The repurposed library: 33 craft projects that give old books new life - Tapa dura

The Repurposed Library is a celebration of the possibilities that books have to offer as an art material. Obviously, we love to read and learn from books, but The Repurposed Library takes our passion for books one step further, presenting crafters with 33 projects to make out of books. Each year thousands of books are sold at flea markets for pennies, remaindered by bookstores, and given away by libraries. Lisa Occhipinti rescues and repurposes these orphaned books, transforming them into new art objects and practical items for the home and everyday life. The projects in The Repurposed Library range from artfully constructed mobiles, wreaths, and vases, to functional items, such as shelves, a secret box, a lampshade, and even a Kindle holder for those who want to replicate the sensation of holding a realA" book. Projects utilize every imaginable part of a book - from hardback cover to individual pages - and often require no more than a craft knife and Elmer's glue to complete. Hand-drawn step-by-step illustrations make the instructions especially easy to follow.

Lisa Occhipinti is a designer and exhibiting artist and a former faculty member at the New Hampshire Institute of Art and Currier Museum Art Center. Her artistic works using books as a medium have been written up by the Boston Globe and showcased in an Anthropologie window display. She and her work have also been featured on Apartment Therapy and on myriad other blogs and in Publisher's Weekly. She sells her mobiles and sculptures made from books on Etsy under the name Shophouse. Visit her website at www.locchipinti.com.