Woven Basket Made From Newspaper

Some time ago I stumbled across a video somewhere on the World Wide Web of someone weaving a basket out of paper rolls. My search then catapulted me into a rabbit hole and it was a bit difficult to get out again (with all the great baskets that other people have woven) and get going myself.

But my attempts paid off and a pretty little "newspaper" pot now encases my tree of happiness and adorns my windowsill.

PS: If you enter "basket weaving from newspaper" on www you will see lots of beautiful baskets. Here's just a simple basket for now, but it was made with a lot of love and dirty fingers.

And here we go :-)

- Newspaper / advertising brochures

   - ruler

   - Cutting mat

   - Rotary cutter (or scissors

   - stiff wire (~1.25mm/0.05'')

   - Glue

   - Acrylic paint

   - soft paintbrush

   - Lid or tub as a base

   - A plastic bag

   - A spray bottle with water

First of all, the paper has a grain direction. During paper manufacturing, the fibers float freely and then align parallel to the production direction in the paper web. In the finished state, the paper can therefore bend better in one direction, namely "with the grain," than against the grain. It also tears more cleanly with the grain than against it.

So, I first went through our old paper, picked out the largest brochures, and did a tear test on each. Some brochures were too thick, others were glued at the back instead of stapled, and others had the grain direction along the short side, which would have given me more work since I would have had to make more rolls. Finally, I chose "the yellow" brochure from a discount store and started cutting the sheets into strips.

And yes, you are right, it isn't a newspaper that I'm using, but I could have used it. It would have been even better, since the newspaper pages are bigger than the advertising ones and so you need to roll less single tubes. But I wanted to try it with the advertising brochures since there is a lot more you could do with plain newspaper. And finally the title "woven basket made from advertising brochure" isn't as catchy as the newspaper one :-)

Since the strips are rolled up slightly diagonally and the tube should be of fairly uniform thickness throughout, this must be taken into account beforehand. My strips are 40 cm (~16'') long, with the shorter side being 6 cm (~2.4'') and the longer side 11 cm (~4.3'').

I found it easiest to position the tip of the longer side towards me and place the wire roughly in the middle of the tip. Then, I folded the corner slightly over the wire, pressed it down a bit, and began rolling the paper evenly. I used my right hand to twist the paper and wire while stabilizing the whole thing with my left hand. Roll evenly until you are near the end, then dab a little glue on the overhanging tip and finish rolling everything up. Press it briefly with your fingers to secure it, and the first roll (of many) is complete.

When you finish making the amount of paper tubes you think you'll need, add another 20%. Yes, unfortunately, you will need more than expected, and you don't want to start rolling again while you're in the flow of weaving. (And at least you'll get rid of all those paper advertisements or old newspapers. :-) )

Tiny pro-tip:

If you slightly offset five of the strips on top of each other and then glue the corners all at once, you'll save yourself from opening, gluing, and closing the glue four extra times. :-)

You can choose to leave the tubes their natural color or paint them now. While you could paint them later, painting them at this stage gives the impression of fully colored tubes rather than tubes that have been painted afterward. I hope you understand what I mean.

I made a prototype basket to test the process and realized that I didn't like the look of the paper tubes in their original color, at least not the ones I used. So, I decided to paint them before weaving.

To dye the paper tubes, you will need the following items: acrylic paint in your desired color, a glass, some water, a wide soft brush, and a tray large enough to soak and store the tubes.

1. Mix the paint with water, about 1 part paint to 2 parts water.
2. Brush the tubes with the paint mixture until they are well saturated.
3. Let the tubes drip dry and place them in a drying area with minimal contact surface. I laid mine across the edges of a box, so they mostly rested on the edges, which worked quite well.
4. Move the tubes around occasionally while they dry to prevent them from sticking together.
5. Once they are dry enough that they are still damp but don’t leave paint on your fingers, you can proceed.
6. Place the tubes in a plastic bag, leaving only the "hard pointed ends" exposed and not the ends with holes. This keeps the tubes moist and flexible while ensuring the ends are firm, making them easier to connect later.

1. Take 4 tubes and lay them in a cross shape, 2 over 2. You can fix them with a bit of glue if you like.
2. Take 2 more tubes, cut the open ends straight, and insert the firm upper end of one tube, with some glue, into the bottom of the other tube.
3. Bend the long tube at the connection point and wrap it around the first two tubes of your base.
4. Alternate wrapping or weaving the tubes around the base tubes, ensuring that the front tube is always over the tube coming from behind.

After weaving the first 1-2 rounds, you'll notice your weaving tubes getting shorter. Now is the time to extend them:

1. Cut the firm upper end of one tube to a point (and if you haven’t done so yet, straighten the open bottom end of the other tube).
2. Take 2 new tubes, straighten the bottom part of one, and cut the firm upper part of the other to a shorter, pointed shape.
3. Insert the new tubes, with a bit of glue, into the previous weaving tubes.
4. Wait briefly for the glue to set, and then continue weaving.

After weaving three rounds around the center, add more base tubes:

1. Take 2 tubes, cut off the tips, and apply glue to the tips.
2. Insert 1 tube on each side of the two existing cross tubes in the already woven base. Now you have four tubes lying side by side.
3. Start a fourth round with the weaving tubes.
4. Divide the four tubes into pairs and bend them slightly apart.
5. Weave around each pair of tubes.
6. Repeat this process for the remaining three sides.
7. Weave another complete round around your now eight strands.

1. Continue weaving, splitting the double tubes into single tubes for weaving.
2. You now have 16 tubes to weave around.
3. Weave until you reach your desired diameter. (For my basket, 16 tubes were sufficient, but if you need a significantly larger diameter, add more tubes in about 4 rounds, following the same steps as described previously.)
4. Cut the weaving tubes short, bend them over, and secure them with a bit of glue in the basket base.

1. Dampen your side tubes with some water, let them soak, and start weaving.
2. Place a "placeholder tube" next to the first tube, bend it around, and lead it around the next side tube, then pull it up.
3. Repeat this process with the second tube and all following tubes.
4. When you reach the last tube, remove the placeholder tube and lead the last tube from underneath through the loop.

To make turning the basket easier, I placed the flowerpot it was meant to fit inside. Unfortunately, I noticed after a while that the weight was wearing down the bottom. Placing a dry dishcloth underneath allowed the basket to turn smoothly without the bottom scraping across the table.

Since I couldn’t just leave the side walls plain, I decided to start with a 3-tube round.

1. Take three tubes and place them between four consecutive side tubes.
2. Take the first tube, place it over the next two tubes (and in front of the next two side tubes), and lead it behind the third side tube.
3. Repeat this process with the second and third weaving tubes, then start again with the first tube.
4. After the last round, secure the cut tubes with some glue in the basket base.
5. Repeat the process with the three tubes and weave another firm 3-tube round.

I wove the remaining height of the sides with two weaving tubes.

1. Take two weaving tubes and alternately weave them around the side tubes.
2. Continue this until you reach your desired side height.
3. Cut the tubes and secure them with some glue in the side part.

To create a nice finish, the side tubes are now woven in.

1. Take a placeholder tube and place it to the right of one of the side tubes.
2. Set the side tube over the placeholder tube and bend it around the next side tube.
3. Weave once around the basket.
4. Remove the placeholder tube and thread the side tube through.

1. Take a spare tube.
2. Bend it over the right side tube, kink it at the second side tube, measure, and cut it with an additional 2.4 cm (~1").
3. Use the wire to slightly open the side wall.
4. Insert the kinked tube with some glue into the opening in the side wall.
5. Repeat this process with all the tubes until you have glued the last one in place.

Tada, you’re done! :)

Congratulations on your upcycling project and beautiful unique piece!