Book-Cycling Part One: Card Carrier

I’ve been a little obsessed with Book Art recently. I have three books on pop-up crafting.  I have a huge file of google images. I pled with the director of my PhD program to help me find a way to fit “Printmaking: the Book as Art” into my requirements. (No go. “I can stretch a lot, but I can’t stretch Studio Art into Research Methodology,” he said.)

Both this site and this site (they have naughty titles, but completely innocent AND AMAZING content) have become the source of far too much daily gazing. I mean, look at this!

And this!

And this!!

I mean – how amazing is that?

So I’ve been trying some things.

What follows is incredibly simple and pretty darn nifty. And as a super-timely bonus, an excellent homemade gift idea – just in time for the what-in-the-world-are-we-going-to-make-Aunt-Marge-this-year seasonal pressure.

Let me introduce you to The Old Paperback Card Holder.

Business cards, holiday cards, birthday cards, revolving or permanent displays, this project is just as easy as can be, and a great way to make use of that pile of outdated, unwanted, spilled-on, or left-on-your-stoop paperbacks.

Step one! Find yourself a book. The thicker the book, the more substantial the card holder.  

Tear off the front and back covers. You don’t need to use scissors or any other tool if you’re careful. (A bonus: this is a forgiving craft.)

Starting from the front page, fold each page in half towards the center.

And continue.

And continue. After a while, this got a little hard to do on a flat surface, so I made myself couch-comfy and used my leg as a prop.  Easy!

After about 15 minutes, I had this:

I am pretty sure I folded all the pages in the same direction, but it’s likely I lost track somewhere in the middle. Like I said, it’s a forgiving craft. According to the amazing book from which I lifted the idea, folding the pages in different and alternating directions can yield some interesting effects, so feel free to experiment.

Obviously, the size and shape of the book you’re working with gives you different shapes appropriate for different displays.

I know where I’m putting my holiday cards this year.  How about you?