Bookbinding Workshop at Volcano Art Center

Photo courtesy of Volcano Art Center.

Special equipment isn’t required to make books. According to the Volcano Art Center (VAC), quality books can be constructed with most items found around the house.

The bookbinding workshop at the VAC is a place to start for those with no bookbinding experience. For those with some experience, an upcoming workshop offers the opportunity to expand the possibilities of the pamphlet stitch. The pamphlet stitch is a most versatile binding style, according to a VAC release.

Instructor Charlene Asato will conduct the Taking the Pamphlet Stitch on a Romp workshop at Volcano Art Center on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019, from 9 a.m. to noon. The cost for this workshop is $35, or $32 for VAC members, plus a $10 supply fee.

Tools to bring include an X-ACTO knife with a fresh No. 11 blade or similar tool, cutting mat or dense cardboard, metal-edged ruler, pencil, eraser, glue stick, scissors and a discarded catalog or magazine to use as a gluing surface.

Optional tools, only if available on hand, include a bone folder or non-serrated butter knife, bookbinding awl, colored pencils or markers, watercolor, photographs for collaging, scraps of decorative paper, portable paper trimmer, scoring board, paper punches and rubber stamps.

Asato avidly pursues book arts, paper arts, photography, calligraphy and doll arts, according to the release. Her work has been included in many juried shows locally and nationally. In 2012, she had a solo exhibition of her books at East Hawai‘i Cultural Center.

The Volcano Art Center is a nonprofit educational organization created in 1974 to promote, develop and perpetuate the artistic and cultural heritage of Hawai‘i’s people and environment through activities in the visual, literary and performing arts, the release stated.