A few spaces still available through Cat Tail Run School for Bookbinding Arts

September 14 – 18 (Mon – Fri) 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

In this workshop students will craft a full-leather fine binding while building a solid foundation in fundamental binding and leather-working skills including sewing on flattened cords, rounding, backing, adding a hollow tube, paring, and covering. In addition, luxury features commensurate with the fine-binding tradition will be discussed along with the evolution of the techniques from Medieval to contemporary.

This workshop is also an excellent review for someone who would like to refresh their skills.

This is a fast-paced, advanced-level workshop. Students must have experience with leather paring and traditional binding structures. Students should already be making bindings independent of the classroom setting. Please email workshops@cattailrun.com for more information and to register.

October 31-November 1, 2026 | Two all-day, in-person sessions.
9:30 am-5:30 pm

Students will be introduced to the tools and techniques required for fine leather binding. Tools: English or Swiss paring knife, Scharfix, spoke shave. Techniques: lining boards to accept leather; paring for spines, corners, headcaps, and all-over thinning of the leather; paring and edgeparing for onlays; sharpening using microfinishing films; stropping; covering of a plaquette; forming corners and headcaps; adhesives and drying procedure for leather binding.

This workshop requires a paring knife, spokeshave, and a Scharfix or Brockman paring machine. Workshop fee includes all supplies.

Leather Working for Bookbinding is a prerequisite for all workshops in the Leather Binding Series.

Note: This is a fast-paced, advanced-level workshop for students experienced with traditional binding. Prerequisites: Binding Fundamentals or equivalent. Students should be making sewn books independently, outside a workshop setting.

This is an in-person workshop. Details on travel, lodging, and working in the studio in FAQs.

November 12-16, 2026 | Five all-day, in-person sessions.
9:30 am-5:30 pm

This workshop has filled. Please contact me to be placed on the wait list.

Books generally have titles. In this week-long intensive, students will learn to title their books by hand in multiple different ways. We will title books historically, with misaligned handle letters, aligned titling with handle letters on spines and flat surfaces, we will use brass type in type-holders. We will discuss type, layout, and the theory behind the many styles of titling. This workshop is for the novice or practitioner who wants to extend their hands to be able to title with them.

Samuel Feinstein began bookbinding after a traumatic brain injury left him with constant pain and unable to continue his other pursuits. While the pain remains, he found that binding books by hand was a possibility for him. He trained at the North Bennet Street School in the two-year full-time bookbinding program under Jeff Altepeter, full-time instructor, and Martha Kearsley, part-time instructor. He strives to make his dedication and passion evident in his work, with a particular focus on craftsmanship. He currently lives and works in Chicago, IL.

This is an in-person workshop. Details on travel, lodging, and working in the studio in FAQs.

For questions about the workshop, contact Samuel Feinstein directly. Contact meif the FAQs do not answer your questions about travel, lodging, and the workshop venue.

Payment in full is due at time of registration. See FAQs for refund policy.

Private instruction for individuals and groups on topics of mutual interest is available in person, online, and in your lab or studio.

I am prepared to teach the skills and techniques covered in any of my workshops.

The fee is $100 an hour, billed in half hour increments. Any student supplies, supplies needed by the instructor for a demonstration, excessive preparation time, and travel expenses will be billed in addition.

Online private instruction sessions are not recorded.

There will be limited availability for online private instruction outside the months I am teaching online workshops, roughly March-May and late September-early December.

Please contact me to arrange topic and dates before making payment.

This modest binding is stripped down to its ancient, elemental structure: paper, linen, wood. Packed sewing on double cords and structural endbands produce a binding that is strong, flexible and sculptural. A text block of rescued dictionary pages provides subtle pattern and a graceful flow.

This workshop requires a sewing frame, 1/4" or 6 mm chisel, and Dremel or drill. Please familiarize yourself with how to use your sewing frame before the first session.

NOTE ON SUPPLIES: The packet will include the paper from one half of a Random House Unabridged Dictionary. This is a little less than the amount of paper used to make the model pictured here, a book approximately 5.5” wide not including the boards.

This is a fast-paced workshop for students experienced with traditional binding. To complete the material in the time scheduled, it is essential that students should be proficient in marking up and sewing on supports. Students should be making sewn books independently, outside a workshop setting. Some homework may be required between sessions.

Please contact me if you are unsure if this workshop is the right fit for your current skills, or an appropriate stretch if you're ready for your next challenge.

The online format is a series of live tutorials via Zoom. The tutorials are recorded and the videos are available to registered students for 90 days. Students need not be present for the live sessions. Workshop fee includes supplies and a detailed handout, which are mailed to arrive in time for the first session. Zoom links will be sent the week before class, and a tool list no later than three weeks in advance. Please check your spam filter if you have not received these messages in this timeframe.

Students outside US and Canada please contact me to discuss options for supplies.

Payment in full is due at time of registration. See FAQs for refund policy.

Leather Binding Techniques: French-ish fine binding with leather edge-to-edge doublure and suede flyleaf. In-person workshop.

12 online sessions

The basic structure of a fine leather binding has changed little over the past 300 years. The text block is sewn onto supports, the spine carefully shaped, and the boards laced on. The book is covered in leather that has been precision-pared for protection, flexibility, and a sumptuous presentation.

Students will complete one full leather binding with edge-to edge doublures, double-core multi-color sewn endbands, suede flyleaves, and champhered boards. There are many ways to execute each of the steps required to craft a full leather fine binding. For this workshop our doublures will incorporate a leather hinge rather than the hinge being part of the endsheet construction. A temporary section will reserve space in the joint and for the thickness of the doublure.

A partial list of required tools: Scharfix, spokeshave, paring knife + strop.

Note: This is a fast-paced, advanced-level workshop for students experienced with traditional binding. Prerequisites: Leather Binding I: Fundamentals, II: Raised Bands, and III: Fine Binding or equivalent. Students should be making full leather fine bindings independently, outside a workshop setting.

Pleasecontact me if you are unsure if this workshop is the right fit for your current skills, or an appropriate stretch if you're ready for your next challenge.

Workshop fee includes a supply packet including most supplies: goatskin for covering, materials for the flyleaves and doubures, sewing supports and thread, endband silk, supplies for endband cores, book board, various paper and cloth linings, and a book in sheets comparable to those available on this site.

Payment in full is due at time of registration. See FAQs for refund policy.