Yesterday, I showed an accordion folder for one of my inner heroes, the Protector of Flight Feathers. Only part of it was visible. Here’s how it was made:
1. Cut a piece of heavy paper, about 8 inches long and 3 inches high. (This happens to be a page from a constellation atlas).
2. Paint the paper on both sides. I used a Gelli Plate to monoprint this paper, front and back. I used a texture plate from an architectural kit. The black side (constellation atlas, remember?) had some gold added.
3. Fold the piece of paper in half, to make a piece 4 inches by 3 inches. Fold each side to the center mark, to create a 2 inches x 3 inches high. Re-fold to create an accordion fold book.
4. Choose short pieces from your stash for additional pages. These will be folded and fit into a crease of the original book. They should be shorter and smaller than the original accordion fold.
5. Stack the pieces together to make sure the original accordion can still fold. Trim any sheets that create a problem.
6. Stitch the pieces in place to create a wild, multi-sheet accordion book.
Now the fun begins. You could have written in the book first, and assembled it afterwards. I assembled it first, thinking about my inner hero. Until the book was complete, I didn’t have an Inner Hero at hand. Once I knew her name, I drew the feather images and added the words.
It had been raining the day before, and I wondered where the birds go. I know they sit in trees and under eaves, but I rarely see them. What I do see a lot of is feathers. And I began to think that one of my strengths is thinking of details, and one of my weaknesses is that sometimes I forget how all those details piece together and make a glorious whole.
The image of the birds’ feathers and how they serve different functions, but all come together, came back to me. If all I do is pay attention to details; I’ll forget the purpose of the whole.
So the last page (sort of) says, ” Don’t spend time wondering which feather lifts you–they all do. Practice flying instead of counting feathers.” The Protector of Flight Feathers has a lot to teach me. The details are important, but so is the big picture, the goal. Without knowing how to see the goal, I can’t really grow toward it. And rather than thinking of the place of each feather, it makes a lot of sense to fly.
—Quinn McDonald is working on more Inner Heroes. A girl can never have enough of them.
QuinnCreative 
I´m saving this for the weekend. I´m decluttering and reorganizing my stash and I found several scraps that would work fine. I foresee many of those in my immediate future.
They are super fun to make–you can make them as simple or as complicated as you like–I even made one with a fold out!
What a pretty little book about a useful hero! Love accordion books, I’ve made several small ones too.
Thanks, Hanna! I love the multiple page book and the idea of a protector of lifting away from the earth. Inner Heroes appear as you see them, as you need them.
Thank you for this great post! I often forget the whole about the details too! And thank you for the tutorial!
You are so welcome. I’m a fan of accordion-plus folders and I love them even more when I think of making them from small leftovers.
Great to see the finished work close up Quinn. I was reading about
On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz on Brain Pickings and thinking about thinking and noticing . . . I almost disappeared in my own mind! When I ordered it, I saw that it’s available on audio. That’s rather a contradiction I thought . . . does one listen while one goes for a walk?
One does. I spend whole walks concentrating only on what I can hear. It’s astonishing. Birds, different car engines, the sound of tires on different kinds of streets, dogs barking, my own breathing, crunching over seed pods,its a world of sound to notice!
Thank you for an inspirational post and project.
It’s the least I can do after all the inspiration you’ve given me!