STITCH & BIND: exhibition at Bournemouth Central Library Gallery for Arts By The Sea Festival.
Bookbinder Susan Green and artist-educator Laura Joy recently ran 1-day book making workshops at Artisan Community Art Studio in Moordown, Dorset. The result is this exhibition of a variety of interesting book forms made by workshop participants, accompanied by examples made by both Laura and Susan.
Several kinds of bindings are on display in the glass cabinets, ranging from the 15th century Longstitch with Linkstitch in both leather and vegan alternatives, the Japanese Stab Stitch, to the more unusual Concertina & Double Concertina forms, the Single & Double Pamphlet notebooks.
Most participants were new to bookbinding, some came to the workshops from a background in fine art, craft or design, and many others simply enjoy crafting or creating in their free time.
Some brought their own artwork, such as cyanotype prints, to incorporate into their books, others used a variety of handmade plant fibre papers. We also recycled pages from withdrawn library stock otherwise destined for landfill, and culled fashion and lifestyle magazines for inspiration and decorative book covers.
Stitch & Bind runs at the Gallery on Level 2 of Bournemouth Central Library until 24 October. Also on display are contemporary textiles made by workshop participants and tutor Leah Watts, including examples of patchwork and quilting, as well as sketchbooks filled with textile and stitching examples.
Tutors Laura Joy and Susan Green continue to run their 1-day workshops and are also developing a 6-week bookbinding short course to run in the Spring term at Artisan Community Art Studio.
To find out more about these book making workshops & register your interest in the short course, contact Susan Green: 07748 759 371, email susan@boundbyhand.co.uk or sign up to her newsletter.
Some images from Stitch & Bind:
Here you can see examples of Accordion fold books, also known as the Concertina fold. Some have been left blank, others digitally printed, one has been filled with mementoes from a holiday, the covers feature a map of the start and end points of the trip.Also on display are two examples of the Japanese Stab Stitch, with cyanotype prints incorporated into the front covers.
Case 2 includes some examples of the Longstitch with Linkstitch binding - these were made with synthetic PU, a vegan alternative to leather. 
The Gallery area on Level 2 of the library, with textiles by workshop participants and tutor Leah Watts:
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