Introduction: Batbook

About: Hi! I´m Cristina, and I love to make new stuff using old things! I think it´s just awesome! At the same time I´m trying to help a Foundation that help children in Bangladesh, buy offering my stuff in exchange…

Hello!

Welcome to my instructable!

I will show you how to make this "Batbook". This is an easy and fun project to do.

I hope you like it!

Step 1: What You Will Need

You will not need many things to make this project.

1. And old hardcover book with pages at least 20 cm tall. For this bat design you will have to "cut and fold" 189 leaves, so make sure your book has at least the double of numbered pages (378 numbered pages)

2. And old batman comic book (I only had some leftover loose pages from another project)

3. Découpage glue

4. Scissors

5. Ruler

6. Pencil

7. Yellow acrylic paint (or another colour if you prefer). You can also choose not to paint the pages at all, but in my opinion, painting them gives a nice look to the finished book.

8. A brush (to paint the pages, and apply the découpage glue

Note: The book and comic book I used were both damaged. The hardcover book had pages ripped inside, and the comic book would go to the trash bin. Please do not use books in good reading conditions. If your book has ripped pages, dont worry and just cut them entirely off before starting this project.

Step 2: Paint Your Book Pages

A very easy step. Just use your brush to paint the top ,fore and bottom edge pages. Keep the book closed while you paint, then let the paint dry before starting the next step.

Step 3: Découpage Your Cover

First prepare you comic book pages. I cut mine in different sizes and shapes, to be easier to découpage them on the book.

To glue the comic book pages on the book, I suggest you go slow and be patient. First apply a fair amount of découpage glue on the cover book, then place the comic book page keeping it without wrinkles of air bubbles, and the apply glue on top. Repeat the process until you have all your book covered. I did the front cover first, then I let it dry, and only then did the back cover.

For last, turn in and glue the comic book pages using the same technique.

When all is dry, you can glue the first and last blank page of the book to the cover, to hide the turned in glued pages.

Step 4: Cut and Fold the Pages to Make the Bat

I decided to not only fold the pages, but to use the "cut and fold" technique to add some depth to the bat symbol.

If you are not familiar to book folding, you can take a look at these great "cut and fold" instructions I found free online.

The upper file named batman1.pdf is our bat template. It has all the measures we will need leave by leave.

What you will be doing is to mark every other page with the template measurements, cut between the marks, and fold 2 cms in. If the leave has no measures it is an inset page. For this, you should mark 2 cms on all of the leaves height and fold it in.

I added two videos, one for the marked pages, and one for the inset page to make it easier to explain.

When measuring, you should measure and mark from the left to the right on the edge of the page and 2 cms in, with the book spine turned towards you.

Don´t forget that you want your bat to be centered if your book has more than 189 leaves, make sure the 189 leaves you will fold are in the center. For that you can find the middle page of your book and count 95 pages back to find your first page to fold.

With the tutorial, the template and the videos you should have no problem getting the hang of it, but feel free to ask any question if you need. I will be happy to help!

Step 5: And It´s Done! :)

And there you have it!

For your kids bedroom, or for your office (if you are a Bat fan like me), a nice piece of Batman fan art.

Papercraft Contest 2017

Runner Up in the
Papercraft Contest 2017