Photos of May, 2016 Workshop - Basic Japanese Stab Binding by Lynne Gurnee

In May, Lynne Gurnée led our workshop in Basic Japanese Stab Binding.  We had in excess of 25 people. Lynne had us bring covers for two books and she provided pages with delightful haiku poems for one. We did two styles of stitching pattern. 

Two of the haikus:

Under the evening moon,

The snail

is stripped to the waist.

Don’t worry, spiders,

I keep house

casually.

Here are the pictures.

When we come into the room, it is empty. All of us set up tables and get ready.

Lynne had us start by folding our pages.

Then we gathered the pages and clipped them together.

And started stitching.

And stitching.

And these were the results.

Newport Paper & Book Arts Festival - 2016

NORBAG was widely represented (as usual) at this year's Newport Paper & Book Arts Festival (NPBAF) on April 22-24. What fun we had cutting, dyeing, embellishing, folding, stenciling, stitching, tearing, wrapping, and who knows what else, but if it involved paper we probably tried it. There were 21 different workshops with 108 participants and at least 15 were NORBAG members including four instructors (Dolores Guffey, Margo Klass, Randi Parkhurst, and Jackie Wygant).

The festival, sponsored by the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts, celebrated its 21st year and continues to grow as the largest annual event of its kind on the West Coast. The workshops range in levels of expertise from beginner to advanced so there is usually something to suit everyone. There were a few multiple day classes, but most were only one day. Pictured below is a sampling of photos from the weekend.

Randi demonstrated her box/book sculpture, Patience, at the Instructors show reception.

The instructors were invited to show some of their work in the gallery...some pieces were for sale.

Jackie Wygant, artist and instructor

Two books by Alaskan instructors Margo Klass (top), and Connie Stricks (bottom)

Margo Klass

Tall books by Judilee Fitzhugh and smaller books by our own Dolores Guffey

Randi Parkhurst's piece titled "The Windmill" - it is two books and two boxes that fit together in several ways

Margo's two-day Pocket Book class had many components so our tables got a little messy 

Michele had a little help from Wes stitching her book together - he was really concentrating on the project

Pocket Books - same structure but they became very unique books

The stitching could be done with one or two different colors of thread

The Pocket Book class minus a couple of members...all but three participants were NORBAG members, including our instructor and our mascot, Wes

Instructor Heather Fortner helps to unveil a scarf dyed by a participant in the Eco-Dye class

We each had one silk scarf plus 18 sheets of paper to use. Here Heather demonstrates how to roll the paper & leaf pages onto a dowel

This roll of paper & leaves is tied up tight and ready for a hot bath

Some of the leaves were fresh and some dry

Here is an example of what the paper could look like after the bath and the leaves removed

Two of the vats for boiling the rolls of paper & leaves or scarves and leaves

Two more boiling stations...each had water, vinegar, rust items, and various plant materials such as black walnuts, avocado pits, eucalyptus leaves etc.

Papers drying outside...it wasn't a very warm day so most papers did not dry completely

Heather demonstrated one way to bind the pages into a book, but since our papers did not dry completely we had to wait to do this at home.

If you would like to join in the fun next year put April 21, 22, & 23, 2017 on your calendar now and make sure you are on the mailing list for the festival. To receive a brochure next year email npaf@coastarts.org.

Basic Japanese Stab Binding

Join Lynne Gurnee on May 14 for an afternoon making two small Japanese stab binding books. One will feature humorous haiku poems by Kobayashi Issa, and the other will be a simple "ledger book" which can be used as a purse notepad.

A fun historical note: in the Edo period (1603-1868) "completed ledgers were often strung together and tied with a long cord so that in case of fire --a common occurrence in crowded Japanese towns-- they could be flung into a nearby well and later retrieved without damage to either paper or ink" (source: Japanese Bookbinding, by Kojiro Ikegami, and available from the NORBAG library.

Materials to bring for the haiku book:

• 2 pieces 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" cardstock for covers, grain short
• Decorative paper 1 1/8" x 3" to glue on the front cover for decoration

Materials to bring for the ledger book:

• 4 sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" text weight paper, cut in half short ways resulting in eight 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" sheets
• 2 pieces of colored or decorative cardstock, 2 3/4" x 7 3/4" grain short, for the covers

Tools to bring:

• Scissors
• Pencil
• Cutting mat or magazine
• X-acto or craft knife
• Metal ruler
• Awl
• Needle for sewing
• Bone folder
• 2 small to medium binder clips
• Glue stick
• Bees wax (optional)
• Waste paper for gluing on
• Perle cotton or other strong binding thread (Lynne likes yarn for the ledger book--be sure to have a needle that is compatible with your thread choice)

When:     Saturday, May 14 at 12 noon

Where:    Eureka Methodist Church on Del Norte & F Streets

Cost:       $1.00

Bring:      See list above for tools and papers

RSVP:      Yes! by May 9 to Lynne Gurnee--see the newsletter for her contact information