DIY Mini Book and Necklace

I’ve seen lots of cute mini book necklaces on Etsy, and there are also some cool tutorials on the internet, but I don’t have all the supplies necessary, like leather, clay, an awl, or things like that. So my sister and I set out to make our own using just a few supplies that just about everyone has laying around.

Now, these aren’t as sturdy as the ones I’ve seen sold on Etsy, but if you just want a cute mini book for a photo prop, then this might work for you. I turned mine into a necklace because I’ve been eyeing them for a while, but it’s not very hearty because it’s just made of paper. You wouldn’t want to wear it to a fancy event, it’s more of the ‘craft project’ type of jewelry if you know what I mean. 🙂

Now that I’ve warned you, I’ll show you the super-easy process I used. (Don’t they look cute grouped together?) And obviously these books have copyrights, but I’m just using the cover for personal use…like for ‘fan art’. 🙂

Materials

• One sheet of A4 printer paper (you could use other paper sizes too, this is what I used though)
• Sharp scissors
• Packing tape
• Paper clip
• Picture of your book cover (Google images is great for this)
• Printer (this is to print out your book cover picture)
• Colored pencil (or something to color the back cover)
• Stapler (and staple remover, if necessary)
• Glue stick

STEP 1: Fold the piece of paper in half widthwise, then cut along the fold. Repeat this process until you have a bunch of tiny pieces of paper about 2″ tall. Fold 8 of these in half (so they look like mini book pages) but don’t cut.

STEP 2: Put the 8 pages together and stack them. Staple them together so the smooth side of the staple is on the outside of the fold. Now you have a blank mini-book.

STEP 3: Go to your printer and print out a small image of your desired book cover. It may take some trial and error to figure out what size it has to be, since it looks bigger printed out than it does on the screen (at least on my computer/printer.) If it helps, my book cover was about 3/4″ in Microsoft Word and it came out the right size. Leave some room in the left margin so you can color in a back cover.

STEP 4: Now it’s time to make a back cover. To spare ink, I colored it with colored pencil. Just pick an appropriate color and color away, making it the same size as the front cover and directly to the left (like when you lay out a book jacket.) Cut the book out.

STEP 5: Spread glue on the cover page of the blank mini-book and paste the cover onto it. Then flip it over and repeat this process on the back. Trim the pages if you have to. If you just wanted a mini book, you can stop here, but I wanted a necklace, so I’ll continue…

STEP 6: Cover the cover (hehe) with packing tape (I use this because it’s the only tape wide enough to completely cover it.) Fold the excess to the inside.

STEP 7: Take your paper clip and open to the middle of the book. Position it so just about a quarter inch is poking out the top, and it’s directly to the right of the fold. Tape it there with packing tape. Then hold the two center-most pages together and tape them together at the top, to further secure it.

STEP 8: Fold your book closed and use a tiny strip of packing tape to hold it closed. (I did this because I didn’t want it flapping open, but you could skip it if that was the look you wanted.) Then go find a chain to hang your new necklace on!

I have to warn you that these are very addictive and you might find yourself with your own mini library! What books would you want to miniaturize?