Book folding is one of those crafts that feels slightly forbidden the first time you do it, because you are supposed to bend the pages of a book. This hedgehog is the perfect project to get over that. You take a book nobody is going to read again, tear off the covers, and then fold every single page the same two ways. Somewhere around the thirtieth page the flat block starts to curve, and by the end you have a rounded body with a fan of sharp folded edges running down its back. One googly eye and it is suddenly a hedgehog. It is repetitive in the most relaxing way, and it is a genuinely lovely thing to give as a gift.

This cute hedgehog is made by folding the pages of a book while they are still bound together. It is not the easiest book sculpture out there, but it may well be the cutest. Folding this prickly little creature is also a job that will keep children happily busy for hours.

Book Sculpture: Hedgehog

STEP 1. Take a book and remove the front and back covers, leaving the pages bound together. Without tearing any pages out, pick off the small bits of glue that may still be stuck to the spine. The book used here is a day planner donated by Slingshot.

STEP 2. Fold the top corner of the page down so that it touches the spine of the book (join the red dots). Move the point of contact up and down a little until the crease cuts the bottom corner of the page in half (green arrow). Once you find that sweet spot, press down to set the crease.

STEP 3. Fold the top edge of the page down so that it lines up with the spine of the book (join the red dots). The crease should cut the top-left corner in half. Press down to set the crease.

STEP 4. Turn the page.

STEP 5. Repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 for every remaining page in the book.

This is what it looks like once four pages are done.

And this is the view from the side once every page is folded.

Done!

Attach a googly eye.

Book sculptures, or altered books, are made by modifying the pages of a book while they are still bound together. You can cut, fold, paint and do all sorts of interesting things with the paper to build beautiful structures. Every book sculpture on this site is made by folding alone.