This activity is a
direct response to a very intense discussion we’ve been having in our
community, particularly our historical society. There is a collection of old
bibles that are in such poor condition that they cannot be repaired and need to
be disposed of. While Judaism has clear directives for what to do with Torah’s
and prayer books, the Christian bible does not offer similar guidelines.
According to the American Bible Society, the best thing to do with it is to recycle
it. "It should be remembered that a Bible is a book. It may be helpful to
think of the ways we discard books. It would be a good thing to make it useful,
and one way to do that is to recycle it. Recycling is an honorable act and that
is fitting for a book such as a Bible."
Having delved into
the correct way of disposing of a Bible, I came across the idea of
“repurposing” them so that family and friends can share a remembrance of the person(s) who used it through various types of art projects. Before I provide a list of
projects to try, please consider the following:
• Go through
the Bible and be sure there are no important pieces of town history or family
genealogy.
• Consider your
religious customs and/or that of the original owner of the Bible.
Using an old Bible,
hymnal or even a prayer book, try some of the following projects:
• Frame passages
that have special meaning.
• Make bookmarks
of favorite passages: There are different ways to do this:
- Cut to size and laminate
- Glue passage to a stiff piece cardboard
trimmed to size, coat several times with decoupage glue (equal parts water and
white glue). Add tassels or other decorations.
• Wreaths
- Rolling pages
into cones and gluing them to a circular piece of stiff tag board, makes a
lovely Christmas Wreath.
- For Fall,
cutting out leaf shapes and slightly tinting pages makes a lovely wreath.
• Flowers
• Origami:
Cutting sections to size, make simple to elaborate origami figures. You can even make bible figures, such as Noah’sark and animals. Covered with decoupage glue, these would look great on a
Christmas tree, hanging by a red ribbon.
• Disk Necklace: Using specific passages, would make this a very special gift for
someone.
• For inspiration
check out Reuse of Books=Art
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