Sometimes we want to create a book structure quickly and simply without having to find needles, thread or glue. This session will explore book structures that only require folding and an occasional cut here or there. These structures are a really useful tool to create beautiful things from drawings or prints that didn’t quite turn out as planned or are excess to requirements. They are also useful if you wish to create multiples of something simply and quickly. We will explore the zine fold, meander book and more and you will realise that you can invent your own folding structure once you understand how these folds work.

Map structures are delightful but they may seem quite daunting at first glance! This session will gently and carefully lead you through the folds required for a Turkish and Hungarian map fold technique. You will soon see that with a little practice these structures can become part of your practice too. Once you understand the folds we will explore a number of ways to attach multiples together to create some unusual book structures. These structures are a great tool for using up excess work that needs a new lease of life in some way. You can create unique book objects that will bring much delight!

This session will introduce you to a range of structures that utilise sewing techniques. I will demonstrate examples of coptic and traditional codex methods of creating books. In the session we will make a long stitch book which will introduce you to sewing signatures together and incorporating a soft cover into the sewing structure. It is simply paper and thread, no glue! You might use existing artwork, recycled papers or create a blank book for notes, sketches, paper/pattern samples and ideas! These might be mixed papers of different colours, weights, textures, patterns, artworks etc. We will stack these into 6 sets of 4 sheets to fold so bear in mind any art works will not be fully seen across A5 except for the very inside sheet on each of the 6 folios.

Do you have pieces of work or samples of your process that you would rather not cut up and fold? Maybe you have some precious creations that need to be shown off or bound together in some way? This session will explore ways of displaying those precious things without cutting them up or folding them. We will look at a range of book structures that utilise the concertina fold in different ways, along with some modifications to a simple stitched sketchbook to create a range of ideas for displaying and protecting your work.

Sarah Grace Dye is a visual artist who loves to find a use for and beauty in the  ephemera of the everyday. Working with these objects has become like an  alchemic practice enabling a transformation to take place. She believes learning to  use the materials that surround us is important and her ethos dictates that it is  important to waste nothing, that everything has a purpose and unique attributes to  be examined, explored, elevated and a new purpose discovered. In essence, to  search out beauty and hope in everything. The resulting alchemic objects are to be  celebrated, shared and treasured. 

Sarah is a collector and uses papermaking, natural dye and ink making, drawing,  cyanotype, stitch and origami to create work, often within book structures, that  amalgamates these together to produce small and perfectly formed keepsakes  that echo the essence of the materials and story they communicate. 

Sarah is a firm believer that everyone has the capacity to be creative and she is  keen, wherever possible, to provide the catalyst for that to be realised. Her belief in  the freedom to play and discover ones own marks is central and she is constantly  developing this area within her own practice.

Dr Lynne Connolly has taught as a senior lecturer in higher education with the University of Chester, and The Open University, as well as within community initiatives in Ireland and across the U.K. 

She has run workshops both online and in person, in photographic arts, book-arts, and mindful photography. Current workshops are mainly with local community groups both in Belfast and Cheshire, as well as teaching for the Royal Photographic Society. 

Lynne has completed a doctorate in Book Arts, Photography and its application for use in trauma and well being, she has postgraduate degrees in Fine Art Photography; Social Sciences; and one of the last cohort to gain the PG certificate in Therapeutic Photography (Distinction) at Robert Gordon University (2025). Lynne is also a member of the Society of Bookbinders.

Her own work explores the intersection of photography, collage, stitching, and book arts - research and project work oscillate in and out of these elements and try to give presence to that which might otherwise be unspoken. 

The use of book arts and one page structures is a wonderful way to explore some of these layers using existing materials, recycled and hand made papers to create a structure for narratives and way to bring themes of work and ideas together.