Finished Object

Okay, so this isn’t knitting or crochet, but it IS finished (feel free to move this elsewhere if necessary).

One of my many craft loves is paper products. I don’t get into the whole scrapbooking thing, but I [B]love[/B] making books.

This book is made entirely out of recycled things (well, except for the glue and decoupage).

I used wallpaper for the book covers and end pages, decoupaged paper ribbon for the spine, string previously used to secure herbs for the binding, and all manner of junk mail, maps, wrapping paper, calendars, catalog pages, magazine ads, etc. etc. for the inside papers.


Oh, and the “beads” on the ends of the string are what we always called “Indian beads”–they’re actually fossils.


The page on the right-hand side below was once an origami (another craft love of mine) lotus flower that I disassembled.


Thanks for looking!

I think it’s great!

Very pretty!

What a very clever thing to do! Well done.

Interesting hobby… I just read three Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s books (don’t laugh, I am new to knitting) and she mentioned her collection of printed patterns and how to deal with them. I wonder if you have any sitting around? I think you would make awesome pattern books :slight_smile:

Very interesting. Do you put pictures in that sort of book or what? I love the cover.

I have tons of patterns all over the place (since I don’t trust my e-versions to be there forever). That’s an excellent idea. I might have to try putting them all in a handmade book for easy reference. One thing I’d have to really think about, though, is making them so that they’re easy to access and read (i.e., make it so that the book would lie flat when open). Of course, I also like to carry patterns as single sheets of paper when I’m on the move, so making these removable would be handy as well.

Thanks for the great idea.

And hey, reading the experts is a great way to learn, so no laughing from me!

Thank you for your kind comments. I’ve not put pictures in any I’ve made, but that’s certainly a possibility. I have some instructions for photo albums (wedding albums, baby brag books, etc.). One of these days I’ll get around to making some of those. Most often I make these with blank pages (and envelopes).

The cover is actually wallpaper scraps. My MIL and I picked up several expired wallpaper books at a Sherman Williams store. Great resource! :thumbsup:

After I posted the pictures above, I added some decoupage to the front cover. Of course, you may like the plain version better, though! :wink:

Here’s another picture of the completed object:


It won second place in a craft fair (in the category of anything recycled), so not too shabby!

Congratulations!

As far as reading goes, I am all for learning :slight_smile: The joke sort of implied (though not clearly, I see now) that I [I]just recently [/I] read them vs bought each and every book, got them signed by the author and memorized by heart :slight_smile: (I did like them a lot, really)

Very cool! :thumbsup: