DIY Gold Bunny Bookends

Make these simple bookends for your mother or friend! Only an hour to make and a total of $10 for materials.

• 2 animal figurines (mine are porcelain with access into the internal cavity through the bottom)
• gold paint & brush
• rice or beans or lentils (to weigh down the porcelain figures)
• funnel
• glue gun
• Optional (for the bottom of the bookends): thin felt, chalk, & scissors

Unless your animal figurines have some weight to them, you will need to fill them with weights. I used rice, but you can use beans, lentils or any other materials small enough to fill the cavity of the figurine. Using a funnel (I made a cone out of printing paper and taped), pour the rice, beans or lentils, through the opening and into the cavity of the figurine. I placed the figurine upside down in a small bowl to hold it while I poured. Jiggle the figurine around to make sure the rice, beans or lentils fully pack its cavity. Then, using a glue gun, plug the opening with glue. Repeat with the second figurine.

Now you are ready to paint! My preference is gold spray paint, but I’m trying to avoid spray paints during my pregnancy . So instead, I used gold craft paint for this project. The upside of applying paint with a brush is that it creates further texture on the bookends.

Wait about 15 minutes before applying the second layer of paint. It may take up to a few days for the paint to fully cure.

Optional: You can finish the bookends by adhering a thin piece of felt to the bottoms. Trace the bottoms of each bookend onto the felt using a piece of chalk and then cut to size and shape. Glue the pieces of felt onto the bottoms of the bookends using white glue. I decided not take this extra step as the felt I had planned on using was waaaay too thick and actually lifted the bookend off the surface.