Workshop Dates: September 30 - October 2, 2016
Workshop Time: 10am – 6pm each day
Workshop Location: Bookbarnkat Studios, 1429 Nighthawk Place, Santa Rosa CA 95409 (information will be provided for accommodations)

Workshop Description: Vellum stiffboard bindings were common from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and often functioned as an alternative to more expensive leather bindings. This course will explore traditional binding structures, but with modern variations meant to create flexible joints with less stress on fragile historical text blocks. This binding is sturdy and elegant, takes gold tooling well, and is suitable for conservation re-bindings as well as for presentation or fine bindings. During the course the student will learn herringbone sewing; back bead endbands; lining vellum and covering; lacing on using thongs and endband cores; and tooling with gold on vellum.

Instructor Bio: James Reid-Cunningham studied bookbinding with Mark Esser at the North Bennet Street School and received the distinguished alumni award from NBSS in 2006. He spent thirty years as a conservator at Harvard University and the Boston Athenaeum, and served as the President of the Guild of Book Workers from 2006 to 2010. From 2009 to 2013, he was the adjunct lecturer on book conservation in the graduate art conservation department at Buffalo State College. A design binder who exhibits internationally, he has a private practice conservation and bookbinding studio in Cambridge, MA. website: www.reid-cunningham.com