Two-Day Workshop: Making a Mock-Up with Matthew Austin

Two-Day Workshop: Making a Mock-Up

Time: Saturday + Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm (PST) one hour lunch break around noon (lunch is covered by course fee). 

Instructor: Matthew Austin

Where: 2012 Stoner Ave, Unit B, Los Angeles, CA 90025

5 students maximum

This course is designed for those interested in books but does not require students to have extensive experience in books. If you happen to have lots of experience in books, all the better.

While students are encouraged to bring their own favorite hand tools, we will utilize the studio resources to their capacity to serve the student’s creative projects and visions. This may include: inkjet printing, digital offset printing, foil stamping, sewing, board cutting, paper trimming, perfect binding, vacuum feed folding, hand-bookbinding techniques, and more. 

By producing a mock-up in this course, students will learn the structure of a book, the materials, tools, and equipment used in book production, and how to best design for such methods through the guidance of the instructor. Students are typically utilizing this course with a creative project in mind, but if only wishing to learn the bookbinding practices, students can also design a notebooks (no creative content needed).

While this is a hands on workshop, it does not focus on learning bookbinding — the focus is on bringing your book concept to life through a mock up and going through all of the design processes to do that.

If you are specifically interested in learning bookbinding, please take our one-day bookbinding workshop to do so. 

PLEASE NOTE: All materials and printing are covered by the course fee (up to a 200 page book, above that will be charged standard rates). Because this workshop occurs over one weekend, there will not be time (or businesses open) to order and receive specific materials like paper and foil dies. If you wish to purchase your own paper / materials before the course to make that exact mock-up, please contact us before the workshop so we can ensure you’re getting the right items.

Part of our first day will involve making sure your files are printable and paginated correctly. You will need to get Adobe InDesign at least for the duration of the workshop (a free trial would be totally fine).   

The mock up you make in this workshop will be made with the studio resources available. The function of a mock up is to begin to show you what your book physically looks like and what needs improvement / changing in the design. 

If it’s important to you to mock up your project exactly to its intended state (foil, fabric, paper, etc.) please contact us about an independent tutoring session where we can make that happen with you. 

Images show studio perspectives from the 2024 course Idea to Edition (from which this Mock-Up Workshop has derived), as well as detailed shots of the swiss-bound edition of Kindsong by Zoe Lemelson made in that course. 

Matt Austin is a designer, bookbinder, and publisher based in Los Angeles, California. He founded Candor Arts, an imprint and production resource for artist books. He is the founder and studio manager of For the Birds Trapped in Airports.

Request additional dates for this workshop or schedule a private tutoring session by emailing studio@forthebirdstrappedinairports.com.