Make a Garland Guest Book

April 27, 2010 in
How-To's
Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods

Photo by The Paper Bride

Esther K. Smith
PurgatoryPiePressINK

Purgatory Pie Press began in 1977 and has since become the collaborative efforts of Esther K. Smith and Dikko Faust. Esther continues to edit, design and hand sew limited edition and artist books. Purgatory Pie Press has been featured in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney, the Tate, and the Getty.

http://www.purgatorypiepress.com/

Is it a guest book or a decorative garland? It’s both! Some might even call it a snake book. Anna Wolf, who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area and is active in the book-arts community there, is credited with its invention, or discovery — some of these forms just sort of happen.

If you’re looking for an alternative to a traditional guest book, this garland not only gives your guests an opportunity to send well wishes, it also adds a decorative touch to your ceremony. We made our garland by reusing pages from old bridal magazines, but use whatever paper appeals to you; the material just needs to be thin enough to fold.

Best of all, you can seek paper colors that reflect your wedding theme. You could have two colors of paper for people to write on — one for the bride and one for the groom — and then alternate them in the long garland. You can even make this project from discarded wrapping paper from your bridal shower, so long as you’re a careful unwrapper (unlike me, I always rip open presents like little kid.)

Let’s get started on this bridal shower-ready project!

Materials:
Squares of foldable paper
Bone folder
Adhesive
Heavy-weight paper or chipboard for cover
Paper or book cloth to cover chipboard (optional)
Ribbons or string

1. Mail squares of paper with the shower invitations, or hand the squares out at the party for people to write on. Choose a theme, like advice for a happy marriage or drawings of the bride and groom. Even if you mail the squares, have extras at the party just in case.

2. Fold the paper diagonally so that the message shows. Then, open and fold horizontally and vertically, hiding the message. Pop so that the point sticks up and the paper folds into a neat little tucked-in diagonal square. The messages should be on the inside of the folded pieces.

  • Note: If you would like to use collage, fold the squares and glue collage pieces before you send them to guests so that they avoid the folds.

3. Glue the squares together tip to tail, closed point to open point, as shown.

4. For your covers, cut heavy paper or boards the size of the folded pieces (one-quarter the size of your original squares).

5. At both ends of the garland, glue ribbons or strings to stick out on both ends between the pages and the covers. Glue your covers over the ribbons — burnish well and let dry under weight.

6. Open and extend the garland to its full length and find a good place to hang it for party décor — if you don’t burnish well enough or give it time to dry under weight, it might come apart (guess how I know this!). Fortunately, it’s easy to repair with a little glue.

 This garland is just one of the many projects found in The Paper Bride, which you can purchase here on Etsy.

Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods
Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods

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