Upcycled Tea Box for Mom with Video Tutorial
Make a unique and elegant tea box out of an old leather-bound book and an antique latch knob. Give to your Mom for a Mother's Day tea party. Cristin Frank of Eve of Reduction demonstrates how with the help of a video tutorial.
Materials:
- Canvas or Leather bound book
- Knob
- X‐Acto Knife
- Drill
- Elmer’s Glue
- Rubber Spatula
- Bolts to attach Knob
- Nuts or Krazy Glue to Secure Bolts
Instructions:
- Glue page ends. Mix Elmer’s glue with a small amount of water and apply generously to the page
edges with the book closed. Use a rubber spatula to apply.
- Attach your knob. I bought my antique knob at carpentry salvage store. Mark the holes using your hardware as the template. Drilling tip: put a scrap piece of wood underneath so that you get a clean hole all the way through your book cover.
- Secure your bolts. I’m using tiny bolts that I Krazy glued in place, that way I didn’t need to cut a recess
into the book pages for the nuts to rest. I also took a blank page from the book and Elmer’s glued it over the ugly bolt ends on the inside cover.
- Measure and cut. Use a wrapped tea bag as a template for the holes you’re going to cut into the book pages. You want to leave a little extra space around the tea bag so they fit comfortably. Be prepared to go through a blade or two!
Happy Mother’s Day from The Eve of Reduction!
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cat00x 5778923
Apr 24, 2012
Cool idea! Just came from an Altered Book class today. We wired the pages together at the corners to make them more stable at the cutting stage. You can also paint your glue on the inside of the tea holes and put your book under a weight (before putting on the knob) overnight. Makes the pages nice a tight. PVC glue is good to use (undiluted), too. I'm getting hooked on altered books!
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