Harry Potter style Hogwarts Library Spellbooks

I recently found a huge collection of ruined old books at the local dump and immediatly thought of Harry Potter the Hogwarts library.
 
This is a tutorial to show how I converted these old encyclopeadias into Hogwarts style spellbooks.

These books are a great way to display your Harry Potter wands or other collactables, and are very cheap and pretty quick to do, all you need is and old book some easily avaliable supplies and a fair ammount of patience!
 

Step 1: Choosing a book

There are two VERY important disclaimers to note at this point, the first is that this is really and adults only project (or adult supervision STRONGLY recommended!) as you'll need to use a very sharp scalpel to cut the new title into the cover of the book. The second point is to be careful what book you use! The olny reason I could bear to de-face these books is because they had been left in the damp and rain for months so they were ruined before I started.
 
In short be VERY careful that you're not going to destroy a first edition copy of "Peter Pan" or "The Count of Monte Cristo"

Below is a pic of the book as I found it

Comments

[MarikeA]

If you just cut out the letters only on the paper, and then spray paint the book gold, would that look good? Because I only have gold spray paint. (Ofcourse i would protect the book so the cover wont get gold all over it)

[raen714]

This is great! I'm planning on doing this to one of the old encyclopedias I'm trying to get rid of. After making it look like an old spellbook (or maybe another book on the list), I'm going to cut out the pages and turn the inside into a holder for a calculator, pen, pencil, eraser, and lead so I don't have to take my entire bag to a final exam.

[Nifro]

Wow thats a great idea

[Dusk Shadows]

106555 views nice!!

[Heart girl]

Omg this is amazing just started mine to day keep up the good work

[Niongi]

What font did you use for the Potions book Moste Potente Potions?

[cpaxton]

This is so cool! But could you please tell me how to change what's on the pages inside? I want to make them authentic

[nixiadel]

you can get info on taking out the pages and putting in new on-line. Basicly, cut out the old pages from the inside of the book. (one good slice at the spine on eather side will do it. Then cheet and get a ream of paper from the office store that has the look you want. (the tea and bake method just take to long) Print what you want. Clamp the pages leaving about 1 1/2 to 2 inches sticking out of the clamp. flex the pages one way painting a non shrinking glue with the bend and then bend it the other way and do it again. Let it dry for a while (an hour or two). Use wax paper, or something that will not stick, against the clamp and shift the glued ends down so that it will dry without warpingor cerving as it dries. Next get 2 inside cover pages for the insides. They should be as tall as the book pages but twice the length. Fold them in half and then glue the edge agains the spine about a 1/4 inch more than the pages where glued. Then take a peice of fabric and use a glue gun to atatch it up the spine of the pages for extra support. Next, use more of that non shrinking pager glue (Any craft store) and attach the other half of the inside cover page to the cover of the book. Paint the glue on the whole back side of that page and smooth it down.Press with heavy book till it all dries adn there you go. (try bing - book binding techniques, videos. That should get you some results to help.)

[mrsohtobe]

As Ron Weasley would say, "This is bloody brilliant!"

Here is my attempt:

http://mrsohtobe.blogspot.com/2011/08/shhhh.html

[buddhacat]

I can't wait to try this! But I think I'll try a Discworld title...

[kiwi16877]

Oh my gosh! This is so complicated! You must be so smart to figure out how to do this!

[ataraschke]

This is phenomenal. I can't wait to try it!

[dhill6]

Sell these on etsy. I'll buy a couple.

[Janipun]

Just amazing! It's the one item I would buy as it looks authentic and now it may be possible to make it myself, I can hardly believe my luck. Thank you!!!

[mslaynie]

Wow. I am absolutely blown away by this. You took those poor, ruined books and turned them into something worthy of displaying! Such an inspiration...

Thank you so much for sharing this! Now I've got one more task on my list of things to do...

[Cold-Overdose]

Oh my! I really have to try that! 8D Thanks for the tutorial! ♥

[AldarionAngel]

Great! Thumbs up!!

[Clawdeen]

I'm definately looking forward to outfitting my Hogwarts outfit with the proper spellbooks!

[crsunshine]

Wow, wow, wow!!! This has been a huge inspirtation.

[Shastaw2006]

I love this instructable, but cutting the title out was a bit much for me, so I'm combining it with this craftster tutorial: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=305857.0

[(YOUR N]

amazing! i made 35 of them thanks!

[mrzpeterwentz]

Any suggestions as to where I might find some old big books like that?

[maxiaxie]

I am only 13 and I use 'very sharp scalpels' regularly in my dissections (best way to learn about the body) and in construction.

[zayin]

lol

[bettbee]

I'm hoping that you are not harming live animals of any sort in order to dissect them. You can get organs of large animals from any real butcher shop - try kidneys, while reading about the transfers of solutes through membranes and the structures of kidneys in a college bio book. Maybe your school has dissecting scopes you can use in your investigations, or you can get an old on on eBay. In summer, I suggest trying dissecting flowers, seed pods, leaves, branches, etc. as well.

[maxiaxie]

corse not, love animals, and i did plant biology over 5 years ago.

[memyselfand1]

i am also 13, and use scalpels for modeling, and half the time unintentionally dissecting myself.

[(YOUR N]

im 14 and i use scapels 2

[(YOUR N]

im 15 now d

[thedragonmaster]

I'm a 13 year old girl and I use scapels for modelling, dissection and craft. I can usually NOT dissecting myself, but my mum probably wouldn't let me near either her books or a scapel.

[Jeronimus]

Is there a story behind those other books on the last picture? They look interesting as well. Any details? I like making "props", but I can just never put myself to work. This, however, seems like something that's extremely fun and doable. So I've been meaning to try this project or something similar out for a while now... I'm trying to design an interesting cover title at the moment.

[aaronscottaugustinhotmail.com]

 I don't see this as just an adults project because of a xacto knife. I have been using them since I was nine or so. Granted maybe you shouldn't give a knife like that to a child with ADHD, ADD, or Autism, but I think your not giving our younger viewers the credibility they deserve.

Non the less do recommend supervision and give them some safety tips. But this would be a great project for kids if they want to make a harry potter themed bedroom or something.  

Great "Ible" 5.0!

[FFVIIBOY]

Hey Im 14 and I have ADHD and i find that insulting

[phant0m_sp00f3ra]

 imma fully functional autist and i don't find that insulting.

[FFVIIBOY]

yeah me neither

[bettbee]

You have to recommend adults only or adult supervision to be responsible. What parents choose to let kids do on their own is their business.

Having said that I was breaking my dad's old razor blades in half in the 3rd grade to make my own craft blades - had not yet heard of X-acto or single-edge blades LOL. Some teacher saw me using them to sharpen and shape pencil points and had kittens on the spot. Did not understand why regular pencil sharpeners weren't enough. Sigh. Artistic kids have been dealing with their own kind of "muggle" for years!

In fact I hereby propose a new use of the word "muggle" to mean oblivious people who just don't get what their more creative friends and neighbors are up to! (This should not be used to imply stupidity, but rather lack of a special understanding only a few people out of the billions in the world are lucky enough to have been given.)

[noelle_tan]

I like your comment

[bettbee]

:-)

[gingerpete50]

I really mean no offence to my younger readers by stating "adults only", perhaps it should read "adult supervision recommended?" 

I've been on the loosing side of  numerous scalpel battles and have the (deep) scars to remember them by, I've had to go to hospital twice and have had plenty of stiches, all in the same finger!  

I just don't want to be responsible for anyone else hurting themselves! 
I am sorry if it's a bit patronising and thanks for all you kind words!

 

[survivletroop]

instead of useing a book, use cardboard or wood and put a bunch of carsstock in it