In this video, I’m going to show you how
to make this book sculpture project
that I like to call the “Yin Yang”.
I get a lot of inquiries about how to make
this design
and I’m happy to share it with you today.
Hi guys!
I’m Johwey and welcome to my channel.
For this project, you’ll need a used book,
a pencil, a ruler, and a pair of scissors.
The bone folder is optional but it does help to create crisp fold lines.
This book is actually my daughter’s which
she enjoyed reading in 5th grade.
She said that if I fold the pages, she’ll
display it in her room as a souvenir.
So the first step is to find the middle pages.
I’ve already marked where mine is but for a quick approximation,
just find the last page number and divide it by 2.
Working on the right side, find and cut through the vertical center of the page.
Flip this upper half to the left and, working
on the upper right half,
use this top edge of the bottom page to mark and cut the next page in 1/8-inch increment.
Continue working on the succeeding pages – marking and cutting each page in 1/8-inch increment,
using the previous page as a guide and until you reach the top edge.
Here I’m almost done cutting the right side of the book.
I just need to make 2 more strips.
These last 2 strips you can actually just
tear out
because they will be too narrow to fold anyway.
When you’re done cutting the pages on the right side,
flip all the cut pages over to the right,
except for the last one.
Now it’s time to work on the left side
and we’re going to cut the bottom left pages this time.
Turn the book upsidedown so it’s easier
to work with, and
again mark and cut the pages in 1/8-inch increments
until you reach the edge of the book.
Use the previous page as a guide to mark the page.
So here I am almost done with this side of
the book.
I just need to cut the last 2 strips.
Again, you can just tear out these last 2
strips since they are too narrow to fold.
When you’re done cutting, turn all the cut
pages over to the right so we can start folding.
Starting with the first full page before all the cut pages,
fold it into a triangle by first
aligning the top edge with the spine
and then the bottom edge with the spine.
Next, fold each of the top strips or cut pages into a triangle.
A few things to remember: (1) fold towards the front of the book or away from the cut pages;
and (2) fold over the top edge of the
page first before the bottom edge.
You should see your triangles start to gradate on the bottom side.
When you reach the page where the height is shorter than the width,
fold over the bottom of the page first
so you can cut the excess paper.
Then unfold the page so you can fold it the right way.
The reason I do this is so that I can cut
away from the other pages, and
I don’t accidentally cut any of the pages underneath.
So continue cutting and folding until you
reach the last top strip.
The last 2 or 3 strips, you don’t even have
to unfold it after you cut
since they will be barely noticeable in the overall design.
And I think these last 2 strips, I’m just
going to tear them off.
I love how this project is starting to come
together.
Ok, so now we’re going to work on this side.
Flip all the cut pages over to the left side of the book.
We’re going to do the same triangle folds
on this side that we did on the other side.
And I’ve started with the first full page
after all the cut pages.
This time we’re folding towards the back
of the book
which is again folding away from the cut pages.
And we’re folding over the top edge first
before the bottom edge.
The thing to remember when folding is that
the fold line needs to be on the inside
where the 2 sides of the book will eventually meet
and not on the outer edge of the triangle.
This other half of the book might prove to
be more difficult to fold
since we’re going to encounter some resistance from the other half of the book
whose pages we already folded.
But it’s very important that the edges we
fold over are well aligned with the spine
so that the triangles are uniform and the
gradation will show properly.
So I’m always asked how long it takes me
to complete folding this design.
And if you’re curious, this demo took me
an hour to film.
Again I’m at that point where the pages
are wider than they are longer.
And again, in this case, fold away from the book first
so you can easily cut the excess paper.
Again, I’m just going to tear out this last
2 strips.
So I’ve noticed that this book has a swirly
design at the start of each chapter and
I'm wondering if I can expose the swirls on each side.
So here’s the swirl on this side and
there’s 8 pages before it.
And here’s the swirl on this side.
So not bad, there are 2 pages on this side I need to tear off.
And on this left side, I need to tear away
more pages, but that’s ok.
And here’s the completed book sculpture.
I hope you guys give this project a try and
let me know how you enjoyed it.
Thanks for watching.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below.
And if you found this video helpful, I would really appreciate it if you give me a thumbs up
and subscribe to my channel.
Thanks again and have a great day!
