Brenda Gallagher: Hand-Dyed Leather Book

Summary Description

Create a batik-style design on a leather cover using masking fluid or glue resists and layered leather dyes, then bind it with a staggered stitch into a 3.5 x 10” book. You can personalize the pages with your own papers, repurposed artwork, or maps and ephemera provided by the instructor.

Detailed Description

We’ll begin by discussing design and practicing the dye/resist technique on scraps. Using clear glue and/or masking fluid pens, you’ll mask areas to preserve the leather’s original color, then add color with multiple dyes. Once the dye is dry, the resist is removed to reveal the batik effect.

Pages will be 3.5 x 10” in landscape format. If time allows, you can customize your pages with papers from your stash or older artwork cut to size. The instructor will also provide paper options, including maps, colored pages, and ephemera, so you can assemble a book that suits your color theme and creative spirit.

Once your pages are organized and punched, we’ll use a Japanese screw punch to prepare the leather covers and bind everything with a staggered stitch.

Skill Level: Intermediate Bookmakers

Prerequisites:

• Thread a needle and wax the thread
• Fold paper using a bonefolder and assemble signatures
• Sew a kettle stitch
• Make a simple sewn text block for codex book

Required Tools & Materials Supplied by Student

• Bonefolder
• Teflon folder
• Awl
• Needle
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Scissors
• X-Acto knife/Olfa knife
• White pencil eraser
• Crepe eraser (this is very important)
• Cutting mat
• Blue painter’s tape
• Apron
• Latex gloves
• Paintbrushes for dye
• Beeswax cake for waxing thread
• Small triangle
• Papers you would like to bring to the class to bind into the books; scraps, ephemera, offcuts of other projects or decorated pages (10 x 3.5” grain-short pages)
• Wire tools like these (including wire cutter, pliers, and coiling/round nose tool) option 1 or option 2

Optional Recommended Tools & Materials

• Conté crayons if you already have these
• Small weight

Tools & Materials Supplied by Instructor

• Paper; white sketch paper, Canson Mi-Tientes drawing paper, maps and a few other ephemera papers to choose from (students will also bring their own to collate in)
• Silk thread in a variety of colors
• Tracing paper
• Fair vegetable-tanned goatskin leather
• Resist fluid pens
• Leather dyes in a variety of colors
• Paint palettes
• Paper boards for covers
• Mulberry paper for interiors of cover
• Foamcore pieces for punching signatures
• PVA
• Wide glue brushes
• Rubbing embellishment tools; wire, rings, foam, Japanese paper
• Conté crayons in a variety of colors

Instructor Bio

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