LOTR 3D Paper Shadowbox Out of an Old Book

I work at both a fabric store and a bookstore, so when I’m not working, I’m usually reading or crafting. One of the best things about it is I get employee discounts at both places, which means I can stock up on fabric and books and get some really good deals. Most of my craft supplies come from the fabric store, but every now and then, I come across a book that’s too damaged to sell. When that happens, I get to take it home and give it new life through my crafts. This is one of those times…

The main component of this project was pages from an old, oversized astronomy book filled with full-color, full-page spreads of stars, galaxies, and other celestial scenes. I found this book in the bookstore I work at while going through a box of donations. It was too water-damaged to sell, but a lot of the pages were just fine for crafts. I’ve also attached some photos of other types of things you can use, including but not limited to: a regular book, a children’s books with lots of photos, old calendars, atlases, or you could simply use regular cardstock or paper or whatever else you want. Just keep in mind that thicker paper, like cardstock, would be better than like magazine pages, since it’d be a lot sturdier.

To bring it all together, I used the following materials:

- My Cricut Joy Xtra

- Procreate on my iPad (although I’ve attached PNGs you can use!)

- Cardboard scraps

- Scissors

- Glue

- Black construction paper

- A ruler

- A pen

As you can see from the first photo here, I drew a layered scene featuring the nine companions (and Bill the pony) walking in front of layers of mountains and Barad-dûr on my iPad using Procreate. I’ve attached the final photo as well as each individual layer here in this step.

As you can see, each layer is a 6x6” square, and has the same size frame around each piece.

I used my Cricut to cut out each piece, and I love how precise and clean the cuts are. While you could do it all by hand, the Cricut makes the process much faster and easier.

I cut small strips of cardboard and glued them to the backs of each layer, except the bottom one. I placed the strips around the frame edges and in areas that wouldn’t be visible from the front of the piece.

For the layer featuring Barad-dûr, Sauron’s fortress—also known as the Dark Tower—you can see that it was free-floating a bit, acting like a peninsula and flopping around. To stabilize it, I glued a small strip of paper to the back of the Eye of Sauron and attached it to the frame, providing extra support.

Once you've assembled all the layers with cardboard strips between them, it should look like this. You could definitely stop here and have a great looking product. But if you wanted to have a more polished look, keep going.

As I was making this, I decided to add a construction paper frame around the entire piece. To do this, I first measured the finished project—your measurements may vary depending on the thickness of your cardboard. Using a ruler and a pen, I marked out the dimensions: a 6x6" frame, sides about 3/4" wide, and back flaps that were a few inches each.

In hindsight, I should have accounted for little tabs to help close the frame later on, but I just cut some little pieces of paper and glued them on to work like tabs.

This isn’t necessary, but I happened to have some battery operated LED lights and decided to weave them throughout the shadowbox, making sure the wire stayed hidden. I just strung them throughout the sides and it’s easy to hide the battery box behind it.

Once you put the frame over the piece and secure it with some glue, that’s basically all there is to it!

I’ve displayed it on my shelf next to a photo of me with Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, my tiny Minis Tirith, and Funkos of Merry and Pippin. ❤️ I think it looks pretty cool!

What scene will you recreate in shadowbox format? What kind of paper will you use? Will you use an old book that is too damaged for your shelf, a children’s book that pages have been drawn on, old calendars, or something else? Let me know in the comments!