DIY Book Nooks Vs Book Nook Kits
DIY book nooks are completely sculpted by hand, and all accessories are sourced separately which is no easy feat. The bare minimum requires thick enough boards to create the shell for the book nook, and then miniature or scale models can be put into them. To light up book nooks, miniature LEDs are used. Just like book nook kits are available, you can buy LED light kits from hobbyist suppliers that are complete with the bulbs, wiring, resistors, and heat shrink tubing to cover the cables.
For miniatures that go inside the book nook, creating the theme of the interior, you can keep things pure by building DIY miniatures with polymer clays, then paint them and add an infinity mirror if you want to create the illusion of an alley that has no end.
The not-so-tech-free option is 3D printing, which is like a hobby within a hobby for miniature enthusiasts because you have to design files (or buy them), source materials, and print 3D models. This can venture into printing modular terrains, depending on the level of detail you want to have inside of your book nook. Given that chemicals are going to be required when working with resins, you’ll also need safety gear. Nitrile gloves are the least you’ll need to handle resin safely.
DIY Book Nook Kits
DIY book nook kits are an all-in-one solution for beginners to this fascinating hobby. A complete book nook kit for beginners negates the need to source all the individual components required to make a high-spec book nook, complete with lights, modular terrains or wall art, meticulously detailed miniatures, and high-gloss decor.
All the printing - 3D and high-resolution sticker graphics - are pre-designed, flat-packed, and packaged into a kit, supplied with instructions, and importantly, the miniature tools needed to assemble the kit with ease are supplied. In essence, DIY book nook kits are best suited to anyone with time constraints, or are interested in a hobby that requires zero technology.
For something to do to lessen screen time, DIY book nook kits are the way to go. Using a kit with detailed and illustrative instructions, you won’t even need to look up tutorials to figure out how to do something.
Exploring the Middle Ground of DIY Book Nooks
Whichever option you choose to build a book nook with (using a kit or building from scratch), there is some middle ground offering creative freedom with both options. Naturally, there’s more freedom when you start from scratch, but even if you lack the creativity or the resources to build everything from scratch, you can always start with a set, and customize a DIY book nook kit to suit your project.
As an example, a basic kit may have no lighting included, in which case, you can buy and add them. The same for the back of the book nook. If a kit comes without a mirror, and you want to make the inside of the book appear larger, you can buy acrylic mirrors, or infinity mirrors to create the illusion of an endless corridor.
Which Book Nook Venture Suits You Best?
Ultimately, the path you take to building a book nook depends on your crafting experience. Those with the know-how of building miniature dollhouses, modular terrain kits, or DIY scale model kits, will have an easier time sourcing the materials needed to build a book nook, and may already have a suitable 3D printer, requiring just the design files to create the miniature models.
Complete beginners to miniature model building are unlikely to have the tools required, nor the assembly knowledge, benefiting immensely from a complete DIY book nook kit with paints, wiring, miniature accessories, glues, tools, and the instructions to piece it together.
If you’re looking for a gift for bookworms interested in artsy projects, such as different DIY bookbinding techniques that are then used for creative bookshelf displays, a complete kit such as our DIY Tokyo Alley book nook kit would likely tick a lot of boxes. It’s creative, can be tied into bookbinding, and when displayed alongside a variety of Japanese art forms and styles, ties everything together neatly into a cohesive theme and a gorgeous bookshelf display.
In terms of the age ranges book nooks are suited to, what’s included in the kit matters. Most book nook kits are designed for ages 14 and upwards. With a kit, heat shrink tubing requires heat to shrink the tubing over wires. Kits without lights wouldn’t require any wiring, and without the lights or a lighting kit, soldering would be required to create circuits, install resistors, and connect everything to a power source. Kits with lights don’t need soldering. Just connected. For that reason, if you’re looking for something for the family to do together that doesn’t require technology, DIY book nook kits could be your perfect family craft project.