Paper Folding with Old Books

Back in the 6th grade 

    ...many, many years ago, I was seriously into paper folding. One of my girlfriends gave me a ginormous book on Origami. I made all kinds of little origami animals and gave them to friends. My most favorite project, and one I never photographed :( was a hanging door curtain for my bedroom made out of GUM WRAPPERS. I don't remember how long it took me to make, but it involved hundreds of gum wrappers. I had it up for a very long time and I was very proud of it.

I've been playing with paper ever since...

My most recent projects involve old books...upcycling them into pieces of art with paper folding techniques. Now, this isn't anything new, just new to me. See lots of cool art and ideas on my Pinterest board here: https://www.pinterest.com/scibellidesigns/altered-books/

My first attempt was a technique that I saw on Carolyn Dube's website (https://acolorfuljourney.com/how-to-store-stencil-masks/) for holding/storing small stencils and masks. She took an old book and with a very simple fold, made a sort of filing system for masks. I have a lot of small masks and stencils so I made one (in less than an hour) and I use it for storing masks and stencils I'm working on at the moment. And I like the way it looks, too!

As soon as I finished this, I had to do MORE! So, I checked out YouTube and Pinterest and have started a few more...

Birdhouse?

This one isn't finished yet and not sure how I'm going to "decorate" it, but I'm pretty sure it's a birdhouse.

 

Birdhouse or Fairy House?

This one is 95% done as far as the folding goes. I love the shape! It was done with 2 folds on every other page.  Although, people on YouTube call this a "Fairy House" I think it could be another birdhouse.....we'll see. 

I think my next book paper folding project will be an abstract!