My deep love for all things “books” makes my job with the Sweetwater County Library System a lot less like work. It is “another day in paradise” for me, walking into work and being surrounded by books. There are many aspects of operating the library and providing patron services other than books; but it is it’s mostly about the books.
I see books in the various stages of their life cycles. Hot off the press, classics, and the well-loved books that have been to our repairs department more than once, the very old texts in our locked case. It brings me great joy sending books out with enthusiastic readers, and it also makes me glad to welcome books back into their library home to await another reading adventure.
The constant coming and going of reading materials, both those owned by the library system and those that are donated to us, wears on the books after a time. It is a natural part of a book’s aging process, whether the materials in the book are outdated, the book spine is cracked beyond repair, or pages are torn or missing, to become obsolete. There comes a time in the life of a book where it simply can’t serve readers any longer. But wait, last year our staff created and displayed altered book holiday decorations. A variety of book page trees, angels, wreaths and many other types of art brought the joy of the season to staff and patrons alike. We had such a tremendous positive response to those projects that we decided to offer an opportunity to create projects like those to our patrons.
I invite you to join us at the Sweetwater County Library in Green River on Nov. 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. as we give books another chance to shine. At our Holiday-Themed Altered Books Workshop you will have the opportunity to make and take home up to six altered books crafts. The crafts will range in difficulty from simple to moderate. Some of the crafts will be at do-it-yourself stations while others will be instructed by one of our crafty librarians. This is a unique opportunity to create holiday-themed book art projects to decorate your home, your tree, to accent wrapped gifts, or give as gifts. Using all or only parts of a book, create beautiful, unique, even practical items for all areas of the home or office. The materials for the workshop will be provided, free of charge to patrons and it is not necessary to pre-register.
This type of art has taken the crafting world by storm from book page paper flowers to lamp shades and even shelves, staircases, seating and much more. A Google image search or Pinterest search for terms such as altered, repurposed, upcycled book crafts will yield a veritable journey for the book lover’s eyes, heart and soul. Enter at your own risk though, make sure you have plenty of time to spare as it is quite likely you will be sucked into the creative space of altered books. I have an entire Pinterest board devoted to altered books crafts, projects I have made or will make. This makes my heart glad, to prolong the life of a book, and creates a stunning piece of work. I look forward to seeing all you there as we craft our way into the holiday season. For more information on this topic or any other please visit the library, our website at sweetwaterlibraries.com, or call 875-3615.
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