Tutorial - How to create old books
by Oli aka HonourGuard
posted by Oli, Honourguard, silver leaf
How to create old books:
Needed materials:
-super glue
-an old book (normal paper will do it too I think)
-black photo background paper
-Cutter
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We start with making the volume of the book. Take the photo black photo background paper and cutting a piece of it. You can make it with the measurements you want, I had ca. 0.8 x 2.2 mm. The only thing that is important is that they are rectangular.
Then we have to form it. Bend it carefully in the middle, until it look like on the following picture.
The pages I did with the pages of a real book, from my childhood, which I will never need again I think :P You can also make this with normal paper but it will need more time to get every single page in the same size. Now hold the black paper from the step before on the book for checking how wide it must be. It should be a little bit shorter then the volume of the book. I know one side is too long now, but that isn't a problem. We cut this side after checking how long the pages should be (second following picutre, no super glue right now!).
Now we cut the unequal site with a normal cutter. After that we put some super glue on one side ( you can take a tooth pick for help) and put the pages in the volume of the book. Press them behind, but be carefully with your power :P
After that you have to decide if you want a close or an open book. If you want an open book, you have to bend it, like you can see on the following picture.
For get a more wasted look on the book, mix some brown with water and paint it just on the pages. Use not to much colour. I don't use real* colour for the pages, because then the result looks like on big ugly page, not many..
Glue the book on a cork now, for paint it easier. Take care, just a little bit of super glue, and put it on the side, which gonna be directly on the base later, too. Take a tooth pick for help. I started paint the surface black, paint just the black photo paper.
Then I blended up this surface like on a miniature. After that I added some fine white/grey (use colour mixed with water again) lines on the surface, for get a rough surface look.
Now paint the edges with a mixture of grey/white. And start painting the freehand or other fine line on the book. I also added some scratches on the side of the book. And some green ink in the shadows of my black. The best in painting a black surface with a white freehand is, you can paint above mistake easy. And the book is very, very old, so it's no problem if the freehand is not that clean, because over time, some colour got lost .. :)
I saw the symbols in internet, by tipping, celtic.. gothic or something like that^^
At least this is just one possibility how we can make books in miniature size. Try it out :D
This is my first tutorial of all time, hope you understood it and maybe somebody test it in the future :D
How to create old books:
Needed materials:
-super glue
-an old book (normal paper will do it too I think)
-black photo background paper
-Cutter
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We start with making the volume of the book. Take the photo black photo background paper and cutting a piece of it. You can make it with the measurements you want, I had ca. 0.8 x 2.2 mm. The only thing that is important is that they are rectangular.
Then we have to form it. Bend it carefully in the middle, until it look like on the following picture.
The pages I did with the pages of a real book, from my childhood, which I will never need again I think :P You can also make this with normal paper but it will need more time to get every single page in the same size. Now hold the black paper from the step before on the book for checking how wide it must be. It should be a little bit shorter then the volume of the book. I know one side is too long now, but that isn't a problem. We cut this side after checking how long the pages should be (second following picutre, no super glue right now!).
Now we cut the unequal site with a normal cutter. After that we put some super glue on one side ( you can take a tooth pick for help) and put the pages in the volume of the book. Press them behind, but be carefully with your power :P
After that you have to decide if you want a close or an open book. If you want an open book, you have to bend it, like you can see on the following picture.
For get a more wasted look on the book, mix some brown with water and paint it just on the pages. Use not to much colour. I don't use real* colour for the pages, because then the result looks like on big ugly page, not many..
Glue the book on a cork now, for paint it easier. Take care, just a little bit of super glue, and put it on the side, which gonna be directly on the base later, too. Take a tooth pick for help. I started paint the surface black, paint just the black photo paper.
Then I blended up this surface like on a miniature. After that I added some fine white/grey (use colour mixed with water again) lines on the surface, for get a rough surface look.
Now paint the edges with a mixture of grey/white. And start painting the freehand or other fine line on the book. I also added some scratches on the side of the book. And some green ink in the shadows of my black. The best in painting a black surface with a white freehand is, you can paint above mistake easy. And the book is very, very old, so it's no problem if the freehand is not that clean, because over time, some colour got lost .. :)
I saw the symbols in internet, by tipping, celtic.. gothic or something like that^^
At least this is just one possibility how we can make books in miniature size. Try it out :D
This is my first tutorial of all time, hope you understood it and maybe somebody test it in the future :D
Woow..., really looks like old book. I cant believe how small these books are. I also like the celtic symbols on the cover. I will try to follow your advice. Well done!!!!
Best regards
Daddy Cool
Nice work, I am going to be making books now.
thanks you :q
Thanks for this nice tutorial! Well done :-)
If you wish to have some thinner pages nad some more of them, you might look for old so called "Schönfelder" or "Sartorius". Those are a collection of german law acts with extra thin paper. The frame is without writing on it, so works well for such purposes. They shozld be cheap, if they are a little older.
I can recommend the blank pages in the Norton Anthology of English Literature which are also very very fine and thin.^^
Thanks for your answers :D
@The Maxican and Dicker_König, yes, you are right, this defintly would be a good highlight and you can make many mini books from one real book, so it shouldn't be so expansive. I have to watch in ebay soon^^
Great write up, Oli - thanks for sharing your first article with us - i hope there will be more after your words are really inspiring! Keep it up!
Great write up! Can't wait for your next article!
Good tutorial. That's me subscribed.
Great ! Thanks a lot !
hm the bible has wery thin pages too ;)
Oh =X
Hey, thanks for this! I applied this method for a bigger book (1,6cm x 0,9cm) for a warhammer 40K base and improvised to keep it "realistic"!
I folded a bit of the edge to hide the sharpness (since it's bigger I wanted the cover to be a bit thicker).
I then glued a single smaller white piece of paper to act as protection.
Then I used 2 different methods :
First a stack of paper, I didn't like the result because of how sharp it got
Second one, I used hardening paste (used for reparation), pressed it and used a blade to make fake pages.
I also added platic decorations (instead of hand drawings), fine pieces on the edge and on the corners.
Anyway, thanks a lot, you really helped me to reach the result I was looking for ;)
Thanks for the information and addition to this article!