San Francisco Center for the Book

Learn bookbinding's basic vocabulary, its fundamental tools and their uses, as well as the materials (paper, cloth, board and adhesives) and techniques (folding, sewing and gluing) of the craft. Students will construct four hardcover, hand-bound, multi-section books over the course of the series. Each binding in the series will add to the skills previously learned and integrate new techniques.

No longer a secret, this is an ideal structure for guest books, sketch books, and photo albums, as the pages lay flat when the book is open.

Learn the longstitch, a historical binding in which the stitching pattern is woven in and out of the cover with exposed sewing along the spine, resulting in a truly unique and lovely book.

Following Beginning Bookbinding, Intermediate Bookbinding is the final class in the SFCB Bookbinding Certificate Program. You will learn advanced binding techniques to making a rounded and backed cloth binding that is sewn on a sewing frame, and learn to make hand sewn endbands. In this class you will also begin working with leather and make a full leather binding.

Learn the essentials behind great titling using the Kwikprint gold foil stamper and a simple but elegant way to inset a label on a cloth book cover.

In this one-day class, make a delightful pop-up house and its 12 walled gardens, each with interconnecting doors and labyrinthine pathways.

Paul Johnson specializes in making three-dimensional books inspired by architecture and that contain no folds and therefore no paper “fatigue.” All sections are fastened together using a range of paper hinges, locks and dovetail joints. In this intensive workshop, you will make a pop-up gazebo using these techniques.

Make charming, tiny books with beautiful paper scraps from your art and book making projects. You’ll make pamphlets, pocket pamphlets, concertinas, scrolls and exposed spine sewings.

Learn bookbinding's basic vocabulary, its fundamental tools and their uses, as well as the materials (paper, cloth, board and adhesives) and techniques (folding, sewing and gluing) of the craft. Students will construct four hardcover, hand-bound, multi-section books over the course of the series. Each binding in the series will add to the skills previously learned and integrate new techniques.

The Coptic binding is an ancient non-adhesive binding that has modern appeal. Its exposed sewing is complemented by the variety of materials that can be used to make book covers.

Learn a historically inspired binding technique in this workshop for beginner to advanced bookbinders.

In the first day of this visiting teacher series workshop, we will explore surface design methods which extend the aesthetic of leather without employing it and fabricate a variety of samples that will greatly expand your surface design possibilities. We will use paints, pigments and adherents in our experimentation, and examine ways to use these materials to solve the problems that are inherent in making a book that is both beautiful and durable.