ONLINE Bookbinding 1: Home Study - Guided Stream - Cohort 13

ONLINE Bookbinding 1: Home Study - Guided Stream

The purpose of the Home Study- Guided Stream programme is to make bookbinding education available to CBBAG members who cannot take advantage of in-person workshops.

Mentor:  Spike Minogue

Location: ONLINE using the Thinkific platform and Zoom

Online workshop access starts: August 10, 2026

Duration: 8 months August 2026 - April 2027

Course fee: $700 members / $760 non-members (incl. one-yr CBBAG membership)

Additional postage costs not included in course fee:

• Mailing of workshop material kits from Ontario, invoiced and payable following registration Kits will be mailed in time to be received prior to the first zoom meeting.
• Mailing three projects for critiques to and return postage from Ontario payable directly to the mentor

Prerequisite: none

MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 10 students

Registration closes June 10, 2026, 11:59 PM

Prior to registration, all interested participants must read this pdf which details the guidelines and expectations of the Guided Stream of the Home Study Programme. Registration for the workshop functions a formal agreement to these guidelines, whether or not they have been read.

Bookbinding 1 is the first workshop in CBBAG’s core curriculum and introduces the variety of tools, materials, sewings, and constructions fundamental to hand bookbinding.

Using the Thinkific online teaching platform, the workshop is a series of lecture-style videos, direct demonstration videos, and how-to pdfs housed into modules. The workshop will start with the making of a simple pamphlet and proceed to the binding of two hard cover books.

Using an online platform allows Mentors to have easy interaction with participants and allows participants to connect and support each other by encouraging discussion, questions and sharing of ideas. There will be a total of 4 Zoom meetings, during which the Mentor will lead a review of the group's project submissions, discuss challenges, and answer questions, emulating the in-person workshop more closely.

CBBAG will be providing a project materials kit to registrants as part of the workshop fee (postage will be extra).

The Guided Stream has requires participants to submit their completed projects by postal mail to their Mentor and this online environment allows for better feedback with live Zoom meetings to review submissions and for the whole group to learn together, mimicking the in-person workshop more closely. In total, participants will work through more than 15 individual projects, with 3 sets of submissions spanning 8 months with new modules opening up every 7-8 weeks. Participants are responsible for postage for all the submissions, to and return and is payable to the mentor directly.

The online, 24/7 delivery of the workshop is designed for an independent type of learner who needs a flexible schedule for learning and is unlikely to be able to attend an in-person workshop.

Successful completion of Bookbinding 1 in the Guided Stream qualifies participants to take in-person workshops that require Bookbinding 1 as a prerequisite.

Spike Minogue holds a diploma in Bookbinding from North Bennet Street School in Boston. She is chair of the  CBBAG Ottawa Valley Chapter and organizes its Book Arts Show and Sale every two years. Spike has been teaching bookbinding courses since obtaining her CBBAG Certificate of Completion. Her background includes extensive prepress in the commercial printing industry and then teaching prepress at the college level for ten years in the college's graphic design diploma program. She owns her own studio that includes letterpress, bookbinding, and book design. Lately Spike has invented a tool that punches all the sewing holes in your signatures at once called the "All-at-Once Book Punching System." 

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Note for applicants with United States mailing addresses:  As of August 2025 the US government has removed the de minimis exemption for custom duties on shipments to the US.

CBBAG regrets that as of September 2025 registrations from US-based applicants for Bookbinding 1 in the Guided Stream of Home Study will not be accepted into the programme, as it requires packages to be shipped across the border.

Because CBBAG is unable to prevent US residents from registering due to system limitations, any of US-based registrations will be cancelled and fully refunded.

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Cancellations: The membership fee portion of the non-member fee is not refundable. For Bookbinding 1 Guided Stream, participant-requested cancellations will be accepted up to 3 days prior to the published cut-off date for registration and will be subject to a 10% cancellation fee (a minimum of $5). After that the full fee will be forfeit.