Ideas on How to Recycle Old Newspapers

Many of us dump our news papers in the garbage after reading them. Some of us don't realize that we can get something useful out of it. We can use them in many ways. We can make baskets for all purpose use out of the old news papers, cut important things in the columns of news papers and collect them as clippings, you can use the news paper also as cushion to your antique collections while keeping it in a safe place.

Making small baskets. Maybe you think it is impossible to do that? Well, we were able to do it as arts and crafts for our kids in school. Since we have plenty of old news papers in our library which are out to date, we think of an idea on how to recycle them. This is what we did. We had these materials. Bunch of news papers, scissors, corn starch, paint or dye. Heat water of about 3-4 cups then put the corn starch. No specific measurements of cornstarch.

Just estimate that you can make a thin paste out of it. I should be very thin and watery. Put it in a pail or basin. Then cut the news papers into 4 inches wide and just use the actual length of the news paper, for the length of each cut out. We then, roll each cut outs into long strips tightly. No specific numbers of how many long strips, it depends upon how big is your basket. Then, dip your strips into the cornstarch paste. Take it out from the pail or basin of cornstarch one by one.

Prepare a big flat sheet to put your strips on. Be sure your strip will not stick to each other. Dry it for a few minutes. Prepare your paint. Don't use heavy paint. You can add thinner to make it lighter. When the strips are already dry, dip it into the paint or you can use paint brush then dry it again, for few minutes. when the paint is dry enough, start making your basket by weaving the strips. (To Weave is to put the strips one after another in horizontal and vertical forms.) Form a small basket in the design you want it to be. If you have an artistic ability and a good taste of color combination, you can make a pretty design with attractive color baskets. If you will be having a hard time on how to connect the end part of your strips, you can use the cornstarch paste to hold it on.