Is there some craft that makes use of old paperback books?

Question

I have some old paperbacks that are not valuable and I will never read but the covers are very amusing, front and back. Is there a craft a can do that will use these fun covers?

Answer 1

You could photograph them and then use the photos in projects like calendars, postcards or t-shirts.

Or you could glue the pages together and hollow them out to make jewelry boxes.

Or you could pull the covers off and mount them on the wall like posters.
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Answer 2

I like the placemats idea...

I think another cool thing to do that would still preserve some of the cool cover is carving out a square in the middle (or several squares throughout....or circles, etc...) to make the cover into a picture frame.... you could either keep the whole book as the frame and stand it for display, or remove the cover from the spine andadd a backing to hang it from....

You could also thumbtack the different covers down to a tackboard/corkboard so its like a background for your memo board....

Answer 3

It would be fun to make place mats out of the covers by pulling them off, and laying them out the size of a place mat, then covering them with clear contact paper.

The pages can be used in paper mache pulp. Tear the paper into boiling water and allow it to cook itself to mush. Into this mush you knead flour and water paste (add some salt to retard mold) until you obtain a product that closely resembled potter's clay. Now you can mold it into a bowl, plate, sculture, or whatever.

Answer 4

I'm sorry but to me the thought of destroying a book, for any reason, is cause for beheading. Okay, maybe not something quite that severe but I have never been able to treat books in any way but with respect. I can't even throw away one that is worn out, I give it to a library or good will , etc and let them take care of it. Which means that I don't have an answer for you but hope you come up with something good.

the paper mache idea sounds good