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.

This introductory class leads students through the process of creating their own unique holiday cards. Participants will learn the basics of composing type by setting a holiday greeting or simple image, and then print cards using SFCB’s vast collection of lead type and decorative ornaments.

Each student will leave with a lovely stack of printed cards and envelopes. 

No letterpress experience required.

Prerequisite:
None

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

About the Instructor:
Paula Gloistein (she/her) has an MA in Humanities from Dominican College which really has very little to do with her work as a photographer, designer, and letterpress printer. After more than ten years in the wedding biz, she recently opened a small shop, big day design lounge, that showcases handmade wedding accessories, custom invitations, and workshops for crafty couples.

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.