he traditional art of applying gold leaf to the text edges of a book was once a commonly practiced technique. Today, however, it lies shrouded in mystery. This need not be the case, for there is nothing mysterious about it.

During this one-day session Peter will reveal the secrets of preparing the book edges, laying on the goldleaf and burnishing. He will also demonstrate colored edges. Along with the techniques, the history of gilding will be discussed.

Each participant needs to provide a text block to gild. This can be as simple as bringing along a paperback book, or as involved as preparing a sewn, rounded and backed text block or a text block with laced-in boards for gilding “in-boards”. All books should be trimmed before coming to the class.

The materials fee covers everything except gold leaf, which will be available for purchase at the workshop.

No previous gilding experience is required. If you have questions about bringing a text block please contact us.

Please visit Peter’s Web site: praxisbindery.com, to learn more about his work.

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