Instructor: Bari Zaki

No group Zoom workshops are currently scheduled. That said, the full-length live recording is available, either on its own, or with the option of scheduling a private or semiprivate workshop (in addition to the recording). No previous bookbinding experience is necessary; a bit of glueing experience is a plus. See the dropdown below for pricing.

What you’ll make: Two beautiful (and useful) ephemera albums or travel diaries. Both have hard covers, a soft fabric spine, and a pair of bound-in hand-folded envelopes with string-and-button closure.

About the structure: Measures 5½ x 7½ x 1¼, with 12 pages / 24 serendipitous sides & 2 bound-in hand-folded (by you!) envelopes with string-and-button closure. For your envelopes, I share my “paper sandwich” technique, which provides elegant sturdiness.

Part #1: We begin with a brief introduction about paper grain and a review of workshop tools. Next, you will fold 3 four-page signatures. Then you will learn to fold an envelope (first using a sheet of practice paper) without a template. It will match the dimensions of your signatures. Next, you will learn to make a “paper sandwich” using: Hahnemuhle Bugra + adhesive sheet + your choice of two Peggy Angus patterns. These will fold to become the pair of deluxe envelopes you will stitch into your book between the signatures. 

Part #2: You will begin by glueing your cover. While it dries and presses, you will prepare a spine template to map out your stitching. You will then stitch the 3 signatures and 2 envelopes into the cover. You rejoice!

Your kit includes all the materials (but not the tools) you’ll need to make 2 L-s-l-s books & 4 hand-folded envelopes with string & button closure: 

1 full box of Peggy Angus patterned papers (24 sheets; 3 each of 8 designs) to make 2 front & back covers and 4 hand-folded envelopes…with a multitude (20-ish) of sheets left for future creative pursuits  

4 pieces of bookboard cut to cover size (5½ x 7½)

6 sheets of Stonehenge paper (11 x 15)

4 pieces of bookcloth for your outer & interior spine (5 x 9 & 5 x 7)

2 pieces of bookcloth for your front & back interior panels (5½ x 7½)

4 sheets of Hahnemühle Bugra for your paper sandwich (10 x 13)

4 double-adhesive sheets for your paper sandwich (10 x 13)

3 complementary 4-ply waxed-linen threads wound on a piece of binders board

8 beautiful buttons 

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). So, please e me, and I will be in touch extremely promptly. It’s $145 per additional set. Shipping is gratis if you order at the same time as your workshop registration.

Tools needed: Bonefolder, shipping clerk’s knife, lightweight awl, medium awl, X-acto knife, needle. My Bookbinding Tool Kit Coptic or Japanese has all the tools you’ll need. You can also purchase these items individually, and I am pleased to offer a 20% discount on any tools ordered for the workshop (via refund after your workshop purchase).

Ancillary tools needed: PVA glue, glue-brush, ruler, triangle ruler, pair of sharp scissors, pencil, scrap paper for glueing on, and a cutting mat. And your phone to take photos of your oeuvre in progress!

If you have the necessary tools but are in need of the glue & glue brush, you’ll find them in a separate shop listing here.

This two-part recording (because it is a two-part workshop) is 8-ish hours in total. Both parts include the “natural pauses” from the original workshop sessions, giving you time to complete the various steps. You can pause the video wherever and as often as you’d like, but you may not need to at all. You could complete your book in a single sitting, but that would be fairly exhausting.

To schedule a date & time, add this class to your cart, and then email barizakistudio@gmail.com with your preferred date(s) and time of day. Feel free to call or e me with any questions (773-294-7766 or barizakistudio@gmail.com).

I look forward to sharing my long-standing love of bookbinding, glueing & stitching—and my ongoing swoon-a-rama over Peggy Angus patterns—with you.