It's times like these that I wish I had the wherewithal (yes, I looked that up and it's right) to get my pictures into the posts as opposed to the albums in the sidebar. There's a progression here, in what I've been doing, that would be best understood visually.
You see, here is where I would show you the book I acquired some time ago that I have no intention of ever reading. While I am sure it is a wonderfully written book, it is not subject matter I wish to subject myself to.
So I'm tearing it up. Page by page.
Picture, if you will, many strips of paper. Many, many strips of paper. Torn into various widths. Some pointy, some squared. These strips are wrapped around the bottom of a wire hanger, smoothed over with white glue, and hung from a dining room light fixture to dry.
It may not have to be a light fixture.
Add a layer of watercolors, a layer of acrylic (though I like the consistency of fabric paint for this), a couple coats of varnish...and you've got yourself a bowl of fantastically colorful and fun beads!
Okay, yes, that was fun. Now what? What shall we do with these beads made from the pages of a book?
Why, use them for something to mark the pages of the book you are reading, of course!
I have been whipping up a batch of book thongs for my friends during these last few weeks, and I hope to have a couple more for the shop by the weekend. What is so fabulous about the book thong is that a person is significantly less likely to lose their place when the book carried around, maybe in a travel bag or backpack.
Or when the book is dropped, which my eight-year-old will tell you I do all of the time. (What was that noise? Oh, it's just mom dropping something again.)
I made some for my book club a few months ago, and I loved handing them out and saying that I made them their own thongs! A couple of them requested a total of nine to hand out as Christmas presents, and at last they are done. While the beads take several days to make, and it takes a lot of beads, the actual thongs are a very quick and easy crochet chain with a tassel.
If you go looking for your own thong at the shop but they appear to be gone, contact me and I'll see what I can do for you. After all, everyone needs at least one.
