#book recycling

[alysvolatile]

The Fine Art of Book Butchery Deconstruction

What you need: bad book, a utility knife/box cutter. That's it!

A full guide below!

Strip the book!

Once it's naked, take a look! I've marked where the bookboard is attached to the spine. This is where you cut!

Do both sides and voila! Boards!

You can trim these to fit whatever size you need later - for now, set them aside! We're gonna get the headbands!

Delectable...hidden...Not for long!

You can very easily peel the spine back as seen here - and then you can peel the headband off.

Sometimes the glue makes it a bit tricky (as seen here) - just use your utiliknife!

Do both sides... and that's it!

With the remaining text block, it varies on if your city can recycle it. However, it's also good for paper mache! Pulp! Blackout poetry! Discard paper! Compost! Anything you'd like to do - have fun!

[pearl-d1ver]

what to do with old books * ˚ ✦

if you have books you no longer use, here’s some things to do with them!!

first and most obvious: donate them! to your local charity, used bookstore, or library

generally, libraries will want more unique/sought after books, and easy to find books can go anywhere else

check your local prisons - books are a vital tool to help re-entry into society and can help prepare inmates for court dates

check hospitals, usually they need books for patients (especially children’s books) because of infection control

check your local schools, just make sure that the books you’re donating are age appropriate

lots of homeless shelters accept books or other media like magazines

check if there’s free little libraries in your area!

facebooks groups or r/bookexchange are great places to find people to swap books with

use them as regular paper - make gift tags or envelopes, origami, gift wrap, i use some pages in my sketchbook, etc. (this one is great for water-damaged books or books that otherwise can’t be donated)

make altered books! there’s a ton of ideas on here of how to make them and inspiration and things like that, and it’s a really fun and creative use for one

if all else fails, they can be torn up and recycled but try to find a different use first! (hardcover books MUST have their covers and spines removed because of the cloth glue and thread)

Some ideas for stuff to do with the covers and spines after recycling the paper: I’ve seen people make frames, boxes, bookmarks, floating shelves, all sorts of stuff (pinterest has great ideas for repurposing covers)

Before donating always check your items are in usable material, check for missing pages, stains, and stuff like that. Most charities also have guidelines for the types of books they accept, so please check their websites before donating.

[spooky-pointy-ears]

Finally completed a book folding project I was working on, one of the rare times I actually finish a project.

[ryllen]

i have no other reason of drawing this, other than i just want to

[mcromwell]

The Art Critter is so helpful...

[themightynyunyi]

Without you I am lost I keep you at any cost

[curi0uscreature]

* New AU idea where everyone’s a D’artagnan equivalent (concept art that was turned into an individual character)

[muspeccoll]

Sometimes our #ManuscriptMonday posts are beautifully preserved specimens, and sometimes they're survivors that have persisted for centuries against all odds. This is one of the survivors.

After they outlived their usefulness, many medieval manuscripts were cut up and recycled into book covers, binding reinforcements, and even linings for clothing, shoes, and musical instruments. Parchment is durable, flexible, and expensive to produce, so it makes sense that people found ways to reuse it instead of merely throwing it away.

Reuse of Hebrew parchments like this one, however, can bear witness to both medieval recycling practices and religious persecution. This fragment is from tractate Menachot, part of the Talmud, which was subjected to confiscation, censorship, and public burnings in medieval Europe starting in the thirteenth century. We don't know whether this specific fragment was taken from its community by force, but many like it were.

Some medieval Hebrew texts are all but lost, known today only through surviving fragments. Read more about "The European Genizah" in a recent article by Simcha Emanuel in Tablet magazine.

Tractate Menachot, 33-34. Part of a very large 3-column manuscript of the Talmud, in Hebrew, Tractate Menachot, 33-34, Ashkenazi, presumably Germany, approximately thirteenth century, red stains. University of Missouri Digital Library.

[nateriverswife]

btw the rosary isn't worn around the neck argument for why Mello can't be christian is not valid. it's all about intent, to be honest. if it's worn as a jewelry, yes, that's disrespectful. but if it's not, then you can wear it. there are christians that have rosary bracelets or rings, which are meant to encourage frequent prayer. priests of the Dominican order have the rosary hanging down from their belts, so having it on your body at all times is not a problem. the church doesn't have any clear rules about it either. it just says that you shouldn't use it in a profane way, so if wearing it around the neck is a reminder to pray frequently and you're not using it as a fashion icon, you're good

[where-our-stories-start]

Recycled Disney animated sequences

[alysvolatile]

Want to fanbind? Need davy boards/book boards and low on funds? I have an excellent hack for you:

Repurpose shitty books

"But!!!" You may say, "no book is shitty! All human experiences are worth putting to paper!"

You're right! But, also, Counterpoint:

I went to my local thrift shop and got these for the low price of $5 for all 10. ("Getting into politics?" The lovely ladies behind the counter asked me. "In a manner of speaking," I replied.)

Once I got home, it was easy to turn them into this, their component parts:

("Please stop saying you're skinning them," my partner begged. Too late!)

[EDIT TO ADD: Here's a guide! Also on my tumblr. Also - when thrifting, bring a piece of paper folded or cut into the minimum size you need for boards: this way you can make sure you're getting big enough material!]

While these are just book boards, diligent deconstruction can even yield headbands, I'm pretty sure - I'll report back on my next trial run. [EDIT TO ADD: yup, you can!]

I cannot overstate the delight I have in giving these covers new life for binding fanfiction, particularly the queer kind.

Happy binding!

[colorisbyshe]

There's a thread on r/books right now about what you should do with books that are genuinely terrible to you and so many people are insisting on donation over straight up trashing/recycling them and it's really does highlight to me how... donation is the world's garbage can.

The same way people who buy multiple copies of kpop cds for photocards end up trying to donate the cds. Or people will donate clothes with holes and stains to thrift shops. Or people will donate food that's just been languishing in their pantry for months and are close to their expiration dates to food pantries.

And as someone who has needed to get rid of large amounts of stuff before... I get it. But I've also worked at the local library for a used book sale and had to sort and box all the donations--I've been on both sides of this.

The only worthwhile conclusion I have gotten is that people really abuse the system of donations. Donations should not be focused on shit you do not want anymore. They should be given on the basis of what you think other people need and want.

Real labor goes into sorting donations. HOURS of time. Time that is spent inhaling dust and mold and inspecting labels and often THROWING OUT DONATIONS. It feels like people are offloading their guilt and their labor onto volunteer forces, sometimes. You feel bad about throwing it out, so you'll make someone else do it for you.

And my point isn't that you shouldn't donate stuff. I will say, it's almost ALWAYS better to donate money or going according to specific requests. But even then... you can donate stuff. Even used stuff.

But like... people really do need to just actually pause and think if they are helping anyone with that donation. Like the r/books thread--if a book is morally repugnant, is it better to recirculate it for free? Maybe it's good to prevent someone from paying the author for it but maybe someone who wouldn't have ever read it picks it up and suffers from it. You should actually take a second to think about this before just deciding to make it someone else's problem.

Donating is not always the morally correct answer. Some used or gross crap is better just thrown out. Or at least put on a curb so people know the risk they're taken in inspecting it before taking it home.

[pumpkin-wants-a-cherry-scone]

Day 2: Confession

Agatha wearing a dress when the ramparts are cold and windy was so dramatic of her lol

[rochenn]

this looks like a tumblr shitpost except it's really a youtube thumbnail for a video made by a salty ass dudebro. i think we should take it out of context

[ghostbergara]

The hug ™ scribble

[strbry-shortcakes]

more sketchbook hopping featuring my take on a genderbent Gabriel (GabrielLE)