Bookish Ornament Tutorial
I’m actually cross posting this from my little hobby business page so I apologize if you’ve seen it before, but it fit both places, and I really think its such a cute idea!
If you’re looking for a last minute gift idea, these book page ornaments are a great way to give new life to a damaged book, or just something fun to make! If you have questions about anything, please leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer it.
I can’t take credit for coming up with this idea. I found a tutorial a couple years ago online for these, and then modified what I did to suit myself, but I’ve lost the link to the original tutorial I learned from, but there are several for these types of ornaments out there!
Supplies
- old book
- paper cutter, scissors, craft knife, or other cutting tool
- ruler
- pencil
- glue stick
- stapler
- white glue (optional)
- glitter (optional)
- ribbon or string to hang the ornament!
Step 1
Okay, so the first step is made REALLY easy if you have a paper cutter or rotary cutter of some kind. If not, use a craft knife, ruler, and a lot of patience!
You’ll need to cut your book pages into strips. I made mine 1 inch wide, but I’ve made them 1/2 inch wide and they work well too. Whatever you do, make sure the pages of your book aren’t too flimsy. This was an old dictionary. I also cut up part of another old book, but the pages were extremely thin and a pain to work with.
Once you have your strips cut (I used between 18-22 per ornament), stack them together.
Step 2
Even up your edges, and then fold your stack in half. Unfold it, and staple it along the crease.
You can do a variation of this where you have smaller and bigger loops. If you want to do that version, fold each strip in half, and use the crease to line them up together, since the edges won’t line up neatly.
Step 3
Now, get out your glue stick! I prefer the purple ones that dry clear because I can see where I’ve glued – but that’s just me. You’re welcome to use regular white glue, but it is harder to handle.
You need to apply glue to the top third of the strip, and then glue it to itself. Make sure the tip is glued near the crease line, as close as you can get.
Continue gluing in the same direction all the way around. It’ll look like this when you get about halfway:
Step 4
Done! You can leave it like this, or I like to dip the edges in white glue and then in gold or white glitter. It looks pretty (who doesn’t love sparkles?) but it also helps stiffen it a little more, which I also like.
If you wanted another variation, this is what it looks like with only 11 strips, and alternating shorter and longer strips:
