Work-In-Progress: Cutout Book

Hello!
Yesterday, I embarked on the illustrious Adventure of the Cutout Book (or, more accurately, I thought, I'm bored, and I'm not doing anything productive...). If you'd like to try it, here's what you'll need:

• One relatively thick hardcover book (I used an annotated version of Pride and Prejudice)
• A ruler, preferably metal
• A pencil
• Glue-and-water mixture, about half glue, half water
• X-acto (?) knife
• A thinner blade if you have one

Note: If you're not good with sharp things, I wouldn't recommend this project. It involves lots of blades near innocent, stabbable fingers.

Let's begin, shall we?

1. Obtain a thick, hardcover book. You can probably find a dictionary that nobody uses anymore, or an old school textbook. You could even go to the library or used bookstore and ask of they have any for a good price. I think our library gives away obsolete books every year for free, so yours might too!
2. Open the book to the second or third page and draw a 1 inch border around the outside in pencil. This will be the size of your box. You can see the border (barely) in the first photo.
3. Paint the glue-and water mixture over the edges of the pages. Try to be neat; if you want to trick someone, it has to look authentic! Put a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper between the page you just drew on and its facing page to make sure that they don't get stuck to the others. 
4. Place several heavy books or weights on top of the book. I used textbooks: biology, physical science, math, and French. All of the weight makes the pages stick together and stops them from curling and warping. The glue should be dry about 30 minutes afterwards, but I let mine dry for two hours. You might want to repeat this step if any of the pages separate (and add more books the next time!).
5. Now, it's time slice! Using your ruler, make the first few cuts very carefully. It will get easier when you're about fifty pages through :)
6. This step takes forever and is quite messy. I recommend having a recycling bin handy for all of the pages and shavings. Also, I would not recommend wearing black, you'll get paper shreds and dust all over you!
7. And now... we wait, because I haven't finished this step yet :) 

(But don't worry, I'm at least to Volume 2!)

I'll update soon!

~Sara