FIMO leather-effect bookmarks

This is a brilliant gift idea for bookworms: these hand-made, personalised bookmarks make reading your favourite books twice as much fun!
Made of FIMO leather-effect, not only are the bookmarks wonderfully flexible, but they also allow you to conjure up some incredible unique effects. Whether you choose a colour gradient, a confetti look or striped pattern for your bookmark, FIMO leather-effect opens up all kinds of creative possibilities. And with a pretty mini-tassel at the top, you’ll always find your page straight away.

An article by Lisa Tihanyi

To make a bookmark with a colour gradient, roll one block of FIMO leather-effect berry into a ball in your hands, and do the same again with ivory, then form a drop shape from each colour.
Place the two drops side by side, head to toe, and roll them flat using the acrylic roller, forming a sheet approx. 0.5 cm thick.

Now fold the sheet back onto itself, ivory on ivory and berry on berry. Roll the FIMO leather-effect out a second time with the acrylic roller, and fold it again as described above.
It’s important that you always fold the FIMO sheet in the same direction. Repeat this step until you are happy with the colour gradient.

Finally, use the acrylic roller to roll the FIMO sheet with the colour gradient flat so that it is 3 mm thick. The sheet should be wide and long enough to accommodate the bookmark template later.

If you want, you can now stamp a message into the FIMO sheet using letter stamps. (Remember to stamp back to front!).
Tip: The leather effect will stand out even better if you gently lift the FIMO sheet with your fingers again and stretch it slightly.

Another option: To achieve a confetti look, roll out a block of FIMO leather-effect ivory into a 3-mm-thick sheet using the acrylic roller.
Tear off lots of small scraps from the other two FIMO leather-effect colours (e.g. berry and black) and distribute them evenly over the light FIMO sheet.

Place a piece of baking paper over the speckled FIMO sheet and roll over the baking paper applying gentle pressure with the acrylic roller until all the confetti pieces have fused into the sheet.

To make the tassel, take half a block of FIMO leathereffect black and half a block of FIMO leather-effect ivory, and roll them to a thickness of 2 mm using the acrylic roller.

Now place all the FIMO leather-effect sheets on baking paper and harden in the oven for 30 minutes at 130°C / 265°F (top/bottom heat). Leave to cool.
Place the bookmark template on the hardened sheet and trace around the edge.
Use a pair of scissors to cut out the bookmark and punch a hole in the rectangular end with the punch.

To make the tassel, use the scissors to cut out a rectangle from the black sheet, and make multiple incisions on the wide side, around 2 mm apart.

Cut a 10-cm-long strip out of the ivory sheet. Thread this through the hole in the bookmark and glue the ends together with instant glue.
Wrap the black rectangle with the incisions tightly around the ivory strip and glue it in place.
Your bookmark is now ready!
What you need
Additionally required:
Smooth work surface (glass or ceramic), Punch, Scissors, Template, Letter stamps, Instant glue
No time right now?
Save this article as PDF!