Hello
We’re John Ash and Paul Gotts, keen amateur photographers driven by the idea of photo books whether handmade or commercially printed.In the last few years we have delivered very successful workshops on the creation of concertina books, slip cases and four-sided Japanese cases. The results have been really outstanding in our view.Sign up for news and updates below if you'd like to find out about our future workshop series.
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Workshops
Find out more about our various workshops
About Us
Find out more about your workshop leaders John and Paul
Contact Us
Want to ask us a question or just say hello ? Get in touch
Our Workshops
We offer various different workshops that have certain key principles in common.
Led by John Ash and Paul Gotts
Maximum of 8 participants per workshop
Materials provided on the day (except your own prints for the Concertina Book session)
Emphasis on freely available supplies so learning can be quickly duplicated at home after the event at least cost
Complete notes provided to ease pressure on the day and serve as a permanent resource
Coffee, tea and biscuits provided!
Keep reading to see details of each specific workshop.
Next Workshop
Making a Japanese-Style Four-sided Case
Thursday, 27th February 2025
Aston, Sheffield
£99
This one-day workshop would be of interest to anyone who would like to see a further and rather special option for presenting a favourite book.Japanese books are traditionally stored in hinged cases that fold up to enclose one book or to accommodate books of different sizes. They form protective sleeves for important books but in allowing cloths and lining papers to match ensure that the finish on the inside of the case is just as beautiful as the outside.Participants bring their book or prints to the workshop, and at the end take away their own four-sided case, tied with two bone clasps.Objectives:On this workshop you will learn to:
Measure, mark out and cut book board to exactly fit your book
Cover the case with cloth
Attach bone clasps and holders to the lid and side of the book
Strengthen the case and finish with lining paper
Understand the principles and be able to replicate at home what you learned
Our Other Workshops
These are the other workshops we've delivered in the past and if there is interest would be delighted to run again in future.
Let us know if you'd be interested.
Making a
Concertina Book
This workshop would be of interest to photographers who would like to see their images in book form.They would need to print off their chosen work, around a given template, and bring this to the workshop.A week before the course participants will be invited to an online session to introduce themselves, ensure they are comfortable with printing their images off and to be able to hit the ground running on the morning of the actual course.A week after the course an online review session will close off the project.Objectives:On this workshop you will learn to:
Take your artwork and make a 20-page concertina book block
Make a cloth bound board cover
Glue the book block to the cover to complete the book
Understand the principles and be able to replicate at home what you learned
Making a
Slipcase
This one-day workshop would be of interest to anyone who would like to see their favourite book sitting in a bespoke slipcase.For many, a handmade or otherwise special book is not complete without a purpose-made slipcase, which acts not only as protection but an opportunity in itself to be creative and best present the book. The process calls for accuracy in measurement, marking out and cutting, as a variation of only 1mm can be the difference between success and failure.Participants bring their book to the workshop, and at the end take away their own handmade slipcase, fully lined and board cased with an inlaid title or image on the front.Objectives:On this workshop you will learn to:
Line the book board with chosen paper
Measure the book, cut out and glue together the slipcase
Cover the slipcase with cloth and inlay a title or image on the front
Understand the principles and be able to replicate at home what you learned
Making a Hardbound Lay-flat Photobook
This one-day workshop would be of interest to photographers who would like to see their images in book form. They would need to print off their chosen work, around a given template, and bring this to the workshop.Objectives:On this workshop you will learn to:
Take your artwork and make a 26-page lay flat book block using drum leaf binding
Make a cloth bound board cover
Glue the book block to the cover using endpapers to complete the book
Understand the principles and be able to replicate at home what you learned
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"Thank you both for a fabulous day. I really enjoyed it and learned lots!" – JS
"Loved it…Thank you for the expert tuition and am buzzing to make another one – am so proud of my creation" – JB
"Love my book and am excited to get cracking on the next one" – PW
"Took my Sheffield book in its case to Photo Parlour in Nottingham last night, they loved it.” – HB
"Thank you Paul and John for yet another fabulous and fun day. So pleased with my slip case." – JS
"Thanks Paul and John for a brilliant workshop with such clear directions, I made me a flawless box (far superior to other attempts!)" – JB
"Love the slip case, Paul and John, and learned less is more where glue is concerned!" - AH
2024 registration now open
Complete the form below to request a place on a workshop.Places are limited to 8 per workshop so we will get back to you ASAP to confirm your place and send you a secure payment link if successful.(if you'd like to register on more than one workshop, please complete this form for each date you are interested in)
Payment
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2024 workshops
Making a Hardbound Lay-flat Photobook
Tue 15th June 2024
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Books
Between us we have worked together on four collaborative books since 2019: Brand New Day, Just Now, New Beginnings and Littoral which have raised over £3,000 for the Young Minds and RNLI charities. The ethos has been simple: we invite a small number of talented photographers to respond to a theme and we collect their diverse interpretations into a collaborative photobook.
Plans
We are now planning the publication of our fifth and sixth books for summer 2024 and 2025 – and we are asking for expressions of interest from photographers. All proceeds will again be going to charitable causes and we are proud of the fact that everyone involved so far has offered their time for free. We are very keen that this is continued. We are delighted to be able to say the books will contain more words from Jeff Young.
LocalOur fifth book Local (working title) will be published in summer 2024. It will include work from three photographers. Our aim is that this work will:
Be taken from areas very close to home (ideally within a mile) and certainly involve little transport
Be taken in areas that we might normally just pass by
Have a focus on the natural environment
AllotmentsOur plan is to publish this book in early summer 2025.
Allotments (working title) will again include work from three photographers. Our aim is that the images:
Should be of an allotment or allotments close to home
Should portray a real relationship between photographer and subject
Should reflect the approval of local allotment officials for the project
Our earlier books
Littoral
Our latest and first hardback book Littoral was published in June 2023 and is based on the theme of the sea and the coast.It includes 35 black and white images from Lynn Fraser, Ali Lewis and Fiona McCowan brought together by a 1,000 essay by the Liverpool-based author, Jeff Young.With the proceeds of over £1,700 going to the RNLI the book benefited from a foreword written by master printer Jack Lowe.
New Beginnings
Published in May 2021, New Beginnings showcased the work of six photographers in responding to a lyrical theme of a Toyah song – chosen as pertinent to the time that the world was starting to slowly emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.Contributors were Tim Allott, Andrew Atkinson, Andy Holliman, Jan Beesley, Susi Petherick and Valerie Dalling, with a foreword by Doug Chinnery.The book was sold to support the charity Young Minds, and raised over £1,500 for this fantastic cause.
Just Now
For the second book of 2019, Paul decided on a lyric of John Martyn’s Just Now.Paul took part in this one as a photographer as well as pulling it together, and one of the projects was done by a father and daughter duo, Rob and Georgia Knight.The other photographers were Shelly Newnham, Juliette W Gregson, John Clifton and Anita Nicholson. Jill Reidy from an earlier book wrote the foreword to this one.
Brand New Day
In early 2019 Paul produced the first book.Inspired by the lyrics to a Van Morrison song of the same name Brand New Day asked six photographers to respond to the theme with a set of images: John Ash, Jill Reidy, Lesley Peatfield, Nicola Davison Reed, Janet Salmon and Rob Townsend.A foreword by Rob Knight set the scene and introduced the theme.
Gallery
Here are some pictures from the 2021/22 workshop series
About Us
We're John Ash and Paul Gotts, and we're both keen photographers and advocates of using handmade books to best show our work – and yours.We have collaborated on published books together. We have been running workshops since 2021 and have never ceased to believe the quality of work participants bring to, and take away from their day. With course numbers restricted to a maximum of 8, we have had the time to ensure a 100% success rate.Here's a little more about each of us.
John Ash
I'm John and I'm an enthusiastic amateur photographer and book-maker, based in North Yorkshire. I self-published two books in 2020, Shoganai and Shinrin-Yoku, which both demonstrated a more project-based emphasis to my work, and connection to the local area.Making handmade books has been a natural extension of this project-based approach, which developed after meeting Paul back in 2017.I've been involved in three collaborative photobooks with Paul, Brand New Day as a photographer, and more recently New Beginnings and Littoral as joint editor.My photographic influences have mainly been Steve Gosling and Rob Knight, who instilled in me a belief to photograph from the heart and to develop a close connection to your environment.
Paul Gotts
And I'm Paul, a Leicestershire-based photographer and book-maker.I enjoy making images of my local area where I have a particular interest in historical land use. My most recent book Fort Crosby looks at the remains of a World War II battery in the aftermath of the Liverpool bombings.My work is nearly all project-based with the end result being a handmade book – these include stab bindings, concertina and stitched forms. Increasingly working alongside John, I've edited four photobooks – Brand New Day, Just Now, New Beginnings and more recently Littoral, which have raised over £3,000, mostly for the Young Minds and RNLI charities. These books have given the opportunity for photographers to see their work in book form perhaps for the first time.I enjoy projects that are commercially printed but allows the same artwork to be used in limited edition prints and handmade books. This diversification has allowed me to offer up and sell books into a number of charity auctions.I enjoy the community aspect of work and continue to be inspired by the #Connected ethos of Rob and Karen Knight. I have a young family and balance photography and books with school runs and supporting junior football.
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