Tuesday January 13th, 4:30-6:30pm
Tuesday February 10th, 4:30-6:30pm
Tuesday March 10th, 4:30-6:30pm
We now offer open studio hours! Our shop will be available monthly for you to print your work. Below are the open studio dates for the remainder of the year. BAL board members will be your hosts and will assist you with your printing projects. Please bring your own paper and get ready to print!
Ephemera Exchange Print Playdate
Teachers: Brenda Gallagher
Date: Saturday January 24th, 10am-2pm
Cost: $100 Non-member / $90 BAL member
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Ephemera: any transitory written or printed matter not meant to be retained or preserved.
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Each year the Book Arts League hosts a print Ephemera playdate. Letterpress printed pieces are encouraged, but the BAL will accept any entry! In the past we have had potato prints, laser printed quotes, creative cuttings from old phone books, poems picked out on pages of old books, a set of 30 individual collages, folded maps, even laser printed illustrations. Anything you can print, you can send!!
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To play, participants make an edition of 30 pieces, send them into the BAL by January 31 (or as soon thereafter as you can!) Once the Book Arts League receives all entries for the year, the sets will be collated. A BAL volunteer will then design a wrapper or package to contain the collection and you will be mailed back a complete set! Inside your package you will receive one piece from every person who participated and one of your own pieces. Also included will be a list of the names of all the artists who participated.
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Would you like to participate in our annual event but don't know where to begin? Don't have a press? Come join Brenda Gallagher in the Book Arts League letterpress studio to print your submission for this year's exchange! Bring your paper of choice. You'll need at least 30 pieces that can be cut (or folded) down to 5"x7" pieces. You can set a few words using the BAL type collection and pair it with a picture block from the BAL's collection. Bring your ideas and get ready for the 2026 Ephemera Exchange!​
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If you are a BAL member please reach out to registration@groundworksartlab.org for a $10 off discount.
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Ages: 16+
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Prints can be dropped off at Groundworks East (3063 E. Sterling Cir)
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Class minimum: 2 Class maximum: 6
Teacher: Steve Matteson
Date: Saturday February 7th, 10am-2:00pm
Cost: $120
Join Steve in the BAL letterpress shop to make your own set of Valentine's Day cards. We'll begin by printing a heart in colors chosen by the group. Then students can set their own Valentine's Day message to be printed in black ink on top of our candy colored hearts. Choose letters from the BAL's vast collection of lead type for your message and make your sweetheart melt! Cards will be printed on the BAL's Vandercook and Pilot platen presses. Each student will go home with a set of six cards and matching envelopes. If participants would like to trade cards, your set could have several different messages!
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If you are a BAL member please reach out to registration@groundworksartlab.org for a $10 off discount.
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Ages: 16+
Chinese New Year Card Printing
Teachers: Julia Seko and Greg Robl
Date: Thursday February 19th, 10am - 3pm
Cost: $120
Join Julia and Greg in the BAL letterpress shop to make cards/prints to celebrate the Chinese New Year! This year will be the year of the fire horse. We'll begin by planning the fire horse design as a group. With two colors and two passes, students will learn the art of pressure printing, layering colors, and if time allows, setting lead type. Printing will be completed on the BAL's Vandercook presses. Each student will go home with a frame worthy print or set of cards with matching envelopes.
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If you are a BAL member please reach out to registration@groundworksartlab.org for a $10 off discount.
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Ages: 16+
Leather spine hard covers binding
Taught by Brenda Gallagher
Date: Saturday February 28th, 10am-4:30pm
Cost: $160 Non member / $150 BAL member
This book combines the soft opening of a leather spine with the sturdy firmness of board covers. The completed book opens nearly perfectly flat making it an ideal book for your journal writing or drawing. Creating your book involves sewing folded signatures through a leather spine with the long stitch. We will begin by getting acquainted with paper grain and its importance for the finished book. We will cover the boards of the book with decorative paper and once dry we'll drill holes in the covers to prepare for sewing. The leather spine will also need holes for sewing which we will pierce with an awl or drill. Paper signatures will be folded and pierced and then we'll take a short break for lunch. After lunch we will learn to sew the long stitch to bind the book. Covers will then be sewn onto the leather spine piece. By the end of the workshop, you will have completed your book, and have the skill to make more on your own. Class fee includes all materials we use to make a book: leather for the spine, a sheet of decorative paper to cover boards, paper for your signatures, a pair of pre-cut cover boards, glue, and waxed-linen thread. Please bring your own basic bookbinder's toolkit: bonefolder, pencil, awl, Xacto knife, scissors, ruler, and a bookbinder's needle. If you don't have any of these, the BAL will have student tools to share.
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Class minimum: 4 Class maximum: 8
