Friday, April 1, 2011

Fun with Literature

Today's post was inspired by this book wreath found on Real Simple magazine's website. I thought this would be a perfect decoration for a reading corner, or room! Also, if you have an old book lying around that you know you will never touch, you might as well turn it into art. I did not have such book myself, so I went to the dollar bookstore in Burbank to buy one. Because I felt bad for buying a book to rip out its pages, I chose a book that happened to have multiple copies. Alright, so now that you have selected your book, you will need to gather a few more items: a wreath (I found mine at a dollar store), an adhesive (I used white glue and tape, but hot glue would also be good), and some twine for hanging (you could also use string or ribbon).

First, rip out pages several from your book. Don't worry about how many you rip because you can always rip more as you need them. I have to admit, I was hesitant to try this craft because the idea of ripping pages out of a book seemed incriminating to me, but once I started ripping, I found it to be a lot of fun. Also, the way I see it, you are turning this book into art, so it is still living on, just in a different form. Anyway, once you have pages torn from the book, roll up one page and hold is closed at one of its ends. You can choose to have your wreath with the torn edges out or the torn edges hidden. I chose to do a mixture of both. Once you have your rolled up page, simple slide it into one of the wreath's crevices. I found that I did not have to use an adhesive for the majority of my pages, but if you want to be certain that your pages do not slip out, you can easily glue all the pages in place. Repeat rolling and sliding your pages into the wreath, working on the outside of the wreath to the inside. Use your judgment to determine where each page should fit. Once you have enough spiraled pages tucked in to your wreath, find pages from your book with no writing. These pages will be used for the interior border of your wreath. Tear the page into thirds. Glue the end of one of these strips to the front inside of the wreath then glue the other side of the strip to the back. Do this process with enough strips to cover the wreath so that only pages are visible. Finally, flip your wreath over and tie your twine around the wreath and hang!

This craft is slightly time consuming, but repetitive, so you can easily make this while doing other things. For a variation, you could also dye the pages in coffee or tea before you make the wreath to change its color. I hope that you try this on your own, as it is a fun way to recycle old books :)

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