Magazine Coasters and Bowls

I recently found these two projects while I was looking for a kid-friendly art activity.  Since we moved to California, our place is still really empty and bare.  I've slowly been trying to decorate and furnish our place on the cheap, and in the process I've found some fun ways to reuse stuff we would normally throw out.  These magazine coasters and bowls are a cool way to do something with all our old magazines besides stack them on a bookshelf.  When I have more time, I plan on making some larger bowls to put on our coffee table.  The pictures here are practice pieces and I can't wait to make more!

I've also labeled these under wedding ideas, because I think a set of coasters as favors or bowls as centerpieces would be a fun (and super-cheap!) way to add a green element to a wedding.

Magazine Coasters  See howaboutorange for tutorial

Notes: for each coaster I used four magazine pages.  I cut each page to a width of 7.5", and then cut them into four narrow strips before folding.  I considered dabbing glue to secure the edges, but once I finished weaving a tucking in the ends, everything has been really secure and glue is unnecessary.

For weddings, I've seen people give out sets of photo coasters or coasters that say "love" or something romantic.  Tie sets of four magazine coasters together with a nice ribbon, add a tag, and you've got a unique wedding favor!

Magazine Bowls See indiepublic for tutorial

 

Notes:  For this sample, I used 60 magazine pages.  I also folded each page into 1/8 of the width of each page (also cut to to 7.5 inches).  I saw from some other tutorials pages that were folded to make narrower strips, which I think also looks really cool, but might be more frustrating to shape because the coil could pop out more easily.  I also gained an appreciation for magazines geared towards women because they definitely have a lot more color than those for men! (which was all we had at home so the colors were mostly blues, grays, tans, and whites).

Make large bowls and fill with ornaments or fruit to use as simple wedding centerpieces.  You can even change the shape of the bowls by wrapping them as squares or triangles.

Happy folding!