Adventures of the Wandering Book Artists: Bookbinding for the Artist

Peter and Donna Thomas have been making fine press and artist's books for over 40 years. When they started, as craftspeople at Renaissance Faires, they fell in love with the graceful beauty of "gypsy wagon" caravans that other vendors had made to sleep in or use as booths for selling their wares. In 2009 Peter and Donna built their own tiny home on wheels, designed after a typical late 19th century Redding Wagon. This blog documents their trips around the country, taken to sell their artists' books, teach book arts workshops, and talk about making books as art; as well as to seek out and experience the beauty of the many different landscapes found across the USA.

Peter and Donna started their business in 1977 and made their first book in 1978, so from 2017-18 are traveling to celebrate 40 years of making books with shows in a dozen libraries across the country. See the schedule on the side bar to find if they are coming to a town near you....

Sunday, October 25, 2026

Bookbinding for the Artist - Class in Santa Cruz

Since we have not been wandering as much as in the past, I decided to teach a few classes locally. The first was hosted by an eclectic store in Santa Cruz called Tumbleweed Found. 8 students and I had a both educational and fun filled day making accordion books. The next class will be making a "Scroll in Codex Binding" at the San Francisco Center for the Book on November 14. So much for locally... then I go far afield, to Provo, Utah, to teach a class for the local Guild of Bookworkers Chapter on November 21.