BuZzeS: Debuting & previewing two new BZS workshops

Dear Everyone ~

I’m doubly delighted to announce Ultimate Hardcover Paper Frame and Art of the Hinge. In each workshop, students will make a bookish structure that is, at its heart, a beautiful memory keeper. Both use luscious materials to make a tactile backdrop for cherished photos, artwork, or ephemera.

In Ultimate Hardcover Paper Frame, we will make a hardcover folder (5" x 5" x ⅜") with a full paper cover—meaning the paper wraps around from front to back to make the spine. Inside, the facing mats are constructed so that your photo (or whatever you are displaying) easily slides in from the top and stays in place. The workshop kit includes all the materials needed to make two complete folders, one that you will make during the workshop, and one that you will make at your leisure.

The materials I’ve selected for this are a perfect pairing of Carta Pura Varese papers—molto classico! For the samples, as you can see, I’ve gone tutto cromatico, which I’m pretending means matchy-matchy, but you could also mix them (red mat/blue folder, blue mat/red folder).

Art of the Hinge is a two-session workshop with a focus on the technique of hinging. Hinging allows art or sentimental content to be preserved & protected without compromising or constricting. It is ideal for presenting and displaying all manner of flat objets in a book format. Why hinge? you might ask. And in the workshop, I will show several custom projects I’ve done in recent years, where hinging was the ideal binding treatment, not just an aesthetic aspect of the finished book.

Students will make an album measuring 5" x 6½" x ½" with eight Japanese-fold pages made of Stonehenge drawing paper, all hinged onto a piece of Japanese pure silk bookbinding cloth, from my very vintage Aiko’s reserve. You will learn how to cut out your art window precisely and then tape the art appropriately and seal the page so that your photo or artwork stays in place. 

The Japanese silky bookbinding cloth is soft & flexible (It’s actually 100% silk fabric on a very lightweight but sturdy paper backing.) This suppleness allows the pages to lie completely flat when the book is open. It’s elegant and a joy to work with. Its subtle shade is like the loveliest of tea stains, particularly a Puerh. It complements all the Japanese decorative papers I’ve selected for each kit.

As always, I will live record all workshop sessions, and these will be available to you later the same afternoon to watch and rewatch at your leisure. No previous bookbinding experience is necessary, though a bit of glueing experience is a plus— especially for Ultimate Hardcover Paper Frame, which is fairly glue-centric. That said, you will have ample time during each step to ask questions while we work. And I am invested in your ensuing glueing happiness. If you have any questions now, please feel free to call or e me to discuss!