Newspaper tray: manufacturing methods

If a lot of old newspapers have accumulated at home, there is no need to rush to throw them out. Paper can be used to make decor items or any practical household items. A tray of newspaper tubes will combine two qualities at once: benefit and decorativeness. We will consider methods for its manufacture in more detail in this article.

The use of newspaper tubes for making wickerwork is gaining more and more popularity. This is primarily due to the convenience of working with the material and the minimum cost of time and finance. Harvesting wooden branches requires certain skills.

Convenience of working with it will depend on the quality of wood and the correctness of its processing. In addition, the house will need a lot of free space to harvest the required number of branches and their proper preparation.

Such material is very convenient for beginner weaving masters. Also, paper gives wide scope for the implementation of interesting ideas. Tubules can be painted in different colors.

The paper easily bends and therefore it is possible to weave trays of various shapes from it: round, oval, openwork and rectangular. Tubes can be extended if necessary, making them quite long. Thus, objects of various sizes can be made of them, whether it be a large tray or small handles for it.

The main disadvantage of using newspaper tubes is the poor quality of strength and water resistance.This minus can be partially corrected by additional processing of the tubes and the finished product with special compounds.

Before starting the main work, you need to prepare the workplace and all the necessary materials and tools. First of all, you need a stack of newspapers, while they should not be too old and already yellowed, as well as crumpled and torn. In addition to newspaper leaflets, you will need the following:

• stationery knife and scissors;
• plywood or several sheets of thick cardboard for making the bottom;
• paints and varnishes;
• adhesive compositions;
• ruler and simple pencil;
• brushes for painting rods and applying glue;
• clothespins for fixing the paper rod during weaving;
• a large spoke with a diameter of 1 to 1.5 mm.

The next step in the manufacture of the tray will be the preparation of newspaper tubes. Sheets of newspapers must be cut into strips. Their length and width will depend on the size of the future tray. It is also possible to divide the newspaper both along and across. Consider one example of the manufacture of tubules step by step.

• A large sheet is cut along the fold.
• The resulting paper canvases are cut along the narrow side into equal parts, a little more than 5 cm wide. The required number of strips will also depend on the size of the tray to be made. About 90 tubes may be required, but it is better to stock the rods with a margin. In addition, the tubes will be required for the manufacture of the frame.
• The edge of one of the long sides of a cut piece of newspaper is smeared with adhesive. The needle is placed on the lower corner of the side on which the glue was not applied, at a slight angle of 30 degrees and slowly begin to fold the newspaper.
• From the resulting tube, the needle is gently pulled. You can once again glue the corner sticking out with glue and press it well to the resulting twig.

The same manipulations must be done with other strips of the newspaper. If you want to extend the rods, then for this one tube is inserted 1.5 cm into the other from the side where the hole has the largest diameter.

Next, paint the rods and allow them to dry.

Weaving a tray is possible only after the base and frame have been prepared. The base can be plywood or cardboard. A piece of the desired shape and size is cut out of the material. If cardboard will be used as the base, then two identical pieces will be required.

On a cut sheet around the perimeter marks are put with a simple pencil through each centimeter. Further, small rods are glued to the marked places, which will serve as a frame. For better adhesion after sticking additionally fix with clothespins.

Instead of clothespins, you can use any heavy flat objects as a press. Another fixation option is to make holes at the edges of the holes at the base, pass tubes through them and also attach them to the glue. In the case of using a square or rectangular base, do not forget to fasten the tubes at all four corners.

If cardboard was used for the base, then a second piece of the base is glued to the side to which the rods are attached. After the product dries well, the tubes bend up and you can begin to weave the tray itself. The easiest way to weave it is the "eight".

In the process of weaving, you can build up the tube by twisting one into the other. It is best to coat the joint with glue. It is also recommended to use the adhesive mixture to better fix the tubes in the place where each row ends.If desired, you can combine several weaving techniques at once and use rods of different colors.

The height of the walls of the tray can also be selected individually, based on considerations of aesthetics of the appearance of the product and ease of use. When all the rows are woven, the sticking pieces of the frame must be cut with scissors, leaving at least 1 cm each, which must be bent and glued to the walls of the tray. Gluing points are also recommended to be clamped with clothespins for better fixing of materials. Then it remains only to decorate the finished product and give it strength.

See below for how to make a tray of newspapers.

The finished product must be given an aesthetic appearance and durability. Although newspaper tubes were painted in advance, the tray will need to be primed. As the basis for the primer mixture, you can use PVA glue or varnish on an acrylic basis. Both varnish and glue are mixed with ordinary water in equal amounts.

It is more practical to make a primer from varnish, since a composition based on PVA eventually begins to turn yellow on the product. The primer mixture is applied to the surface of the tray from the inside and outside. Then the primer should dry, after which the product is varnished. The coating can be either glossy or matte, depending on the composition chosen.

For the topcoat, an acrylic-based composition, which is applied in two layers, is suitable. When choosing a product, it is best to build on how the finished product will be used in the end. Coffee and tea trays will be constantly prone to spilling various drinks on them.