Intermediate bookbinding workshop: Coptic Stitch Binding August 7, 2017 15:27

On Saturday 5 August, we conducted our second bookbinding workshop at The Arts Village, Rotorua. This intermediate bookbinding workshop was focused on Coptic Stitch binding, which is an ancient bookbinding technique, and we were making books with an exposed stitching on the spine. This is my favourite bookbinding technique because I find the stitching to be so pretty, and it makes the book look so unique!

Image courtesy of The Arts Village, Rotorua.

For this workshop we had a nice small group of 3, and we already knew each other from the introductory bookbinding workshop that we held in March, so the session was really nice because we could catch up with each other while making our books. 

We started off with the basics--measuring and cutting the covers (as you can see above), folding pages into signatures, then measuring and poking holes into the covers and pages. Then the fun started--the actual binding! Some of the stitches were quite difficult to get through, but everyone did well and managed to bring home their very own handmade coptic stitch bound book. 

A closer look at the stitching done by one of our students

Here we are putting the finishing touches to our books! I really do enjoy teaching my craft so it was great being able to share my love for bookbinding with like-minded people. Hoping for more of such opportunities in the future!