Make A Thing: Paper Weaving

Welcome to the millionth billionth installment of Make A Thing,  where we make handmade gifts for people. Or ourselves. Or our cats. Mostly our cats.

Header by Rory Midhani

Paper weaving is one of those things that takes so much effort but the end result is really pretty, but you kind of question whether it’s worth the effort? Tough call.

Ready? Let’s do this.

Supplies Needed:
+ Cardstock
+ Regular paper (or you can use cardstock for the paper you’ll weave in, but I found regular paper wove easier for some reason)
+ A printer
+ Exacto knife
+ Ruler

Level of Difficulty: Easier and less time consuming than Candy Crush Saga, that’s for damn sure.

paperweaving-1

I think I ended up slicing each of mine in half and using .5cm lines in the end, but 1cm is a good starting point. Make sure you mark a border all the way around.

paperweaving2

Don’t cut all of the paper apart or you’re going to rip your eyeballs out. Just slice it so it stays together on the ends, you understand?

paperweaving3

Number the paper. This is something that I didn’t think about in the beginning and I really wish I had. I used the lyrics to Sahara Mahala because do I honestly even know any other songs? Nope.

paperweaving4

Weave fooooreverrrrrrrrr. I think mine took like four episodes of West Wing. And that’s seriously it. You can straighten out your woven pieces so the better lyrics show, then tape the edges on the back if you so desire.

paperweaving5

I alternated each line so the end result would be in a chevron pattern.

paperweaving6

Tah dah, all framed and pretty and my reflection. Sup.

I really want to do neon colors next. What do you think? Is it worth all of the time?

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Hansen

Hansen is the former DIY & Food Editor of Autostraddle.com and likes to spend most days making and cooking and writing. She teaches creative writing at Colorado State University and is pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in her free time.

Hansen has written 189 articles for us.

8 Comments

  1. woah.

    hansen will you just come to my nomadic home and make things for me to hang on the walls? i would really love that. i could pay you in magnolia banana pudding…

  2. It’s so pretty! I’m the kind of person who loves time consuming projects that involve an exacto knife. I hand-cut three 6-inch collaged doilies earlier this year.. I think in total it took about 25 hours? Anyway.. I think different weaving patterns would make really nice cards. I just love it!

  4. I am super in love with the framing as well! Is the frame itself a Thing I could potentially make and/or procure somewhere?

    • well… the framing i could totally teach you to do, but as far as the see-through/plexi backing goes, i cant think of any other way to do it than to just get clear backing…..buuuuut i digress…

      get a frame at aaron brothers (theyre usually pretty inexpensive) or michaels or something.

      cut out a piece of cardboard that is about 1.5 inches smaller on all sides than whatever you’re framing. adhere/tape the cardboard to the back of your beautiful artwork. adhere the back of THAT cardboard to whatever backing is on your frame.

      ta dahhhh! your art now seems to have that nice “floating” appearance that makes it look priceless (which it obviously is).

  6. more than anything I love that you used the lyrics to Sahara Mahala. but the chevron, too, yes.

  7. In the middle of making this right now! I’m giving my hands a break by commenting. ^_^;; But it’s a lot of fun, and it looks great!

Comments are closed.