Echoing What’s Important To You

I always enjoy making personalized items for my friends both as a gift or as a token of appreciation. When I mean personalize, it simply means that I put their names on those gifts (at times, I even include personal messages).

This bookmark cum table sign piece is one of those creative stuff that I make. Want to know how to make one too?

THINGS YOU NEED:

1) Coloured Foam (you will be able to find this in most bookstores).

2) Coloured Wires (you can get these from hardware or D.I.Y. store - at times your Physics Lab can be a great source too)

3) Glue gun with glue stick (or a strong adhesive glue such as those from the UHU range)

4) A pair of scissors

5) Coloured papers

STEPS TO A LITTLE WONDER

1. First, draw the letters that you want on the coloured foams. You can choose your own colour combinations and even draw the letters in different sizes. In my example, I am making a birthday gift for Grace and so I am drawing the letters G, R, A, C and E. Cut them out right after. You should get something like that looks similar to the photograph below.

2. You will then have to prepare the backbone for the letters. Twist three (or more) colored wires together and make them into one thicker wire.

Repeat this step to get two more thick wires. You should now have the letters and three thick wires ready for the next step.

3. Arrange the wires in parallel and stick the letters on the wires. Once you are done, you should be able to produce something that looks like the picture shown below.

4. Now you are done with the basic design of the bookmark. It’s all based on your creativity after this. For example, you can choose to attach a small piece of paper on the other side of the bookmark so that you can add a personal message (A good tip is to write your personal message first before affixing the paper to the wires).

Tada! It’s done. Your end product would look similar or better than this :

Front view.

Back view.

You may notice that the edges of the wires are sometimes sharp. Thus, you may want to twist them and to cut the sharp edges away.

Two pictures above showing this creative product featured as a bookmark.

It can also appear as a table sign.

Variations:

1. Replace names with greetings such as “Happy Teachers’ Day” or “I Love You” and the bookmark will appear as a gift for another occasion!

2. Using coloured wires will help your end product to be more colorful, but if you are not able to obtain them, you may replace them with wooden satay sticks. It should be noted however that satay sticks are not as flexible as the coloured wires.