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Crafting at Home + Creative Recycling: DECORATIVE FOLDED BOOKS

Get ideas and instructions for fun crafts you can do at home with supplies you already have!

Decorative Folded Books (contributed by Amy Hughes)

This guide demonstrates upcycling a book into a piece of art by folding the pages into the shape of a heart. Known as folded book art, this craft can be done by anyone using the following materials: a book (preferably a hardcover) that measures 8 inches in length from the top of the cover to the bottom of the cover and contains at least 140 pages, a ruler that measures in centimeters, a pencil with an eraser, and four paperclips. Use the following directions to transform your book into a work of art!

Original project inspiration and directions:
Book Folding Tutorial: A Simple Heart

Part One: Finding the Correct Pages

Start by removing any book jacket from your book and make sure all pages are flat with no creased corners or folded pages.

Book laying open to the exact middle with paper clips on both pages

Then find the full amount of numbered pages within the book and split this number in half evenly. This can be done by taking that number and dividing by two.
(Example: 384 divided by 2 = 192)

Close up of a book open to the middle with a paper clip on the top of both open pages

Now open to the middle of your book and place a paper clip on both the left and right middle page. This will become the center of your heart design.
(Example: 192 and 193)

Book laying open with a paperclip on the page on the left-hand side

Next, take your left middle page number and subtract 40. Flip to the new page and paper clip it. This will be the start of your heart design.
(Ex: 192-40=152 beginning of heart design)

Book laying open with a paperclip on the page on the right-hand side

Now flip back open to your middle two paper-clipped pages. Take the right middle page number and add 40 to it. Flip to the new page and paper clip it. This will be the end of your heart design.
(Ex: 193+40=233 end of heart design)

At this point you should have four pages paper clipped: one that marks the beginning of the design, two that mark the middle of the design, and one that marks the end of your design.

Part One Tips

  • Make sure you use an even number of pages, so if your book is numbered up to page 555, use the last evenly numbered page instead!
  • Place each paperclip at a different part of the top of the page. This way you can easily flip between the beginning, middle, and end of your design.

Part Two: Measuring Each Page

To begin measuring the pages, lay your book flat on a hard surface with the book lying open vertically instead of horizontally.

You will need to lay your ruler against the pages as you measure, making sure to line up the bottom of the ruler with the edge of each page. Be sure to check that you are measuring in centimeters, not inches.

Starting with your FIRST paper-clipped page, you will use the ruler and pencil to mark each page according to the measurements found in the PDF file: Book Folding Page Measurements (link also available at the top of this guide). The first page of the heart design uses the following measurements: 7.7 centimeters and 8.9 centimeters.

Make a mark on the page with you pencil at each measurement.

Each page should have two measurements with varying amounts of space in between each pencil mark.

The beginning and end pages will have measurements fairly close together while the middle of the design will have measurements a good distance apart.

Part Two Tips

  • Keep a print-out of the measurements next to you while you work for easy reference.
  • With your pencil, cross out each measurement after you use it to make sure you don't repeat any pages.
  • If you make a mistake, erase the measurement and re-measure.

Part Three: Folding the Pages

Return to the first marked page and fold the top and bottom corner of each page in to the pencil marking. Remove paper clips as you go.

As you fold the corners in, be sure to keep them at right angles.

Continue this process until all 40 pages of the design are folded. The heart design will begin to take shape as you fold.

When you reach the end, check to make sure each page is folded correctly and refold any corners that have come un-creased

Once your design is finished, you can decorate it any way you'd like or just leave it plain.

Book art makes a great gift or piece of decor for your home or bookshelf!

Create Your Own Designs!

Design made using the BookArt Generator website