* A book with the right number of sheets in it to complete your design.
* A blank EXCEL spreadsheet.
* The outline of your design or text.
* A printer and copy paper.
* A bright-colored, fine-point ink pen.
* (optional) A weighted object to hold down pages.
Select the book you want to fold. Choose a book that has enough pages for the design you want to make.
In these examples, each heart has 80 pages (40 sheets); the apple has 190 pages (80 sheets), and the house has 312 pages (156 sheets).
Find, save, and copy the outline of the clip art or text that you want. If you want text, make sure you save the text as a picture. In either case, an outline works better than a solid for this tutorial.
Open a blank EXCEL spreadsheet. Paste the copy of the clip art or text onto the blank spreadsheet and rotate the picture LEFT by 90º.
Identify the range of page numbers that you’re going to use to create the design.
· For ex., if you have a 300 page book and want to make your design from pages 15-285, that’s your range of numbers.
Begin typing in the ODD numbered pages in the column immediately to the RIGHT of your clip art.
· Hint: You only need to type in the first 4 or 5 numbers because EXCEL allows you to choose that group of numbers and drag down the selection to auto-fill the rest of the column.
· Fill the numbers to the end of the picture; then sort the column LARGEST to SMALLEST.
Highlight (shade) every other line; my example is in yellow. If you don’t have a printer with colored ink, you can use a shade of gray.
· Print out the spreadsheet with the GRIDLINES and choose the option that allows the template to fit the sheet ALL ON ONE PAGE.
This next part is time-consuming but well worth the effort. I started off with a highlighter, but found that a fine-point red pen to mark the places where I was eventually going to mark my book worked better. Use the ruler to help line up the intersecting points for each page number.
Open the book to the page on which you want to start (in the example above, it was page 15.) Slide the print out under that page and crease the top edge of margin over the top edge of the book to act as a guide rule.
Then line up the edge of the page with the first line of the design template.
Then mark the 2 points where the template meets the page of the book with pencil.
Turn the page, and then slide the template behind your second page. Mark, turn, slide, mark, repeat until the last line on the template. Remember to use the folded edge as a straightness guide and to use the page numbers at the bottom of the template to help you stay organized.
Depending on the depth of the book, as you keep sliding the template to the left, you might have to cut the template when the left edge of the template meets the inside spine of the book.
Step 13: Time to Start Folding!
Once you have completed marking all of the pencil dots on the edges of the pages of the book, it’s time to start folding. Turn the book 90º so that the front cover is at the top of the book and the pencil marks are closest to you.
Begin folding each of the two pencil marks on each page at right angles (90º) in towards each other. Don’t worry if the back part of the fold isn’t perfect (white arrow); it’s the precision of the front of the fold, where you marked the points, that creates the design (yellow arrow).
Turn the page and keep folding! Then again, then again, then again until you’ve reached your last pencil marks.
if it's a 300 page book do I only count 150 lines for the pattern ?
I don't think so. May i ask to which step are you referring your question?
Thanks for the great instructions. This is the birthday gift for my brother.
It looks great and is very simple if you know how it goes.
Thank you for the feedback. I hope you get a chance to try it.
This is really cool. I don't think I'v seen this done with the help of Excel before. Thanks for sharing!
I did see it explained with EXCEL once, but it was precisely because of that that I ended up making my first Instructables... This one! I found the other person's tutorial a bit difficult, so I made my own method, and this was the result... I just had to share it, so I'm glad you liked it.
This is really cool. Excellent instructions and pictures. Thank you.
I appreciate the positive feedback since it was my first attempt at an Instructables. Let me know if you try it out, what you think, and what your end result is. I'd be curious to see it!
You're welcome! I'm glad you liked it. Let me know if/when you try it and if you're successful, made tweaks, chose your own design, etc. I'd love to see your results!
I would like to try your Excel method because the website I just mentioned is limited in design making unless you pay for it.
I've seen that sight and tried it, but when I found it confusing, I decided to adapt the process to a way that I could understand. Hence, my first Instructables! Thanks for commenting.