Kitchen Tissue Paper Holder made using Newspaper.

Hello all you beautiful people

Its heavily raining in Mumbai now and I am snugly sitting home with a cup of hot tea with my laptop at window. I have not been well this week (viral flue...I hate you. What did I ever do to you?) which means I have a few pending projects which are very close to deadline and should have been ready to ship them this week end, but will be shipped next week. I hate it when I cant reach my deadlines because of reasons I cant command over. So I am a bit upset about this and walked into my room and saw all my crafty things( glue, scissors, colorful paper, embellishments, flowers) and immediately got cheered up.

So to cheer myself up more and since we are doing up cycled projects this month on our blog, I decided to my revive my old project which was to make a Kitchen Tissue Paper holder using newspaper. When I conceptualize anything, I just scribble it down in my diary and make notes about supplies and procedure. Then I compare its design with a actual product and work out the design and then make my own version of the same. I did the same with this and I finally decided it was time to make it for real.

So lets begin

Supplies:

1. Pva glue( Fevicol)
2. Newspaper 
3. Dovel or crochet needle
4. Acrylic Paints
5. Varnish 
6. Scissors/ cutter
7. Binder clips
8. Gesso ( if you intend to varnish your project)
9. Mod Podge or any other decoupage glue
10. Tissue napkins or any other paper for decoupage

Procedure:

• We need to start by first making newspaper tubes to make the base of the Kitchen Tissue Paper holder. I have used almost 50 tubes of newspaper for this purpose. Plz refer earlier posts to learn how to make newspaper tubes. I make my tubes by dividing a single sheer of newspaper into 3 parts and rolling then using crochet needle. MY tubes re a foot long and 1/4"in diameter.
  
  
  
  
• To make the central pillar, you need to take the entire newspaper double sheet and roll it in a straight manner to get a uniform straight coil. I rolled the entire newspaper up....so I must have used 6 double sheets and my central pillar is 1"in diameter. Dun't forget to apply glue at the edges of the paper while rolling. This will keep your paper intact.
  
• Once you finish making your central stick, you can trim it for any unevenness. Check length of your tissue rolls and if your stick is too long, trim it again, You will have to trim it using cutters.
  

• Once you are ready with your tubes and central stick, we have to coil the tubes to to make a small disc of 3"diameter around the central pillar.
  
• Once you do that, keep it aside while giving it as good wash of glue and water(1:1 ratio).Make another coiled disc which is 6"in diameter and give it a good glue wash to. Let everything dry properly. Now glue the stick with small disc onto this bigger disc with strong adhesive. that should give us our body.
  
• Once all the coiling is done at the base, I went ahead and made it a cap so that our tissue wont jump out when we use it. 
  
• To make a cap, I coiled the tissue paper with keep 1"gap in the center to make a circle. You can also make any other shaped cap. Then, I pushed the coils outwards to obtain a something like a bowl. So now it looked like a little cap.
  
• I didn't paint my tubes at first as I am going to decoupage it. By coiling around the central tube to get small disc and then attaching it to a bigger disc, added to the sturdiness and weight of the holder and it wudn't move around when we use it. Too light and the holder will keep falling down.
  
• Try to fit your cap on the stick such that it should fit tight and not fall through. If loose, roll some paper around the stick and try adjusting.
  
• Once all this is done. give all the parts a good coat of glue mixture( 1:2 glue:water).  Let it dry thoroughly overnight or 12 hours.
  
• We have now assembled our kitchen tissue holder and we cant start painting after this or if you want decoupaging. I gave it a coat of Gesso so newspaper print is not seen. Then using Mod Podge Gloss I decoupaged the project using napkins, Applied thin coat of glue , then place the napkin carefully. Let it dry and then applied a thin coat of Mod  Podge over it. Then I used acrylic colors in the remaining places where I didn't decoupage. Once done. I gave it another coat of Mod podge. 
  
• I went ahead and added 2 coats of varnish/ sealer to it when I was dried. You can skip this process because Mod Podge itself if a sealer. I however did this because I place my Kitchen holder near the wash basin and I know it will be wet for more time then I want. 
  
• At the end, I tied some bakers twine around the base to add some color to it.

That's all guys. We have our very own Kitchen Tissue Paper Holder. You can even attach it to your wall with strong double side tape. I dun't know, if it will stay....but you can try and see for yourself.

Thank you guys for reading my post and I hope you all liked it. I am all ears to your comments and questions.

Have a great day ahead. Till next time...Keep upcycling.

Vintage Newspaper Coasters

Hello guys
I recently had someone elderly woman come to me with a request to make a few coaster for her to gift her elders visiting her after long time but she wanted something toned down. So immediately I thought to make vintage looking coasters. But I had nothing in my stash that was vintage looking......but whats the fun if we have everything handy and have to make effort in creating something........

So I used old map printed tissue papers whcih has leaning tower of pisa on them. I had bought these long time ago from A1 craft supply and forgotten about them. If you do not have something like this, use old maps from text books and picture of any wonders of the world for the same effect.

I started coiling my newspaper tubes as tightly as I could to make circular coasters and I made a bit big- 11 cm so they could even use it for soup bowls as well as tea cups and mugs. Then I gave the coasters a good wash with white adhesive on both the sides and allowed thorough drying.

Once I was sure that they were hard dried, I added a mountboard base and a strip around the coaster. For more details please refer my earlier blog post "Newspaper Coasters". I used a 5.5 cm radius base and 1.5 cm stip which was approximately 32-33 cm. Now the measurements will vary depending on the size and thickness of your coasters. To make the coasters very old, I peeled the white paper over the mountboard on one of the coasters. So here onwards, you will see 2 different looking coasters.

Now, I started to decoupage the coasters with the tissue paper using Mod Podge gloss. Once The first layers dried, I used Memento Rich Cocoa dye ink and a blending tool to give the coaster a vintage look. I added ink on the backside where the newspaper was visible, on edges as well as the face of the coaster. That's all we have to do to make it look vintage. Now add few more coats of mod podge while giving time for drying between coats. Make sure you add the glue on both sides....so did the face first and then I did the back.

Our coasters are ready, if you want you can add a few coats of varnish to it or use Mod Podge outdoor to make it waterproof.

Sorry about the quality of the video. I hope you all liked these coasters and try to make them also......thanking for visiting my blog. Have a great day......

Tissue Paper Lantern

Hello everyone.

Today I am posting a tutorial to make tissue paper lanterns. You can use these eco-friendly lanterns to decorate your homes. These lantern are made using tissue papers ( paper napkins) and later colored using kite papers (colored tissue paper). This is a messy process so get ready to get your hands dirty.....

Materials:

1. Tissue papers or paper napkins
2. Kite papers or colored tissue paper
3. White adhesive ( fevicol)
4. Balloon
5. Water
6. Mug or tumbler
7. Leaves (large sized leaves from any tree)
8. Varnish(optional)

Procedure:

1. To start the lantern making process, blow a large sized balloon ( size again is personal choice). Draw a small circle near the balloon end and place it on a tumbler. 
   
2. Mix in a bowl fevicol and water in the ratio of 1 : 2. Cut white tissue papers in small square pieces.
3. Now start layering the balloon with tissue paper dipped in the fevicol mixture. Continue doing so until u do not apply 4-5 layers of tissue paper. 
4. Now add the leaves on the balloon. You can cut them in any shape you want like stars, hearts, circles etc of your choice and add them on the balloon. I have added leaves as it is in few lanterns as well as stars in another lantern.
   
5. Now continue adding layers of tissue paper on the balloon. Continue this layering process until leaves are no longer visible.
6. Once you complete the layering process, let the lantern semi dry for 1-2 hours so we can start the coloring process. We color our lantern using colored kite papers. Use kite papers in the color of your choice and dip them in the fevicol mixture for few seconds. Now squeeze this paper over the balloons to color them. Be sure to add less water and more color by taking out the excess water in the bowl before squeezing on the balloon.
   
7. Have fun with colors and use as many as you want. Do not forget to color the lantern thoroughly on all sides. Now leave the lantern for drying overnight.
8. Our lantern will be completely dried by next day. Once you feel so, apply a coat of fevicol generously on the lantern. If you want, you can even use Mod Podge. Leave it to dry again. This time it should dry in 10 mins.
9. You will notice that the lantern is now hard and cannot be squashed. Burst the balloon carefully and take it out. Once the balloon is out, trim the opening and make a hole at the top to add wire for electrical connection.
10. If you want you can add a coat of varnish if you are planning to use the lantern outside.
11. Punch holes for extra effects and your lantern is ready,

I made the red lantern for Christmas, so I handmade a few ornaments and added them to the lantern.

I hope you guys liked this post and will try to make one for yourselves at home.
See you soon

P.S :This is a messy process and hence I didnt take many photos while making this lantern. But if you have difficulty in understanding any part, please contact me and I will be happy to help you