Thursday April 9th, 4:30-6:30pm
Wednesday May 20th, 4:30-6:30pm
Wednesday June 17th, 4:30-6:30pm
We offer open studio hours! Our shop will be available monthly for you to print your work. 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!
Silk Tie Covered Case Bound Book
Taught by Brenda Gallagher
Date: Tuesday March 31st, 9am-4pm
Cost: $120 Non member / $110 BAL member
Do you have a super cool tie from the back of your Grandpa's closet with a cool funky design? You can make that silk tie into a beautiful handmade book! Join Brenda Gallagher to transform the fabric from your old tie into a paper backed book cloth that can be used to cover boards of your own hand sewn blank journal. You can bring your own tie or choose one of the dozens of ties from Brenda's collection to cover your book. We'll begin making ties into bookcloth, then we'll proceed to cover our book boards with the tie bookcloth to make a case. The blank book for the inside of our book will be hand sewn and include colorful endpapers and matching endbands. Come spend the day learning beginning case bound book binding skills that show off your Grandpa tie flair.
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Ages: 16+
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This class takes place at Groundworks East (3063 E. Sterling Cir)
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Class will be available for registration Monday, February 2 at 8:00am.
Pocket Notebook
Taught by Gregory Robl
Date: Thursday April 2nd, 9am-1pm
Cost: $110 Non member / $100 BAL member
Create a small, leather-bound notebook that is refillable (3.5" x 5.5"). We'll build two signatures of fine writing paper of about 30 pages each. We'll sew them with linen thread and include a pocket cut and folded from cardstock. Then we'll enclose the signatures in the leather cover with an elastic cord or a leather cord, depending on preference. Participants can emboss their initials or name on the cover.
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Ages: 16+
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This class takes place at Groundworks East (3063 E. Sterling Cir)
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Class will be available for registration Monday, February 2 at 8:00am.
Zine Scene with Steph George (@STEPHGEORGEART)
Taught by Steph George
Date: Saturday, April 25th, 1pm-4:00pm.
Cost: $60
Zines (pronounced ZEENS) are miniature magazines or booklets dating back to 1517 that grew in popularity in the 1970s when copy shops became widely available. You’ll join local artist Steph George to learn a brief history and make your own self-published zine(s) with anything from scraps of old paper to abstract doodles. No previous experience is necessary to make this 8-page zine out of a single sheet of paper. Although required materials are provided, bringing additional items is encouraged. Optional supplies include: scrapbook paper, magazine clippings, ticket stubs, old letters, photographs, pressed flowers, stencils, stamps, stickers, tape, glue, scissors, et cetera.
Leather Spine Hard Covers Binding
Taught by Brenda Gallagher
Date: Saturday, May 23rd, 10am-4:30pm.
Cost: $160
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. Students can borrow tools from the BAL or you can bring your own bookbinder's toolkit. Students will need: bonefolder, medium-weight awl, Xacto knife, scissors, ruler, and a bookbinder's needle. Optional: Students may elect to bring their own sheet of decorative paper for covering the boards.
Miniature Cross Stitch Binding on Leather Spine
Taught by Brenda Gallagher
Date: Saturday, June 6th, 10am-4:30pm.
Cost: $120
This book structure is an intermediate sewing technique for students who have experience sewing multi-signature book structures. Leather spines will be backed, punched and prepared for hand sewing signatures of artists paper. Covers will be prepared and attached to the spine. The binding is completed with a decorative cross stitch pattern using multiple colors of embroidery floss. Students will have options to design their book by combining their choice of different leather colors, decorative cover paper options and multiple colors of thread. The result is a binding unique to your design aesthetic! Additional leather spines will be available for students to make additional books at home.
Spring Letterpress card printing
Taught by Julia Seko and Greg Robl
Date: Thursday, June 11th
Cost: $120
Join Julia and Greg in the BAL letterpress shop to make cards/prints to celebrate spring, Mother's Day, or the coming Solstice! We'll begin by choosing cuts from the BAL collection. 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.
