Two-day workshop with Kristin Walker
September 24-25, 2016
11 am - 4 pm
$90 plus $50 materials fee
(WhitPrint members: $81 plus $50 for materials)
Advanced registration required! No registrations will be accepted after midnight, September 20.
About the Workshop
Spend a weekend in ancient history practicing the venerable techniques of Coptic and monastery bookbinding.
Coptic bookbinding is a style employed by early Christians in Egypt, the Copts, that dates back from as early as the 2nd century AD to the 11th century AD. Coptic binding is characterized by one or more sections, or signatures, attached to each other with a chain stitch linking across the spine, which creates a hardcover, spineless book, that will lay completely flat when opened.
Monastery bookbinding also utilizes sewn signatures for the book structure, but unlike the Coptic binding, has a covered, rather than exposed spine. Many consider 14th-century monastery binding to be the grandfather of the modern, commercial, hardcover book structures we see today.
The combination of artistic and decorative possibilities, and utility, inherent to both of these bindings makes them a very popular choice for artist books, journals, sketchbooks, and more!
In this workshop we will spend Saturday creating a Coptic bound journal or sketchbook, and will cover a broad range of skills used in bookbinding, including: paper selection and handling, paper grain, signature building, sewing stations, hardcover construction, and Coptic-style sewing techniques. On Sunday we will use those skills to bind a 14th-century monastery bound hardcover book.
All tools and essential materials will be provided, including an awl, a bookbinding needle, thread, paper, and more. Students are encouraged to bring decorative paper(s) of their choice for your covers and end sheets, or may bring an additional $5 to $15 to purchase from the instructor. Students will be able to take home their tool kit at the end of the workshop.
About the Instructor
Kristin Walker is a local artist and entrepreneur with a deep love of paper, printmaking, and book arts. Kristin sewed her first Coptic book at the age of seven while taking a workshop with accomplished book artist, Lisa Heller, at her Jackson Hole, Wyoming shop & studio, Fiber & Pulp. Kristin’s mother encouraged her deep love of, and natural inclination towards paper arts throughout her childhood. She earned a BFA degree in Multimedia Design & Photography, with emphasis in graphic design & printmaking, from the University of Oregon, in June 2007.
In November 2007, Kristin founded a local letterpress printing and graphic design studio in Eugene called Twin Ravens Press (www.twinravenspress.com). When she’s not teaching paper arts or doing commercial or artistic work for Twin Ravens Press, Kristin also enjoys teaching and participating in various forms of social partner dancing (including blues, jazz, lindy hop, and tango), traveling, eating spicy food, and cuddling cats.
