Fabric Bound Bookbinding & Journal Making Experience in the Blended Monkey Studios & Gardens - September 2026

siloutaggart

Sep 27

4 min read

Yesterday's fabric bound journal bookbinding and making experience taught by our talented guest tutor Zakiya - bookbinder & junk journal artist from Fanoggins - was another great success.

We had a small but perfectly formed group of students, and each one created their very own unique journals with fabric spines and stitched in "signatures".

Themes included nature & animals, make-up & beauty, and vintage.

The morning started with everyone selecting lots of different papers for the internal pages of their journals. These were then separated into signatures - smaller batches of paper - and then Zakiya taught the group how to stitch them together using a simple binding stitch. As the spines are covered in fabric, this stitching doesn't have to be too neat!

The group then set about gluing their signatures together, ensuring they had everything up the right way and gluing the backs to fronts of the signatures.

Having chosen the fabric for their spines, Zakiya explained how to cut it and stick it to the bundles of signatures with enough slack for the pages to turn and using the correct adhesive.

The journals were then placed in presses, similar to flower presses, so they could be squished flat during lunch.

Simba kept popping his head in just to check on progress. He's such an inquisitive cat and loves a bit of crafting!

We provided a hearty lunch to keep everyone's creativity fuelled. The lunch featured of homemade Fanoggins bakes, cheeses, ham and other bits & bobs. We took lunch in the Blended Monkey kitchen which caters for up to 10 people and has a top food hygiene rating. We cater for all requirements and allergies.

After lunch, everyone enjoyed designing the covers of their journals using various papers & ephemera. The students carefully stuck the covers to the fronts and backs of the journals and then put them back in the presses while they carried on making some extra bits and bobs to go into the journals.

Zakiya gave a demonstration on how to heat emboss, using an embossing gun and powders. It's like magic! The powders turn beautifully shiny and metallic-looking, providing a lovely flourish.

The wonderful thing about these journal-making workshops is that you can continue to fill your journal over the next months - or even years. Your journal could be themed or simply a collection of pretty inserts, envelopes, thoughts, poetry ... you can stitch in it, glue in it, rip bits up, paint in it, add stickers or memorabilia, photos, drawings ...

This was a lovely, relaxing experience. It's such a therapeutic craft! The next stage in this bookbinding journey would be to try out coptic bookbinding. Zakiya is running a coptic bookbinding workshop in February. See below.

Zakiya is joining us again for the following workshops. Some of the later ones next year will be added to the website shortly:

Journal Making & Junk Journalling - Saturday 31 October - Blended Monkey Studios & Gardens

10.00 am - 4.00 pm - includes refreshments & lunch. £75.00 (existing students email us for your loyalty discount)

INFO & BOOK:

https://www.blendedmonkey.co.uk/product-page/journal-making-and-junk-journalling-blended-monkey-studios-sat-31-october

Coptic Bookbinding - Sunday 7 February - Blended Monkey Studios & Gardens

10.00 am - 4.00 pm - includes refreshments & lunch. £110.00 (existing students email us for your loyalty discount)

INFO & BOOK:

https://www.blendedmonkey.co.uk/product-page/coptic-bookbinding-and-book-making-blended-monkey-studios-sunday-7-feb-2027

Fabric Bound Journal - Bookbinding & Journal Making - Sunday 18 April - Farmland Museum & Denny Abbey in Waterbeach (near Cambridge)

10.00 am - 4.00 pm - includes refreshments. £80.00 (existing students email us for your loyalty discount)

INFO & BOOK: