How to Make a Basket Out of Recycled Magazines

According to Magazine Publishers of America, only about 20 percent of magazines get recycled. You can help prevent this waste by reusing and recycling your old magazines. One way is to make them into paper baskets, either woven into square baskets or coiled into circular baskets. Whether you choose pages of a specific color or use random pages for a rainbow effect, magazine baskets make creative table centerpieces, desktop organizers or homemade gifts.

Things You'll Need

• Magazines
• Scissors
• Glue
• Rotary cutter and mat (optional)
• Paintbrush
• Bowl
• Parchment paper

Instructions

Woven Magazine Basket

1. Cut 10 magazine pages lengthwise into 2.5-inch strips. Use a rotary cutter to easily make your strips neat and even.

2. Weave the strips together into a square, securing them with dots of glue where necessary. Stop when you have a 4.5-inch square of woven magazine strips.

3. Fold up the strips at a 90-degree angle where they meet the edge of the square. Continue weaving, gluing the strips in place, to create the sides of the basket.

4. Fold the ends of the strips in and glue them down. Fold and glue another strip of magazine around the top of the basket to cover the ragged ends.

Coiled Magazine Basket

1. Cut magazine pages into 1-inch strips lengthwise.

2. Dilute white glue with water. Use a paintbrush to paint it onto one side of a magazine strip, then roll the strip into a tight coil.

3. Paint more strips with glue and coil them around the first until you have a circular base large enough for your basket.

4. Cover a bowl with parchment paper and place the coiled basket base on top. Using the bowl as a mold, glue magazine strips in gradually downward circles to create the sides of the basket.

Tips & Warnings

• You can make a similar woven basket with old newspapers instead of magazines. Instead of cutting the paper into strips, cut the folded side off the paper and fold it into eighths lengthwise to make it sturdy, then weave the strips together.

References

• "How About Orange: Recycled Magazine Baskets"
• "Espirit Cabane: Coiled Paper Baskets"
• "Craft Stylish: The Times They Are A-Changing"

Resources

• "Magazine Publishers of America: Please Recycle Magazines Campaign"