Paper baskets are useful around the home and can also be popular gifts. They can be made from materials that are easily found around you and they are both simple and fun to make, for young and old alike. You can then develop your basketry skills and experiment with all kinds of sizes, colors and shapes to create unique baskets.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Make a simple paper basket
Step 1. Prepare strips of fabric to weave your basket
Use three sheets of 21 x 29.7 cm (A4 size) fine art paper. On the sheet of paper in which you will make the base of the basket, draw a horizontal line 8, 8 cm from the top and another 8, 8 cm from the bottom. These lines will help you place the background correctly. Then cut the paper lengthwise into 1.5 cm strips.
Choose one of the sheets of paper in a neutral shade like brown, black or white. This will be the bottom of the basket. The other two leaves will form the decorative sides of the basket. They can be the color of your choice
Step 2. Weave the bottom of the basket
Take 8 strips of paper of the color you selected to make the background. Lay them side by side, lining up the lines drawn on the strips to form a single long line. Weave another strip of paper through these strips, starting at the top row, passing the new strip under one, then over the other, etc. Weave this strip perpendicular to the others. Weave a second strip by reversing the direction: first on one, then under the other, etc. Then align the strips to each other, using the drawn lines as a guide.
- Repeat by weaving 8 strips altogether.
- Once the background is finished, you should get a woven square of 12 X 12 cm. The finished square should be between the lines drawn on the paper strips.
Step 3. Fold up the paper strips protruding from the sides of the basket
The strips should protrude the same length on both sides.
If you can, place a 12 x 12 cm wooden cube on the bottom of the basket and fold the strips against it. This will simplify the following steps
Step 4. Weave a strip of colored paper between the vertical strips of paper protruding from the bottom of the basket
Fold it so that it fits the corners of the basket.
- You will need to use about a strip and a half to go all the way around the basket. You can glue or staple the two pieces of paper together. Try to place the junction point inside the basket to hide it behind a strip extending from the bottom of the basket. This way the finish will be more neat.
- Weave bands all around the basket. When two bands need to be attached to each other, proceed in the same way to hide the junction.
Step 5. Repeat the previous step with another strip of the same color
Weave the bands well, alternating the direction of weaving in relation to the previous band. You should get a checkerboard pattern between the colored bands and the bands starting from the base of the basket.
Repeat until you reach the top of the basket
Step 6. Finish and do the finishing touches
Secure the end of the strips from the base to the last woven strip with duct tape or glue. Then attach a slightly wider strip of paper the same color as the bottom of the basket at the top of the inside of the latter, over the vertical bands. Then add a second similar strip on the outside and attach it to the strip you just glued on the inside and outside of the basket.
If you want to add a handle, all you need to do is secure a long strip of paper between two opposite sides of the basket, with tape or glue, before adding the finishing strip
Step 7. Perfect
You can go to the market …
Method 2 of 2: Make a round newspaper basket
Step 1. Make tubes of newspaper
Start by cutting the newspaper pages in four diagonally. You don't have to be very specific. Then place a wooden skewer in a corner of the sheet of paper. Place it so that it forms an acute angle, so that it can form a tube of paper that is longer than the original size of the sheet of paper. Then wrap the paper around the skewer, tightening it well. Once the tube is rolled, place a drop of glue in the last corner to keep the tube closed.
- You will need a large number of paper tubes, repeat this step for each.
- To replace the wooden skewer, you can use a fine knitting needle, a 3mm diameter wooden dowel, or any other long, round, thin object of this type.
Step 2. Make the bottom of the basket with a circular piece of cardboard
You can use a piece of cardboard in any size you want, depending on how big you want your basket to be. Glue the paper tubes to the cardboard, arranging them like shelves. Use an odd number of tubes.
The larger the bottom of your basket, the more you will have to glue paper tubes to it. The closer the tubes are to each other, the tighter your weave will be
Step 3. Use another piece of cardboard, identical to the first, to complete the backplane
Glue the second layer of cardboard on the first by strongly pressing the end of the paper tubes between the two layers.
Place a heavy object on the bottom of the basket while the glue dries for a solid and neat finish
Step 4. Fold the paper tubes up and start weaving
Fold a new cardboard tube over one of the shelves and glue the folded piece to the free piece. Then weave the tube between the spokes, passing over one and then under the next, etc. Firmly pack the tubes that you weave downwards: first against the bottom of the basket, then against each other.
When you weave them, the paper tubes will flatten out. This will make your basket more resistant
Step 5. When you are done weaving a tube, slide its end inside the next tube to tie them together
You will kind of use one long tube to weave your entire basket.
Step 6. Continue weaving until you are at the top of the spokes or until you have reached the desired height
When you have finished weaving, fold the tip of the last tube back on itself, around the last spoke. Secure it with glue.
Step 7. Fold the shelves to finish your basket
Cut each spoke about 2 cm above the last woven tube. Next:
- For each spoke outward (that is, when you last woven the tube around that spoke, the tube was passing inside the spoke), fold the spoke back over the top of the spoke. basket and stick it inside the basket. Pinch it with a clothespin while the glue dries.
- For each spoke that was outward (that is, when you last woven the tube around that spoke, the tube was passing inside the spoke), fold the spoke over the top of the spoke. basket. Instead of gluing the spoke to the outside of the basket, slip its end inside the weave, in the second row from the top of the basket. It must stay in place and fit into the weaving of the basket.