For my upcycle project, I wanted to somehow incorporate a vintage/romantic aesthetic into my artifact. I already have an old physics book, that I am not going to read. So I wanted to put the book to good use and make it into something else that serves a purpose. I decided to first hollow out the book:

I originally wanted this to be a square cut out of the middle of the page rather than connecting with the sides so that no one could tell at first glance that it isn’t a regular book. But I found it was very difficult to cut squares right out of the middle of a page (x300 pages). I decided that it looks nicer this way, but I would love to hear your thoughts.

After that, I attached half of the pages to the front cover and half to back cover by using hot glue on the inside of the hollowed out portions. That way, when you open the book, it opens like a wallet might and there are not any loose pages.\

My next steps include making paper flowers out of the pages, one petal at a time.

My vision for this project is a clutch or purse with ornate paper flowers and maybe weaving the extra paper into a strap or carrying handle of sorts.