Many charities no longer will take books that we have finished with so what are we to do with the ones we no longer want and can't give away? Making book sculptures is one creative way to recycle and repurpose those old tomes. Take a look at what artists do to get some inspiration. Nicholas Jones and Su Blackwell are two artists who use books for their exceptional art work and both are renowned for their creations.
Of course, most of us can’t hope to match their ingenuity, but, if you’ve ever been intrigued by folded book sculptures and want to create your own, it’s easier than you think. And not only is it a relatively inexpensive project, but you will be helping the environment by saving old books from being tossed into landfills.
Although they look complex and difficult to make, if you can fold a letter, you can fold pages into sculptures. The technique for creating them is surprisingly simple. The best part is that you don’t need any tools, except perhaps a bone folder to make edges of folds sharp. You are only limited by your imagination--there is no right or wrong way to do this.
When you are done folding, you can show off your altered books on a tabletop or mount them on a board and hang on the wall.
Basic Book Folding Techniques
All you do, to create your own masterpiece, is repeat a sequence of repetitive folding patterns, one page at a time. And practice makes perfect—it’s easy to fix or start over as you can simply unfold the pages. Once your book is completed, mistakes and previous creases will not be visible.
There are a number of ways you can start. You can begin on the first or last page of your book, using the same repetitive folds over and over, all going in the same direction. Or, you can first fold pages from the front to a section of pages to the center in one pattern; then from the back to the center section in the same pattern; then fold the pages in the center section in a different pattern.
You can also choose to leave equal layers of unfolded pages at the front and back or just at one end.
Materials
- Books
- Bone folder (available at art supply stores)
- Plate hangers
Instructions
- Place the book down on a flat surface and decide where you will start folding.
- Experiment with different page folds and when you have one you like, just keep folding until you are satisfied by how it looks. You can leave a few pages unfolded on each side of the book or fold all of them.
- When you are done, you can place the book flat on a tabletop or simply hang it from your wall using an expandable plate hanger.
For another view of a book sculpture, go to my blog and search for Book Sculptures.
