Book folding with templates

04/05/2015 by UKMA 631 Comments

Check out THIS POST for a full alphabet for making your own templates. Also see the menu item at the top for links to ALL the book folding posts.

NOTE:  If you ask for a template PLEASE give a font suggestions or style.  Otherwise you may just get one I like…. 

I was sending this to someone and I figured I might as well post it. I’m not an expert, but it might give you the courage to try it.  I promise it is way easier than you think it is!

The only potential  problem was with the adding lines.  It should be stupidly simple but I don’t think it is in Photoshop/PSE.  I tried to find a B&W fill pattern of stripes that would do the same thing in PSE as I do in Intaglio but I just could not find one. Marta, the YouTub-er from yesterday, has a video for creating the stripes but there has to be a better way.  I’ll keep looking.

All I have to do in my program is type a word in whatever font I want then click to fill. Is that an option in WordArt for example?  Or Paint Shop Pro maybe? Here is an example:

The lines look weirdly wavy in the lower dpi but you’ll see they aren’t when printed

Here is the process:

1. Print the thing you want to re-create as book art. Fold over a ledge and stick it to a piece of scored and folded cardstock.  The thickness needs to be thinner than the book you are using to fold.

so trim it if you need to, and as you fold more pages and the book gets thinner, trim again. Can you see it lying along the top edge of the book?

2. Grab a bone folder or a teaspoon or something you can use to get a nice crease.  A nice crease is the key. In the video, she just folds.  Sorry, I’m not that good.  I use a strip of a placemat (thin is the key) to fold the page over.

3. Look at your word or image.  Identify the areas where there is just a single fold needed (there is one line, one top of the line, one bottom of the line) and where there are multiple lines along the same column. Can you see what in the simple heart outline what I mean?

It may help you to mark those areas.  Or maybe begin with a simple solid shape, like the freebie heart Instructable from yesterday.

4. EACH LINE will need a page – and by page I mean sheet or leaf, not page as in page count of the book!  Make sure you have enough leaves/sheets.  You can count lines for a simple shape, but if you want to do an open letter you need to count both the lines that are single fold + (the double lines x 2). So let’s say in the heart there are 10 single folds on either side and in the middle there are 30 lines,  that would be 10+30+30+10 = 80 leaves (assuming pages numbered on every page, at least a 160 page book)

I would ALWAYS suggest overestimating the pages you need.

NOTE:  If you have a really FAT book, fold to both the LINES and the white “line” between for a nice FAT word!

5. Starting at the very first line to the left, slip the template under the first page you will fold.  I tend to leave a couple of pages blank at the beginning, or if the book is very fat and the line count minimal you may want to go to the middle of the book and then count forward to where you will begin.

In the video she marks the top edge, to denote the fold-to line.  She scores the top edge with a razor blade to make a mark she can see. I can’t sit comfortably and see that mark.    I’m lazy so I just cut a strip of card and use the edge to show me the fold-to mark.  And I shift it to the front as I move to the next page.

6.  Fold the top corner of the book like so:

from the top edge of the page to the top of the first line.

Crease well!

Now fold the bottom corner from the BOTTOM of the same line to the edge of the page like so:

In the end, your fold should look like this:

Mark the line with a pencil dot and repeat the process with the next line.  Here you can see the first two lines folded, and hopefully imagine how it will build to create the 3D heart.

7.  When you come to a double line section, alternate top fold, bottom fold like so:

Make sure to mark each line section!

I am working on the JACK pattern from above.  I didn’t have a hardback book to hand and really wanted to try out the pattern to make sure I was on the right track, but here is how it has progressed:

Once the whole word is done, the word should be more obvious, like the video samples. So much fun!

I am keen to try the open heart and a couple of other patterns I’ve made, a couple that I know are going to be challenging.  And if you fancy having a go but making the lined word is holding you back, drop me a comment.  Seriously, it takes me seconds to do and I will do a pattern for you.  I’m betting there won’t be so many takers I can’t keep up LOL! I’ll have to be a font I own.  So say the word or name and the font you want, but also the  “feel” you want and leave it to me to pick an alternative if it isn’t one I own.

Hoping to finish this one today, and I have five more beanies and a few more ATCs to complete, but I won’t make you wait too long for a pattern I promise.