TEACHING DAILY / BOOK ARTS
A flag book is a playful book structure made with an accordion-folded spine and overlapping paper flags. In this tutorial, I'll walk you through the process of creating your own flag book, one step at a time.
Let's start by creating the spine of our book. Take a 9 × 9-inch sheet of colored paper and fold it in half by bringing the bottom edge up to meet the top edge. Unfold the paper and fold it again along the same crease to make it more flexible.
Fold the top and bottom edges toward the center crease. Continue folding each section in half, using the existing creases as guides. Unfold and refold along the creases in alternating directions to create an accordion structure.
Repeat the folding process with your second sheet of paper. Overlap the ends of the two accordions and glue them together to create one continuous spine. Lay it flat and mark the sections along the bottom edge, alternating between "O" and "X." These marks will guide where to attach the flags in the next step.
After connecting the two accordions, we should have 14 sections in total. Let's number them and mark the odd-numbered sections with an "O" and the even-numbered sections with an "X." These marks will help guide us when attaching the flags.
Let's use two different colors of sticky notes as temporary guides. Place one color on the sections marked "X" and the other color on the sections marked "O." This will help us visualize where the flags will go before gluing them into place.
Cut your colored paper into 3 × 7-inch rectangles. You'll need 21 flags in total. Once they're ready, you can either remove the sticky notes and glue the flags in place or decorate the flags with your own drawings before attaching them.
P.S. – My Little Tip!
I prefer decorating my flags before gluing them into the book. Also, since the accordion spine isn't attached to a cover yet, I find it easier to attach the flags starting from the last section and working my way toward the first.
Take a 9 × 6-inch piece of cardboard and a sheet of decorative paper. The decorative paper should be larger than the cardboard, leaving enough space around the edges for folding. Place the cardboard in the center of the paper, making sure the decorative side is facing down.
Start by folding the corners of the decorative paper inward, as shown in the photo. Then, fold each side over the cardboard, using a bone folder to create clean, sharp creases. Apply glue to the folded edges to secure them in place. There's no need to glue the cardboard directly to the decorative paper!
Repeat the same process with your second piece of cardboard and decorative paper. Make sure all the edges are neatly folded and securely glued. Now you have two beautiful covers ready for your flag book!
Let's give the inside of our covers a neat, finished look! Cut two pieces of colored paper, each the same size as the cardboard or slightly smaller. Use a glue stick to attach them to the inside of each cover, hiding the folded edges of the decorative paper.
Now it's time to connect everything! Apply glue to the outermost section of the accordion spine and attach it along the long edge of one cover, directly on top of the colored paper we just glued inside. Press gently to secure it in place. Repeat the same process with the other end of the accordion spine and the second cover.
And there you have it—your very own handmade flag book! Open it up, stretch out the accordion, and enjoy how the colorful flags create a playful, layered structure. Every fold, color, and illustration makes your book one of a kind!