So I have been experimenting with making some woven products using the original newspaper tubes, without colouring them. 

This was the first of them - a pen or pencil pot. This time I tried both ways - one I made using only the newspaper tubes, no colour. The next was made from wood-coloured tubes. What do you think? Which is the one you prefer?

Personally, I prefer the original tubes with no colour. I like that the paper is seen and anyone seeing it would know that it is made from paper. But if I want to hide that it is actually paper-made, then the colouring one works out well.

Here's to a blessed new year 2021! Well, the year has had a good start for me and I was able to work on my first order for this year - a box made from newspaper tubes with a touch of decoupage. 

I am very happy to see the results of all the practice I have had during these past few months! Quite delighted with how pleasing and utilitarian this box turned out to be! 

The box is 8 inches in diameter and 10 inches in height. In this instance too, the client just specified that she wanted a big box with decoupage. So that meant, I got to choose the colours and the design!! Yay!!

 

I went for the peach/white combination from my last box as I absolutely love this decoupage tissue. I love how pleasing these roses are! The base was made from a cardboard and I started by gluing the sticks to the base. 

I used 2 patterns for the sides. The first was a 3-weave pattern as I wanted to accentuate the white. This was followed by a peach section, since I wanted the decoupage to stand out here. 

The lid also started with a cardboard base with decoupage on it. Quite happy with the way the decoupage turned out! In love with these little woven knobs! They are so adorable!!

Finally, I finished off with some round felt protectors, since the colour is quite light and I didn't want the box to turn dirty very quickly! 

So, here's to a year of newspaper weaving and plenty of orders 😄😄

Happy New Year 2021!

 

 

A little experiment for making a small, leaf-shaped tray, in time for Christmas! This little tray has been on my to-do list for quite some time now, especially since I have already made a couple of leaf trays using the coiling technique of weaving.  

Since I had already coloured some tubes green and red, in anticipation of some Christmas themed newspaper weaving projects, I decided to use a few of them to try out this little leaf tray. Well, it turned out not to so little after all - measuring around 10-inches at the maximum length!

 

While I quite liked the leaf stalk that I added, I think I need to figure out a better way, or rather,  a more aesthetically pleasing way of adding it! 

Other than that, I am in love with this tray and I think I will do one more using Christmas colours! What say??

Model Details:

Model: Leaf Tray

Difficulty Level: Complex

Tutorial (making newspaper tubes): Youtube

 

After the lovely origami that I folded last month, I decided that I wanted to do something in newspaper weaving that is a little big - big enough to contain a fair amount of stuff, rather than the usual, small pieces that I do. 

 

So that is what I did! This box, made of olive green and corn yellow, is the first of these boxes that I decided to weave. The idea was derived from some decoupage tissue, presented to me by my daughter, Little Miss. I am not sure decoupage will look good on small, woven works. Anyway, I have to try it out! But for now, this is what I did. 

The base of the box was cardboard, since I wasn't too keen on weaving such a big bottom! The box measures 8 inches in diameter and the cardboard is 6 inches in diameter. From that, I started my weaving.

Once I started weaving the sides, I wanted to try out some new techniques of weaving. Unfortunately, I don't know of the names! But I guess the pictures provide enough information! 😆

 Once the weaving was done, it was decoupage time. Frankly speaking, I am not too happy with the way this decoupage turned out! I think the bees and the flowers merge a little too much with the weaving! But, all is not lost! I will try this same technique again with a different decoupage paper and hopefully that will come out well!

Model Details:

Model: Leaf Tray

Difficulty Level: Complex

Tutorial (making newspaper tubes): Youtube

 Hmm.. My attempt at making a little woven pumpkin pot! Is that a yay or a nay?? 

Can't say I am very impressed with this 😁 I think the top of the pumpkin should flatten down a lot more. Don't you think so? And I think the lid should be entirely of orange with no green in it. Well, live and learn, folks!! 

Model Details:

Model: Pumpkin Pot

Difficulty Level: Complex

Tutorial (making newspaper tubes): Youtube

Well, a recent order for a pot holder made from newspaper rolls with order to 'go crazy!' gave me the liberty to try out this cute snail pot holder. Since I wanted the newspaper print to be visible, I coloured the paper with print in brown and cream and ended up with a real cute holder.

To hold the snail shape, I threaded the tubes with wire - that meant I was able to shape it well and it also made the weaving a lot easier! Finally 2 too big eyes and a coat of varnish and the holder was ready 😊

Here is the holder with a small pot in it. The picture really does not do justice to how well it turned out! And once the order was complete, I needed to make one more, since Little Miss had fallen in love with it. So the next one I made was smaller and was more of a pen stand. I reused some of the newspaper tubes from another project and ended up with a yellow and purple snail pen holder.

After my Christmas bells made from newspaper tubes, I have been working with a fair amount of enthusiasm, on a rather large project! Making a trash can!!

It has been a fairly large project for me, because everything about this is new! I am new to newspaper weaving, so rolling the tubes itself is a challenge. The shape I have chosen is also new - till date, I have only attempted round structures, so a square is another challenge. Then there is the painting - as you can see, I have used lavender, green and white tubes. The white tubes were tricky because they weren't as bright white as I wanted them to be; hopefully I will get there in my next few attempts. Finally, I am not sure how clear it is, but I have used lavender/white paper beads around the middle of the basket. For some time I had the feeling that I had bitten off more than I could chew, but finally, I managed to complete the basket 😀 And really really proud of what I have done. I do realise there are a lot of faults, but at least I completed it!! So yay me!!

Model Details:

Model: Woven waste basket

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Model Size: ~15 inches tall 

Tutorial (making newspaper tubes): Youtube