he painted book is an innovative exploration and integration of varied art processes, including direct painting, calligraphy, collage, sculpture, and fanciful imagery encased—perhaps even encrusted—in book form.

Tim Ely takes this imaginative approach toward the book even further with the elegant drum leaf binding, an ideal book structure for the artist. This unique binding style produces a structurally-sound, flexible book, and allows full folio illustrations without reference to the fold.

This book structure will allow you to utilize the conventional cover techniques and materials found in traditional case binding, as well as to explore the use of non-traditional materials in radical cover structures.

You can expect to construct a drum leaf structure and then create a painted book under the direction of one of the most visionary book artists in the United States.

This intensive involves you in a new understanding of the possibilities of the book form for spatial, technical, and material artistic explorations. Even if you have taken shorter versions of Drum Leaf and Painted Book workshops, Tim is offering new material in this workshop. The real value of this five-day exploration is the opportunity to sink in and do substantial work under Tim’s guidance.

Tim will share information about fabrication and trimming, edge treatments, backing, spine formation, and board makeup. Techniques of collage, assemblage, direct painting, and encrustation will be demonstrated.

One method of making a drum leaf binding can be found in Peter Verheyen’s e-journal “The Bonefolder” philobiblon.com/bonefolder.

Some book building experience is useful as it allows us to assume fundamentals (like paper grain direction) are in your knowledge base. Good hand skills are always helpful. You can contact Tim if you would like to discuss your qualifications: .

You can expect to fabricate a minimum of two books, and with diligent application you may end up with three. The books are “models for thinking” about the properties inherent in this manner of book making, and a way into the myriad field of potential this method contains. The drumleaf binding coupled with the energetics of expressive surface design will form a new matrix which can be explored endlessly.

(This workshop is not currently on the schedule. You may to request that we offer it sometime in the future.)