From a Popsicle Stick to Desk Organizer

One of my childhood memories as a child during the hot summer days in Israel is the neighborhood ice cream truck.

Every day me and my 3 big brothers waited to the ice cream truck to get an ice cream. My mother who believed in creating something from nothing, kept the popsicles after we’d finished the ice cream. In the rainy winter days, when the garden was not playable, she took out a box with all the used popsicles she saved and we made useful things out of it. As a girl who loved to paint, I made boxes and desk organizer to organize my pencils and crayons. Popsicles can be used for a lot of creative stuff such as popsicle lamp, phone stand etc. I highly recommend that we turn on our creativity and reuse things to keep our planet alive and in this instructable I’m going to share one reuse of popsicle sticks.

Popsicle sticks (for those who didn’t save popsicles, many Craft Stores provides it)

Glue Scissors

Ruler

Bristol board

gouache paints

paintbrush

pencil

To make the desk organizer you will need a base in the shape you want.

I choose a square 15x14.5 (in centimeters). Firstly, I draw with pencil the shape and then I cut out the Bristol board according to the sketch.

Glue popsicle sticks on alternate sides of the square to form the first layer.

Then, until you attain the desired height, apply glue on the very ends of the popsicle sticks and lay alternate layers in a pattern. I used 112 popsicle sticks to attain 11 cm height. (16 popsicle sticks provides 1 centimeter to the height)

Allow sufficient time to dry the organizer.

I decided to keep the popsicle sticks natural for my organizer but you can decorate it any way you would like and I recommend to use gouache paints because it dries up good and easy to use.

I'd love to see your version of my popsicle sticks desk organizer or whatever else you decide to document.

I can't wait to see what you make!