We’re still here in Lockdown, many
of us struggling to concentrate or to find the bandwidth to write or read, despite
our good intentions. So how about doing something hands on with any tatty,
unwanted books you’ve got in the house?
I’ll do a couple of blogs on easy
book sculpture. Normally I’d say ask at your local library or charity shop for
the books they’re going to throw away but you’re going to have to find one at
home. Maybe one with a few missing pages or one you dropped in the bath. Or maybe
there’s a book you just don’t want on the shelf anymore.
First up, making an animal.
This is
Scabbers the Rat which my son made when he was ten from an old Harry Potter
book. It’s not difficult, no cutting,
only folding. You can do this!
Just by folding the pages of a paperback book you can quickly create a
basic animal shape like a hedgehog or mouse.
Open the book to the first page.
Fold the page in half towards the spine, smoothing down the crease neatly.
Now make the pointy nose shape for your animal by folding over the top
left corner to make a triangle. Smooth the fold well.
If you want your animal to have a shaped rear end you can fold in a
triangle from the bottom left corner too.
Repeat with the next page and the next until you have finished folding
the whole book, creating a semi-circular shape with a pointy nose.
Keeping the cover gives a more stable base but you can cut it to match the
shape of the animal once you’ve finished folding. If you’ve made a creature who
is a character in the book you’ve used, like Scabbers, leave the whole cover on.
Add a nose, ears and whiskers to your animal using paper offcuts,
buttons, pompoms, pipe cleaners or googly eyes, whatever old rubbish you’ve got
in Lockdown.
Et voila – a whole new Lockdown friend to talk to. The folds can be used to hold
photos or cards as a desk tidy, or, if you don’t want to give it houseroom, a perfect
gift for your agent/editor/writer buddy.
Next month we’ll progress to trees and I may let you have a go with
scissors and a craft knife.
In the meantime, take inspiration from the amazing work of paper artists
like Malena Valcarcel, Susan Hoerth or Jodi Harvey-Brown who create
stunning sculptures from books. Their work is full of exquisite scenes
or ‘sets’, sometimes beautifully illuminated. A mad hatters tea party rises
from Alice in Wonderland, or a forest scene leaps from Little Red
Riding Hood. The bookish possibilities are endless!
Tracy Darnton is the author of The Truth About Lies. Her next novel, The
Rules, is out in July. The Rules is about a girl who’s spent her
whole life preparing for disasters like pandemic.
Tracy is not enjoying this unexpected immersive research period.
