Yesterday morning Lisa and I got together in the chilly Levigator Press basement studio and made some trace monotypes in preparation for the class we’re running this Saturday.
Trace monotype is an easy introduction to making beautiful prints even if you have never tried printmaking or can’t draw. Your Japanese paper is laid face down over a slab of specially prepared ink, and lines are traced on a reference image taped to the back to pick up ink. It’s a direct transfer method that yields a single, precious print, loaded with rich linework and moody, atmospheric shadows.
Here you can see my print in progress, next to the slab from which the ink was picked up.
And here are our completed prints! Lisa juxtaposed a dreamy photo of one of her children with an image of a beloved artwork in her collection, while I made a portrait of a handsome sheep named Limerick who was raised by a friend, and whose wool I used for my warm winter gloves.
There are still some spaces available in the class, happening this Saturday, 26 January, in the asil studio here in Walkerville. If you’d like more information or to sign up, visit this link: asil trace monotype class.
We’ve got a fresh lineup of classes happening at asil studio in the new year, taught by yours truly in tandem with Lisa Sylvestre of asil. We’d love for you to join us to learn something new and hone your sewing, knitting, and bookbinding skills with us! You can see all the details below, with handy links to take you over to the asil website if you’d like to sign up.
Introduction to hand sewing, a flexible six-part series.
Thursdays February 8 and 22, March 7 and 21, and April 4 and 18, 2024, 6:30 until 8 pm (6 x 1.5 hrs)
$35 individual session, $30/session for 3-5 sessions, $25/session ($150) for entire series
This six-week series is designed to cover the basics of hand stitching. Each class can be taken as a free standing class but the techniques will build from week to week.
Week 1: The basics of the basics. Learn to thread a needle and to tie a beautiful knot. You will learn the simple and versatile running and back stitches. These stitches are used as utility seam stitches, for raw edge applique, and as a decorative top stitch.
Week 2: Whip stitch. We will introduce the whip, or overcast, stitch which will expand your range both for stitching seams and finer-finish applique.
Week 3: Blanket stitch. The blanket stitch is a versatile and decorative embroidery stitch used for edging and finishing, for mending, and as another method of adding applique.
Week 4: Hemming. You will learn tips and tricks for pressing both straight and curved hems. We will introduce our favourite hand hemming techniques.
Week 5: Fasteners. In this session you will learn how to hand stitch a button hole and a button loop as well as the tailoring method of attaching a button.
Week 6: Mending. We will delve into different methods of repair using simple stitches and patches.
Saturday, January 27, 2024, 1 pm until 3 pm (2 hrs)
$40 plus $5 materials fee
Trace monotype is an easy and beautiful method for creating a mix of bold and delicate lines in your one-of-a-kind prints. It’s very responsive to the artist’s hand, giving a rich atmospheric quality to the image. In this class you will learn how to specially prepare oil based ink for trace monotype, and will create at least one beautiful print on Japanese paper. Depending on the complexity of your image, you may have time to make more than one print.
Trace monotype, as its name suggests, uses tracing, so you don’t have to be able to draw! Please bring printouts or photocopies of source material; such as a specific photo or image you wish to work from (NOT originals; these will be ruined in the monotype process!). Your finished image will be the reverse of your source image so please consider that when making your copy. We will also have plenty of source material available for you to choose from.
In this three hour class, you will learn to cast-on stitches, how to work a basic garter stitch, how to increase and decrease stitches, and how to cast off and finish. You will leave with a sturdy cotton dishcloth, a set of knitting needles and enough cotton to make a second cloth.
Saturdays, February 24, March 9 and March 23, 2024, 1 pm until 2:30 pm (3 x 1.5 hrs)
$90 plus $10 materials fee
In this three week series, we will cover the basics of hand quilting. The course is designed with ample time between sessions for you to practice and work on your hand quilted pieces. You will choose the size of your piece ranging from tea mat to place mat size.
During Week 1 we will discuss some quilting history and what makes a quilt a quilt. We will consider quilt design, material choices and cover basic hand piecing techniques.
In Week 2 you will learn basic quilting techniques including methods of basting.
Week 3 will introduce you to different methods of finishing your quilted piece.
Thursdays, May 2 and 9, 2024, 6:30 until 8:30 pm (2 x 2 hours)
$50 plus $10 materials fee
This two-week class will teach you how to print and embellish your own custom fabric. In Week 1 you will learn how to make richly coloured block prints on fabric using our collection of pre-carved blocks and design elements you can layer in different ways. In Week 2 you will add depth and detail to your piece with some simple embroidery stitches.
All materials are provided and you will leave class with a beautiful piece of embellished fabric (you may not finish your stitching during class but we will get you well on your way!). No printmaking or embroidery experience is necessary, although a basic knowledge of hand sewing will help you get started.
Retchoso bookbinding is a unique style of Japanese binding that joins folded sections of paper with a complex yet elegant stitch using one or two needles to create a slender notebook that opens perfectly flat. Sturdy multi-layer paper covers are built onto the book’s sections before binding. It’s a perfect binding for a portable notebook or sketchbook, or for chapbook publishing. All materials will be provided and you will leave with a finished book.
I’m excited to announce a few new fall workshops I’ll be teaching under the new umbrella of dandelion school house, a collaboration between asil (link: asil) and Levigator Press. We felt it was time to separate our classes from the asil gallery name, and will announce more later when we’re ready to launch properly with a full lineup of classes and a beautiful logo (I’m working on a very nice drawing but my Procreate skills are quite primitive and it’s taking me forever). For now, we’re soft launching the school with a short roster of classes. For now you can see what’s on offer at this link: dandelion school house.
On Saturday, October 28 I’ll be teaching an old favourite, Coptic bookbinding. We’ll be using fun covers cut down from old books and you’ll have your choice of a few different papers for your pages. Registration is required, and can be done on the asil website via this link: Coptic bookbinding at dandelion school house.
On two consecutive Thursday evenings, November 9 and 16, I’ll be teaching an introductory linoleum printing workshop. This is one of the most popular workshops I used to offer at the Levigator Press studio and we’re pretty excited to finally be running it again. Here’s the link to register at the asil website: Lino block printing at dandelion school house.
asil and Levigator Press have collaborated to present
paper and cloth: a pop-up studio
a series of workshops at Art Council Windsor and Region’s Artspeak Gallery between September 17 and September 23, 2023
Workshop Schedule
Sunday, September 17 10:00 am until 2:00 pm: Flower Pounding demonstration during Windsor’s Open Streets Monday, September 18 1:30 until 3:30 pm: Botanical Contact Printing (Eco-Printing) 6:00 until 8:00 pm: Indigo Vat Tuesday, September 19 1:30 unti 3:30 pm: Monoprinting with plants 6:00 until 8:00 pm: Flower Pounding Wednesday, September 20 1:30 until 3:30 pm: Mending 6:00 until 8:00 pm: Concertina Collage Book Making Thursday, September 21 1:30 until 3:30 pm: Hand Quilting 6:00 until 9:00 pm: Reception Friday, September 22 noon until 2:00pm: Weed Walk 3:00 until 4:00 pm: Cordage Saturday, September 23 1:00 until 4:00 pm: Mordant Painting and Plant Based Dye Dip
Please visit the Classes page for detailed workshop, price and registration information. Please note that while you can view the details for each workshop here, if you wish to register you will follow a link from each class page to asil.ca, where you will complete your registration.
paper and cloth: a pop-up studio evolved through a shared interest in natural and sustainable practices in the art studio and in daily life and has developed a seasonal relationship with the flora and found materials of our immediate surroundings: a response to the general disconnect between daily human life and the natural world. Gathering and harvesting local plant materials in season for use in the art studio celebrates the bounty of our rich and diverse region.
All paper and cloth:a pop-up studio workshops will take place at Artspeak Gallery, 1942 Wyandotte St E, in Windsor, ON.
Here are a few of our student prints from our class at Meta Makers Cooperative. We had some challenges printing for the first time with minimal equipment in a new space, but the makerspace is coming along nicely and is already developing into a great, inspiring place to work and teach.
Our students played a bit with selective inking in multiple colours (skull circuit board print) and blending colour right on the block (after Mucha print).
Here are my sample socks at the end of our sock knitting class tonight, in which I showed our students how to finish off the toe of their socks with Kitchener stitch. If you want to learn how to make socks and missed out this time around, keep your eye on Fusion Fiber Arts (Facebook page link) for the next session!
All yarns in the pictured socks from The Green Button Jar (Etsy store link).
Here are the finished student books from our first bookbinding class at Arts Council Windsor & Region, longstitch binding with a wrapped leather cover. Thanks to everyone who came out and made a book with us!
Friends, I want to thank you all so much for all of your messages of love and support after our big announcement. Giving up our wonderful public access studio is bittersweet, but I’m excited for the next phase for Levigator Press and it’s been so great to hear that you all have my back. There’s going to be much more raw hustle involved in bringing our workshops and products to you, but we’re looking forward to our new collaborations with the many amazing arts organizations here in Walkerville and beyond!
Whew! Now, back to business! We have some upcoming classes in the new year to tell you about:
January 11, 1-3:30pm at Meta Makers Cooperative: Buttonhole bookbinding
January 13, 20, and 27, 7-9pm at Fusion Fiber Arts: Sock knitting (sign up through Fusion Fiber Arts: https://facebook.com/events/591665678038334/?ti=cl)
January 15 & 22, 7-9pm at Meta Makers Cooperative: Lino block printing
February 4, 6:30-9pm at Artspeak Gallery: Retchoso bookbinding
February 5, 6:30-9pm at Artspeak Gallery: Longstitch bookbinding with leather wrap cover
February 12, 7-9pm at Meta Makers Cooperative: Trace monotype
You can register through our classes page as usual for our printmaking and bookbinding classes regardless of the venue, and visit Fusion Fiber Arts to register for the knitting. We have a few more classes in the works so keep an eye out! And as always, if you have something in particular you want to learn, drop us a line and we’ll do our best to set something up for you!
We’re in the home stretch for shop hours, open this week until Friday at 5pm, and this Saturday 11-4:30. Everything in the shop is still 20% off so come by and see us!
Hey there friends of Levigator Press: we have some Very Big News to share with you all. We’re super excited about it and hope you will be too!
At the end of this month, the Levigator Press studio and shop will be closing and we will be moving the majority of the printing equipment into our new home studio (part of the big building project we’ve posted about a few times this fall). We’ll no longer have a full time physical store, and the new studio won’t be open to the public. But! We will be able to do a lot more shows, pop-ups, and special events, and plans are in the works to bring our classes to other venues around Walkerville (Metamakers Cooperative, Artspeak Gallery, and Fusion Fiber Arts, for starters).
I have absolutely loved sharing my studio with you all over the past nearly five years. When I opened the studio in 2015 I hoped to create a welcoming space of learning and art-making, and the amazing students and artists who have come through my door since then have blown me away with their enthusiasm and their love of printmaking and bookbinding. I’m eternally grateful to all of you for helping me make this place the fun little community studio I had hoped for.
This new direction will make space for more collaboration with some of the other great arts organizations in our neighbourhood and allow me to do more shows, visit more classrooms, and teach a wider variety of skills. I can’t wait to see where it leads me and I hope that some of you will come along. You can keep tabs on the studio here and on social media for our new calendar of events in the new year.
For now, our 20% off sale will continue until our last day of business, so that you can stock up on Levigator Press gear and help me avoid having to pack and move it!
September’s here and the Levigator Press studio is back to regular hours. If you’re not sure how to get your fun now that summer is behind us, why not go BACK TO PRINT SCHOOL?
We’ve got loads of fun new classes coming up for fall and we have a special deal for those of you who are ready to immerse yourself in printing and bookbinding, or just want to get a head start on your handmade holiday gifts.
Sign up for any four classes and get 20% off the class fee; sign up for six or more and get 30% off! Just enter the coupon code PRINT SCHOOL 20 at checkout when you register online for 4 classes, or PRINT SCHOOL 30 when you register for six (or drop into the studio if you prefer to sign up in person). You can split the classes with a friend as long as you sign up together!
Check out the “classes” page on to see what’s coming up. We’re running some of our most popular classes and a few new ones. Now is your chance to try screenprinting posters or fabric, letterpress printing, block printing on fabric, bookbinding, monotype printing, drypoint, papermaking, and more!
The discount is valid for all classes currently on our schedule as long as you sign up before midnight on September 30. Discounted fees are non refundable and cannot be combined with other offers.