Not such a practical book, as a book that is, itself, part of the image.

The book can be flicked through, or opened out to view every page at once. Made large enough, and the right way round, it can become a decorative hanging as well.

Step 1: Materials

The attached template (pick the version you prefer)
Paper and printer (unless you want to hand-draw your own version)
Heavier card for covers.
Scissors
Glue
Decorative drawing materials - pencils, pens, colours etc.

Step 2: Folding the Book

The templates in step one are not marked up with all the fold-lines, as they would interfere with whatever you draw on the pages.

Whether you have printed or drawn your template, it needs to be cut and creased carefully, and there's a lot of creasing to do!

Look at the diagram below (you may want to print it out for reference' sake, or to practice folding on). Every dashed and dotted line needs to be creased. The dotted lines should be "mountain folded" - after the crease is made, the crease is the highest point of the paper. The dashed lines should be "valley folded" - the crease ends up as the lowest part of the paper.

When all the folds are made, the book ends up as a square pad one quarter the area of the actual pages.

To open the book, you hold it so that the pages are "diamond way up", points at top and bottom (why did you think I called it the Diamond-fold booklet?). As you open the pages, the top and bottom quarters of the pages spread out to reveal the contents.

Step 3: Covering the Book

Unlike traditional books, the diamond-fold book has no spine - the front and back covers are not joined together.

You need two squares of heavier card, slightly larger than the final folded squares of the book (if your final pages are four inches on a side, then make the covers one and a quarter inches square).

Decorate the squares however you like, with images to suit the contents. It is quite common for hand-made books to have fabric covers - cut a square of fabric about half an inch wider than the card square, spread glue all over the square and glue the fabric to the card. Glue around the back edges of the card and fold over the fabric.

However you decorate the covers, they should be glued to the outer pages of the folded book after you have filled the contents.

Step 4: So, What Goes in the Book?

It's really up to you...

If you are filling in the book by hand, I would do so after cutting it out and folding it up. You'll have to spread it back out again, but you will have a much-clearer picture of what needs to go where.

Alternatively, because the templates are jpeg files, you can use the image-manipulation software of your choice to add whatever you want to the pages - just be aware of which areas will be visible and which will be hidden.

...but I recommend...

Something brief. Bold. Arty.

It could be a message for a loved one, or a "first book" for an adult to read with a pre-schooler, or revision notes you prepare for a child taking a test.

You could use it as a way to pack up a longer image - an image to hang on the wall, or a long game-board if you are a game designer.

The templates as the stand are only five pages long, but you can make the book as long as you want, either by re-drawing the template, or by printing off several copies of the same short version and gluing them together.

Whatever you do with it, let us see - take a picture of your finished book and add it to the comments. If you manipulate the jpeg files, you can add those to the comments as well, and other people can make their own copies of your book.

We could make our own mini-library...