Need a bit of storage in book form? Created by Hedi Kyle, the blizzard book is useful for holding coupons, recipes, business cards and many other small treasures.

To paraphrase Lewis Carroll, we begin at the beginning. This, the first of our Core Bookbinding series, introduces students to the craft with the Coptic stitch, one of the earliest structures in binding.

The San Francisco Center for the Book celebrates the craft and art of bookbinding. Our Bookbinding Core Certificate Program introduces students to four different binding models, leading them through the history and evolution of bookmaking. It provides students a comprehensive foundation to delve into the practice of binding and qualifies them work in our bindery.

In centuries past, books were sometimes sewn onto cords and then laced into soft covers before being bound for a specific collection or library. In this class students will bind a book using these bindings as a model but employing thick paper as the folded and laced wrapper.

Working from pre-cut materials students will learn three simple enclosures: Folded Paper Portfolio, Phased Box, & Slipcase.

Protect prints and books in elegant lift-top presentation boxes. In this class you will design and construct a custom lift-top box to your own specifications.

Discover the possibilities of brush lettering. By learning some of the fundamental techniques and principles of letter formation, sign writing, and calligraphy, students will learn how to create their very own letter designs using watercolor and gouache painting methods.

This first set of workshops in Creating Content: building your next artist book project explores the concertina structure. Jennie and Macy guide students through a series of lively discussions, content brainstorming and binding exercises which explore the versatility of concertina books. By the end of each workshop set, students develop themes and artist book structures suited to their personal vision, resulting in a finished book model with sketched in content.

Dig in to the tradition and history of letterpress printing and get your hands dirty. Learn about the process and practice of setting type, mixing inks and pulling impressions. In this class you will learn how to print your own cards!

Build your letterpress skills: learn advanced justification, typesetting, and composition. Put it all together to print a broadside of your own design.

Bring digital back into analog in this final core course and learn to print from photopolymer plates. Apply your letterpress skills to artwork created digitally to make fantastic plates for printing. Walk away with a stack of stationery printed from polymer plates.

Break out of the clamshell and slip case box for storing your bookish objects. Using binders’ board and marbled paper, learn to construct a decorative box with two drawers as an alternative storage option.

Collage is a process of exploration: with X-Acto in hand, we sift through old magazines, discarded books, and other scraps and ephemera in search of patterns, looking to unite images that were once separate. Learn how to stock your toolkit before you set out while getting a hands-on introduction to collage!

Are you longing to take your bookbinding to the next level? Then take this one day, beginner level class on the exquisite longstitch! Not only will you learn the ins and outs of this traditional German, non-adhesive, stitch pattern binding, but you’ll also learn to laminate decorative papers to create sturdy and malleable book covers.

Looking to learn new binding stiches and create eye-catching spines on your books? Well, look no further! This workshop will teach two stitches that result in beautiful, exposed spine bindings.

This intriguing book structure, which means 'back-to-back' in French, turns two books into one!

Do you love the alchemy of printed words and images that mix and grow with the turning of pages? Do the complex layers of meaning that can arise within a book fascinate you? If so, the Artists’ Book is a medium worthy of your exploration. Begin to delve into this rich and expanding format in this one-day class that introduces the history, basic structures, and an overview of the practices used by book artists. Bring your own quotes, short poems, or images and craft a book during the day to get a taste of the joy that is the making of Artists’ Books.

Learn basic bookbinding structures and stitches that every book artist should know in this three-hour workshop. If you’ve ever been curious about how to make a book, Introduction to Bookbinding is the place to start. One workshop, five booklets!

Learn basic bookbinding structures and stitches that every book artist should know in this three-hour workshop. If you’ve ever been curious about how to make a book, Introduction to Bookbinding is the place to start. One workshop, five booklets!

Learn basic bookbinding structures and stitches that every book artist should know in this three-hour workshop. If you’ve ever been curious about how to make a book, Introduction to Bookbinding is the place to start. One workshop, five booklets!

If you're familiar with "book arts basic concepts" but not quite ready to jump into SFCB's Bookbinding Core series, this is the class for you! In this four hour class, students will build basic bookbinding skills with a focus on sewing multiple signature bindings.

If you're familiar with "book arts basic concepts" but not quite ready to jump into SFCB's Bookbinding Core series, this is the class for you! In this four hour class, students will build basic bookbinding skills with a focus on sewing multiple signature bindings.

This extension of our popular Introduction to Western Marbling workshop will help students take their marbling skills to the next level as they learn to marble on fabric that can be used for covering books and boxes.

Step up your mixed media techniques and new layers of content to your collage and book arts projects with this introductory course to image transfers. Students will learn a variety of transfer techniques and leave with samples to take home and incorporate into their own art processes.

From fibers to formed sheets, students in this workshop will learn to make thin yet strong paper in the Japanese tradition.

This class introduces the process, the materials, the machines, and the satisfaction of printing by hand on a Cylinder proof press.

This class introduces the process, the materials, the machines, and the satisfaction of printing by hand on a Cylinder proof press.

This class introduces the process, the materials, the machines, and the satisfaction of printing by hand on a Cylinder proof press.

This 4-hour version of our popular Introduction to Letterpress class introduces the process, the materials, the machines, and the satisfaction of printing by hand on a Cylinder proof press with more hands-on time for students to work with typesetting and printing.Come play with us!

In this introductory class, student will gain a basic understanding of the history, techniques, tools, and styles of European marbling.

Have you ever wondered how in the world paper is made? Then this workshop which introduces the materials, processes, and equipment used in Western hand papermaking is for you!

Dig in to the tradition and history of letterpress printing and get your hands dirty. Learn about the process and practice of setting type, mixing inks and pulling impressions. Print your own cards!

Develop your letterpress design skills and aesthetic while increasing your letterpress versatility: learn to set up the press, refine your registration skills, and run an edition. Learn more about packing, setting gauge pins, and make-ready. Come ready to run an edition of your own small poster!

Ideal for sketching and journaling, this book structure is based on a model by book artists Hedi Kyle. Incorporating paper tapes and a soft cover this book is both flexible and durable.

Who needs movable type when you've got toys to print from? Take your love of pixels and learn the basics of letterpress while creating multi-color prints from your favorite childhood building blocks.

'Tis the season to send some cards! Spend an evening getting an introduction to letterpress printing on cylinder presses while creating personalized and original holiday stationery.

Create a watercolor sketchbook small enough to travel with you on any artistic adventure. While learning basic design and watercolor techniques, students will create an exposed spine sketchbook with magnetic closures.

Get organized for the new year by making your own journal! Whether you are a diarist, a bullet journaler, or an artist wanting to make a unique sketchbook, this class can help you make your perfect hard cover book.

Evening Open Studio is an opportunity, for those who qualify to work on their own projects with an experienced instructor on hand.

Evening Open Studio is an opportunity, for those who qualify to work on their own projects with an experienced instructor on hand.

Evening Open Studio is an opportunity, for those who qualify to work on their own projects with an experienced instructor on hand.

Evening Open Studio is an opportunity, for those who qualify to work on their own projects with an experienced instructor on hand.

Evening Open Studio is an opportunity, for those who qualify to work on their own projects with an experienced instructor on hand.

Evening Open Studio is an opportunity, for those who qualify to work on their own projects with an experienced instructor on hand.

This introduction to the secondary track in leatherwork for bookbinding helps students cross the frontier of those remote and mysterious tools and techniques commonly used in leather bookbinding today.

Have you been dreaming of honing your marbling skills but are unsure of doing it on your own? This workshop will allow you to do just that! Guided by Italian marbler Pietro Accardi, students will have a day to practice techniques learned in SFCB’s Introduction to Marbling workshops and leave with a stack of their own marbled paper.

Play with paint and combs to make paste paper patterns, gather botanicals and textures for printing with gelatin, and fold and dip dye to create geometric patterns on paper.

Learn the fundamentals of digital design for letterpress! Students will learn key skills for software applications like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. We will explore best practices for handling photographic and vector images as well as setting digital type for photopolymer plate production.

After taking Polymer Core 1, learn how to make detailed, high-quality photopolymer plates from digital files and film for letterpress printing.

Create a letterpress printed one page wonder. Single sheet books are made out of one sheet of paper and in this workshop students will design and print an edition of one-page folded books while learning to set type and print on a cylinder press.

Considered Medieval bling, the girdle book is an historic binding structure featuring a long extension of leather which could be attached to a traveler’s belt. Learn the ins-and-outs of this early binding structure in this 4-day workshop.

This one day workshop serves as an introduction to the history of handmade paper, with an overview of handmade paper in contemporary art and DIY papermaking.

Learn to make an adorable library of books small enough to fit in your pocket! Share your love of books by creating a set of tiny tomes to wear and share.