It is obvious to see things turn old with time and become useless doing nothing but occupying space. But if we transform these old articles irrespective of what these are – old books, matchboxes, film canisters, cigar boxes, mint tins, tin cans, photographs, gourds, lunch pails or CDs into something new, which is creative and artistic, then these articles can be gifted to any dear one. Here we’ll look into the insights of how to transform old books into a sculpture.
Difficulty level
Moderate – The process of transforming the old books into a sculpture may require some expertise in few areas
Time required
Transforming an old book to a sculpture may take time between 2-3 hours
Resources required
1. Old books ( which you want to use to create the sculpture)
2. Bone folder ( available at art supply stores)
3. Plate hangers ( If you want to hang the final sculpture on the wall)
Instructions
The sculptures are made from old books using simple folding techniques. Though the final sculpture may look complex and difficult to make, but if you can fold a paper, you can easily fold pages into sculptures. And the best part is – you don’t have to use any tools but a bone folder to make edges of folds sharp. There are no limitations to the creativity of making sculptures and there is not any right or wrong way to do this.
After making the sculptures of your old books you can show them off to your friends by keeping them on tabletops or mount them on a board and hand on the wall. You can also gift these sculptures to your friends and dear ones on special occasions.
Here is the step-by-step instructions of how to convert your old books into sculptures:
Step – 1 :
The first step is to conceive the idea of what type of sculpture do you want to make. To start folding the book, you need to first decide whether to start from the first page of the book or the last page or from the center.
Step – 2 :
After deciding from where to start folding the book, place the book on a flat surface so that the foldings are perfect and are made easily and make the process hassle-free.
Step – 3 :
Initially, you may make mistakes while folding the page such as folding it from a wrong dimension. Nothing to worry about. Unfold the page and try folding it again. Perfection will come only with practice.
Step – 4 :
To start folding the page, you first have to fold the page from its edge ( upper or lower) and make it into a half so that it looks like a right triangle ( a right triangle is a triangle which can one of its angles as 90 degree)
Step – 5 :
Now you need to fold the page again, but this time from the edge of the right triangle, and join it with the inner side of the book where pages are bound together. For instance, if you are folding the first page of your book then you need to hold the right edge of the triangle created.
Step – 6 :
Try experimenting with different page folds. Unfold the page which you feel doesn’t match what you want to create. You can fold the pages as you like till you get what you want out of that pages.
Step – 7 :
It is not necessary to fold all the pages of the book, so you can leave some pages unfolded, such as leaving a few pages on each side of the book.
Step – 8 :
Ensure that each fold has sharp edges. You can sharpen the edges using the bone folder. Sharp edges increases the grace of the sculpture you are creating.
Step – 9 :
When you are satisfied with the sculpture created by folding the pages, you can place the book flat on a table or hang it on a wall using an expandable plate hanger or you can even gift it to a friend.
Frequently asked questions
1. What if I made a mistake in folding a page?
Ans: No problem. Initially, you will make mistakes. You can unfold the page and fold it again as many times till you get what you want.
2. Will the mistakes I made during folding the pages get noticed by others?
Ans: When you unfold a page and fold it again, the crease of the former fold gets covered, so your mistakes are not visible to the audience in the finished sculpture.
3. Why do I need to transform old books to sculptures?
Ans: When things get old, they usually become useless and does nothing more than occupying space. You can transform your old books ( which you need no more) to sculptures to add value to the useless articles in the house.
4. What is converting old articles into creative form known as?
Ans: Generally, converting any old article ( which may be old books, matchboxes, film canisters, cigar boxes, mint tins, tin cans, photographs, gourds, lunch pails or CDs) to any creative form is known an altered art.
5. Which type of books can be converted into sculptures?
Ans : Every book can be converted into sculptures but hardcover books are easy to transform into sculptures.
6. How much will it cost to convert an old book to a sculpture?
Ans: Converting an old book to a sculpture will cost you nothing. All you need to give in is your time.
7. I don’t want to keep the final sculpture made as a showcase, what else can I do with it?
Ans: Apart from keeping the sculpture as a showcase in your house, you can do many other things with it such as gifting it to a friend.
8. From where can I get the bone folder?
Ans: Bone folders are available at art supply stores
9. Is it essential to buy a bone folder to create a sculpture from old books? Can I create a sculpture from old books without using the bone folder?
Ans: Bone folder is basically used to sharpen the edges of the folded pages. Sharp edges increases the grace of the final sculpture created. So it is basically used to make it easier to sharpen the edges.
Yes, you can create a sculpture from old books without using a bone folder.
10. How many designs of sculptures can be made using old books?
Ans: It is not predictable. This is because each fold gives a different and unique design to the sculpture so it is very hard to count how many designs of sculptures can be made.
11. What are the common designs of sculptures made from old books?
Ans: There are many common designs of sculptures which are made from old books. You can create design by folding the first pages and the last pages of the book leaving the central part unfolded. You can also fold only the central pages of the book, leaving the first and last pages of the book unfolded to give it a different design. You can also fold the first, last and central pages of the book leaving some pages of the book unfolded either side of the central pages.
Quick Tips
1. Conceive the idea of the sculpture you want to make before you actually start folding the pages of the book.
2. Browse some of the sculptures made from old books on the internet to get ideas.
3. Be patient. It takes time.
4. Do not be sad if you make mistakes initially or your sculpture does not turn out to what you wanted to see. Just practice. By passage of time you will become perfect.
5. If you make a mistake, take it as a lesson; if you do it right, take it as a lesson too.
6. Make sure that all the folded pages have sharp edges, so that the sculpture turns out to be good.
Things to watch out for
1. Take care of the book you use. Don’t use your important books, but only the books which you have plan to recycle.
2. Transforming an old book to a sculpture will be time consuming, so you need to patient. Take breaks so that you can rejuvenate.
3. Doing a thing repetitively can be boring, so go for some music in the background or play a movie so you enjoy the pro
cess rather than feeling like being in a prison.
4. You are going to devote your valuable 2-3 hours for converting a book into a sculpture so you need to be single-minded. If you leave the job undone, all your efforts will go vain.