My best transformative craft project yet, inspired by a gift I received from this amazing place (actually, basically copying their product). This was my real gift to my graduating students. Books deemed too outdated by the school library, that were in a reject pile destined for the trash, that I eagerly salvaged with a special eye for library cards and interesting covers (surprisingly hard to find!). Books that are now interlaced with blank pages ready to receive new thoughts, a souvenir of their school and its past, reflecting the generations that came before. Books that are now back in circulation. My students were so touched. I feel frankly rather triumphant to have completed one of my project fantasies, to have a real product received by real people, transforming real trash into a real treasure, at least in my eyes.

First step: cut off spine (requiring scary guillotine machine and a burly ally)

Next step: carefully measure and align paper (requiring child labor), remove some old pages and intersperse with new paper, then drill holes and thread coil (thanks again to aforementioned ally)

Last step: admire and distribute!