How to Make
Book Page Trees
On this page I have written 2 fun and easy craft tutorials for making decorative paper trees from book pages; one a cone shape tree, and the other a Christmas tree design.
If you prefer your tutorials in video form instead, I have you covered too :)
First of all, I'll run through how to prepare book pages (or other paper sheets) by turning them into a book block i.e. a pile of paper pages glued together down one edge.
You will need a book block for each of the tree DIYs below.
So to begin, you will need a stack of paper sheets that are all the same size.
If you are using a paperback book for these trees, you can simply rip off the cover to give you a book block, and you can skip this bit.
If you are using a hardback book, you'll need to cut the pages out of the book using a ruler and a retractable blade (or craft knife) like so:
Once you have your stack of paper pages of equal size, you simply use bulldog clips to hold them together along the short edges, so that all of the sheets line up as perfectly as possible down one long edge.
To line them up like this, the easiest way is just to stack the sheets and tap them down on a flat surface like a table to straighten up the sides.
Then just add glue in a thin layer all over one long side of the stack.
Leave to dry and then you have a book block :)
* * *
Project #1: The Cone-Shaped Tree
Take your book block and put it in front of you with the glued edge (i.e. the spine) on your left.
Fold the top-right corner of the first page downwards, diagonally, to line up with the spine.
Then take the edge that you just folded, and again fold downwards, diagonally, and line the edge up with the spine.
There will be a triangle of paper sticking out over the bottom edge of the book now; fold this triangle upwards so the fold lines up with the bottom edge.
Then reverse this fold so that the triangle folds onto the other side of the page. You will have to unfold the large diagonal fold to do this.
This step is just to hide that triangle of paper out of the way.
Make sure all of the folds are back in place and then turn the page.
Simply repeat the process for each of the following pages.
Note: If you want a more rounded and 'full' look, you can just avoid folding the large diagonal fold lines. Instead, just curve the page over along this line - no crisp folds.
When you are happy that you have folded enough pages for your tree (I'd guess 40 pages at least, but it's up to you how close or spread out you want the pages to be), rip off the remaining book block.
Finished!
You can now leave it as it is, or add a bit of tape between the first and last pages to prevent there being a big gap between them.
Then of course you can decorate it too if you like, with spray glitter, paints, ribbons or other embellishments.
* * *
Project #2: The Christmas Tree
Same as before, you begin with a book block in front of you with the spine on the left hand side.
Fold down the top-right corner so that the top edge lines up with the spine.
Then draw out a simple tree shape in pencil, as shown below:
Place the book block on a cutting mat to protect your work surface.
Take a retractable blade knife and ruler, and use them to carefully cut through all of the book block pages*, along all of the pencil lines.
When cutting along the uppermost horizontal pencil line, keep the cut line going until you reach the right-hand edge of the book block.
* If you don't want to use all of the book block for this tree, split the block and keep the unused section of pages for a later project.
Draw a pencil line straight up from where the uppermost diagonal fold line ends, like so:
Then use the knife and ruler again to cut along that line.
Fold the first page over to the left.
Then, for each subsequent page, fold the top-right corner downwards to line up with the spine. So there will just be a folded-down triangle shape on each page.
Keep going until you have added this fold to all of the pages.
Now you have finished your tree!
You can display it on its own or you could make a whole forest.
I hope you enjoyed this project :)
