So....

This current obsession I have with re-purposing old books into creative journals has left me with a whole lot of book guts. All those pages that fall out or I remove are hanging around in my creative space and I swear, they are taunting me. Maybe it's because they are really starting to pile up, or maybe it's because the pile is starting to topple over... either way, it seems time to turn some of my attention to all those pages.

So... do ya remember the gum wrapper chains from forever and a day ago? I think the last time I made one I was in... oh, maybe the fourth grade. We won't discuss exactly how many years ago that was, suffice it to say, it was a few. Which makes it all the more strange that creating one popped into my head a couple of weeks ago. But, once an idea comes to roost it must eventually come to fruition. It seemed a good thing to make those book pages stop taunting me, so this weekend I searched the depths of my memory and with a few mishaps... ok, maybe a whole bunch of mishaps (I tried to make it so much more difficult than it needed to be)... I think I finally got it. In case you haven't made one, or if you just need a refresher, I thought I'd share... Start with papers the size of gum wrappers. Mine were 1.5" x 3.25".






Fold them in half...











Then fold the halves in half.










Open it, and lay it flat with the edges meeting in the middle... looks much like a gum wrapper at this point, doesn't it?













Fold it in half again.












Now we are going to do almost the same steps all over again... fold the folded strip in half...











then fold the ends to the center... and you have your foundation link.








Now, in theory, it is just a process of weaving the folded pieces through each other to create the chevron like pattern.








The strips should weave snugly, but easily, through the loop created by the previously added strip, then you fold the edges in to form the loop for the next piece to be woven into.





Ahhhh.... theory. I'm not sure how it is in your world, but in mine, theory and practical application are sometimes miles apart. (Sometimes miles and miles... chasms... oceans... apart.) If the darned strip doesn't want to go through your loops, it sometimes helps to fold the edge you are threading to a point before inserting. Being a tad stubborn and very strong willed doesn't hurt either...

You can weave forever on this sort of thing, or... you can do what I did with it... more on that through the week...