Adult Workshops

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1. Box Making: Do you like boxes? The skills students need to be able to construct a box are folding, cutting with an Xacto knife and patience. Once you know the basics of making a box, you can modify it to any size to hold a book, collectibles or allow it to stand alone as its own piece of art.

We will learn how to connect and glue together pieces of mat board, choose your favorite Japanese paper and wrap the box in it. All experience levels are welcome in this workshop.

2. Hand Bookbinding: We’re going to sew pages and glue a book together in this class. Students will produce one finished book. We will learn how to fold signatures, use an awl to punch holes and stitch together our pages. Students will choose paper for the end pages and glue them onto the front and back of the signatures. After gluing the binding, we will cut the page edges cleanly. Japanese paper will be glued onto mat board for the covers; the signatures will be correctly placed inside and glued in. Voila! Your own book!

3. Three-Dimensional Bookbinding: Do you like to fold and cut paper? Those are the basic skills students need to be able to construct kaleidoscope, tunnel, pop up, and flag books. We can complete one type of these books in a single session.

Think of a book as a stage; we can look through and into these books for three-dimensional effects.

Try some new intricate folding methods, choose your favorite Japanese paper for your book covers, and glue it all together. These book forms may be just what you need to convey your message more directly.

4. Altered Books: Have you ever wanted to take a pair of scissors to a book? Here’s your chance to destroy a perfectly good book while creating a new work of art. We start with a normal hard cover book that we cut, glue rip, and otherwise desecrate with our artmaking. Students will learn the basics of pop up and kaleidoscope books for use within their pages. These books may look strange and funny, but they can pack a powerful message.

Students may bring drawings; magazine images or computer prints up to 4” x 8”. Any found materials such as fabric, dried flowers, feathers, ribbons, etc. can be brought for embellishments.

5. Cottage Collage: How about designing a lovely collaged open box or screen? This workshop combines elements of collage with three dimensional bookmaking. You can enhance the collage and turn it into a book form by adding writing.

We will start by sanding the edges of mat board that has been cut into house shapes. Choose lovely printed paper to cover four pieces and attach them together with linen tape. You may connect them together to create an open box or leave the two ends unattached to make a screen. Finally, glue images, writings and embellishments to finish your Cottage Collage.

6. Papermaking: Roll up your sleeves as you’re going to get wet. Make your own paper in various colors and thicknesses, adorned with flowers, ribbons, even insects. It’s amazing how simple it is. Rip up bits of existing paper, from newsprint to watercolor paper, put into a household blender with water and grind into pulp. Using the nifty frame that’s built from wood, duct tape and window screen, the pulp is sloshed on top, forming a wet layer of paper mulch. We flip this onto a sheet of cloth and allow it to dry, forming a whole new sheet of paper from your torn bits. Add any sort of embellishments such as string, sparkles, or butterfly wings to make it uniquely your own. Our new dry sheet of paper can be used for scrapbooking, bookmaking, drawing or any other artistic treatment. It may be so beautiful you’ll just want to display it as is.

7. Papermaking: Advanced Techniques: Let’s experiment with various techniques for paper making in this workshop. No experience is necessary to create beautiful and unique sheets of paper. Following are just a few of the ways we’re going play with paper making.

We can laminate by layering thin sheets on top of each other, creating double sided pieces of paper. How about altering the placement of the sheets so two colored pulps laid down side by side create one finished sheet? We can embed material like threads and dried flowers into or on top of your sheets. Or place a string between two sheets and pull it up while the sheet is still wet to reveal parts of the sheet underneath. Embossing is done by layering foam shapes into the wet paper or placing textures on top while the paper dries.

8. Plaster Casting: Roll up your sleeves and stick your hands into a bucket of wet plaster! Bring an object such as a seashell or plastic toy to press into wet sand to make an impression. We need to mix out the air bubbles before we pour it onto the sand. We'll let it set and harden into the shape of your object. While we’re waiting the half hour for the plaster to set, we’ll clean up small plaster objects that were made from candy molds. Later, we pop out our new sculpture, clean it off and take away our new fun sculpture. These objects can be painted after they air dry for twenty-four hours.

9. Monoprints: We will explore a few of the methods to produce monoprints. or single unique prints. One method has students drawing shapes on cardstock and cutting them out to make stencils. The students will use brayers to apply ink over the openings in their stencils onto a sheet of paper. Various colors and layers can be utilized to produce a multi-dimensional print.

For a different print, participants will use ink to create an image on sheets of acrylic or glass. By applying a sheet of paper to the wet surface and rubbing, the image is transferred to the paper.

Thirdly, ink is coated onto a sheet of acrylic or glass that is then wrapped in foil. Another layer of a different color ink is followed by another layer of foil, and so on. Students then tear away strips of foil, exposing various colors. A sheet of paper is pressed into the ink and rubbed. When lifted away, a monoprint is produced

10. Photographic Transfers: Transfers can be used to produce a finished artwork on cloth or paper, lending themselves well to scrapbooking, quilting and other uses. Photo transfers can be accomplished through several different methods. One is with transfer paper and an iron; another is with acrylic gel medium and a brush and the last we’ll do is with a solvent and a pencil. They all require pre-printed images that we want to move from one surface to another either for a collage effect or an embellishment.

We will transfer their favorite magazine/newspaper images (no more than two months’ old as the ink will dry) to artist’ paper by cutting out the image, leaving a small margin around the outside. The image will be taped face down onto good quality receiving paper with drafting tape. A small amount of adhesive remover is dripped onto the back and spread with a finger. The artist then uses a blunt instrument such as a pencil to rub the image. It will transfer to the receiving paper and may be checked periodically by lifting an edge. Other images and words (which will transfer backwards) may be added to create a collage.

11. Cyanotype Photography: Magic happens! Transform plain white paper into a rich blue photograph. Students will produce blue photographic prints on paper or cloth using Cyanotype, one of the earliest and most beautiful non-silver processes in photography. This workshop, photographic in nature, requires no darkroom or extensive equipment.

These blueprints are made with the help of the sun so bring your sunglasses. Participants will coat paper or cloth with a light sensitive solution using a foam brush and work on their negatives.

To make a negative, students may draw on a transparent sheet using a permanent marker, cut out and tape down pieces of old photographic negatives or use the copy machine to transfer a previously created image to a transparent sheet. Participants will place their negative and interestingly shaped objects such as stencils on their now dry paper or cloth and carry outside to the sun. Exposure takes approximately five to ten minutes. For development, the paper or cloth is placed under running water for five minutes. Afterwards, the images are hung up to dry for about one hour.

12. Van Dyke Photography: Make photographs without a camera! The possibilities are endless and well within the grasp of the beginner, while challenging for those with experience in photography. We will be working with Van Dyke, which produces a brown and white photograph on paper or cloth. Bring old black and white negatives and interestingly shaped objects to class.

You will first coat paper or cloth with Van Dyke’s special mixture of a light sensitive solution. You will make a negative by drawing on a transparency using a permanent marker, cutting out and attaching pieces of old black and white negatives, or using the copy machine to transfer a previously created image to a transparent sheet. This solution is extremely light sensitive, so you’ll see the exposure begin as soon as you take it out to the sunlight. After exposure, develop with running water.

13. Alternative Photographic Processes: This practical workshop is open to enthusiasts and artists from any medium. This is a great workshop with materials that are totally transportable and highly imaginative. Students will have an opportunity to create photographic prints utilizing Cyanotype, Van Dyke, Gum Bichromate, Liquid Light, and/or Kwik Print. The possibilities are endless and well within the grasp of the total beginner, while challenging for those with experience in photography. These will be new processes to most of them, and they will need to follow basic steps during the creation of their images. This hands-on workshop will investigate several alternative, non-silver and manipulative processes. Some require a darkroom. There are a spectacular variety of opportunities for personal expression. Bring your imagination and a sense of humor!

14. Liquid Light: Students will have an opportunity to create photographic prints utilizing Liquid Light, a hand applied black and white emulsion. This emulsion in a bottle can be applied to various surfaces such as rag paper, wood, ceramics, eggs, and glass. The possibilities are endless and well within the grasp of the total beginner, while challenging for those with experience in photography.

After the liquid emulsion is applied to the receiving surface with a brush, it is allowed to dry in the darkroom. After exposure with an enlarger, the item is run through black and white chemicals and allowed to dry. Requires a darkroom.

The finished Liquid Light image can be further enhanced with traditional artists’ materials such as paints, markers, pencils, etc.