Teen Programs For Libraries: Steampunk your junk.

Steampunk has so many possibilities, and so many complications. Many of the crafts I tired to come up with would require too much time, money or expertise. We finally decided to ask for a little help from our friends. Namely the friends who ran the bookstore. They receive many book donations that they can not sell. Often the books are damaged and dirty and headed for the recycling bin. We asked for those books, so we could give them another chance.
We decided to make book boxes. I admit, this craft took some time. I didn't want to leave the cutting of the book up to the teens, since it had to be done with a sharp blade, so I did it myself. Cutting them is tedious if you have a large group. I gave myself plenty of time. I took my cutting pad, which semi-hard plastic sheet used to cut materials on, and placed it inside my book where I wanted the end of my box to be. Then I started to cut a square into the paged. I left a few pages at the front of the book uncut, to be decorated and to cover the hole. When I was done cutting, I used duct tape to seal the hole. I covered the tape in my book with scrapbook paper so the tape didn't show and my box had a nice design.

This is the front of my book. I used scrapbook paper, scrap-booking rivets, ribbon and a fake flower.

The inside of my book. I used duct tape, scrapbook paper, stickers and pictures I printed and cut out. I also painted the outside of my pages in gold.

The back of my book has some asian coin charms I got online. You can also get them in craft stores.

This craft was worth the prep time. Teens were concerned about the books being cut up at first, but understanding that they were giving that broken book another chance seemed to really matter. Many of them carried the books around for days after the craft to work on them when they came in after school. Some used pictures of friends and family to fill the free pages, others decorated, drew or used poetry.

I realize it's not steam powered, it's has no clock parts (though it could if you wanted it to), it's not leather or brass. It can be anything you want it to be, look like the future and the past, and it drives you to fill it with what is important to you.

If you don't already have some books on Steampunk, there are a few out there. Most are nice to look at, but more than a little complicated when it comes to making the items inside. Here are some I've at least enjoyed the pictures in-