. 

An historic process originally devised as a low-cost alternative to marbled papers, this class is playtime for adults! If you liked finger painting as a child, you'll enjoy making beautiful paste papers.

Over the course of the afternoon students will learn about mixing the paste and pigment combination as well as the variety of tools and techniques that can be used to create an abundance of patterns on the paper surface. Paste papers have an array of uses from book covers to gift wrap, and at the end of the day each student will leave with a stack of papers they made in class, suitably sized for gift wrapping.

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to bring:
Be sure to wear old clothes and shoes.

Optional: 

• One 2- or 3-inch housepaint brush (used is ok but must be clean)
• Pint or quart plastic containers with lids (for mixing colors, or taking colored paste home)
• Implements to draw in the paste, i.e., fork, comb, rubber stamps, cookie cutters, etc.

About the Instructor:
Leigh McLellan (she/her) typeset, letterpress printed, and hand bound letterpress books and broadsides from 1974 to 1990 under her imprint, Meadow Press. She has been an instructor at the San Francisco Center for the Book since 2002. She has also taught letterpress printing, bookbinding, and decorated papers at Mills College and the California College of Arts and Crafts, as well as workshops at the San Francisco Public Library, Stanford University, Pyramid Atlantic in Washington, DC, the Women's Graphic Center in Los Angeles, and the University of Iowa. Her work is in many library collections across the country, including the San Francisco Public Library, the University of San Francisco, Mills College, The University of California Bancroft Library, the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, and the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England, among many others. Her work has been exhibited widely. In a related field, she has been an independent commercial book and graphic designer since 1976, working mostly for publishers in the Bay Area. In both pursuits, she has won many design awards. See Leigh's Meadow Press work at meadowpressbooks.com and her commercial design work at leighmcdesign.com.

Discover how to make a piano hinge book with an unexpected secret compartment!

In this class you will learn how to combine accordion folds, signatures, and a piano hinge spine to create a unique book with a playful hiding place. When the hinge pin is removed from the spine a hidden section of the book is revealed. This could contain the answer to the book’s riddle, a different ending, or maybe clues to the symbolism within the contents.

Using collage, stamping, and inks we’ll explore ways to express your unique vision. Bring an idea such as a poem, riddle, saying or visual theme to use in the book or just see what emerges when you play with the materials.  

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to Bring:
Optional: Bring ideas for content like a poem, riddle, saying, collage, or short story. However this workshop is structured so that students can also just dive in on the day and see how the materials inspire them. 

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.