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Bookbinding
Sewn Boards Binding
with Clair Emma Smith
Discover the elegance and functionality of the sewn boards binding, a modern structure popular today with bookbinders from various backgrounds.
In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to sew text blocks onto integrated cover boards, creating a durable book that opens completely flat.
Prerequisite:
None
Tools/Materials to bring:
None. 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.
Bookbinding Core 1: Coptic Binding
with Sarah Songer
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 1: Coptic Binding
This class introduces students to the craft with the Coptic stitch, one of the earliest structures in binding. Students will spend the morning making their own decorative pastepapers, then use them in the afternoon when binding their book.
In addition to coming away with a finished book made by hand, students will also be introduced to the tools and terms of bookbinding. Basic practices and equipment will be discussed as students familiarize themselves with both skills and safety measures needed for working in a bindery.
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. Beginners are welcome.
Materials to bring:
None. All tools and materials will be provided.
About the Instructor:
Nearsighted from childhood, Sarah Songer (she/her) learned to read at a young age because she couldn’t see anything twelve inches past her nose. Her love of books continued even after she got her first pair of glasses, and she earned a BA in Comparative Literature from UCLA.
She is the daughter of a printer and a graphic artist; in rebellion, she became a bookbinder. She spent ten years at Arion Press and trained many apprentices in edition binding. She is a longtime student of design bookbinder Eleanore Ramsey and was the proprietor of Bay Area Book Repair for several years. Sarah enjoys sharing the many bookbinding tips and efficiencies she's learned over the years, and finds her own personal projects most satisfying if they make her laugh.
Bookbinding Core 1: Coptic Binding
with Megan Gibes
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 1: Coptic Binding
This class introduces students to the craft with the Coptic stitch, one of the earliest structures in binding. Students will spend the morning making their own decorative pastepapers, then use them in the afternoon when binding their book.
In addition to coming away with a finished book made by hand, students will also be introduced to the tools and terms of bookbinding. Basic practices and equipment will be discussed as students familiarize themselves with both skills and safety measures needed for working in a bindery.
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. Beginners are welcome.
Materials to bring:
None. All tools and materials will be provided.
About the Instructor:
A life-long love of working with her hands led Megan (she/her) to study bookbinding at the North Bennet Street School in Boston. Upon graduation in 2015, she went to work in Santa Barbara as the Head Bookbinder for Heirloom Bindery, followed by an apprenticeship at the Arion Press in San Francisco. Now the Lead Bookbinder, she is responsible for running day-to-day production in the Arion bindery. An active member of the Guild of Bookworkers and board member of the Hand Bookbinders of California, she also creates her own work as Long Arrow Bindery. She still loves making books every day.
Screw Post Binding
with Madison Halaby Gordon
Enjoy a fun and relaxed learning environment, and walk away your very own hand-made screw-post album.
This book is designed to fit 4x6" prints and works great as a way to preserve and share memories as a photo album or scrapbook. You will learn all about the basics of this flexible structure that can be taken apart, re-ordered, added to, and put back together with just a couple of screws.
This is a great class for those new to bookmaking! No previous experience is required – anyone is encouraged to come, learn, enjoy, and walk away with something creative and useful.
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:
Madison Halaby Gordon (she/they) is a bookbinder and conservator-in-training living in Oakland, CA, currently working at Zukor Art Conservation and the Walt Disney Family Museum. She is fascinated by paper, and loves making and repairing practical, fun, accessible, and well-made structures for the use and enjoyment of everyday people. Madison is also trained in letterpress printing and has worked previously with the Key Printing & Binding (Oakland, CA) and Small Editions (Brooklyn, NY).
Basic Repairs on Hardbound Books
with Michelle Sarjeant
In this class students will find solutions for common problems that are often found in standard hardcover books, including:
- how to mend tears within the text block
- how to patch and sharpen the worn corners on cover boards
- how to tip in a loose page
- how to bridge a gap between signatures without removing the covers
- a simple technique to reback a text block
- how to repair worn and torn head caps
This class is an excellent chance to learn repair techniques that often plague our most frequently handled books. Students are welcome to bring their own books but there will also be a sample book available to each student, just to be sure the full range of repair needs are available.
The scholarship for this session has been awarded.
Prerequisite:
None
Materials to bring:
All tools and materials will be provided.
About the Instructor:
Michelle Sarjeant (she/her) is a bookbinder, author, and museum professional. She earned her Masters of Arts in Museum Studies Archival Care from John F. Kennedy University in Berkeley, California, and her undergraduate degree from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. She apprenticed in bookbinding with Sandra Good and now does repair and restoration work in her binding studio in Marin.
She co-authored Modern San Rafael 1940-2000 with Jocelyn Moss, Librarian for the Marin History Museum, A History of the San Francisco State Belt with railroad historian Bill Kaufman and wrote San Rafael Through Time: As Illustrated & Described in 1884.
She is currently writing a book on the California Missions while rebinding books and is the Membership Chair for the Hand Bookbinders of California’s board.
Bookbinding Core 1: Coptic Binding
with Clair Emma Smith
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 1: Coptic Binding
This class introduces students to the craft with the Coptic stitch, one of the earliest structures in binding. Students will spend the morning making their own decorative pastepapers, then use them in the afternoon when binding their book.
In addition to coming away with a finished book made by hand, students will also be introduced to the tools and terms of bookbinding. Basic practices and equipment will be discussed as students familiarize themselves with both skills and safety measures needed for working in a bindery.
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. Beginners are welcome.
Materials to bring:
None. 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.
Bookbinding Core 2: Flat-Back Case Binding
with Madison Halaby Gordon
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 2: Flat-Back Case Binding
In this second Core Bookbinding class, 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. Students will learn more about the mechanics of books as they build on skills from Core 1 and expand both their vocabulary and capabilities in and around the bindery.
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
Materials to Bring:
All tools and materials will be provided. Students should bring any leftover pastepapers from Core 1 that they might want to use on their book.
About the Instructor:
Madison Halaby Gordon (she/they) is a bookbinder and conservator-in-training living in Oakland, CA, currently working at Zukor Art Conservation and the Walt Disney Family Museum. She is fascinated by paper, and loves making and repairing practical, fun, accessible, and well-made structures for the use and enjoyment of everyday people. Madison is also trained in letterpress printing and has worked previously with the Key Printing & Binding (Oakland, CA) and Small Editions (Brooklyn, NY).
Introduction to Bookbinding
with Mimi Zycherman
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: Mimi Zycherman (she/her) is a Book Conservator at a Bay Area Institution. She graduated from the North Bennet Street School’s Bookbinding program in 2023. She also received a BA in Art and Materials Conservation from Columbia College Chicago. In addition to a fellowship at the Boston Athenæum, she has interned in conservation labs at Dartmouth, Harvard, and New York City’s Municipal Archives. She specializes in fine design bindings that have been exhibited throughout the U.S. Mimi is also a member of the Guild of Bookworkers and the Hand Bookbinders of California.