Upcycling with style

I have had more than a few posts about loving the rolled paper anything.  Plus I found that this newspaper upcycling could work in two ways.  The first way is to sell and the second way is to use for containers that are partically free to hold items in the studio.  Why spend money when I can make them for almost nothing.  So I have. 

I started out storing my rolled paper tubes in left over plastic drink containers but have decided after I had cut them down; I cut them down too short.  So back to the drawing board.  I found an empty cornmeal container and went to town. 

I took the mostly plain newspaper tubes and hot glued them to the sides of the container.  It's cardboard so I figured hot glue would take less time than regular white glue. Worked like a charm.  Here is the side view.

 I cut off the tubes even with the top and bottom of the container. No one but me will be seeing these on a regular basis so the fact that some of the tubes were fatter than the others, doesn't matter to me.

I also had one Crystal Light container and did the same thing to it.  I love how heavy it is once it has two coats of paint and three or four coats of varnish.  When I add tubes to it, falling over won't be an issue.

Here is the view from the top to the bottom.  It's messy but again no one is going to be picking it up to do a potiental buyer inspection.

I thought I should try making a smaller version of the of the larger container I made for the smaller tubes.  So this container is from weaving the paper tubes.

In keeping with the upcycling concept, the bottom of the purple container is made from our pizza box from last week on Friday night.  I found a glass and traced it onto the non-greasy parts of the box and cut them out.  The rest is newspaper, glue and paint. 

I wanted to show how the container dips in the middle.  I think it's because I pulled the paper tubes too taunt, then loosened up towards the top again.  When it stands up, it's less noticeable. 

 

Here is my very first attempt at weaving the newspaper tubes into a vase.  I only used 9 spokes.  If I had not applied a varnish to it after painting, it would not withstand any day to day use.  I am using it, but I made a second one.  I used 17 spokes in that one and it turned out much better.

I think this one is much better.  There is less of a dip in the middle like the purple one and having more spokes makes it stronger even before the varnish. 

Here is the group shot.  I am going to keep making these until they look even and prettier but for now they are containers just for me.  Such a cool craft.