Paper Weaving for the Planet

Have you ever looked at a security envelope on the inside? Most of them have a sort of confetti type of pattern, either blue or black or grey. But others have intricate circular patterns or triangular shapes put together to form sweet flowery patterns. Some are green, some yellow or brighter blue. Some are purple and white striped (that’s the FedEx envelopes). If you collect them long enough, like I have, every once in awhile you will come across that rare special find, like a flowy pink and gold swirling pattern on really good paper. Who knew envelopes could be so interesting?

I started looking at envelopes to use in my creations at the beginning of 2015 when, after many years of freelancing, I took a steady 9-5 office job as a bookkeeper. We were throwing away so many envelopes at that job, and I wondered if there was some way I could use them in my paper weaving designs. I had been weaving paper and making shapes out of it for a year or two by then and the envelopes from work became the next step in my evolution of making art from upcycled paper. Paper was no longer just paper to me…if it had any color or pattern on it, it was my raw material from which to make something unique and beautiful. The inspiration for using the envelopes started with wanting to see if I could weave the clear plastic parts from the address windows into my designs to make see through patches that light would come through. I successfully wove some plastic in with the paper to make new kinds of windows in my creations, but doing it was quite difficult and annoying as the plastic is very thin, a different texture from the paper and hard to work with. The result was ok, but not clean enough looking to continue spending the time it took to do it, so the plastic idea was quickly scrapped. I discovered though how cool the insides of those envelopes were and how when I wove that paper together, the original design became its own new and interesting design. They became my new inspiration. I started looking inside all of the envelopes at work, thrilled to have found this new source of free materials to use out of someone else’s trash. I began spreading the word at the office, letting people know they could give me any security envelopes they had after opening their mail, and of course they thought I was a little coo coo. Some did ask what I wanted them for and thought what I was doing was kind of cool. They would start looking at the insides as well, and one or two people would get a little excited when they found one a little out of the ordinary. Whenever I found a particularly rare or special looking one, I would gasp with surprise or excitedly exclaim, “Ooohh!” and my colleagues would be like, “What?!” thinking something was wrong or thinking there was something interesting to see. I’d hold up the envelope and say, “Look!” like I’d just hit the lottery jackpot. Their excitement about the pattern on the inside of a business security envelope was never quite the same as mine.

My idea to weave paper together started a few years earlier when I had a bunch of magazines I wanted to get rid of, but being the upcycling artist that I am, I didn’t want to just throw them away. I wanted to make something with them instead. My passion for making things from materials that had outlived their original use actually started many years before when I had been inspired to make a huge collage project out of some fashion magazines that I was done with and wanted to get rid of. I had been obsessed with the super models of the late 80’s and early 90’s and loved seeing them in the fashion magazines, like Vogue and Cosmopolitan. I had just moved to New York City, starting a new phase in my life and those magazines were from my previous life. It was time to move on and start fresh so I was cleaning out anything that was no longer needed. Not to mention, I needed as much room as possible in my tiny NYC apartment. That collage project helped me let go of some long held ideas about myself as a female and move into that new phase of my life by transforming parts of those magazines into something new as well.

This time around, I was still inspired by wanting to upcycle materials to create something new and interesting out of previously used materials, but I was also more aware of and making a conscious effort in all parts of my life to reduce the amount of trash that was being added to the environmental overload. As an artist, I have a passion for making things out of something that already exists, rather than purchasing new materials whenever possible. I collect jars and pieces of wood and boxes, fabric and save magazines and envelopes, sometimes with specific ideas in mind and sometimes with no idea at all what they will become, but knowing their purpose will present itself when needed. So, here I was with all these magazines that needed a new purpose to become something beautiful in a different form. It was another inspired idea that just came to me after not thinking about it for very long. I decided I would cut them into strips and then weave the strips together and see what happened. The experimental phase began, cutting different thicknesses of strips, trying different parts of the magazine. It turned out that only the covers of most of the magazines and some of the advertisements inside had thick enough paper to weave well. The inside pages were too thin, too hard to work with, and didn’t hold their shape well even after being woven together. Those pages were set aside to have their purpose found at a later time and I started tearing off all the covers and carefully tearing out any advertisements that were thick enough to use. Then I grabbed the scissors and started cutting. I experimented with long, thick strips, thinner and shorter ones and everything in between. I wove different sizes together to see how that would turn out. I looked up weaving patterns online for even further inspiration. It was all so much fun and there were endless possibilities.

One of the coolest things about weaving paper together is that once it’s woven it doesn’t look like the picture or design it started out as. Weaving it with other pieces, it just becomes this new creation of colors, patterns, pictures and words, woven into something else. It also doesn’t matter too much if the strips I cut are perfectly straight, as you can’t discern whether or not they are once the strips are woven together. My very first idea was to see if I could make a lamp, using some wire hangers that I would shape into a square and wrap my weavings around. The wire hanger was not very easy to bend into exactly the right shape and after struggling through the first one, I found a wire bending tool online that made it much easier. I made two of these creations meant to be lamps, and put a small 25 watt light bulb in one of them, with a plug and switch on the cord. It worked! The bulb was small enough that it didn’t burn the paper, and it looked quite unique the way the light shown through the weaving. Unfortunately, the color on the paper started to fade fairly quickly from the heat of the bulb. I wanted to figure out a way to put an LED light in it but it was difficult to find one that attached to a cord (that search and experiment is still in process as I have since made some other lamp designs, but have yet to figure out the exact right way to light them up). It was quite a bit of extra effort to cut and bend the wire hanger even with the bender and for the smaller designs I needed smaller, bendier wire. I remembered some floral wire I had bought years before that I had only used a small amount of and started using that to fold the edges of the weaving over, which worked beautifully. I eventually bought some other wire with an even smaller thickness, but after 8 years of paper weaving, I still haven’t used up that floral wire I first started with. In addition to the paper and wire, some extra sticky Tacky glue is all I needed to make those first designs. That’s how I liked it, how I wanted it…to use as few materials as possible that required something new to be made. It’s funny because I have this sort of “post apocalyptic” picture or idea in my mind about making things, like, what if there was some big catastrophe and new materials were no longer produced, what would I be able to make from whatever was around? I know I would still be inspired to be making art one way or another. And this train of thought brings me to think, why wait? Why not make things out of materials that already exist? Maybe materials that were once used for something else but can be re-purposed to make a new thing. I also really like, when I can, to make something beautiful or interesting that can be used for something practical. Hence, the lamp idea. I put some of those used glass jars I mentioned to use too, wrapping weavings around them to make pen/pencil holders or whatever you need a cool looking jar to hold. But practical or not, making anything for the sole purpose of beautifying a space is reason enough, right?

When I started out, I cut all my strips by hand. Eventually I bought a paper cutter online to save myself some time and effort, and to get the lines to come out straighter. I still count on my scissors to trim the edges after weaving and for making anything that requires much smaller strips. I don’t remember when the next pang of inspiration struck me – it was probably instigated by some beautiful paper I found – but at some point I had the idea to make a pair of earrings, which required the smallest strips I’d ever cut. They were about 1/16th of an inch and had to be cut by hand. The strips were also much shorter than anything I’d ever worked with before. It was time consuming work that required a lot of patience, but the end result was absolutely worth it, and a whole new realm of ideas started to come into being. For that first pair, I used earring parts from single earrings I had kept (of course) when one had been lost. And I had a collection of small beads and such that had been collected from broken necklaces, earrings, etc. Once again, I was excitedly perched on the edge of endless possibility, with new ideas coming to me in a consistent flow. By this time, I had made paper weavings out of all kinds of paper. I used the shiny gold paper from a bag of chocolates I had bought. I used different colored envelopes that came in the mail, putting to use “junk” mail that would otherwise just be thrown out. I experimented with cutting and weaving the cardboard from Kleenex boxes and tea boxes, successfully making some ring shaped designs I called “napkin holders”. I even used paper from a small foil wrapper of a truffle with a beautiful red and white ivy design on it, the result of which was a pair of unique and stunning earrings.

I am still being inspired all the time, by the paper I find and by nature itself, hoping to make my small difference for the environment while I make my art. A friend of mine gave me some incredibly beautiful origami paper that feels like a mix of paper and fabric and is an absolute dream to work with, so I am currently thinking about how to make something special with that. I am also creating more intricate designs, putting together multiple pieces into fun and playful results. The joy I have experienced creating with paper has been deeply satisfying, rewarding, and fulfilling. Watching the evolution of one idea become the seed for so many inspired ideas and creations has been an incredible experience, one that continues to give me much pleasure and connection to my soul. And all it takes is some paper, scissors, wire, and glue.