Japanese Paper-Making & Bookbinding Intensive

A 4-day workshop with Anne Covell held Thursday, July 24 - Sunday, July 27, 2025 at Willow Pond SLO, a 14-acre artist retreat on the Central Coast. The cost is $980 and includes lunch daily. Applications close on May 30, 2025 or when a maximum of 12 attendees is reached. All skill levels are welcome.

The Japanese Paper-making & Bookbinding Intensive is designed to teach four distinct Japanese crafts: Nagashizuki hand paper-making, natural dyeing and cover decoration, hand bookbinding, and portfolio box-making. On the first day, students will make paper using traditional Nagashizuki methods, focusing on fiber preparation, sheet formation, pressing, and drying techniques. The second day covers traditional decoration methods including brush and dip dyeing with natural dyes such as kakishibu (persimmon tannin), clove, and indigo, as well as burnishing and embossing techniques using carved stone and wood blocks. Students will also learn shibori, a manual resist dyeing technique dating to the 8th century, and momigami, a folding and crumpling technique that strengthens paper and gives it a leather-like appearance. On the third day, students will bind three traditional Japanese books: the ledger, multi-section, and stab binding. On the final day, they will create a two-flap Japanese portfolio with bone-clasp closures to house their books.

Anne Covell is a book artist, edition bookbinder, and hand papermaker with an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Iowa Center for the Book. She studied Asian and Western paper-making techniques with Timothy Barrett and has taught at the Morgan Art of Paper-making Conservatory, Penland School of Craft, and the University of Georgia study abroad program in Cortona, Italy. Her work is held in over 80 collections internationally including Yale University and The British Library. For questions, email [email protected].