Recycled Magazine

Day 29 - Recycled Magazine Craft

Whilst trawling the internet for ideas for the 40days project I came across lots of uses for recycled magazine and newspaper craft.  Some of the ideas for making bowls were great but not really in keeping with the Easter theme. So I've decided to have a go at making woven Easter baskets.  The first thing you need is old magazines! I've used some gardening mags because I thought you might be able to see flowers. I did think of using children's magazines but they had none going spare.

The magazine needs to be cut into strips.  The length and width of the strips will determine the style of the weave. I've gone for strips the full length of the magazine by 10cm wide, again because I'm hoping to be able to see some of the pictures.

Each strip needs to be folded in half lengthways, unfolded and then folded from each edge into the middle. Next I've folded the strip over lengthways and secured with a PVA/water mix. You need to make quite a bundle of these.

To start the base of the basket, I've taken four strips - placed two horizontal and two vertical - and woven them together. I used a PVA mix to secure them, checking they are at right angles to each other by using the lines on my cutting mat. Gradually I added more strips lengthways and widthways to the weave until I had the right size for the base. 

To make the next part easier I went around the edge of the base folding what will become the side strips upwards. You then continue to weave the strips from the bottom up until the sides then reach the right height. 






To hold the strips together a piece of yellow paper was used to make another strip which I folded and stuck over the top rim. I've used a final strip to make the handles, put in place with split pins.  You could use this technique to make baskets square or rectangular, large or small, or even themed.

Although I'm not sure if this will work I've given the baskets a quick lick of clear varnish.  They don't seem to be collapsing but I'll see how they look in the morning.

Whilst making the baskets there was another project using coiled magazine craft that I was interested in. Same idea - you make very thin strips of used magazines - only this time you coil the strips into very tight pegs.  You can add more strips to make larger coils. I'll not tell you what I'm making but hopefully I'll update when it's finished.