Saturday, December 12, 2009

How to make ornaments out of an old book

Here is one of the ornaments I have been working on the past few weeks. I was inspired by Zakka Life where they made a similar style ornament with felt.
The first one I made I used an old magazine but I like the look of the text on the book.

So the first step was to go to our book shelf and find books that I know I will never read again and don't mind giving up - or you can go to the Good Will. I thought I could part with my copy of Staying Alive.

Rip out a section or 2 from the book - I think I took about 25 pages but it could have used a bit more. Trace out a circle twice and cut out. Put all 50 (or so) circles on top of each other. Fold the top circle in half and make a crease, use this as your sewing guide. Sew across the crease using a large stitch length. I have an industrial sewing machine so it could get through it no problem. If your machine can't you could do it in 2 or 3 sections and then just glue gun the pieces together on the stitching. Don't back tack your stitches, it will just make the paper tear so just leave long thread tails.
Then I would take the thread tails and untwist and tie a knot at each end. Pull the loose threads to the center and trim to 1/2" and glue gun down to seam (I didn't do this until the end and the threads kept getting in the way so it would be easier to do it first).
Since the edges of the paper were a little rough I used some sandpaper on the edges to smooth them out - optional, I just had some sandpaper around for another project so I used it. When using the sandpaper don't use too close to the thread or it will rip it.
Then take the first page and glue a dot in the middle - not too close to the edges so the glue doesn't spill out.

Turn to the next page and put 2 glue dots spaced apart like the picture. And then continue to alternate for both sides of the circle and leave to dry.
There is an example of putting too much glue, too close to the edge. It made all the pages stick together - a big mess. If a few pages get stuck together you can gently get them apart. This one on the other hand could not be saved.
While it's drying get the ornament hanger ready. I used some coated wire stuff that I had from days when I was making necklaces but anything that you can thread a bead onto would work.
Make a big loop at top and add some beads. For the bottom I put the gold coloured bead on first, then the silver ball and then back through the gold bead.


Glue gun the wire to the seam of the circle - pulling the wire tight at the bottom and making the loop the size you want to hang at the top. Trim extra wire.
Then gently pull apart pieces to join the last pages together. Using a glue gun join them.
Take some metallic paint and lightly brush on the edges to add some glitz.

We don't have our tree up yet so I took pictures on this mini tree we have, a little silly looking, I know :)

5 comments:

  1. this is fate...i was looking for a tutorial for exactly this ornament just yesterday and gave up. today i found the link to your blog on "one pretty thing" (which i read every day). thanks so much for posting this - it's beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm glad you found it then :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. So pretty! Great step-by-step too. Am happy I found you via PaperCrave.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi. I just love this simple and sweet ornament. Now I just have to get brave enough to do it.

    Thanks for sharing a great tutorial.

    Merry Christmas...Tracy :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7:03 PM

    It actually looks pretty cool on the little tree!

    ReplyDelete