Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
Paperback Book Pumpkin
- 14 October 2013
- click to send Christine a smile
Design note: I love reading. In fact, part of my definition of true happiness is having a half read book with me. And I treasure my books. Which means, cutting up a book is rather painful… But not more painful than a book with an unhappy ending. So, here is a craft to turn books with unhappy endings into something beautiful to look at.
Rip the front and back cover from the paperback books
Start to break the spine of the book by bending the pages back. Do about 15 pages at a time to fan the book open.
Continue to bend the pages throughout the book
Place the book upright. You will notice the book flares open on the pages where the spine is broken. If it is not flared enough go back and do less pages at a time.
Break the spine of the second book
And break the spine of a third book
I used five books for my pumpkin
Trace a circle on to the book. Let the saucer overlap the book end slightly to give the shape a flat base
Alter the top curve to be slightly flatter
Pumpkin shape ready to cut out
Cut out the shape with a very sharp knife
Cut through the glued spine
Allow the pages to flair open naturally
Cut the second book...
... cut the third book...
Cut the fourth book.
Cut the last book and fit them together
Brew a strong batch of tea in a shallow dish. I used South African Rooibos tea to get a bright orange stain.
Dip edge of the cut book in the tea. Fold the pages back to soak the book a few pages at a time
Roll the book in the tea to just soak the edges.
For more information about natural stains and dyes see the Tutorial below
Squeeze out most of the tea
Flip through the wet pages to separate them and to add a bit of a curve
Paint a few bright orange lines onto the tea soaked book
Set the book pumpkin aside to dry completely.
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Tutorials
Using fruit, berries, flowers, leaves and grasses to naturally stain design details for floral art relies on the same techniques as using paint or any other dye.
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