Folded Book Objects

I had been wanting to have a go at making some different types of folded books for a while. This is one of the many things I love about my degree – I can slot something I want to do into the course and therefore give myself the ridiculous but nonetheless necessary permission to do it. (I appreciate this is my problem but this is working for me so I’m going with it!!!)

I find watching video tutorials a really helpful way for me to learn. I think I learn better from these demonstrations than I do from images in a book or online and to some extent I find it easier than having a real life person there to show me because I can pause and fast forward to suit myself. (Unless of course I get really stuck in which case a real person on hand would be invaluable). I had a good look on YouTube and found a set of book folding tutorials to work my way through and so I did. Camile Riner Artist Books playlist I did find these quite prescriptive in terms of measurements and so they taught me how to make that sized object rather than any sized but I found them a really good starting point and initially made a selection of plain blanks without any content as practice. I then moved on to make some more small books which I painted, stamped or drew on rather than leaving blank. I also expanded out and found a different tutorial for the flag book as I was struggling with Camile’s instructions (How to Make a Flag Book – YouTube)

Here are videos of some of the books I made by myself after learning from the tutorials.  

Going Large

Even though I had set myself the target of quickly working through this micro course and not meandering off onto side projects I couldn’t help myself. Being interested in the sculptural form of the double accordion fold book and the way it can be folded out from a flat book shape to become a hanging piece of paper sculpture I woke up in the early hours one morning knowing I had to try making it but much, much bigger. I had a large roll of very thick lining paper left over from a DIY job and decided to give it a go. I made quite a few mistakes along the way and there was a fair amount of swearing as things repeatedly went wrong because I didn’t think them through properly but I didn’t give up and although not perfect I am very happy with the results.