DIY Woven Paper Basket

Hey ! Welcome to my instructable which will show you how to make a very cute woven paper basket.

When I saw the weaving contest, I immediately thought at yarn, wool, loom.... The picture of the contest step in this direction. Then, I asked myself how I could do something that deals with weaving but something special and original, different from what we think when we hear weaving.

I love paper because I love the texture, it's cheap and we can find it everywhere, in different colors and with different patterns.

Besides, Easter is coming, it iss the beginning of spring, and what better way to combine weaving paper technique and easter vibe by making your own egg basket with paper ?

I chose to use warm colors because it reminds me that the warmer weather approaches.

I hope I won't make too many mistakes in English, and I apologize for it in advance because it has been a while since I have been practicing.

You don't need a lot of materials to realize this very cute basket.

All you need i :

-4 sheets of paper (4 different colors) : I took yellow, orange, red and pink. I used 80 g/m2 colored copy paper in size A4 (21 x 29.7 cm). You may get these papers in a huge range of colors, and it is inexpensive.

You can buy packs of 500 sheets in ten different colors in shops with stationery supplies. Supermarkets may have similar packs, but the quality of the paper varies greatly.

-Glue : I used a glue stick to join the pieces. You may find numerous types and qualities. The fast-drying glue

sticks are ideal for fixing individual arms because the surface is small.

-Scissors : When you’re cutting out templates and the various parts and pieces, it’s crucial to have a good pair of small, sharp scissors—either silhouette scissors or surgical scissors.

-Paper Clips : they must be stainless steel; otherwise, they won’t be strong enough to keep the elements in place as you weave them.

Print each page of the template on 4 pages in four different colors.

During the instructable I will called the colors by the letters W, X, Y and Z. You can use the colors you want.

I used red (W), yellow (X), pink (Y), and orange (Z).

Now that the sides are ready, let’s make the lower edge.

Add the I7 zigzag strip, smearing glue only on the small triangles. Fix the strip so that every
second point meets a point on the basket. This means that the other half of the strip will stand out at the bottom of the basket.
Smear glue on the back of the remaining part of the I7 strip and crease it onto the inside of
the basket.

Ok, good job, you did great! And the hard work is done !

But if we want to be able to put something in the basket (chocolate eggs for example), you don’t want it to escape! So you need to create a backplane.

I didn’t want to simply glue a piece of paper, I wanted something nice too.

So let’s go!

Weave together the round I3 piece in color W and the round I4 piece in color Y

Here, the strips are connected around a center shape. When you weave this, you do not work in rows along a straight line, as you did for the sides, but in rows around a center.

Arrange the pieces so that the slits are mirrored (or reversed). Place the two pieces on top of each other so that the upper edges and the holes are aligned.

Start wherever you like and twist the layers of paper around the base of a slit so that part of the underlying piece goes through the slit.

Align the edges and continue to twist through each slit in the same way, working around the center of the star.

You must work your way around the center twice. To tighten the weaving and make the center star stand out, gently pull sets of adjacent arms swirling in opposite directions. Pull them set by set and work your way around the center. No slit should remain unused.

Align the triangles and fix the two layers with glue where they meet along the edges.

Turn the object and crease so that the small semicircles in color W stand up.

Secure the bottom face inside the I6 ring with glue. The small notches must point away from the woven face.

Put glue on the outside of the I6 ring and place it inside the basket’s bottom opening so that the edge of the ring with the semicircles is aligned with the lower edge of the basket; that is, you can see a firm rim standing up from the basket’s bottom face. Press the rim until the glue has dried.

The inside of the basket will look more finished if you add another bottom piece inside. And like we want do to things right, let’s do it !

Weave together the remaining round I3 and I4 pieces as explained in step 10 and fix them with glue.

Crease the semicircles so that they stand up from the bottom.

Smear glue on the outside of the semicircles.

Place this inner bottom inside the basket with the semicircles pointing upward.

Align the patterns on the bottom and sides and press down onto the basket’s side.

You’re almost done ! Keep going !!

In order to carry your little basket, we need to add a (nice) handle.

For that, there is nothing easier: Braid the two T4 strips, trim the ends to the same length, and then glue them to the inside of the basket.

Your woven paper basket is complete ! Congratulations ! You're now ready to go fetch the eggs in the garden ! Have fun !