An easy-to-do DIY that will make you an avid reader

Stores still give away bookmarks like it’s the 1980s, and felling trees to make paper used for non-essential add-ons didn’t have any environmental impact whatsoever. Next time you buy a book, and they throw a zillion unattractive bookmarks that are essentially just vehicles for advertising, say ‘no, thank you’. You got this. Why and how? Because you’ve made your own. Don’t worry if that’s never crossed your mind.

Our DIY guest stylist this week, Mumbai-based art director and filmmaker Andrew Fernandes, has created a fun simple design that’s sure to be a keeper. It’ll take about 5 minutes, and basic tools that are sitting around even as you read this.
 

Two top reasons why you should do this avian-inspired design: 1. Because you can turn down the offer of a free one next time. 2. If you have the kind of soul that shares books with others then send a handmade bookmark along will ensure no one dog-ears your pages. Having said that, they may end up keeping these for themselves. Well, then you just make another one.

Here’s how to create this simple object:

1.    Begin with taking square cut chart papers in two or three different colours and in a size of your choice. (Caution: do not                make it too big.)

2.    Draw the bird’s body on one sheet of paper and its beak and wing on a sheet of a different colour. Use a stencil for this                    step.

3.    Then, cut them out and stick the wing and the beak to the top of the body.

4.    Add a small circular piece of white or black paper as the eye of the bird. Or, you can just draw it up with a sketch pen.

5.    Stick a colourful paper clip to the back of the design, and to make sure it’s properly secure, add some glue to a small bit of              paper and stick that across the clip.

You now have a fun bookmark ready to find its home in a book. What a fun pause to reading time…