Review the basics by building your instruction booklet and hand-stitching it together using one of the four classic sewing techniques. Try different styles of pockets modifying the covers to include inside or outside pockets. Subdivide the text body into sections by changing the color of paper or inserting dividers like sheets that have rubbings lifted from plant leaves. Dress up your book with beads, charms, saved mementos or tassels. Explore different ways to keep books closed by tying ribbons or sliding beads. Adorn with decorative washi tapes. Students will make two books.
Useful tools and supplies to bring are small scissors, a snap-blade craft knife, a self-healing cutting mat, a metal ruler or straightedge, a pencil/sharpener/eraser, darning needles, needle-nosed pliers, small paint brushes, small sponge for clean-up.
There will be a 45-minute break for lunch, and students should bring a sack lunch. Coffee, tea, water and light snacks will be available during the workshop.
Students will have the option to purchase a Bookbinding Kit if they do not have basic bookbinding tools. The kit is $25.00 and includes a bone folder, binding clips, beeswax, darning needles, and storage box. Students are encouraged to bring these tools if they have them.
About the Instructor
Barbara Setsu Pickett is an Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Art at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon where she headed the Fibers Area for 33 years. The focuses of her research and creative practice are velvet-weaving, shibori, natural dyeing, and the book arts. Among her awards are a Fulbright Research fellowship in Italy, a Rockefeller Bellagio residency, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Gladys Krieble Delmas for Studies in the Veneto fund and Institute of Turkish Studies. She was the Artist-in-Residence for the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco where she wove Japanese-style velvet and sewed Japanese-style books.
She and her son Michael formed the Mihara Shibori Studio in 2005 and they create highly textured silk scarves in distinctive palettes expanding on the Japanese traditional shibori techniques. They have taught workshops in Istanbul and Seoul and in October 2016 were invited to participate in the Korean Society of Fashion Business conference and fashion exhibition.