Welcome, Readathon-ers!
From the moment I first encountered it, I’ve always been drawn to, fascinated by, all the fabulous art made from books or pages of books. It’s all so beautiful and bookish, don’t you agree?
But … I’m also scared to attempt it. I can’t hardly stand the thought of ripping into a book — any book — even an old review copy that I hated! Maybe you feel like me, or maybe destroying a book for the sake of art doesn’t bother you even a little bit. Either way, I think I’ve found a painless way to try my hand at book art.
Instead of cutting, we’re going to be folding today. Origami seems timely, given the recent devastating earthquakes in Japan, where the art originated.
Take the plunge with me now!
- Find an old book (if you’re still skittish, maybe start with an old phone book — who needs those in the internet age?) and
- rip into it.
- Do some paper folding, and
- share your creation.
To get you started, here are some sites with origami, paper-folding, tutorials. (Or maybe you have a book of ideas to hand already?)
OK, I think that’s plenty to go on for now.
I think I’m going to make a lily. Seems appropriate, somehow. 
Once you’ve posted photo(s) of your bookish creation on your blog, come back and leave me the direct link to your post in the comments below. I’ll be picking a winner (at random) once three hours have passed.
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OOH – I am like you…. scared to rip into a book… I will have to see what I can come up with…. hmm….. I wonder if I have one of those phone book thingies…..LOL
Happy reading Hannah!
I definitely cannot rip up a book. I will look around for a phone book.
Oh, goodness. Reading that sent a shiver straight through me. Like you, I can’t even bear the thought of folding a page from an old old, even one I hated. But, maybe I should try and get over it. LOL
Hmmm, maybe I’ll attempt this challenge (with a phone book page…gosh I hope it’s still in my recycle bin) like you suggested. Could be heaps of fun…and I’ve always wanted to try origami.
Gah…”old old” should be “old book”. My eyes are starting to cross.
I totally knew what you meant, no worries. And: Come in, the water’s fine!
Yippee skippy, I did it!!
http://www.jdmontague.com/book-origami-mini-challenge.html
That was actually a lot more fun (and relaxing) than I expected. Now I’m refreshed and ready to start reading all over again.
Thanks Lily for hosting this awesometastic mini challenge.
Yay, glad you enjoyed it!
What a cool challenge! I know just what I’m going to try.
Ooh, yay! I can’t wait to see it.
Don’t get too excited, it’s nothing to put up on display. XD
http://nisababepraised.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/book-origami-part-2/
But there we are. Thanks for hosting this challenge!
Oh my goodness! If I had any spare books lying around, I COMPLETELY would be all over this! Alas, though, we just moved into a new apartment — the only books I currently have here are my four or five absolute favorites, and a stack of ones from the library.
Which, you know… they probably don’t want me to be beautifying.
Oh, alas! No phone books have shown up yet, either?
Congratulations, Word Lily! Your name was drawn to win the $25 gift certificate & a copy of the latest Alafair Tucker mystery. Please contact me at beauvallet@aol.com.
Thanks for playing!
Oh, cool! Emailing straight away.
Here you go! http://nisababepraised.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/book-origami/
Thanks for the fun challenge and happy read-a-thoning!
http://readingwithchessie.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-origami-dog.html
I loved this challenge! SO FUN!
I’m terrible with origameis! It took me 20 min!! It’s a fortune teller!
Read what it told me!
http://readingromances.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/ready-se-zzzzz/
Oh goodness… as much as I would love to I don’t think I can make myself do it! Even with a phone book! The thought of those poor books being folded over and over… *sudder*
Totally cool challenge! Unfortunately, between work and resurrected Internet, I’ve blown off most of my reading and just didn’t have the time to put into it. I even have a phone book!
Pingback: Book Origami Part 2 « Nisaba Be Praised
Very cool challenge. Love it!
http://www.bookcrush.net/archives/115
Scroll down to Hour 7 and ta-da! An origami box!
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Flying high with books
http://readingwithchessie.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-book-airplane.html
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This was fun! I couldn’t rip into one of my books. I only buy ones I really love. So I did a phone book. The library page. http://forestofthedead.blogspot.com/2011/04/hour-eighth-and-mini-challenge.html
The library page?!? That’s awesome.
Done! It pained me to deface my awesome book, but it was done in earnest! Thanks for the challenge!!!
Link? I need a link to the photo!
I loved this challenge idea!
I have quite a few old, yellowed, thin papered books that I am not interested in reading (and no one is interested in buying), but I just can’t throw them away. So maybe book origami is the way too go.
So, which bird is assoziated with reading? Right, an owl!
http://vanillaprinzess.livejournal.com/15921.html
Oh, good call!
Here is the link:
http://abookcook.blogspot.com/2011/04/readathon-mini-challenge-book-origami.html
Great, thanks! Gotcha now.
Ok. Done. All my posts are on 1 page, with the most recent on top. I love book art and, in fact, did a Squidoo lens about it (I think I put a link in my post but can’t remember offhand.) Thanks for the challenge. Good use for all my defunct computer software books…
Please leave me a link in your comment so you’re eligible for the prize!
Oops. Forgot to give you the direct link:
http://resabi.wordpress.com/read-a-thon/april-9-2011-dewey/
Great, thanks!
Here’s mine: http://www.goodbooksandgoodwine.com/2011/04/shooting-at-the-walls-of-heart-ache-readathon-update-2.html
What a fun challenge!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Here is the link to my creation
http://www.lisasworldofbooks.com/2011/04/dewey-24-hour-read-thon-mini-challenge.html
Thanks for playing along!
I ripped up a magazine…so I cheated slightly lol. Really interesting challenge!
http://vampsrus.blogspot.com/2011/04/mini-challenge-7-origami.html
We’ll let that slide, this time.
I’m waiting for my pictures to finish downloading, then my post will be up! this was fun!
Okay, here is the post: http://aliteraryodyssey.blogspot.com/2011/04/book-origami-mini-challenge.html
Ok… I did it… sort of…. It’s pretty embarrassing but I am posting it anyway
http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/dewey-read-a-thon-we-interupt-the-regularly-scheduled-hoo-hah-and-what-nots-of-this-blog/
Thanks for giving it a try, anyway!
Sorry if this is a double post…. while I was posting my comment I went to another page, came back and did not see it here so here is my post link to the picture…. I failed this one big time…. but decided to post it anyway….LOL
http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/2011/04/09/dewey-read-a-thon-we-interupt-the-regularly-scheduled-hoo-hah-and-what-nots-of-this-blog/
It was fun to try
This was so much fun! I got my kids to make one too! We are book murderers and used actual book pages! Glad we did, it was so much fun and the kids feel like they got away with something they know not to ever do! Fold Mommys Book pages!
http://www.booksdevoured.com/2011/04/read-thon.html
Hmmm, Can not find my comment… Don’t know what happened, sorry if this is a double.
This was a lot of fun! I got the kids to help me too!
http://www.booksdevoured.com/2011/04/read-thon.html
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Here’s my post with the pictures: http://heidenkind.blogspot.com/2011/04/readathon-update-hour-10.html
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