Let’s Make A Book

October 4, 2011

BANDmade Books and OK Go are teaming up to make a book. What’s it about? We can’t tell you yet. What’s in it? Your clothing!

Combining a 12th century technique called “rag paper” and more modern methods, the good folks at BANDmade will shred the living bejeesus out of your old clothing and process it into pulp using a hollander beater. They will then form individual pages one at a time with a mould and deckle. (A what and a what?)

Now all they need is your old clothing. Below are BANDmade’s quick ‘n’ easy instructions on how to go convey your old clothing to them so they can turn it into something like the above. Except filled with all kinds of OK Go goodness.

1.) Round up your old white cotton, hemp, or linen shirts, pants, bedsheets, tablecloths, and the like. We are looking for white but we understand that old white isn’t always super-white. That’s okay. Don’t worry if your shirt has a colored image on it. As long as the rest of the shirt is white we can accept it.

(1a. Notice how we didn’t ask for your socks or underwear. That was intentional.)

2.) Look at all the tags and make sure they are 100% cotton, hemp, linen, or a blend of these fibers. We cannot accept any fibers other than cotton, hemp, or linen, so if there’s no tag, please don’t send it to us. 5% lycra is not acceptable. It’s all or nothing with rag paper.

3.) Box up what you have and mail it to:

BANDmade Books
1090 Eddy Street, #104
San Francisco, CA 94109

4.) Check BANDmade’s site as well as OK Go’s Twitter and Facebook accounts to watch as your clothing is transformed.

5.) Patience, grasshopper. Handmade books take time!