Good fortune
I admit it: I save the fortunes from fortune cookies—but only the ones I like. Sometimes I find them inspirational, but mostly I find them funny (in bed). But what can you do you do with them? They are too small to frame or display in any meaningful way, since even fridge magnets are usually bigger than the fortunes themselves.
My solution: I made a little booklet of pockets, one per page, for keeping my treasured fortunes tucked away. What’s nice about the technique, however, is that you can use it to store any of the small ephemera you may collect, from stamps to ticket stubs.
The idea is inspired by the book More Making Books by Hand by Peter and Donna Thomas, a pair of trained fine artists from Santa Cruz, California. Since I am more of a digital designer than a fine artist, however, I created a computer-oriented adaptation of their idea.
Materials:
- Fortune cookie fortunes (or other small ephemera)
- Paper
Tools:
- Computer and printer
- Layout software, or Microsoft Word
- Scissors
- Bone folder or butter knife, to make nice creases
Make it:
- Download and print the template of my fortune cookie booklet. This will give you the approximate size and location of each text item so you can create your own, if desired.
- Fold the paper away from you along the topmost dotted line, above the image of the fortune, so the blank space folds back behind the image.
- Fold the paper away from you along the center dotted line, so that the image is now upside-down and facing away from you.
- Fold the bottom edge of the paper up and away from you along the lowest dotted line, so that the fortune cookie sayings are on the back side of the paper. Flip the paper over.
- Tuck the paper flap with the fortune cookie sayings beneath the image of the fortune.
- Accordion fold the whole assembly so that each saying is separated from the next by a fold.
- Tuck one fortune cookie fortune into each pocket “pocket.”
- Order Chinese takeout and revel in your good fortune.
