Looking for a fun way to turn books into pieces of art? Here’s the step-by-step to make this DIY book sculpture in an afternoon.
Have you ever heard the term “glimmer” before?
Not as in “glimmer of an idea.”
Or “her eyes seemed to glimmer.”
Or as in “the moonlight glimmered across the sky.”
It’s the glimmer of 2025.
Not a verb.
It’s glimmer the NOUN.
As in little tiny sparks of joy that turn something ordinary into something extraordinary.
Like the glimmer that happens when you put your hands in the first dirt of spring. Or the glimmer that happens when you walk outside and see the first blooms of spring on a walk. Or the sunshine on your face. Or that first sip of coffee in the morning. Or the perfect sunrise at the end of a day.
Those are all “glimmers.”
And I’m here for them.
Yesterday? I had a “glimmer” with these little butterflies that I punched out of a book page. I knew what I wanted to create with them. I knew what I wanted to make and I hoped that it would turn out as cute as I imagined.
And when I finished and created this….
….there was extra “glimmer.”
A butterfly book sculpture.
Isn’t it SO CUTE?
This is a vintage book I found. It’s part of a series. The book is a little rough. It’s been well-loved and it’s full of scribbles and ripped pages and a few “signatures” here are there.
The perfect book for a project.
I’ve been wanting to create a book sculpture and I was inspired by these book sculptures that my sister creates.
She made this bird sculpture on this book.
She loves creating the sculpture to match the content of the book. For example, this book is about a starling.
So she made a starling out of book pages with the cutest little feet and beak.
She made this dimensional flower sculpture for this book.
It’s about Shropshire and there are flowers on the cover, so she created a flower to match the cover of the book.
The flower is made from layers of book page petals.
And then there’s this little version of “Taming Of the Shrew.”
So she made a tiny rose (the prickly shrew was the inspiration).
And she added it to the book with book page leaves.
With all this beautiful book page sculpture creativity going on, I had to create my own situation.
I found these vintage books on a variety of subjects.
There’s a bird book and a cricket book and a book about trains and even a little Paris guide.
And of course…
…a butterfly book.
And here’s the DIY for the sculpture I created with it.
DIY Book Sculpture
supplies:
book pages
butterfly punch
craft glue
scissors
1. Cut pages to get ready to punch
Okay. I want to share you everything I learned when I worked on this project.
First of all, you want to cut off any edges of the paper because you want all your butterflies to have book page on them.
If you don’t cut off the edges, then you’ll have some butterflies that have the cream edge and it throws off the look of the sculpture.
Cut your all pages before you start punching to make the DIY go faster.
2. Punch out butterflies
I found the butterfly punch at a local craft store, but you can get them online, too.
You’ll want to punch only one page at a time. It takes a little longer, but the butterflies don’t stick together then.
This project took about 100 butterflies and it took me about 10 minutes to punch them all out.
3. Trace and cut out a butterfly from cardstock
I just traced a butterfly silhouette with a pencil onto a piece of white card stock and cut it out.
It took me a little bit to get the exact shape that I like.
You could also find a butterfly that you like online and just trace it. I wanted to go with the butterfly on the card stock rather than just gluing it to the cover directly and potentially damage it.
4. Glue the butterflies to the card stock
I just used regular craft glue for this step.
I added a line of glue to the edges of the butterfly, then smudged it slightly to spread it out so the layer of glue was very thin.
Then I started adding my punched-out butterflies along the glue line.
5. Continue to glue the butterflies
Next, I just continued to add the butterflies to my butterfly silhouette.
I kept going until I completely covered the entire butterfly silhouette.
Then I stood back to make sure I had. I hadn’t left any white spaces and then finally I added another layer of butterflies to give a dimension.
6. Add the butterfly “body”
For the center of the butterfly, I just rolled a piece of book page paper into a tube.
Then I cut out a very thin strip of the border edge, which was cream, and wrapped the entire tube until it was covered.
Next, I glued the butterfly body to the center between the two wings.
Lastly, I punched out a few circles and glued them to the top of the tube.
7. Add the butterfly antenna
For the antenna, I cut a teardrop shape out of the book page paper, then I slowly cut a spiral out of the teardrop which created the spiral antenna.
I pulled the spiral apart to give dimension.
Then I glued the two antennae in place.
And finally? I glued the butterfly to the book.
(note: if you were worried about damaging the book, you could always use double-sided tape, too.)
8. Add any additional butterflies
You could stop here.
Or you could add anything extra.
You can see I added a few lines of butterflies to the top and bottom of the book.
That’s it.
A simple tutorial for a DIY book sculpture.
I decorate with these like they are art.
You could display them on side tables or add them to an easel or even put them under a cloche.
And every time I walk by them?
I have a little “glimmer.”
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