In my mind, I had imagined this thing that I eventually named the ‘Bookmaking Bonanza!’ I wanted to gather a group of people together to see how many handmade books we could make in a day. I had tried multiple times to make this workshop happen. Third time is the charm! 11 magnificent women joined me on Saturday, March 23rd at the Floyd Art Center in gorgeous Floyd, VA to make this artist’s dream come true!

We made 5 handmade books in 5 hours—the Accordion Fold, Flower Fold, Smash Book (a variation on the Accordion Fold), Japanese Stab Binding and a 5 Hole Butterfly Stitch Pamphlet.

SO. MUCH. FUN. This group of women ROCKED it! Infinite gratitude to all that participated!

I am thinking that another Bookmaking Bonanza would be great around the holiday season?

I have been making handmade books for over 10 years. I tend to stick books I am familiar with making so that I can work on my craftsmanship while creating enough product to sell at various stores, galleries and shows. While teaching a class on bookmaking at the local university here in Blacksburg, VA, a friend of mine handed me a book on how to make books. As we combed through the book together, I realized that there were so many books that I had yet to discover! I decided to challenge myself to work from one end of the ‘How To’ to the other. This month, I created the 5 Hole Pamphlet (with inside folder), 5 Hole Pamphlet Do-Si-Do and the Basic Codex.

5 Hole Pamphlet : Inside View with Folder