Newspaper Basket

by Ashley Weeks Cart

It was a gloomy, rainy Sunday here in Billsville, so while not ideal for an afternoon hike, absolutely perfect for a day spent inside crafting up a storm. A friend of ours had passed along a link to a DIY Newspaper Basket a few weeks ago, and I was obviously intrigued. This weekend was a great time to give it a go. I saddled up with the discarded Sunday Times, adjusted the directions slightly, and suddenly had a funky place to stash a pile of plastic bags I’ve been accumulating.

Materials:
Newspaper
Scissors
Staples or glue

 

Directions:
1. Use scissors to cut the seam of the newspaper to create individual 12″x 22″ pages.

2. Fold each individual page lengthwise. First in half, and then in quarters, and then in eighths. The resulting strip should be about 1.5″ thick and 22″ long. I needed around 20 for my basket.

3. Begin weaving the strips together, using a staple or glue to secure as needed.

4. Continue weaving the strips to the size of your liking. I made by basket 5 strips x 5 strips.

6. For the sides of your basket, just fold the strips to a 90 degree angle and continue weaving. Go nice and slow, keep the weave tight, and again, use staples or glue as needed. You’ll need to probably attached strips to one another as you weave the diameter.

7. When you reach the ends of the newspaper strips, fold the ends down inside the basket and secure with staple or glue. I then used another strip of newspaper to border the top edge of the basket. My glue gun broke as I did this, so I used staples to secure. You could also edge with ribbon, if you really want to get fancy. Now go stash something in it!

Photo: Courtesy of Ashley Weeks Cart