Faux Jade Coffee Filter Book

Faux Jade Coffee Filter Book
Design by Gerri Newfry

This small book is comprised of coffee filter signatures and polymer clay covers.

Materials and Tools:

2 oz translucent Premo! Sculpey 5310
Pea sized ball of Leaf Green Sculpey III 322
1 oz black Premo! Sculpey 5042
10 Melitta #2 coffee filters
Corn starch or baby powder
Rubber stamps (Om by Cherry Pie used here)
Burnt sienna acrylic paint
Baby wipes
Twig
Twine or jute
18 gauge wire
Rubber band
Pasta machine or Sculpey Acrylic Clay Roller
Sculpey Super Slicer
Hole punch

Instructions:

Step One
Fold the coffee filters in half, excluding the crimped closed area of the filter. Cut the crimped ridges off. Repeat with 9 more filters. Each filter becomes one signature of the book.

Step Two
Condition translucent Premo! Sculpey and Leaf Green Sculpey III by kneading them until they are soft. Mix the translucent and leaf green together. Roll the clay into a uniform sheet 1/8 inch thick using the pasta machine or Sculpey Acrylic Clay Roller. Cut out two covers for the book with the Super Slicer, each slightly larger than the coffee filter signature. Break the unconditioned black Premo! Sculpey in half. Rub the two broken edges together to yield small bits of black. Add these to the surface of the covers.

Step Three
Powder the clay lightly with corn starch or baby powder to act as a release for the rubber stamps. Decorate the covers with rubber stamps, by impressing them into the clay.

Step Four
Bake the covers at 275 for 20 minutes. Let them cool on a flat surface. You may need to weight them under a book so they maintain their flat shape.

Step Five
Once cooled, the impressions left by the rubber stamps may be accentuated by painting the covers with acrylic paint. Use your fingers, or a toothbrush to get paint into all the crevices. Remove the excess paint using a baby wipe. When the paint is dry, use a hole punch to make holes at the top and bottom of both covers, as shown. Using the covers as a guide, punch holes in each of the coffee filter signatures.

Step Six
Attach bits of twine to a small twig by wrapping wire around the tine and the twig.

Finally, assemble the covers and pages with the holes lining up at the top and bottom. Thread a rubber band from the back of the book through to the front. Then ends of the rubber band should just stick out through the front holes. Loop the ends around the twig to secure the book. Enjoy!