Old books can become new sculptures with a few folds and maybe some glue and paint. The book above just had the top and bottom corners of each page folded in, while the book below had a group of pages with the bottom corners turned up followed by a section of pages in which the top corners were turned down.
After eight sections of alternating turned corners half of each section rolled right while the other half of each section rolled left. then the rolls were glued into place. Then it was sprayed lightly with gold spray paint.
Here is a similar process of folds and rolls, followed by a touch of red spray paint.
This Christmas tree idea that was found online is the only one in which the pages were cut before they were folded. Although some students cut out pages and painted ink silhouettes with them.
And one student used discarded maps to make paper flowers.
In order to create a vintage feel or a piece of art that communicates layers of meaning, it might be wise to look beyond a plain white sheet of paper into discarded reading materials.
Book folding is a fairly new trend in wall art. Patterns can be found online, which give the number of pages and the number of inches from the top and bottom of the page to fold in order to make specific shapes like hearts or diamonds. For those creative souls (like my students) who want to explore their own folding techniques, the sky is the limit! Obviously most books are printed on paper, but Braille books are embossed on card stock, giving extra strength with fewer pages. I demonstrated a couple of folding ideas before letting students try out their own ideas with discarded Braille books. The fact that they are held together with staples and don't have any hard covers or spines to deal with, make them extra conducive to sculpture in the round. It didn't take long to get some great results.
