Birkhill Book workshop
Create a leather or pleather bound sketchbook, featuring colourful exposed stitching, decorative inner pages, a nifty page divider and a woven spine.
This is a really substantial book with lots of opportunity to add personal touches and weave in materials from Birkhill House, including threads coloured with plants grown on-site and hand-spun Alpaca wool.
In a full day workshop you will have the opportunity to create your own decorative papers using botanical paints and foraged botanicals.
All materials are provided but you are welcome to bring along any decorative papers you would like to work into your book.
Follow up video instructions will be provided should you want to make more books at home.
Price:
£63/person half day for eight participants
£81/person full day for eight participants
Who it’s for: The workshop is aimed at adults but can be tailored for teenagers if a member of support staff is available to assist.
Length:
5.5 hours - painting/weaving and bookbinding
3.5 hours - just bookbinding
Cass Barron - Bookbinding with Cass
Cass is a self taught bookbinder who has a particular interest in working with pre-loved and everyday materials. She first delved into bookbinding while studying Fine Art Sculpture at Glasgow School of Art, making her own sketchbooks to record her creative process.
After a brief stint in Newcastle and at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where she studied a Masters in Art Museum and Gallery Education, Cass moved to Edinburgh to take up the role of Development Officer with Voluntary Arts Scotland, where she worked for 8 years, providing support to voluntary-led creative groups across Scotland.
In her early Edinburgh days, while volunteering with Remade in Edinburgh, a donation of leather (from an old sofa) re-ignited Cass’s interest in bookbinding and has led to her developing a range of upcycled bookbinding workshops, which she now teaches full time, both independently, under the name ‘Bookbinding with Cass’, and in collaboration with a range of artists and venues across Scotland as well as offering kits and workshops online.
"I get a real buzz out of sharing my passion for bookbinding and inspiring others to see the creative potential of pre-loved materials that might otherwise end up in landfill. It’s great to see people leave each workshop with a unique and usable book, ready to start its creative journey, plus the skills and know-how to make more at home."