DIY Recycled Magazine Bowls Revisited

I first posted about magazine bowls when I was trying to come up with a project for middle school kids to do.  Since then, I have folded hundreds of magazine pages into bowls, and I wanted to update my post with a more complete how-to for making these bowls.  I still think they would make really cool wedding centerpieces for an eco-friendly wedding.  The key to making more elegant-looking bowls is to use smaller strips.  I cut magazine pages into strips approximately 2 inches wide.

Materials:
~ old magazines
~ scotch tape
~ rubber band (optional)
~ mod podge or glue

1. FOLD: The main task for making the bowls is to fold!  Fold each strip of paper in half.   Open up the strip and fold both edges toward the center.  Fold the entire strip in half again along the center fold.  Repeat!

A stack of folded strips--this is only a fraction of how many I folded! 

 2. TAPE: tape each end of the strips together.  Make sure the strips do not overlap and that the folds are facing the same direction.

3. ROLL: As tightly as possible, roll your strips in a tight coil, keeping everything as even and tight as you can.  If you want to take a break from rolling, just put a rubber band around the coil to keep it from unraveling.  Tape the end of the last strip down to hold the coil.

4. SHAPE: Carefully shape your bowl by raising the edges of your coil.  You can make it as shallow or as steep as you like.

5. SEAL: Once you have attained your desired shape, seal the bowl with a coat of Mod Podge on both sides.  Seal the inside of the bowl first, allow it to dry so it holds its shape, then turn it over and seal it on the other side.  I used elmer's glue which also worked fine, but I think mod podge has a better finish.

Have fun!

(BTW, my strips were actually from book covers--I had a huge stack of them and couldn't resist the alternating black and white pattern)