Open Studio: Bindery

Work side-by-side with other bookbinders on a project of your choosing. Bookbinding tools and some materials available.

OPEN STUDIOS

Our Open Studio sessions offer you dedicated time and space to work on your book arts projects. You get to choose what you’re going to work on during each two-hour block, and you can help yourself to a small assortment of snacks, coffee, tea, and sparkle water.

These sessions are non-instructional time, meaning you work independently but in community with others.

Sign up for a single session or a whole bunch!

Learn bookbinding skills, techniques, and vocabulary in this beginning bookbinding workshop.

We'll talk about paper and bookbinding tools and make a few simple book structures, which will allow participants to get a decent start on their bookbinding journey.

Note: This workshop is for beginners, and is a prerequisite for our more elaborate book structure workshops.

Create a book by folding and gluing paper bags together to form pages and pockets. These books can be used as interactive notebooks, scrapbooks, or creative journals. You can write, draw, collage, or store small items in the built-in pockets. No bookbinding experience is necessary for this class.

This elegant binding shows off the interior of the book at the same time as it shows off the cover and stitching. A variant of the long stitch with some structural surprises, this binding is a wonderful structure to learn and practice.

Both elementary and exquisite, an animal abecedarium is a book that moves through the alphabet using animals as keywords: A is for anteater, B is for buzzard, C is for cheetah… While the contents may be simple, the design elements may be as complex as your imagination can dream them up. Once the contents are all in place, you’ll learn to build a text block and case it in. Making a one-of-a-kind hardback book from scratch takes thought and patience, so we’ll take our time with it.

All levels of drawing and design experience welcome and appreciated; note that no drawing experience is necessary. Intro to Bookbinding or some prior bookbinding experience encouraged.

This class is held at Lark Sparrow Press, 1726 Ashland Ave, Evanston, IL 60201.

Make your own hardback book! We'll fold signatures, sew text blocks, create covers, and case in the text blocks. These take extra time and attention, but they're worth it. 

Create a book where each page reflects an experience! The pages are made using artifacts collected during a trip, museum visit, or other small or large adventure.  Your book might include

• Maps of places you’ve been or dream of visiting
• Brochures or postcards from trips or events
• Photos or copies of photos of people, places, or significant moments
• Receipts/tickets from restaurants, movies, travel, etc.
• Fabric swatches, pressed flowers, newspaper clippings

The materials used will determine the book’s shape and binding. 

In this class, we'll work on a single book with round back binding. Elegant and eye-catching, this book will be a favorite on your shelf! 

This class is best suited for people who have taken two or more bookbinding classes. Please reach out if you have any questions!