This guy makes flip-Books using nothing but a hole puncher—and they’re mesmerizing

I’ve always been delighted by flip-books, those tiny books that contain a series of pictures that vary just slightly from one page to the next so that, when you flip through them quickly, it looks as if the picture is moving. I always sought them out whenever I found myself in a museum gift shop, where they’re often located near the cash registers, to tempt you at the checkout. But for some, they’re much more than a mere novelty item.

Scott Blake, an American artist whose work has appeared in numerous galleries and magazines, uses his flip-books to send a message. According to his YouTube page, he considers himself a remix artist who uses his work to “poke fun at consumerism.” His first flip-books were created using images and art from barcodes related to his subject. The pieces were intended to highlight the superficial relationship between public icons and those who consumed their work.

As you can see in his video, you can even scan the barcodes with your phone to buy something.

He has also created fire flip-books that smell of smoke because he burns the last page:

And his online shop contains many other types of books, from more flip-books to fortune-cookie poetry to a thaumatrope, a toy popular in Victorian times that was made up of a disk with a picture on each side, attached to a piece of string. When the string is twisted, the disk spins and the two pictures seem to come together into a single image.

More recently, he’s been creating hole punch flip-books. Basically, Blake punches holes into his flip-books in order to create patterns that appear to bend and twist and whirl as you flip the pages. Check it out:

He even has a video that shows him putting one of his flip-books together, and he has a pdf available on his website that will enable you to make your own:

If you’re interested in owning one of these unique flip-books and don’t want to DIY it, they’re available on Blake’s website in four different versions. The cheapest one is $20 while the most elaborate one will run you $120. Each flip-book is signed and dated.

How nifty are these?!