Learn how to print on the Risograph, a machine that combines the ease of a photocopier with the stencil concept of silkscreen.

A Risograph creates a stencil for each layer, printing a single color at a time. Inks are semi-opaque, so when layered two colors can create a third overlay.

In this class you’ll create two image layers by hand, and each student will print a 2-color poster in an edition of 20. Come ready to turn sketches or drawings into your poster. If you would prefer not to draw, consider bringing clip art, traced designs, stamps, or collage elements to make your design. 

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:

• Sketches, drawings, photographs, or collage imagery no larger than 10” x 16” on paper or clear acetate (spot imagery smaller than 10” x 16” will work as well).
• Pens: black ink, all kinds of tips/types (sharpies, markers, brush pens, felt tip, different sized nibs, etc.) Faber Castell's PITT pens or Micron's are examples where you have different sized nibs. You can also bring pencils (especially softer/darker ones if you want more hand-drawn imagery). Essentially anything to make a drawn mark with! Colored markers in yellows and pinks won't work well, though.
• Photos can be fun. Make sure they aren't precious in case you want to cut them up. Grayscale with a wide value range work the best, rather than color photos. You can print out or photocopy what you want to play with and bring that, rather than the original.
• Collage materials: papers with patterns, tapes like washi, templates or stencils for making shapes, black or dark construction paper for cutting out shapes.
• Stamps/stamp pad and letter/number stickers are great if you want to work with text.
• Scissors or X-acto knife; glue stick or clear tape; eraser.
• Please print out any digital imagery before class, no larger than 11" x 17", with a 1/2" border all around.

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.

Learn not only the Turkish Map-Fold but also the lesser-known Hungarian Map-Fold!

If you are old (like me) you may remember these awesome Turkish map-folds used for City pocket maps when traveling. Who did not get one of those maps while visiting Rome? And yes, it is still the Turkish map fold even though we are in Italy. And did you know that there was a Hungarian Map-fold, too? It is not really used for maps… but nevertheless it is a great fold for your artist books or mail art.

We will play around with different sizes of paper, how to connect the folds to make infinite long map folds become a garland, and how to make a cover and have two folds facing each other.

Prerequisite:
None

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

About the Instructor:
Bettina Pauly (she/her) lives in San Francisco and works as both a book artist and 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.

Sashiko - which translates to little stabs - is an embroidery technique developed in the Edo period in Japan. It became not only a decorative practice, but one that was used to mend and repair clothing.

In this workshop mixed media artist, author, and educator Lisa Solomon will first walk you thru how to sashiko stitch, with some pointers on how to create your own patterns from a grid. There will be templates and scrap fabric for you to use and practice with. After a bit of warm up, Lisa will demonstrate how give your clothes a new life and extend their use.

The class will provide a quick overview of supplies and techniques, including interior and exterior patchwork as well as ways to incorporate traditional sashiko patterning from simple to more complicated designs. Participants will also be encouraged to reflect their own personalities in the way they mend. Bring a garment that needs to be fixed! This class will offer a great way to think about sustainability, slow fashion and working with your hands in a meaningful and creative way. 

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to Bring:
Bring a garment that needs to be fixed, and any other scrap fabric you'd like to experiment on.

About the Instructor:
Lisa Solomon (she/her) is a mixed media artist based in the Bay Area who moonlights as an author, professor, illustrator, and color enthusiast. She often questions and deconstructs the meaning of identity and personal histories through the use of mediums traditionally associated with domestic crafts. A “hapa” [1/2 Japanese, 1/2 Caucasian] she feels as though hybridization is consistently at play in her work. She exhibits her work both nationally and internationally and is known for her books A Field Guide to Color and The Color Meditation Deck. Lisa shares her home with her husband, a teenager, a bevy of pets and many many spools of thread. She continually works to bridge the gaps between being creative, living creatively and making a living as a creative. Find Lisa on Instagram at @lisasolomon.

Suminagashi, aka Japanese Paper Marbling, is the ancient Japanese technique of decorating paper with inks. It is believed to be the oldest form of marbling, originating in China over 2,000 years ago and practiced in Japan by Shinto priests as early as the 12th century.

Suminagashi (sue-me-NAH-gah-she), which means literally “ink-floating” involves doing just that! We will explore the use of Japanese marbling inks and various papers to create our own unique, swirling beauties that take just a short time to dry and can be used for a multitude of creative projects going forward. Participants will leave with their own unique stack of marbled papers.

Prerequisite:
None.

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

About the Instructor:
Molly C. Meng (she/her) studied literature with a personal minor in collecting other people’s lives. An obsession with old notebooks, vintage photos, and every single discarded book that exists, her work reimagines untold stories behind the otherwise forgotten items of everyday. The medium of collage in both paper and textiles is Molly’s dominant form of communicating. She teaches creative workshops around the U.S., and is currently living and working in New Hampshire. mollycmeng.com

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(s):
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:
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.

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.

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to bring:
None

About the Instructor:
Brian Ferrett (he/him) has a printing degree from MATC and worked in offset web and screen printing. In 2008 he joined M&H Type as a typecasting apprentice under Lewis Mitchell. These days he co-manages M&H's daily operations, maintains the historic casting machines and presses, casts type and prints for the various Arion Press publications. Brian is a member of the Northern California chapter of the American Printing History Association, the American Typecaster Fellowship, and volunteers with San Francisco Public Library's annual Valentine’s Day broadside event. In his spare time he plays around with his Vandercook 219AB, C&P New Style 10x15, and his two Kelseys.

Learn how to print on the Risograph, a machine that combines the ease of a photocopier with the stencil concept of silkscreen.

A Risograph creates a stencil for each layer, printing a single color at a time. Inks are semi-opaque, so when layered two colors can create a third overlay.

In this class you’ll create two image layers by hand, and each student will print a 2-color poster in an edition of 20. Come ready to turn sketches or drawings into your poster. If you would prefer not to draw, consider bringing clip art, traced designs, stamps, or collage elements to make your design.

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:

• Sketches, drawings, photographs, or collage imagery no larger than 10” x 16” on paper or clear acetate (spot imagery smaller than 10” x 16” will work as well).
• Pens: black ink, all kinds of tips/types (sharpies, markers, brush pens, felt tip, different sized nibs, etc.) Faber Castell's PITT pens or Micron's are examples where you have different sized nibs. You can also bring pencils (especially softer/darker ones if you want more hand-drawn imagery). Essentially anything to make a drawn mark with! Colored markers in yellows and pinks won't work well, though.
• Photos can be fun. Make sure they aren't precious in case you want to cut them up. Grayscale with a wide value range work the best, rather than color photos. You can print out or photocopy what you want to play with and bring that, rather than the original.
• Collage materials: papers with patterns, tapes like washi, templates or stencils for making shapes, black or dark construction paper for cutting out shapes.
• Stamps/stamp pad and letter/number stickers are great if you want to work with text.
• Scissors or X-acto knife; glue stick or clear tape; eraser.
• Please print out any digital imagery before class, no larger than 11" x 17", with a 1/2" border all around.

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.

Using vibrant-colored European papers, wire, tape, and glue, learn to create your own lasting floral bouquets!

Choose from a variety of beautiful colors and shades to create vibrant hibiscus and daffodils. You’ll take home a small bouquet and the knowledge and skills to make more!

Prerequisite:
None

Materials to Bring:
None

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