Learn to bind your own leather journal

I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be teaching one of my favorite workshops again this summer. My leather journal workshop has been one of my most popular classes in the past, which is great because it's also one of my favorites to teach. And these leather journals are one of my favorite types of books to make. 

The class this summer will be a one-day workshop hosted by Watkins Community Education in Nashville. We'll spend the day making a leather bound book from start to finish, and at the end you'll have your very own book bound with the distinctive Italian Long Stitch. And once you've completed your book, I'd love to encourage you to use it as a journal, sketchbook, or photo album. (If you need some ideas for how to fill your freshly-bound book, be sure to visit my inspiration page.)

You can find all the details about the workshop below. I hope to see you there!

Traditional Leather Bookbinding with a Contemporary Twist

When: Saturday, July 23; 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m

Where: Watkins College, 2298 Rosa Parks Blvd., Nashville

Cost: $90, plus $30 materials fee

To Register: Call (615) 383-4848 or sign up online

Learn to bind a soft-cover leather book that can be used as a journal, a sketchbook, or a photo album. Using the Italian Long Stitch style, a historical binding that dates to 14th Century Europe, each student will create a book with a leather cover that features exposed decorative stitching on its spine, and pages that lay completely flat when open. Students will use leather for the book cover and have the option to include interesting contemporary papers inside. The workshop will also include the opportunity to view and handle a collection of professionally made examples. You’ll leave this class with a completed handmade book, and the skills and resources to continue binding at home. No previous bookbinding experience is required.

Make your own leather journal this Saturday

This Saturday I'll be teaching one of my most popular bookbinding classes at The Skillery. You'll learn how to bind your own large large leather journal from start to finish. And if that wasn't reason enough to get excited, this will be the first class I'll teach in The Skillery's brand new (and super awesome) space in the Germantown neighborhood of Nashville. 

There are still a few spots left in the class, so register now to reserve your space. This is not a class you'll want to miss! See below for the details.

Create a handbound leather journal or sketchbook

Date: Saturday, August 16, 2014

Time: 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

Where: The Skillery, 1323 Sixth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37208

Cost: $115 (or $105 for Skillery members)

To Register: www.theskillery.com/classes/create-a-handbound-leather-journal-or-sketchbook

Learn to bind your own unique and functional book from a professional bookbinder. 

In this workshop, you'll learn to make a soft-cover leather book that can be used as a journal, a sketchbook, or a photo album. Using the Italian Longstitch style, a historical binding that dates to 14th Century Europe, each student will create a book with a leather cover that features exposed, decorative stitching on its spine and pages that lay completely flat when open. Students will use leather for the book cover and have the option to include interesting contemporary papers inside. The book will feature a wrap-around leather strap to keep the book closed. 

The class will also include an introduction to the world of handmade books. You'll learn the fundamentals of bookbinding, including proper techniques for folding, tearing, cutting, and stitching using traditional binding tools. And students will have the opportunity to view and handle a collection of professionally-made examples. 

All students will leave this class with a completed leather book, and the skills and resources to continue binding at home. No previous bookbinding experience is required. All tools and supplies will be provided.

Spring book arts and graphic design classes

Registration opened today for spring community education classes at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film. I will be teaching two nine-week courses (one will be an introduction to book arts, and the other is an introduction to graphic design), and I will also be teaching a one-day leather bookbinding workshop.

In addition to the classes I'm teaching, Watkins Community Education has a full schedule of courses on everything from sewing to welding. View the entire course catalog here, and if you'd like to sign up for a class you can register online or call 615-383-4848.

Introduction to Book Arts

When: Tuesdays, February 4 – April 1; 6 – 9 p.m.
Where: Watkins College, 2298 Rosa Parks Blvd., Nashville
Cost: $210, plus $40 materials fee

Learn the basics of bookmaking, and more than a dozen binding styles, in this 9-week introductory class. Students will become familiar with the materials, tools, techniques, and vocabulary of handmade books. Students will create their own books each week, starting with simple folded structures and building toward intricate and exciting books that can be used as journals, sketchbooks, photo albums, and sculptural displays. Students will explore the essentials of paper grain, folded signatures, hardcover and softcover books, and binding by hand. You’ll leave this class with an assortment of your own handbound books, and the skills and resources to continue binding at home. All tools and supplies included in the materials fee.

Traditional Leather Bookbinding with a Contemporary Twist

When: Saturday, March 8; 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Where: Watkins College, 2298 Rosa Parks Blvd., Nashville
Cost: $80, plus $25 materials fee

Learn to bind a soft-cover leather book that can be used as a journal, a sketchbook, or a photo album. Using the Italian Longstitch style, a historical binding that dates to 14th Century Europe, each student will create a book with a leather cover that features exposed, decorative stitching on its spine and pages that lay completely flat when open. Students will use leather for the book cover and have the option to include interesting contemporary papers inside. You’ll leave this class with a completed handmade book, and the skills and resources to continue binding at home. No previous bookbinding experience is required. All tools and supplies included in the materials fee.

Introduction to Graphic Design and Typography

When: Thursdays, February 6 – April 10 (no class Feb. 13); 6 – 9 p.m.
Where: Watkins College, 2298 Rosa Parks Blvd., Nashville
Cost: $210, plus $20 lab fee

Learn the fundamentals of graphic design including composition, the grid system and color theory. In particular, the course will cover the expressive and conceptual use of type in design. You’ll become familiar with Adobe InDesign, an essential program for designers, while working on projects such as calendars, posters and business cards. Through projects, hands-on use of the software program and critiques, participants will leave with a thorough understanding of design and how they can incorporate it into their own lives. Basic experience using Mac computers is required, and students should bring their own external storage device.

Parnassus Books in Nashville has my newest handmade leather journals

It's been exactly one year since I wrote about Nashville's awesome new independent bookstore, Parnassus Books, which had just opened to much-deserved fanfare.

I've been to the store frequently in the past few weeks, including to deliver 20 of my newest handmade leather and suede journals. This line of journals ranges from the bright and colorful (you know me) but also includes books that are more rugged and earthy, including some with pages salvaged from old books and an especially awesome Handy Map of Nashville map book — which, unfortunately, became something of a collector's item after Handy Maps discontinued last year.

But Parnassus is going strong. My husband and I attended the store's one-year birthday party last week and heard some of the most uplifting "thank you" remarks we've ever heard, by both co-owners, Karen Hayes and Ann Patchett. My husband was especially excited to hear Patchett speaking of the resilience of her little independent bookstore. "Amazon and algorithms," will never put Parnassus out of business, she told the crowd.

Really, the store has received such acclaim this year, that I'm just happy my work can be a part of all the good vibrations. And we've also done quite a bit of Christmas shopping there. Plenty of good gifts to be found there — my books included!

Fall bookbinding classes at Watkins College

I'm already a few weeks in to the Introduction to Graphic Design and Typography class that I'm teaching at Watkins College of Art, Design, and Film this fall, but there's still plenty of time to sign up for the two exciting book arts workshops that I have scheduled for next month.  

Whether you're interested in spending a day learning to bind a book with a leather cover, or a few days creating handmade photo albums, I'd love to have you join me for one (or both!) of these workshops.  The classes are open to anyone in the Nashville community.  To register just call the college's community education office at 615-277-7455 or sign up online. Check out the Watkins fall course catalog to read more about the other creative classes happening this season. 

Traditional leather bookbinding 

with a contemporary twist 

When: Saturday, October 13; 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. 

Where: Watkins College, 2298 Rosa Parks Blvd., Nashville 

Cost: $45, plus $20 materials fee

Description: Learn to bind a soft-cover leather book that can be used as a journal, a sketchbook, or a photo album. Using the Italian Longstitch style, a historical binding that dates to 14th Century Europe, each student will create a book with a leather cover that features exposed, decorative stitching on its spine and pages that lay completely flat when open. Students will use leather for the book cover and have the option to include interesting contemporary papers inside. No previous bookbinding experience is required, and all materials and tools will be provided.

Binding handmade photo albums

When: Saturday, October 27 – Saturday, November 17 (4 weeks); 

1 - 5 p.m.

Where: Watkins College, 2298 Rosa Parks Blvd., Nashville 

Cost: $125, plus $35 materials fee

Description: Learn to make several styles of handbound photo albums to preserve and proudly display your favorite photographs. These books will be more unique and meaningful than a typical store-bought album and will give you a reason to finally print those photos that have been collecting digital dust on your computer. Using archival materials, this class will cover three hardcover binding styles: the accordion, the Coptic, and the Japanese stab binding. You’ll learn the basics of bookbinding while creating beautiful, functional books. No previous bookbinding experience is required, and all materials and tools will be provided.

Click the image above to view the full Watkins course catalog as a pdf.

Journals for sale at Parnassus Books in Nashville

Last night marked the much-anticipated grand opening of Parnassus Books. The city has been buzzing about this new independent bookstore for months, and it's even been making headlines nation-wide.  (There was a front-page story about the store in the New York Times last week!) 

So far it's living up to all of the hype.  The store was packed last night, as you can see in these pictures from the grand opening event.  Plus there are more pictures on my facebook page and the Parnassus facebook page.

And I'm especially excited to announce that my handbound journals are available for sale at Parnassus. I first learned about the bookstore at Handmade & Bound, Nashville's first annual book arts festival, and was later contacted by one of the co-owners to see if I'd be interested in selling my books there.  Of course I was thrilled about this opportunity.  I think this is going to be a fantastic venue for my books, and hopefully it will introduce lots of new people to my work.

I've been busy for weeks making lots of new books for the store.  I've focused on journals and sketchbooks with leather or suede covers bound in the Italian long-stitch style.  And I've also made some books with decorative paper covers sewn using the Coptic binding.  A few of the leather books feature my own handmade paper inside.  And some books are made using suede from upcycled clothing, like a blue suede jacket or a pair of red suede pants.  

If you live in Nashville, I urge you to visit Parnassus Books and consider shopping locally for your holiday gifts.  You will not be disappointed with the curated collection of books and artwork that you'll find.  

Making paper by hand

I've been taking over the house once again with my latest creative project -- papermaking.  (Thankfully my husband doesn't seem to mind, and he even stepped in to take some photos of the process so I could share them here.)  

I met a local bookmaker, Laura, here in Nashville soon after moving to town.  We then met up for coffee to chat about books and new techniques we wanted to try.  We decided that papermaking should be our first project and we wasted no time with getting started.  We made these lovely lavender sheets of paper last week, and we've since made a new batch of raspberry-sherbet-colored paper and have several bags of paper pulp in my fridge prepared for our next papermaking adventure.  

The bowl above is filled with little torn-up scraps of paper leftover from making books.  For about a week, I collected all of the little bits of paper that were too small to be reused.  Then I soaked them in water for about 12 hours.  Then Laura and I blended the paper scraps into pulp using her smoothie maker that she donated to the papermaking cause ("the sacrificial blender," as my husband called it).  

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the blended paper pulp this time.  You might expect it to look like a gross and gooey mess.  But it's surprisingly soft and has a really luxurious feel to it.  It's actually quite nice to dip your hands into it during the process.  

Next, we added our pulp to a large vat of water.  Then we'd dip our mould and deckle (made by Laura!) into the vat to pull a sheet of paper.  With each sheet I pulled, I loved seeing the assortment of speckles and flecks of paper that happened to make it onto the mould because they remind me of the books I'd made with those different decorative papers.  

After pulling the sheets, we'd press them from the mould onto pieces of cloth, and eventually set them out to dry in my living room.  (It's been much too humid to dry them outside.)  It took about a day for the sheets to dry completely.  Once dry, Laura and I got together again to gently peel our sheets of paper off of the cloths.  

And here's the end result:

We experimented with using different types of cloth to press our wet sheets of paper on to dry.  The textures of the cloth effects the final texture of the paper.  You can see an examples of the different textures below.  We used linen, felt, and cotton to achieve different textures.  The sheet on the left was pressed onto felt; the sheet in the center was pressed onto linen, and the sheet on the right was pressed to a wrinkly piece of cotton.  We also experimented by rolling wet sheets of paper onto plexiglass, which yielded an incredibly smooth texture. 

I love textured paper.  In fact, such textures are the namesake of my business: linenlaid&felt.  (You can read more about that in the FAQ section of my website.)  While commercially-made papers of these names are made to resemble the textures of these cloths, making paper by hand allowed for us to create these textures ourselves.  Laid paper refers to the lines impressed by certain types of papermaking molds, like those that I used in Italy.  

Both Laura and I have already put our new sheets of handmade paper to use.  I made two Italian longstitch journals last week with suede covers and pieces of our handmade paper as decorative accents inside.  It has been a while since I've made a book for myself.  I'm typically busy working on custom orders, books for my shop, or gifts for friends, so I decided to take the time to make a book just for me. 

The book on top is the one I've decided to keep.  Because these books have the suede straps that wrap the book and keep it shut, it will be the perfect portable book to keep with me to jot down notes on the go.  And as an added bonus, I'll always have an example of my work with me to show as a response to the blank stares I often get when I tell people that I'm a bookbinder.  The other book that I made (the one bound with lavender thread) is now for sale in my etsy shop.  

Laura kindly made a monogrammed bookmark for me using the paper that we made together.  She makes the most adorable miniature books and book jewelry, and she will also be selling her work at the Handmade & Bound festival in a few weeks.  I love seeing the little purple pages peeking out from the little book and knowing that our handmade paper is going to good use.  

Reconnecting with the past

One of the best parts of starting my own business has been getting to meet so many new people, from talented artists at art shows to the inspirational bookbinders of BEST.  But I've also had the chance to reconnect with people I've know for years.  This journal was commissioned by one of my high school classmates, Kendra, as a birthday gift for her sister.  (While working on this project for Kendra, I also got to hear more about her own business, Connected Healing, specializing in holistic horse healthcare.) 

This book is a 6" x 9" leather journal, bound in yellow thread using the Italian long-stitch technique.  Usually when I make smaller leather journals, like this one, I use a thin leather strap which is attached to the cover by looping it through a series of holes in the leather.  However for this large journal, I felt that the book needed a thick strap to aesthetically balance the book.  

This lead me to try a new way of attaching the strap, resulting in the double X stitching pattern.  While certainly nothing groundbreaking, I loved the extra bit of visual interest that the simple pattern brings to the book.  I wonder how it would look to continue the stitching pattern along the entire length of the strap.  I may have to try that on a future book. 

The inside of the book features colorful bits of paper from a vintage world atlas.  I selected an assortment of maps from around the globe to wrap each section of pages.  And since all of the maps I used are printed on both sides, no matter how you flip through the book you can get a little geography lesson. 

Leather food chain

My table at The Handmade Market on Saturday was right across the aisle from Noelle of oelle m. She had a beautiful booth display and was selling her paintings, handbags, and embroidered pillows. (You can see more examples of her work on flickr.) But her leather necklaces are what really caught my eye. 

After staring at these gorgeous necklaces for a few hours, it dawned on me that I might have some supplies that Noelle could use.  When I make my leather journals, I often have scraps of leather left over that I just can't use.  Oftentimes these pieces of leather or suede are fairly large, but if I can't cut a rectangle from them large enough to cover my pages the leather bits will just end up in my scrap pile.  (And as my husband will tell you, I have a hard time parting with my scraps.  I have several boxes, bowls, and bags filled with scraps of paper, fabric, and leather sitting around my studio just in case I find a use for them later.) 

So I offered to send Noelle my extra bits of leather, thinking it would be a win-win for us both.  She'd have some extra materials to make new necklaces, and I'd be able to clear out my studio and send my leather to a good home.  And as we were leaving the show, she generously gave me one of her necklaces (the prettiest one, too!) to thank me.

I absolutely love my new necklace, and I've been wearing it both yesterday and today.  I received several complements on it at work today, and I got to share the story about how I got the necklace with my co-workers.  I have all of my leather scraps packaged up to send to Noelle tomorrow, and I'm glad to know I have someone to send my extra pieces to as I continue to make more leather books. 

New products, new show, new newsletter

New products

I'm excited to finally debut my new line of spring journals. I stepped away from my more rustic leather and suede journals for a bit, and instead selected some bright shades of teal and butter yellow. Paired with vibrant thread and colorful papers inside, the result is a truly cheerful collection. Visit my etsy shop to purchase a spring journal.

New show

I just found out yesterday that I was accepted to participate in the Athens Indie Craftstravaganzaa.  I'm so excited to be heading back to my college town of Athens, Georgia.  Aside from what I'm sure will be a great show, I'm looking forward to seeing lots of great friends while in town.  The Craftstravaganzaa is just two weeks after The Handmade Market, so I have lots of new books to make over the next few weeks to get ready for these two shows, where I'll be unveiling my newest collection of wedding guest books and photo albums.

New newsletter

The newest linenlaid&felt e-newsletter was sent out this evening.  Are you on our mailing list?  If not, click here to see what you've been missing.  If you like what you see, you can sign up here or enter your e-mail address in the "join my newsletter" box in the right hand column of my blog.  My husband Tony is the mastermind behind my newsletters, and I can't thank him enough for all of his hard work putting together these quarterly e-blasts.