Cut Collage Concertina

Capture the change in season as leaves turn and fall in this cut collage concertina bookart project.

You will need:

• Two strips of heavy paper stock/thin card (Example is made with 200gsm cartridge, each strip is around 10cm high and 56cm long)

• Ink or paint

• Big brush

• Pencil

• Rubber

• Scalpel

• Cutting mat

• Needle

• Thread

• Scissors

• Glue Stick (optional)

Instructions:

1. Paint each strip in contrasting colours; perhaps summery green and autumnal russet.

2. Remove an eighth of the top strip (Guestimate! Err on the side of removing less rather than more.) Paint the reverse side of the bottom strip

3. Fold the top strip into eight – look at the first few steps of this previous project to see step-by-step photographs if you’re not sure

4. Go outside and look at leaf shapes. Maybe sketch a few. These are very rough outlines of real and imagined leaves. Spot the one inspired by Donna Wilson!

5. Draw the simplified outline of each leaf on each of the pages on the shorter folded strip. I started off with six leaves, thinking that words on the first and last page would be good, then changed my mind and added two more shapes instead

6. Here is Snuffy the Stylist checking that everything is in position to show the leaf shapes cut from the shorter strip and the longer strip now folded into eight

7. It’s time to join the two strips together. Can you see three ‘V’s above? The image shows four ‘mountain folds’ and three ‘valley’ folds. Use a simple three hole pamphlet stitch to sew the bottom point of the three ‘V’s together, linking the two strips loosely at three points. Because the strips are different sizes, the final piece will not lie flat when opened out, but will fold up nicely. It’s a gentle nod to a carousel structure, giving depth and shadow to your book

8. Here’s the finished book with two extra leaves added! I’d intended to glue the cut out shapes on to the reverse of the concertina, but decided I loved them scattered loose. You can use the extra part of green painted paper to create a title plate for the front cover, or add text to the back

PLEASE take pictures of your cut collage concertina and share them with The Travelling Bookbinder by e-mail or on the socials

If you enjoyed the collage part of this project, then look at the review of Clover Robin’s Cut Paper Pictures for more ideas and The BookLove e-course, combining narrative design and bookbinding skills begins on November 14th.

Sending a flurry of cosy wishes!