Paper Garland

Here are some photos of my first attempt at creating a paper banner from vintage book pages.

I used 2 vintage books approx. 5" x 7" with about 200 pages each. I made sure the pages were discolored and that the papers from each book were 2 different shades to add interest.

First I ripped off the bindings of the 2 books and then hand tore apart each page. I then threaded a needle with a super long strand of crochet thread (which has several strands to provide more support). I then fed the papers onto the needle (several at at time). I pushed the needle through the middle of each page. This did not take very long to do! Once I had all the papers on the thread, I took the needle off and knotted each end. I also tied some twine on each end to prevent the papers from falling off. I hung the garland up first, and THEN separated the papers evenly across the thread. Wallah! This took less than an hour to make! It is a bit delicate, so if you decide to try this, hang it where it won't get disturbed! Also, it cannot lay flat and needs to be suspended to look its best! 

Another decorating idea you can do with old books is to remove the bindings and use them for display! I threw a bunch of old books into a vintage metal laundry bin to add a bit of a "library" feel to my parlor!

And finally, I used a trio of old books that I removed the covers off of to make this vignette!

What have you done with vintage books and papers lately? Please share!