Teaching

DB/SoB Joint Weekend Workshops

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Gold Finishing

Tutor: Stuart Brockman
Dates: 19-20 March 2011
Times: 10.00am - 5.00pm
Venue: Allen Street, London W8
Fee: GBP125.00 (plus GBP20.00 materials payable on the day)

Gold tooling is a difficult skill to acquire and requires much patience and repeated practice. The aim of this workshop is to introduce participants to good gold finishing practice, emphasising the methods and skills required for the successful use of gold leaf for tooling on leather.

The course will cover all the steps involved in gold tooling leather boards and spines. These include: gold-tooled labels on goatskin, the use of line fillets and patterned rolls on boards and board edges, lettering a convex spine, the use of pallets (both line and patterned), and the use of centre tools, leading up to a run-up gilt spine incorporating some of the above plus additional techniques.

The techniques used differ from many other binders and originate mainly from James Brockman’s six-year finishing apprenticeship in an Oxford trade bindery. The course will be taught by demonstrations followed by bench time with assistance and advice from Stuart throughout.

Stuart Brockman studied Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College, London, and trained as a bookbinder with his father James, with whom he still works. He has taught and lectured in the UK, Canada, Finland and the USA, and has bindings in many collections worldwide including the British Library and the National Library of Scotland and the National Library of Wales. He was elected a Fellow of Designer Bookbinders in 2004 and has previously organised the Society of Bookbinders’ International Competition.