San Francisco Center for the Book

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.