Intermediate/Advanced Fine Leather Binding
September 13-24
Instructor: Don Glaister
Course Fee: $1500
Students will complete two full-leather bindings in this class. A range of fine binding techniques will be learned including laced-in boards, French style embroidery end-bands, leather hinges, end papers, sunken suede leather doublures and decorated paper or leather fly leaves. Also covered in the two-week session will be design techniques. Students registering for this class should have completed the Introduction to Fine Binding or Fundamentals of Bookbinding course or must exhibit a basic knowledge of leather bookbinding by submitting several examples of their work.
Basics in Paper Conservation
April 16-20
Instructor Renate Mesmer
Five Days: course fee $800
Participants will learn various repair techniques for tears and losses, humidification, basic washing and deacidification of paper. Morning lectures will cover history of paper making, basic paper chemistry, material studies as well as damage analysis and condition reports. The goal of this course is to apply as much of the theory in hands-on treatments as possible and give ample time for practice. Participants are encouraged to bring their own items to work on and prepare books for the following workshop Sewing Structures. Students who are interested in the Diploma Program should bring 3 textblocks in need of treatment and sewing, preferably not more than one inch thick and 12 inches tall. If possible, the textblocks should have been printed before 1850. No prior bookbinding or conservation experience is necessary to attend this class. If you are interested in pursing a Diploma in Book Conservation at the Academy, it is suggested (but not required) that you attend the Fundamentals of Bookbinding class first.
Sewing Structures
April 23-27
Instructor Renate Mesmer
Five Days: course fee $800
The workshop will concentrate on various methods of sewing that will include link stitch and sewing on single and double cords using herringbone or ‘all along’ sewing. Sewing using a concertina guard will be practiced. Various styles of endpapers will be constructed and attached to the textblocks. Participants will practice the various sewing structures on models and will leave with a nice reference library of sewing structures. Students interested in pursuing the Diploma Program should have 3 textblocks for sewing and endpaper attachment, and the books should not be more than one inch thick and 12 inches tall. The textblock needs to be treated in advance. This is the next class in the Diploma Program and is open to students who have some paper conservation experience or who have attended the previous class.
Fundamentals of Bookbinding/Intermediate Fine Binding
April 30-May 11
Instructor Don Glaister
Two Weeks: course fee $1500
This is an entry-level class for the fine binding and book conservation programs, as well as an intermediate class for continuing fine binding students. In this class, students will learn and develop an understanding of traditional bookbinding techniques, beginning with a laced-on leather covered board structure. The class will introduce and further acquaint students with techniques needed in future fine binding and specialty courses at the Academy. Students will become familiar with hand sewing using a sewing frame, rounding and backing, edge decoration, weaving headbands, as well as leather paring and applying leather to their books.
The focus of the class will be on learning and revisiting sound bookbinding techniques with special emphasis on working with leather. Beginning students will complete a half-leather and a full-leather book and intermediate students will complete two full-leather books in the two-week course. No fine binding experience is needed for beginning students. Those new to AAB who wish to take the class as an intermediate student must first send samples of their work for evaluation.
Designing the Design in Design Binding
May 14-18
Instructor Don Glaister
Five Days: course fee $800
It is generally thought desirable, even obligatory, that a design binding reflect some visual or material connection with the text that is bound. Hamlet: dagger on the front cover. Moby Dick: white whale. Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: swastika. But wait! Where’s the design here? Where is the element that makes the binding exciting, challenging, elegant, interesting, not boring or trite? How do we as designers express our creative voices on the covers of someone else’s voice? How do we find our creative voices in the first place? The answers to these questions will be the focus of our exploration during this one week class.
Through class discussions, exercises, individual instruction and private contemplation, students will discover and examine their own tastes and imaginations, and learn to apply the results of that examination visually to binding designs. They will create personal and well considered designs to several familiar titles (not the books themselves) and discover many of the processes that can open the door to making exciting and creative bindings.
Intermediate/Advanced Fine Binding
May 21-June 1
Monique Lallier
Two Week: course fee $1500
Technique counts for a lot in bookmaking but without an energetic application of the understanding of content, idea and context, it can simply become very cleaver material handling or a reflection of tradition.
In this two-week class students will complete two full-leather bindings. The student will utilize a variety of interior and exterior techniques such as laced-in boards, onlays, inlays, blind and gold tooling, embroidered endbands in the French technique and edge-to-edge leather doublures or sunken suede doublures. The focus will be on refining fundamental binding techniques while continuing to develop creative design elements. The class may be used as a review of the whole program or a concentration on one particular technique in order to prepare for the Diploma.
Anyone who has completed a ‘fine binding’ course with the American Academy of Bookbinding may register for this course. Bookbinders who have received training in other locations may submit their work in order to be accepted. This class may be repeated as needed.
Finishing
June 4-15
Instructor Don Etherington
Two Weeks: course fee $1500
This intensive class will cover all foundational finishing techniques utilized in book conservation. Students studying fine binding will also find this class very informative. During the first week students will prepare plaquettes, prepare patterns for spine lettering using hand tools, practice lettering with handle letters and type holders in blind, practice lettering using gold foil and gold leaf, and learn how to use a stamping machine. During the second week, students will practice tooling using gold and blind techniques, tooling false spines covered in leather with raised bands, and practice tooling and simple onlays and inlays on plaquettes. Students may also bring books that need finishing. Conservation Diploma students should bring the five books they have previously sewn and forwarded. Students may also bring books that need titling. Class size is limited to four students as Don will be teaching another class simultaneously. See note below.
Box Making for Conservation
June 4-8
Instructor Don Etherington
Five Days: course fee $800
This one-week class will focus on making boxes for conservation. After discussing various box structures and uses, students will construct a variety of boxes with card stock and binders board covered in cloth. Students will construct a clamshell box with a shelf, and a clamshell box with a rounded spine covered in leather. Tools, materials and equipment will be discussed and introduced. No experience is required. Class size is limited to four students as Don will be teaching another class simultaneously. See note below.
Stiff Board Vellum with Exposed Raised Bands
June 11-15
Instructor Don Etherington
Five Days: course fee $800
Vellum binding offers different challenges than bindings with other kinds of leather. In this one-class week, students will construct a stiff board vellum binding with fully exposed raised bands, covered in alum tawed. Don will demonstrate a technique that eliminates the effects of warping that generally occurs with newly bound stiff board vellum bindings. Students will also decorate their top edge, and if time allows, will construct additional bindings. Class size is limited to four students as Don will be teaching another class simultaneously. See note below.
NOTE:
In an attempt to fill classes, we are scheduling several classes simultaneously. This way, we won’t have to cancel classes. We have done this very successfully in the past, and found that with just a few students in each workshop, students get ample attention and benefit from seeing what students are doing. This spring, Don Etherington will teach a two-week class in Finishing and will offer Box Making simultaneously the first week, and Sfiff Board Vellum Binding the second week. Students will only be able to sign up for one class or the other each week.
Mapping the Elusive
June 29-July 1
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Instructor: Gail Rieke
Three Days: Course Fee: $400
Mapping is a uniquely human response. From the oldest known maps of the Iron Age to the most recent technologically derived imaging, maps have helped people visualize complex information. While mundane maps only help us get from point A to point B, fantastic maps can transport the imagination. Mapping often delights our eyes. It can also make the invisible visible by translating coded visual language.
We invite you to explore far beyond the borders of your concept of “map” by viewing slide images of varied geographical, scientific, artistic, and spiritual maps. Then, using the map as a point of reference, you-as-cartographer will engage in a variety of directed but open-ended exercises, both written and visual, which are designed to provide insight on a deep level and act as inspiration for book content. During the workshop you will navigate through individual and collaborative exercises of varied duration as well as group sharing of ideas & responses. What experience is necessary? A life lived and a mind open and one foot in front of another.
Intermediate/Advanced Fine Binding
May 3-14 2010
Instructor: Monique Lallier
Course Fee: $1500
Students will complete two full-leather bindings in this class. A range of fine binding techniques will be learned including laced-in boards, French style embroidery end-bands, leather hinges, end papers, sunken suede leather doublures and decorated paper or leather fly leaves. Also covered in the two-week session will be design techniques. Students registering for this class should have completed the Introduction to Fine Binding or Fundamentals of Bookbinding course or must exhibit a basic knowledge of leather bookbinding by submitting several examples of their work.
