This is a two session online workshop.

The caterpillar or centipede structure — documented in Keith Smith’s Exposed Spine Sewings Volume 3 — is a beautifully decorative yet incredibly strong binding that is sewn across the width of the book form as opposed to up and down the length of the signatures. It is visually complex but actually quite simple to learn the basics, and once learned, can lead to endless variations in the pattern for beautiful book covers and study journals that lay completely flat when opened.

In this workshop students will learn the fundamentals of the caterpillar stitch. Students are expected to come away with a finished book and have acquired the skills to develop their own caterpillar variations for cover patterns in the future.

Bookbinding, especially sewing experience, will be helpful.

The workshop fee includes a kit containing all boards, paper and thread required to make one Caterpillar binding.

Non-US students: Please email workshops@sfcb.org before enrolling, otherwise we cannot guarantee we can send a kit.

---

Materials to Bring: 

• X-acto or Olfa knife with blades
• Cutting mat
• Metal ruler
• Scissors
• Bone or Teflon folder
• 3 or 4 needles, something you can thread fairly easily, like this for example
• PVA glue
• Small glue brush or roller and tray, for example this or this 
• A small Dremel or jewelry drill, for example this or this
  OR
• An awl and hammer (any hammer will work but something with a rubber head like this will cause less damage to your awl)
• Scrap paper for gluing
• Scrap cardboard (like an old shipping box) roughly 7x7inches, at least 5 pieces stacked up so you can drill into something and protect your cutting mat or table surface
• Paper towels
• A cup or jar for water

Optional:

• Beeswax for thread
• Double sided tape (optional for adhering end papers)
• Punching cradle (instructions to make one here, scroll to page 22)

(Bookbinding tool rolls are available on the SFCB website)

Workshop Fee: $120
Scholarships are available; please apply here.

Date & Time: Two Sundays :: September 12 & 19, 2021 :: 10-12:30pm

Location: Online over Zoom

SFCB online workshops are recorded; all registered students will have access to the videos for four weeks after the last class session.

Please read over the SFCB Registration Policies before signing up for a class.

REGISTRATION WILL CLOSE AT LEAST TWO WEEKS PRIOR TO THE START DATE OF THIS WORKSHOP TO ALLOW TIME FOR KITS TO SHIP.

---

About the Instructor | e bond

e bond makes digital spaces by day, handmade books by night, hangs out with trees on weekends and writes something close to poems in the spaces between. Under the studio name roughdrAftbooks—created in 2003—she makes one-of-a-kind artists books, printed pieces and abstract drawings that merge and blur the boundaries of art, craft, design and poetry. e holds a BFA in graphic design and art history from Moore College of Art & Design and an MFA in Creative Writing and Book Art from Mills College. Her work has been published in 500 Handmade Books: Inspiring Interpretations of a Timeless Form and 1,000 Artists’ Books: Exploring the Book as Art.