Disneyworld, Universal Studios, Sandman Books. What do they all have in common? Oh, they’re all places you just have to visit in Florida, of course.
Sandman Books in Punta Gorda, Florida recently decided to do something about the books they had laying around, and the results are stunning.
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Welcome to Sandman Books.
They’re Southwest Florida’s largest independent bookstore, and boy do they have a surprise inside.
The owners wrote an article for Bored Panda about the process of taking some old, worn-out books and turning them into art.
No books were harmed in the making of this arch.
Well, no good books, anyway. As they told Bored Panda, some of the books are, “simply at the end of their lives.”
That includes “Old investment books from before the financial crash, books with cracked binding, or missing pages.”
The frame is made of pretty simple materials.
“I built a frame out of 2×4’s and plywood to provide a stable base,” they said.
The books came next. Many were the aforementioned “junk” books, but some had some significance to them!
Some sentimental books were added, too.
“I added some books by my favorite authors including Neil Gaiman (well, the store is named after the Sandman Comics), Pierce Brown’s Red Rising series, Andrew Smith’s Ignition (local author), and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.”
The pillars were only step one.
“Over 10,000 nails were used in [the] construction of the arch.”
Once the pillars were secured and bolted to the floor, it was time to move on to step two: adding the rainbow arch.
Absolutely no paint was added to the books.
“The upper ‘rainbow’ section are paperback books arranged and cut into blocks. The colors are from the publishers, and I did not paint them.”
The purple books were the hardest to find, and took the longest.
Crown molding was added.
To really give the arch the elegance it deserves, they added some thick, black crown molding to the top.
After that was done, it was time to take a step back and marvel at the finished arch!
Tah-dah!
Look at that color gradient! The finished arch truly is one big labor of love. They call what they did #bookart, and I think that’s the perfect way to describe it!
The book arch is complete.
And, according to Sandman Books, a couple loves the arch so much that they’ve chosen to hold their wedding under it!
Now that’s a wedding truly fit for a bookworm.
