Book folding is one of those crafts that looks far more complicated than it is. This vase is built from only two folds, repeated over and over, and the shape appears simply because you alternate them all the way through the book.

The best part is that you do not need to be neat or artistic to get a good result. Pick up a discarded hardback from a charity shop, tear off the covers, and start folding. Thin pages give you a finer, more delicate vase; thick pages give a chunkier one, and no two books ever come out quite the same. Halfway through, when the pages start fanning out, it is genuinely hard to stop before the last page is folded.

This design is a variation of the spinning top pattern. It is easy to do and very satisfying to finish.

Instructions for book sculpture: vase

STEP 1.

Take a book and remove the front and back covers, but leave the pages bound together. Without tearing any pages out, pick off any small bits of binding glue still clinging to the spine. The book used here was a day planner donated by Slingshot.

STEP 2.

Fold the top corner of the page down so that the top edge of the paper meets the spine of the book.

STEP 3.

Fold the bottom right corner of the page up so that it meets the flap made above.

STEP 4.

This is the base of the vase, with the wide bottom. Turn the page.

STEP 5.

Fold the second page in half from right to left.

STEP 6.

This is the neck of the vase. Turn the page.

STEP 7.

Repeat these two patterns over and over, alternating them: base, neck, base, neck, and so on, until every page in the book is folded.

This is how it looks once four pages are done.

This is the side view once all the pages are folded. Yours may look slightly different, depending on how many pages the book has and how thick each page is.

Done!

It can be a chef hat too!

Book sculptures, or altered books, are made by modifying the pages of a book while they are still bound together. You can cut, fold, paint and do all sorts of interesting things with the paper to create beautiful structures. The book sculptures on this site are made by folding only.