l have to confess that l am a messy crafter. l have craft supplies stored all over the house. But it is the new year and I have just finished hours of cleaning, sorting and organizing in my sewing/crafting room so l am determined to keep things tidy for a little while. Hopefully these baskets will help. A few weeks ago I made a small version of a woven magazine basket but I wondered what else I could make. I needed some storage baskets and a new trash can. So I figured I would give the woven magazine technique a try.
It is really simple, only takes a few materials and there are so many things that can be made with woven magazines. Oh and I guess l should mention I have a lot of old magazines.
To start gather old magazines, scissors and a hot glue gun.
Step 1 - Separate magazine pages and role from corner to corner into a tube. (l used a glue stick to role the paper a pencil would also work.)
Step 2 - Remove the glue stick (or pencil) from the paper tube and use hot glue to secure the tube. Repeat.
Step 3 - Lengthen tubes as needed by inserting one end into the other.
Step 4 - Begin the weave at the center bottom of the piece. Use the hot glue gun to secure the weave in place as needed.
On-this basket I used a 2 x 1 weave.
l used an empty grain bag to make a liner for the first basket.
My second project was to make a trash can. l traced the bottom out of cardboard. l started with a circle shape but then changed my mind and cut it into more of an oval shape.
Glue paper roles to bottom of cardboard and begin weaving. For the trash can l used a 1 x 1 weave.
To finish the top of the trash can I rolled each tube down toward the outside of the can and secured it with hot glue.
I added handles to the last basket by braiding the paper tubes and gluing the braids into handle shapes.
It was fun to experiment with different weaves, shapes and finishing techniques.
If you have some old magazines you may want to give some weaving a try.
Happy Upcycling,