Pietermaritzburg Bookbinders' Guild

11/02/2026

The Pietermaritzburg Bookbinders’ Guild wishes to present the following workshops during 2026. Please let us know which ones you would be interested in so that we can start with the arrangements. Also, please let us know if there is anything else you would like to learn – from making paste paper to binding a book without the use of any adhesives. The field of bookbinding is very wide and it will help us to know what you wish to learn. You could also get together a group of friends for a tailor-made workshop. Workshops are usually on Saturdays (whole day) and we unfortunately cannot accept less than five participants per workshop.

Here are our offerings for the year:
Basic book repair
Basic bookbinding: making a cased-binding from scratch
Lino cutting and printing
Cyanotype printing
Coptic binding (this is an ancient technique in which the spine is exposed)
Hand sewing end bands

Please respond by sending an email to [email protected]

11/04/2025

Our next workshop... Julia Arbuckle will initiate you into lino printing on Saturday, 31 May. Please email [email protected] for inquiries and booking.

25/03/2025

We're afraid that our decorative paper workshop had to be postponed, but the good news is that there are still a few places available this coming Saturday...

Making Decorative Paper will introduce you to easy ways of making decorative paper that can be used for book covers, endpages, boxes and other useful items. You will learn how to make paste paper; how to do dendritic printing; how to make bubble paper and you will be introduced to Suminagashi, which is the ancient Japanese technique of marbling paper.

The course will cost R375.00 and will run from 09:30 to 15:30 on Saturday, 29 March. The fee includes materials such as inks, pastes and some paper, but you can also bring your own paper. Tea and coffee will be provided but you will need to bring your own lunch. For more information and for details of the Scottsville venue, please email [email protected]

03/03/2025

We’re sorry this didn't get posted here sooner, but we're running our first workshop of 2025 this coming Saturday - and there are still some places available. Making Decorative Paper will introduce you to easy ways of making decorative paper that can be used for book covers, endpages, boxes and other useful items. You will learn how to make paste paper; how to do dendritic printing; how to make bubble paper and you will be introduced to Suminagashi, which is the ancient Japanese technique of marbling paper.

The course will cost R375.00 and will run from 09:30 to 15:30 on Saturday, 8 March. The fee includes materials such as inks, pastes and some paper, but you can also bring your own paper. Tea and coffee will be provided but you will need to bring your own lunch. For more information and for details of the Scottsville venue, please email [email protected]

26/01/2025

14/01/2025

Having fun experimenting with cyanotype.