How to Weave a Basket Out of Newspaper

Transform old newspapers into new home accessories.

Show off your environmentally friendly side and make a basket from recycled newspapers to hold magazines, mail, craft items and other accessories around the home. You can use the project as an activity for a child to teach her about creative ways to recycle. Have her weave her own basket to store her special keepsakes. Upon completing the basket, she can decorate her new bedroom accessory with bows, glitter and other embellishments.

Things You'll Need

• 50 newspaper sheets
• Craft glue
• 1 ½-inch-wide ribbon

Instructions

1. Place the newspaper on your working surface and unfold approximately 50 pieces of newspaper. Fold each piece in half and cut off the fold to make two individual pieces of paper. You should now have 100 pieces of newspaper that are each roughly 12 inches by 22 inches in size.

2. Fold one piece of newspaper in half to make a 6-inch by 22-inch strip. Fold it lengthwise again two more times to make a 1 ½-inch by 22-inch strip. Do the same with the remaining pieces of newspaper.

3. Place two strips on the working surface with the long sides next to each other. Find the center of the length of the strips and place two strips on top of the center, perpendicular to the first strips.

4. Weave one of the perpendicular strips over the underlying strips and one of them underneath. Place one strip on either side of the first set of strips and one on either side of the perpendicular strips. Weave these over and then under the adjoining strips. Continue in this manner until you the weaved area of the newspapers reaches a rectangle that measures approximately 12 inches by 15 inches.

5. Fold all of the unwoven pieces of the strips at the edges of the rectangle upward. Weave a new strip through the upturned pieces of newspaper all the way around the basket. When you reach a corner, simply bend the newspaper strip on a 90-degree angle and continue weaving along the next side of the basket. When you insert a new strip, apply a little bit of glue to the end of the strip so it stays in place in the weave.

6. Continue weaving new strips until you reach the top of the bent strips.

7. Cut four pieces of 1½-inch-wide ribbon. Make two of the ribbons equal to the length of the basket and two equal to the width. Spread glue on the back of each ribbon and fold it in half lengthwise over top of the edge of the basket.

References

• Craftstylish: The "Times" They Are A-Changing: How to Make a Basket from a Newspaper