I spent almost the entire weekend with the computer turned off and was impressed with (but not surprised by) just how much more time it felt like I had.
I recently read about using a paper shredder to make paper strips for crafts instead of having to cut them all by hand... what an awesome thing! So many types of paper (please see disclaimer at bottom of post) can be fodder for the shredder - magazine pages, the cool patterns on the inside of security envelopes, sturdier wrapping paper, paper bags, drawings, paintings, colouring and art journal pages you don't need any more, coloured envelopes you receive in the mail, construction paper, sheet music (which you can photocopy if you want to keep the original - thank you S. for that awesome idea and for sending me sheet music in the mail! :)
The strips of paper can be used for many different crafts but my favourite is paper weaving. If you have a paper shredder and think you may like paper weaving, I encourage you to try it out!
I tried coating them in glue afterward and the one that used about 50% construction paper did very well and stayed flat. The one made entirely with thinner paper warped but I will try putting it under some heavy books to see if it will flatten out.
Here are some photos:
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| Christmas-y colours. I will likely cut this piece up to decorate cards or make ornaments with. This is the piece that had construction paper and survived the glue very well. |
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| Music weaving start. |
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| Music weaving finished. |
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| I found it a bit boring all white and black and decided to try stamping on top of it... not very happy with the results but I find it interesting enough that I will try this method again :-) |
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| An abstract watercolour painting on paper was the source for this weaving. |
If you experiment with paper weaving and post online, I'd love if you'd include a link in the comments section! I love seeing other people's experiments :-)
*disclaimer and warning*
I have no idea if any of the paper suggestions could jam your paper shredder... please proceed with caution! :-) With the shredder I used, the super thin, flexible papers ended up shredding in a slight curve and were not straight-edged.
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