Dear Everyone ~
Pocket Book via group Zoom debuts Saturday, November 11, a little over a fortnight from now. As I type this, all the Japanese papers and pieces of bookboard have been trimmed to size (as seen above). They are stacked and ready for action on the “kit assembly line.” We will count and collate, assemble and wrap. By the time you are reading this, all the complete kits will have been neatly organized on my center table, eager to be shipped to destinations in twelve states, plus three to Canada and one to Austria.
The materials I’ve selected for this kit are three of my current favourite Japanese Chiyogami & Katazome papers, paired with complementary bookcloths & waxed-linen thread. You can read about the kit in more detail here. The Pocket Book structure is elegant as well as useful, whether you are traveling or nesting, documenting or collecting.
Curating the kit of materials for each workshop is perpetually a pleasure for me…I actually love the repetition & tidiness of kit assembly. And my joie de Zoom warms right up when I receive emails from students about their delight in decanting their kits—and expressing their sense of workshop anticipation. Increasingly, students are ordering extra kits, either for upcoming workshops or for workshops they’ve completed.
Last Saturday, I taught the first session (of two) for Book of Engaging Pages. I had fourteen students, and almost everyone had previously taken one or more BZS workshops via Zoom. As always, I asked everyone to introduce themselves, and I added a “twist,” inviting students to share how they imagine using their books. It was so heartening to hear that many people will be gifting their books to friends and family. And then, the students were collectively curious about how I would be using my book! I happily shared my “habit”…
Whenever I’m out and about, even when it’s just to the studio and back home again, I always have a book with me, whether it’s a book to read or a sketchbook or both—and I’m always tucking papery things between the pages. The pockets in the Book of Engaging Pages provide a way to secure my bits of ephemera and so forth, including to draw and sketch and document a moment. I was inspired to hand-fold two envelopes and attach each one, flap-side out, to a page for holding assorted postage stamps for mailing in the moment.
I look forward to asking students in Pocket Book to share with each other what they envision doing with their books. If this workshop is speaking to you, but you haven’t yet registered, there’s still time for me to assemble & ship your kit. As always: I’d like to emphasize that no previous bookbinding experience is necessary, and a bit of glueing experience is a plus but not a must. You will have ample time during each step to ask questions while we work. I will live record this workshop session, and it will be available to you later the same afternoon to watch and rewatch at your leisure. If you have any questions now, please feel free to call or e me to discuss!
This workshop will be the grand finale of BZS group Zooms for 2023! I have taught six (almost a binder’s half-dozen!) group Zooms this year, and enjoyed them so much. They are all still fairly fresh in my mind and my heart…and I am already pondering & percolating to find a papery way—in addition to my follow-up blog posts—to “commemorate” them.
Pocket Book via group Zoom
Joie de Zoom, Bari