How To Cut a Book Into A Vase
I've been wanting to make a vase from a book for quite some time. I first saw this idea on Country Living magazine's website. It's a great way to recycle old, worn out used books or the ones you find at thrift stores.
I found that the easiest way to shape a book into a vase is to cut it by hand using an xacto knife. I used a vase as a pattern and drew around the side of the vase onto a white piece of paper, and then traced it onto a piece of cardboard. The pattern should be the height of the book page. Keep in mind that the width of the vase will be twice as wide when finished so your template should be narrower when drawing the overall shape.
Cut your pattern out of the cardboard and tape it to the front portion of the book against the binding and around the back covers to prevent movement of the cardboard while you are cutting.
With a sharp knife cut along the template slicing through several pages at a time, removing as many cut out pages as you can until all are done.
It was easier for me to cut and see the pages by turning the book upside down. Midway through cutting, I repositioned the template on the remaining sheets which made it easier to finish cutting them out. Once you've finished cutting out the pattern, remove the outside hardcovers leaving the spine binding intact.
Next, take the front page and the last page and fold them with the rest of the book backward. It helps to crease along the spine to help with gluing the pages together and making the shaped pages more flexible. Place glue on the first and last pages and along the binding and press together. Hold or clamp until dry and secure. I dabbed tea on the pages to give it an aged look and the tea also helped to swell the pages a bit.
Now step back and admire your work! What an adorable book vase! I just had to make spiral flowers out of some of the left over pages to go in the vase! More recycling, folks!
The possibilities are unlimited for designing and cutting out a book vase. And the best part is that it's quite simple, cheap, and easy to do in no time!
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 8 comments
-
I also like the paper flowers. How to make it?
-
Nice. do you any other patterns like a tea pot?
-
@Nirmala4418 Thanks - no, I'm sorry, I don't.
-
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?