The Book Arts League is excited to announce that we will now offer open studio hours! Our shop will be available monthly for you to print your work. Below are the open studio dates for the first quarter. BAL board members will be your hosts and will assist you with your printing projects. Please bring your own paper and get ready to print!

WEDNESDAY June 11th — 4:30-6:30PM 

WEDNESDAY July 9th — 4:30-6:30PM

WEDNESDAY Aug 13th — 4:30-6:30PM

Letterpress printing with LegosTaught by Brenda Gallagher and Julia Seko

Combine the beauty of letterpress printing with the fun of setting legos! Students will be given a type high lego baseplate on which to design their lego printing with lego tiles. Plates will then be locked up in the Vandercook letterpress to print. Students will learn printing with two different colors in two passes on the press. Multiple prints are encouraged for a print swap on the last day of class. If time allows, students can make a soft case to hold the collection.

This is a one month drop in course, held 4x, on four consecutive Wednesdays. Students can attend all 4 classes or just which ones work with the summer family calendar. This class is open to students ages 9+.

July 23 

July 30 

August 6

Letterpress printing with LegosTaught by Brenda Gallagher and Julia Seko

Combine the beauty of letterpress printing with the fun of setting legos! Students will be given a type high lego baseplate on which to design their lego printing with lego tiles. Plates will then be locked up in the Vandercook letterpress to print. Students will learn printing with two different colors in two passes on the press. Multiple prints are encouraged for a print swap on the last day of class. If time allows, students can make a soft case to hold the collection.

This is a one month drop in course, held 4x, on four consecutive Wednesdays. Students can attend all 4 classes or just which ones work with the summer family calendar. This class is open to students ages 9+.

July 16

July 30 

August 6

Letterpress printing with LegosTaught by Brenda Gallagher and Julia Seko

Combine the beauty of letterpress printing with the fun of setting legos! Students will be given a type high lego baseplate on which to design their lego printing with lego tiles. Plates will then be locked up in the Vandercook letterpress to print. Students will learn printing with two different colors in two passes on the press. Multiple prints are encouraged for a print swap on the last day of class. If time allows, students can make a soft case to hold the collection.

This is a one month drop in course, held 4x, on four consecutive Wednesdays. Students can attend all 4 classes or just which ones work with the summer family calendar. This class is open to students ages 9+.

July 16

July 23

August 6

Students registered for the bookbinding class are invited to the letterpress shop to print a custom bookplate. This page will serve as the first page of the book that we'll bind on Friday. The book plate page will read, "This book belongs to ______" with the student's name. Students will choose a small cut from the Book Arts League collection and learn to set letterpress letters to print their names.

This book combines the soft opening of a leather spine with the sturdy firmness of board covers. The completed book opens nearly perfectly flat making it an ideal book for your journal writing or drawing. Creating your book involves sewing folded signatures through a leather spine with the long stitch. We will begin by getting acquainted with paper grain and its importance for the finished book. We will cover the boards of the book with decorative paper and once dry we'll drill holes in the covers to prepare for sewing. The leather spine will also need holes for sewing which we will pierce with an awl or drill. Paper signatures will be folded and pierced and then we'll take a short break for lunch. After lunch we will learn to sew the long stitch to bind the book. Covers will then be sewn onto the leather spine piece. By the end of the workshop, you will have completed your book, and have the skill to make more on your own. Class fee includes all materials we use to make a book: leather for the spine, a sheet of decorative paper to cover boards, paper for your signatures, a pair of pre-cut cover boards, glue, and waxed-linen thread. Students can borrow tools from the BAL or you can bring your own bookbinder's toolkit. Students will need: bonefolder, medium-weight awl, Xacto knife, scissors, ruler, and a bookbinder's needle. Optional: Students may elect to bring their own sheet of decorative paper for covering the boards. *

* Optional bookplate printing for Leather spine book

• Thursday July 31st
• 5pm-7pm
• $10

The evening before the longstitch journal class, students registered for the bookbinding class are invited to the letterpress shop to print a custom bookplate. This page will serve as the first page of the book that we'll bind on Friday. The book plate page will read, "This book belongs to ______" with the student's name. Students will choose a small cut from the Book Arts League collection and learn to set letterpress letters to print their names.

Register here

Letterpress printing with LegosTaught by Brenda Gallagher and Julia Seko

Combine the beauty of letterpress printing with the fun of setting legos! Students will be given a type high lego baseplate on which to design their lego printing with lego tiles. Plates will then be locked up in the Vandercook letterpress to print. Students will learn printing with two different colors in two passes on the press. Multiple prints are encouraged for a print swap on the last day of class. If time allows, students can make a soft case to hold the collection.

This is a one month drop in course, held 4x, on four consecutive Wednesdays. Students can attend all 4 classes or just which ones work with the summer family calendar. This class is open to students ages 9+.

July 16 

July 23

July 30

Making Momigami Papertaught by Julia Seko and Greg Robl

Momigami is a Japanese craft used to strengthen paper-- it has traditionally been used for making clothing and other sturdy items.  Konnyaku, a starch from an edible tuber, is applied to the long-fibered paper, which is then crumpled into a ball and worked until the paper is flexible, then is smoothed out to dry.  In addition to durability, the paper acquires a lovely, faceted surface from which the colors of the paper shine through. When dry, students can create a simple business card wallet with finished momigami paper.

Join us for a day of playing with paper fiber and creative folding.