Miniature Row of False Books - Tutorial

Much as I prefer books with proper pages for miniatures, I saw someone’s hack on how to quickly make a row of leather bound fake ones from an old book. Realising that sometimes mass is desired, and every individual volume won’t actually be properly seen, I wanted to try it, but had the wrong kind of book. Instead I came up with a method that worked with the book I had at hand. I had planned to toss it for quite some time, but kept putting it off, as I thought the cover could be of some use - a good decision it turned out.

First, do not use a book of cultural or economic value. Just don’t, it’s a big no-no. Second, use a book with a leather spine or a complete leather cover.

Start with removing the pages. If the book spine is wide enough to make two rows of books, you can then cut it in half. If not, cut close to one side.

Trim the insides and draw the size of books you want. You don't want the top and bottom, so start a bit from the top and bottom edges. I decided I wanted my books to be a series, so I wanted them the same size. Carefully cut out the “books”. Ordinary household scissors might do, depending on how tough the cover is.

Wrap the former book spine round the side of your new “book” to make a cover, and glue in place. Trim if necessary.

 Play around with the books to see how you want to arrange them – individually or in groups, neat or untidy. If one cover happen to be particularly nice, and you plan to glue the books together, put that in front just in case it'll show.

I drew lines with gold pen on the spines of one group of books, but left the others plain, to make it less obvious that what turned into two groups of books were really made from the same material. I plan to eventually have my books sit properly in bookcases, so I glued them together neatly, one with a book leaning at one end for visual interest. 

For now though they are part of The Room of Hidden Things that I wrote about in my last post.