Folded Book Art - Best & Most Clear Tutorial Available

I just absolutely love creating my own folded book art. It's such a fun way of re-using old books and give them another purpose.

I've searched and searched the web to find any tutorials on how to do it and i just couldn't find anything. Until one day i found a website called foldedbookart.com, which is truly a paradise for bookfolding lovers.

If you follow this link, you'll get an exclusive Instructables discount of 35% on all patterns!

One of the patterns they used to have was this little heart sign. For me this was a real good way to get started as it's quite a quick pattern to do and the result still looks great.

In the next steps i'll explain to you how to fold this heart into a book. (I used a picture from their website for the front image)

Completing this tutorial can be done within 45 minutes.

Step 1: Collecting the Materials Needed

For us to be able to create folded book art we need a few things:

- We need a book. It's best to use a hardcovered book, as these books will give the best results when displaying them.
- We need a ruler in centimeters, as these patterns are displayed in centimeters
- And ofcourse we need a pencil to mark the pages.

Step 2: Marking the Pages

For this heart pattern we need to mark and fold only 40 sheets of paper.

The patter i use is in centimeters, so please get a ruler that displays centimeters.

Now pick up the book like normal when you would read it (Like in the first image of this step)

Now turn the book a quarter, so your hand ends up on the right of the book and the page numbers (in this case) end up in the right upper corner. Like in the second image.

The book is now positioned right. It has to stay in this position during the process of marking the folds.

Now place your ruler on the book like in the third image. Make sure the beginning of the ruler is on the left side of the book.

The first two values you need to mark according to the pattern are: 7.7 centimeters and 8.9 centimeters. So place two marks on those two values. If done right, you now have marked the first page and there's a gap of 1.2 centimeters between the marks. It looks similar to the fourth image.

Now go to the next page (the second page). Here you mark the following values: 7.1 centimeter and 9.6 centimeter

On the third page you mark the following values: 6.8 centimeters and 10.1 centimeters.

Page 4 values: 6.6 & 10.5

Page 5: 6.4 & 10.9

Page 6: 6.3 & 11.2

Page 7: 6.2 & 11.6

Page 8: 6.1 & 11.8

Page 9: 6.0 & 12.1

Page 10: 6.0 & 12.4

Page 11: 6.0 & 12.6

Page 12: 6.0 & 12.8

Page 13: 6.0 & 13.1

Page 14: 6.1 & 13.3

Page 15: 6.1 & 13.5

Page 16: 6.3 & 13.7

Page 17: 6.4 & 14.0

Page 18: 6.6 & 14.2

Page 19: 6.8 & 14.4

Page 20: 7.1 & 14.6

Page 21: 7.1 & 14.6

Page 22: 6.8 & 14.4

Page 23: 6.6 & 14.2

Page 24: 6.4 & 14.0

Page 25: 6.2 & 13.7

Page 26: 6.1 & 13.5

Page 27: 6.1 & 13.3

Page 28: 6.0 & 13.1

Page 29: 6.0 & 12.8

Page 30: 6.0 & 12.6

Page 31: 6.0 & 12.4

Page 32: 6.0 & 12.1

Page 33: 6.1 & 11.8

Page 34: 6.2 & 11.6

Page 35: 6.3 & 11.2

Page 36: 6.4 & 10.9

Page 37: 6.6 & 10.5

Page 38: 6.8 & 10.1

Page 39: 7.2 & 9.6

Page 40: 7.7 & 8.9

Step 3: Folding the Pages

After you marked all the pages you can start folding.

Place the book in front of you like in the first image of this step.

Then fold each page twice on the marks you made in the previous step, like you can see in the second and third image. Try to keep the folds at 90 degrees or as close to it as possible.

Repeat these steps untill you have folded all the marked pages.

The fourth, fifth and sixt image let you see how the book should look like once you folded some pages.

When finished folding, you're done! You've created your own folded book art now. Now go ahead and look for more patterns, as all of their patterns work in the same way.

They are even giving an exclusive Instructables discount of 35%!!!!

Comments

[trsarich]

can i make the heart thicker by tripling the pages for each fold

[StellasMom]

Since the heart only requires 40 pages, I did it 3 times. Happy with the result ❤️❤️❤️

[Alice1953]

I have read many tutorials, and this was the easiest to follow, thank you. However, I was wondering how to figure the "length" of the book I need to do page folding (I can calculate the number of pages needed for the design) but I cannot figure out how to determine the length of a book. Is there a rule of thumb or a calculation table I can use. EX: I have one book to fold a 4 letter name.it uses a total of 147 folds. which equals 294 Numbered pages. There are 346 numbered pages in the book, so I started at page 27 and at the end I will have 26 more unfolded. pages.My length of book I am using is 24 cm. I have folded 2 letters and started the third, but it sure doesn't look like any letters it suppose to be. HELP!

[CardM]

Hi I have a pattern for it's a girl. I am having problems with it cuz there is 4 measurements on one page and don't know how to do it. Can anybody help to show me please thank you elaine

[chanchyflax]

Hey I just got instructions for how to do a 4 measurement fold. You need to use the cut and fold method, which means you must fold the first and last marks, and cut the middle two. Then, fold along the new snips.

[angela.hill.5876]

Your pattern is almost certainly for a cut fold, over 2 lines. The pattern should tell you the measurement at which you should cut the pages. I believe most people just cut a few inches towards the spine.

[LadyC3]

I have seen patterns like these....... some of them require you to cut the page in half 1st.
Hope this helps?

[chanchyflax]

Hey I'm working on a design that's more complicated, how do you fold a page with 4 markings? Do I cut the page? Fold it twice?

[jenniferjheyl]

Thank you for the really easy and basic tutorial! The limited number of pages and the step by step instructions made a good introduction to book folding.

[meenukalai.2003]

What would I do of my marking overlap eachother???

[Chalkyrah]

How do you attach a ribbon to hold the book tighter together?

[melie_f1541]

Hello! There is a specific book I would like to do this with but it’s only 32 pages! I was wondering if there was a way to alter the measurements so it fits into that many pages? Thank you so much!!

[jessyratfink]

There's not an easy way to alter the measurements, but you could lightly sketch the shape you want on the pages and try to match the folds to the lines. :)

[wolfgirldeltamidnight]

Hey, so I was confused at first so maybe you should, like, specify that you only use the pages on the top or to the right... Just saying so no one else would be confused..

[PamO15]

How do you know where to start in the book?

[wolfgirldeltamidnight]

Try to start in the middle then count about 20 pages to the left and you will have just about where you should start the marking and folding.

[LizC98]

I must have started folding butterfly on wrong page as now I will not have enough to finish. Is there a way to fix this?

[wolfgirldeltamidnight]

Try to go back to the first page you started on, or you could try to, like, undo what pages you folded then go back and start over again, AND make sure that you don't stick two pages together by accident. Don't know if this actually works, but anything that helps, I guess? Right?

[joyful_IN_hope]

If I wanted to make it larger...say 200 pages....would I just multiply each step times x10 (however many pages I make it)....will that work??? THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

[MártonK2]

If you cut off the folded parts, will it look the same?

OR: What happens if you close the book totally?

Anyway: great idea.