Transforming unwanted books into intricate works of art, Lisa Auty creates these amazing book-folding masterpieces between her daily school runs.
The mother of-four from Ipswich learned the technique to keep herself entertained after her twin boys Lewis and Alex, four, started school.
Entirely self taught, Miss Auty, 34, picked up the skill by watching tutorial videos on Youtube and then having a go herself.
Starting off with simple patterns, she now creates complex pieces inspired by well-known characters like Harry Potter and Spider-man and idols of cinema and music like Jimi Hendrix and Marilyn Monroe.
“I started with a simple heart pattern, it is the one everyone starts off with as it is one of the easiest to do.
“A simple one that says ‘home’ or ‘mum’ will take a day to complete.
“Other more complicated designs can take four to five days because they are so intricate and I do them between school runs.”
After choosing a suitable image to use, she converts it into a pattern, marks up the book and then painstakingly folds each page to a point.
“I am always amazed when the picture emerges from the pages,” she said.
“I am still shocked I can fold a book into a picture, that’s what keeps me going.
“My favourites are the home with a heart traditional book fold and also I love the Spider-man and Marilyn Monroe one I completed.
“I also make little hedgehogs with books with little noses, my children love them.
“I like challenging myself because although it takes ages the finished job makes it worthwhile.
“I had one that was 800 pages long.
“When you get half way through you can’t wait to see it finished.”
Miss Auty buys the books second hand or uses donated books from Ipswich Library.
Although she takes commissions for some of her book folds, charging around £10-£20 each piece to pay for printer ink and postage, Miss Auty donates most of her pieces to local children’s charities to use as raffle prizes.
Ipswich Library has agreed to display some of her work at the end of the month.
To see more of her book art, visit www.facebook.com/MyBookfolds
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