In several different articles we will introduce you to the possibilities of knitting with paper tubes. Old newspapers or magazines are one of the most appropriate materials for this, and this proposal to weave a basket is a relatively easy model to start with. Although we have already mentioned the possibilities for creative expression through this artistic applied activity, namely in the publication for Easter paper basket, we will now re-read the idea. We'll show you how to use an old piece of paper to easily weave an artistic home decor that can easily be used as a storage place for different things. First, you need to prepare yourself for the bulk of the work by making the paper tubes you knit. You need some old-fashioned newspapers or magazines, a skewer or a hook to wrap around and a glue for fixing.

Method of production:

You prepare the paper tubes by cutting the paper into even strips that are wound around the hook or bottle and then glued at the end to retain their shape. Try to be very slightly conical at the end, which will make it easier to connect the individual tubes. It is through the bonding of one element to another that the length of the paper strip allowing knitting is achieved. Depending on the paper, colors can be worked or the tubes colored after they are made, or after weaving. Finished products made in this way must be impregnated and varnished with several layers because of the fragility of the base material. In some cases, to achieve higher strength, wire or plastic thread is passed through the tubes at certain points. The idea presented here, however, does not need such strengthening.

Knitting starts from the bottom, and this idea relies on the easiest option to implement, namely the use of ready-made cardboard patterns. You need two identical for the bottom and one with the same shape, but with the height of the vessel. Pre-colored cardboard tubes with a length approximately twice the height of the basket being made are glued on one of the bottom templates every 2-3 cm. They can be extended later. The second bottom template is glued tightly and firmly on them and it is also colored. After this part dries well, the basic form is placed. Regardless of the specific braiding model, when working with paper tubes it is almost mandatory to have a solid shape, the contour of which to follow. The tubes glued to the bottom (longitudinal) bend upwards below 90 degrees and around them the weaving of the basket walls begins. Clamps are used to keep the longitudinal elements upright. There are a number of ways to knit, but this one in pairs is relatively easy to do. Take two strips of paper, fasten their beginnings, and then successively pierce under and over the longitudinal (attached to the bottom) tubes and the pattern, crossing each longitudinal, transverse pair. When one of the tubes of the pair passes over the corresponding longitudinal, the other passes below it and under the first transverse, and then they turn - the first of the pair of transverse passes under the next longitudinal and under the second of the pair of transverse. In this particular idea, the first ten rows (five pairs) are colored as the bottom and longitudinal. It is finished by cutting with scissors and pushing the end. Then continue braiding in the same way, but with uncoloured paper tubes until the desired height is obtained, when the pattern is removed and completed by re-twisting and braiding the protruding colored longitudinal like a braid "herringbone". It is decorated, additionally colored and varnished by several hands. Once dry, the basket is ready.