Instructors: Cat Bennett + Bari Zaki

This Bookful workshop, and its fifteen Bookful brethren, was originally presented to a Zoom audience of students from far & wide. We’ve decided to make our full-length live recordings of each of these workshops available for purchase this summer. (The themes of the fifteen workshops will never be repeated or reprised, as Cat Bennett & Bari Zaki will keep thinking of new subjects.)

Every recording (12-ish hours-ful) comes with the same kit of sumptuous materials as the original workshop, barring the occasional palette refreshment or replacement. Also included is my sincere invitation to contact me if you have questions or anxious moments whilst watching and making. Enticement: a 15% discount ($44.25!) on your second Bookful purchase, likewise on your third, and so on & so fourth.

This four-session workshop was the sixteenth Bookful collaboration between Cat Bennett and Bari Zaki. Our theme for this series is Japanese art. As Cat ponders, "What is it about Japanese art that so inspired artists like Van Gogh, Picasso and Matisse? The incredible sense of harmony, the flat, rich colors, the decorative patterns and the elegant, dramatic compositions changed the course of Western art and opened up new worlds of creative possibility.”

What you’ll make: A set of three slim landscape-format Japanese-style books with vintage Japanese paper covers from the BZS archives. The books all measure 5" x 8" x ¼", and each will be stitched with a different style of Japanese binding: Kangxi, Hemp Leaf, and Tortoise Shell. 

Workshop #1 – We begin, as always in our bookbinding classes, by getting acquainted with paper grain and its importance for the finished book. After an overview of the bookbinding tools you will use, you will create stitching templates from heavy cardstock for each of the three binding styles. You will then transfer the stitching pattern onto each of the books using a medium awl. You will first practice stitching onto the template, then you will stitch each of the three books. 

Workshops #2, #3 & #4 – In the next 3 sessions, Cat begins each workshop session with a curated slideshow of Japanese art inspirations. In your first book, you’ll interpret haiku. In your second, you’ll make nature paintings—from gorgeous blossoms and plants to leaves and twigs! And in your third book, we’ll illustrate a tea ceremony for your life. You will explore several mediums as you create images that will make each book its own treasure: Japanese brush painting, ink line drawing, composition and color mixing, and collage.

Workshop fee includes all materials (but not the tools) you’ll need to make three Japanese-style books:

3 sheaflets of Cat’s favourite drawing paper (5 x 8 x ⅛ each)

6 Japanese decorative sheets for your covers (2 each of three patterns, 5 x 8)

5 lengths of 4-ply waxed-linen thread (mixy-matchy or complementary)

1 glorious glassine sleeve-ful of vintage Japanese ledger and book pages & 20-ish assorted remnants from vintage cover papers

3 pieces of cardstock for your stitching templates (5 x 5)

Tools needed: bonefolder, triangle ruler, metal ruler, lightweight awl, medium awl, Nº 18 bookbinding needle.

You will receive a 20% discount on any tools ordered for the workshop (via refund after your workshop purchase). You can purchase these tools individually here. As a bonus and ode to our love of art supplies à la japonaise, we are also offering a 20% discount on Sumi-e watercolour sets, Kuretake brush pens, Japanese glue sticks, and of course washi tape(!) for all Bookful sign-up’s (refunded after purchase).

Ancillary tools needed: pencil, cutting mat

I will select your trio of Japanese papers and their complementary array of 4-ply waxed-linen threads for each kit. If a particular pattern is speaking to you, please e me and I will do my best to accommodate.

If you’d like to purchase an additional set of materials, you certainly can. However, you cannot accomplish this in the dropdown menu (because one set of materials is included with the workshop fee). It’s $165 per additional set, with no shipping fee if you order at the same time as your workshop purchase. To order, please e me and I will be in touch extremely promptly. And I will be sure that you don’t receive duplicate sets for making your three Japanese-style books (unless you want to).

Cat and I look forward to sharing our love of bookbinding à la japonaise, drawing, painting, and collaging, with you in this four-session (12-ish hours-ful) live-recorded workshop! … and sipping cups of tea together in spirit!