Children decorate the books they bound during the After School Club Art Day on March 11. Aliya Hall/The Chronicle
SPRINGFIELD – Artist Marianne Walker wants to introduce children to different types of crafts and art that they otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to experience. That’s why on March 11 the After School Club at Springfield Public Library had an art day about book binding.
The After School Club is every week at the library and alternates between first through third grade and fourth through sixth.
Seven-year-old Lily Breen said she was going to use her book for journaling.
”It’s really fun,” she said. ”I didn’t know I could make a good book like this, all you need is the right materials.”
Walker, who used to work for Imagination International Inc., has a background in writing educational material for kids. She would try the products they received from all over the world at the library to explore with kids and adults alike.
”She works with us a lot,” librarian LuCinda Gustavson said. ”She had this book binder and we thought it would be cool.”
The book binder uses a heat glue binding system, and the fabric binding strip has heat-activating glue that isn’t tacky until heated. Walker puts the clean edge of the pages into the glue strip and then the binding device clamps onto it and melts glue onto pages without a mess.
The $1,000 machine is a professional machine used for making work books.
”I wish when I was that age that I could make my own books,” Walker said.
Walker grew up in Springfield and said she spent many years at the library, and this is one of the ways she gives back. She added that growing up their family didn’t have much disposable income but they always had a form of art supplies.
”I love sharing experiences that I know I would have liked as a kid but wouldn’t be able to afford,” she said.
