Botanical Bookbinding

Create a pleather or leather covered book with an eye-catching exposed vine binding, incorporating decorative papers, a nifty page divider and fastening inspired by nature.

Cass loves being in nature and getting creative with natural materials so this workshop is her attempt to bring all these loves together and share the botanical bookbinding love!

In the full day workshop Cass will share a simple but effective method for creating decorative papers using ink and leaves, which you can then work into with botanical inks. These papers can be used in your book later in the workshop to give it a really personal touch.

The book you make can be used as a sketchbook or journal. 

All materials are provided but you are welcome to bring along any decorative papers you would like to work into your book.

Follow up video instructions will be provided should you want to make more books at home.

• Price:
  £65/person half day for eight participants

  £78/person full day for eight participants

• Who it’s for: Adults

• Length:

  5.5 hours - printing and bookbinding

  3.5 hours - just bookbinding

Cass Barron - Bookbinding with Cass

Cass is a self taught bookbinder who has a particular interest in working with pre-loved and everyday materials. She first delved into bookbinding while studying Fine Art Sculpture at Glasgow School of Art, making her own sketchbooks to record her creative process.​

After a brief stint in Newcastle and at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where she studied a Masters in Art Museum and Gallery Education, Cass moved to Edinburgh to take up the role of Development Officer with Voluntary Arts Scotland, where she worked for 8 years, providing support to voluntary-led creative groups across Scotland.​

In her early Edinburgh days, while volunteering with Remade in Edinburgh, a donation of leather (from an old sofa) re-ignited Cass’s interest in bookbinding and has led to her developing a range of upcycled bookbinding workshops, which she now teaches full time, both independently, under the name ‘Bookbinding with Cass’, and in collaboration with a range of artists and venues across Scotland as well as offering kits and workshops online.

"I get a real buzz out of sharing my passion for bookbinding and inspiring others to see the creative potential of pre-loved materials that might otherwise end up in landfill. It’s great to see people leave each workshop with a unique and usable book, ready to start its creative journey, plus the skills and know-how to make more at home."