This online bookbinding workshop and the accompanying kit have been developed in partnership with At Birkhill House CIC – a fabulous craft venue, small holding and Community Interest Company nestled among the rolling hills of the Scottish Borders.
I regularly teach workshops At Birkhill and you may well have heard me waxing lyrical about how it’s one of my favourite venues to teach in, but I appreciate it might be quite the distance for some of you to travel to! This workshop doubler is my attempt to share some of the At Birkhill House CIC magic and inspire you to weave some natural fibres into your book making.
My video instructions take you through how to create a pleather covered A6 journal featuring a cosy woven spine, decorative pages and felted page divider, and a mini Artists’ Book with Alpaca felt cover and matchbox case.
The two books are quite different in style – the first incorporates blank pages so that it can be used as a journal or sketchbook, while the second is more of an artwork in it’s own right, with guidance on how to layer images, textures and words to create a story or sense of place within your book.
Limited edition kits – Lara, Sunshine and Magdalena from At Birkhill have helped me create a limited edition of kits to accompany this workshop that provide you with everything you need to make the two books, including threads dyed with botanicals grown on site, hand-painted decorative papers made with petal paints and felted book covers made with the approval of At Birkhill’s resident Alpacas. We hope you enjoy unpacking the kits as much as we enjoyed putting them together!
£5 from each sale will go back into At Birkhill House CIC enabling it to continue the brilliant work it is doing with vulnerable groups in the local community.
> Please note: our next batch of kits will be dispatched from At Birkhill House via Royal Mail on 24 July 2023 or if purchasing after this date, within 5 days of making your order.
>You can also buy access to this online course without a materials kit – a good option if you live overseas and want to avoid shipping costs or maybe you already have most of the materials to hand (see below for an overview of what tools/materials you will need). Access to the online workshop comes with a comprehensive kit list to help you gather everything you need, for this option, click here.
Materials/tools included in the kit…
- Flat White 170gsm paper pre-cut to size
- Pleather book cover, pre-cut to size with stitching holes punched
- Alpaca felted book cover pre-cut to size
- Embroidery thread dyed with botanicals – a mix of colours
- Bees wax (for waxing thread, locally sourced)
- Stud fastening for book closure
- Matchbox template
- Card for matchbox book case
- A selection of decorative papers, hand-painted with petal paints
- A mix of wool, acrylic and alpaca fibres, coloured with botanical dyes for weaving the spine of your book
Need the tools too? My bookbinding toolkit contains a set of great quality tools that you can use for this bookbinding project and beyond:
- Cotton drawstring toolbag
- Awl
- Cork punch board
- Bookbinding needle
- Bonefolder
- Bulldog clips x2
- Pencil
- Ruler
In addition to what is listed above, you will need to provide your own:
- Scissors or craft knife/stanley-knife/rotary cutter (whatever you prefer to work with) for cutting paper
- Cutting mat or chopping board
- Glue stick i.e. Pritt Stick
- There is also the option to incorporate paper, materials, bits & bobs from your own collection
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