The first tutorial of our Paper Lovers Week is made by Rachel Hazell. She shows us how to make a Love Heart Book. Rachel loves paper and regularly hosts creative workshops and online courses where playing with paper plays a big role.
At this time of year, coming up to Valentine’s Day, I’m torn between carefully making a really special card for my love, or a handmade book. This project is both folded into one, so you don’t have to choose!
You will need:
- glue stick
- scissors
- pencil
- ruler
- bone folder
- waste paper
- thin card for template
- beautiful paper (preferably from the Flow Book for Paper Lovers)
Create a template by folding some thin card in half and drawing half a heart. You want your heart to be symmetrical for this project (trust me, you do.)
Cut it out carefully and open out flat.
Lay heart template on paper, noticing the pattern repeat (be sure to pick the bits you want) and lightly draw around the edge with a pencil. Cut out lots of hearts….well at least five, and maybe not more than ten (but you can experiment with the effect of more later).
If it is important for you to write some words in this book, include some plain paper hearts as well!
Score down the centre line of each heart, using your ruler and bone folder, to make them easier to crease perfectly. Once you have scored to your heart’s content, lay them all out in order as desired.
Slip a piece of waste paper in to the crease of each heart before gluing one half right out to the edges.
Use your fingers (or a bone folder) to smooth down each page.
Watch your heart becoming three-dimensional!
Technically speaking, the spine should all line up, but I like the character of a handmade finish….don’t you? To avoid paper cockling, lightly press your book by placing it between waste paper, laying it under a flat weight (a hard back book, or some magazines) and leaving it to dry overnight.
Here’s the Love Heart Book, open and ready to write your sweet nothings, precious thoughts and loopy love letters.
- Use thin papers for small heart books.
- Use thicker papers for larger love heart books.
- Punch a hole at the top of one page, add string or ribbon so that your book can be displayed as a dangling decoration.
- How many hearts is too many? Experiment!
I’d love to see what you’ve made. Please tag your pictures @paperhazell on Instagram or @bookloverRAH on Twitter and I’ll share a selection in my next monthly newsletter.
Hearts often feature in my work, and there are a couple of projects in the PaperLove e-course that make ideal love tokens. The next course starts on 14th March and as a treat for Flow readers, we’ve arranged a special 10% discount – The special code is paperflow. (This is for the online course only, not e-course + kit, and is not valid in conjunction with any other offer.)
The Flow Book for Paper Lovers is still available in our web shop.
