East Nashville bookbinding workshop supports Thistle Farms, a local non-profit

Binding books and sipping wine, all while supporting a great cause? Sounds like a great way to spend a Saturday evening to me! 

I will be teaching a bookbinding workshop tomorrow evening at the newly opened and beautifully renovated Dandelion Salon in East Nashville. And you're in luck! There are still two tickets available, and you can register now through The Skillery. 

This will be the first monthly art event that will be hosted at Dandelion Salon. You really have to see this place to believe it. (Here's a sneak peek!) It might seem an unlikely place for such an event, but the building is huge and everything in the space is moveable which will allow for the easy transformation from hair salon to art venue and neighborhood hangout. (Plus the owner, Christie, is amazing and I highly recommend making an appointment with her for your next haircut!)

The papers we'll be using to make our hardcover pocket-sized journals were purchased from a Nashville non-profit, Thistle Farms, in which women who have survived lives of prostitution and addiction support themselves by creating natural body care products and handmade papers. (I'm a little obsessed with their Citrus Vanilla hand lotion...)

This class is part of the four-day Creativity Moves event, which brings together Nashville's creative and non-profit communities to inspire giving back through creativity. Following the "one-for-one" model, your participation in this workshop allows me to teach a second free bookbinding class for the women of Thistle Farms. I'll volunteer my time to teach the skills necessary to add new handbound books to their paper product line, and part of the fee you've paid helps fund the supplies used in the class.

I hope you'll join us tomorrow night for a fun and creative evening!

Learn Bookbinding Using Local Thistle Farms Paper

Learn to make a handbound book from a professional bookbinder — and help foster creativity in Nashville. In this class, you'll create a travel-sized, hardcover journal with locally made paper. This class will introduce you to the world of book arts, and you'll leave with your own handbound journal and the skills to make more books in the future.

The materials used in this class were purchased from a Nashville non-profit, Thistle Farms, in which women who have survived lives of prostitution and addiction support themselves by creating natural body care products and papers. These interesting papers are made with recycled materials and thistles, giving your journal the type of character and quality that sets handmade books apart.

This class in East Nashville is one of many workshops happening around the city during the four-day Creativity Moves Nashville event May 24-27. Creativity Moves Nashville brings together Nashville's creative and non-profit communities to inspire giving back through creativity. Your participation in this workshop allows me to teach a second free class for a community group in need, following the "one-for-one" model. I'll volunteer my time, and part of the fee you've paid helps fund the supplies.

When: Saturday, May 26; 5 – 7 p.m.

Where: Dandelion Salon, 1117 Porter Road, Nashville, TN 37206

Cost: $32 (includes $12 materials fee)

Register: http://theskillery.com/classes/learn-bookbinding-using-local-thistle-farms-paper

Read more...

Summer book arts workshops in Nashville

I've often found that people who like book arts fall into one of two groups. They either like functional books, perhaps to be used as travel journals or sketchbooks. Or they like sculptural forms made from clever found objects, and interesting book-like structures created as artistic displays. This summer, I'll teach workshops for both. 

Through Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, I'll be teaching a two-day workshop where we'll make a large hardcover journal with the Coptic binding, as well as a several smaller functional books with a variety of binding styles.  And I'll also be teaching a one-day workshop on flag books made with a interesting materials like maps, postage stamps, vintage photographs, and game boards.  

If you're interested in learning to make books but don't know which type you'd enjoy the most, these two workshops would be a perfect introduction to the world of book arts.  Since the workshops are just one or two days long, you'll be able try something new without committing to an in-depth, multi-week course.  

These classes are open to anyone in the Nashville community, and to register just call the college's community education office at 615-277-7455.  Be sure to sign up at least two weeks in advance.  To see the other creative classes available, check out the Watkins summer course catalog. 

Bind your own handmade journal

When: Saturday, July 14; 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. 

and Sunday, July 15; 1 – 4 p.m.

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

Cost: $65, plus $20 materials fee

Description: Learn to bind your own unique and functional book, perfect for journaling or sketching. This two-day workshop will teach the Coptic binding style, which features hard covers, exposed stitching on the spine and pages that lay completely fl at when open. The Coptic stitch, developed by early Christians in Egypt, remains one of the most popular bookbinding styles. All materials and tools will be provided.

Sculptural bookbinding

When: Saturday, June 9, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Where: Watkins College, 2298 Rosa Parks Blvd., Nashville
Cost: $50, plus $15 materials fee

Description: Maps, postcards, ticket stubs, letters and vintage photographs become works of art in this sculptural bookmaking class. We’ll make hardcover flag books, which look simple when closed, but open to reveal surprising interlocking folds and pages. Bring your own paper keepsakes to feature inside. All other materials and tools will be provided.

Read more...

A coral, orange, and gold wedding guest book

I finished making this wedding guest book yesterday for some friends of mine in Nashville who are tying the knot next month.  To personalize their book, I included a portion of Anna and Troy's lovely wedding invitations in an embossed cutout in the front cover.  

Their wedding colors are a vibrant mix of warm tones, so the bride-to-be selected a coral handmade lokta paper for the covers of the book and an orange lokta paper with shimmering gold brushstrokes for the guards, which are seen along the spine of the book.  And for a playful surprise when you open the book, the endsheets are made from a paper with a bold orange and magenta flower print.  

Anna is an artist with exceptional taste, and it was fun working together to create this book.  While she was visiting my studio, I pulled out all of my decorative paper options that matched her color scheme and she immediately gravitated toward that papers shown here.  I love the way this book turned out, and I can't wait to see how all of the other details for her wedding come together.  

Read more...