How to Make a Book Angel

4 Materials
$3
2 Hours
Medium
I saw some book angels at a craft show years ago, and I filed the idea away in the back of my mind for a some day project. I thought it should be pretty easy to figure out how to make one.
So when I found a book that I wanted to use at a thrift store I decided to give it a try. The first thing to do is to remove the dust jacket from the hard cover book. This book had about 200 pages (400 numbered pages).
Fold the back 25 pages (50 numbered pages) from the bottom corner up into the spine of the book. This is the right angel wing.
Fold the front 25 pages (50 numbered pages) from the bottom corner up into the spine of the book. This makes the left angel wing. (You'll notice that I did the first few pages wrong, but it was an easy fix.)
Fold all the remaining pages towards the back of the book from the top corner down into the spine. This makes the dress of the angel.
When all pages are folded it should look something like the above. I love how the text makes the pattern on her dress.
I marked the shape of the angel wings on both sides of the inside book cover with a pencil and filled those spaces in with a black Sharpie.
I like the black because it gives the wings much more definition. I also coloured all the edges of the book cover black as well.
I used a styrofoam ball from my stash. I painted it with a flesh colour craft paint, but it looked too orange to me. So I decided to cover it with a piece of a nylon stocking. I just tied a knot at the bottom of the ball.
I added some curly hair with my glue gun. Then I glued the head in place with the excess nylon being glued to the back of the book. Then I added three layers of a white lace ribbon, a gold ribbon bow, and a sweet little red rose. Her halo is made from a string of small white beads. The lace is glued to the edges of the book spine not to the pages.
And that's it. She's all done. The finished size will depend on the book size. My angel is about 8" tall and 12" wide.
Suggested materials:
  • Hard cover book   (thrift store)
  • Styrofoam ball   (craft store)
  • Doll hair   (craft store)
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Tuula - Color Me Thrifty
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  2 questions
  • Frankie Cunningham Frankie Cunningham on May 30, 2017

    how much you are saling this book angel for


  • Cindy Cindy on Sep 23, 2017

    Does the book have be 8" by 12" open or closed? How do fold the pages right? This is so pretty I want to make one for my mom for Xmas Thanks

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