I think if I didn’t do an anime/manga craft every so often my teens would revolt. They are so into their favorite series that they would stalk my office waiting for new volumes and give me pages and pages of suggestions for new series that we should have carried. Sadly, we never had the budget in any of my libraries to fulfill their voracious appetites for reading, but I could quench their desire for crafts.
Anime and manga based crafts are a great way to introduce teens and tweens into series that they may not have heard of before- you get everyone talkiing about who this character is, where they came from, and what the world is about. These crafts are also an excellent way to repurpose destroyed anime and manga volumes that have been withdrawn due to damage and overuse. These are the ones that are missing pages and falling apart, the ones that just can’t be put together more like Humpty Dumpty.
Taken from a discussion group, this bookmark is a perfect example of how to use discarded anime and manga pages and turn them into beautiful crafts. With a cardboard or cardstock base, take construction paper or origami paper and lay it over the base. Then cut out your pieces to make your design. Lay it out to make it as intricate or as simple as you wish, and then use clear tape to lay it down. Punch a hole in the top, and then with string braid the trailing edge. One beautiful craft with repurposed book pages.
On Instructables (one of my favorite sites, FYI), they have a basic tutorial on how to create paper beads. Once you have these steps down you and your teens can make so many things and they will be addicted. Once you have the basic shapes, you can expand as well:
With a little bit of research online, you can find a lot of beading resources that can fit easily into your anime and manga theme and make your teens creations into works of fandom art. Just make sure that any new vendor that you find has been cleared by your library and/or city first BEFORE your order. Library money is one of the few things where it’s better to ASK for permission first rather than beg forgiveness after.
On Cut Out & Keep (another favorite) they have a full tutorial on how to create a comic book cuff using modge podge. They use aluminum cans (soda/pop depending on your part of the country) with a window blank that you can find at a local craft store or online. I’ve also used plastic bottles (think 20 ounce soda bottles or water bottles) that work well. They also have these tutorials that are similar:
- http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/a-modge-podge-artwork-bracelet
- http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/diy-comic-strip-bangle-bracelet
- http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/comic-bracelets
And these are just a few. You can use pages for anything you can use modge podge on, such as art canvas collages, washer necklaces, and binder art. Any of the FCBD ideas I talked about can use freed pages and give them new homes or these.
What are your favorite anime crafts? Share in the comments!