Wood-man Book Holder

Library in our maker-space is our favorite spot to get inspired for creating new projects. By reading Makers Magazine, the book ends idea came out. Wood-man Book Holder is a project for all the book lovers that want their library to look creative, visually good and practical.

Step 1: Supplements and Materials

First of all we need to provide all the supplements and materials.

For creating the Wood-Man book holder we are going to need:

1. 2 wooden boards 60x30 cm and 4.5 mm thick
2. Super glue
3. Paper Glue
4. “L” shape ruler
5. Colors (it depends in your choice, we used fingertips’ colors)
6. Adobe Illustrator (you can download it here)
7. Laser Cut machine (for cutting the wood boards)

Step 2: Making Sketches

First of all you will need to find pictures that you want to make as a bookend. We downloaded pictures on google by searching for objects that we wanted, such as: owl, horse, rabbit, etc. We designed them using Adobe Illustrator by following figure’s edges and details that we wanted to present in our objects. After you finish designing the object that you want, you will need to go to File/Export/save as type: (choose) AutoCAD Interchange File (*.DXF). You can name it as you wish and choose the place where you want to save it. Why as .dxf? – because the file than can be read from the programs such as Corel Draw and LaserCut.

If you want to make other designs for your library, we also uploaded a few more PDFs ready-to-use.

Step 3: Making Supporters

We used the same program to design and draw the supporters for the Wood-man book holder.

First, we designed only two supporters, one for the bottom (10 cm) and the other (12.5) for the side. We used the same wooden board and laser cut, but because it was to thin and became very light, we designed another piece (14 cm) and stick it to the bottom (under the shorter one) and it became heavier. (the width: 5 cm) The first two were cut in indention style on one side of each of them. It makes them be stronger after they are glued. Save the file like you did with figures: File/Export/save as: AutoCAD Interchange File (*.DXF)

Step 4: Cutting Proccess

After you saved the files as .dxf type, you can use an USB to transfer the files in the computer where you have Corel Draw. When you open the Corel Draw, go to File/Import and choose the files you want to cut. After choosing them, you can place them in the board sized (600x300 mm) and fix the size of them (just like we described in the picture above). After saving this as a concrete file, transfer it to the LaserCut Machine Computer, and open it in LaserCut program and set the commands, such as: Full Cut,

Short Cut or Engrave by choosing the lines where you want to apply each command.

Step 5: Coloring Objects

Before coloring the objects, you will need to remove the paper glue that was set on the wooden board so the object would look cleaner and whiter on the edges where is cut. Now the objects are ready and you can color them based on your taste. We used fingertips’ colors and colored only some of the objects. Make sure you let them dry well before placing them in their supporters

Step 6: Fix the Supporters and the Objects in Them

Make sure you have a “L” shape ruler. First, use a bit of glue at the indention form of the 2 pieces. After you place them together, put them inside the “L” shape ruler and make sure they are firmly glued to each other. Wait few seconds for it. After this, take the other piece (14 cm) and glue it under the shorter one. A part of it will be outside the L shape. (The books will be placed on that part – this makes the bookend to stay as we want)

Step 7: What We Made!

UPDATE: This picture shows our Bookends ☺☻. We hope you like them and use them as an example!