Paper Bowl Project

Wow, I'm really falling behind! Coaching both girls' soccer teams is really exhausting me - more on that later - that I'm having to budget my time very carefully to get my CC projects done! A few days ago, my September DT project appeared on the CC blog. Here it is!

 

Paper bowl project (by Miwa)

I used to be a straight-laced layout/card-making girl until this year – now, I find myself making home décor projects, which forces me to think outside my comfortable little box. For this particular 3-D challenge, I wanted to create something that I could display AND use. Naturally, I went surfing on Pinterest and eventually stumbled upon a picture of a magazine bowl. I really liked the concept of “building a bowl” so I decided to give it a whirl. Perhaps one of the most rewarding side benefits of this project was being able to use up a lot of my paper scraps! 

You’ll need strips of paper, 1” wide and anywhere from 3” to 12” long. It’s totally up to you! The longer the strip, the larger the paper coil will be. You could use paper strips of the same size, but I think using variable sizes helps to add interest to the bowl. I selected papers from the MME Lime Twist collection because of the bright and distinctive colors. Other supplies you’ll need are: tacky glue, Mod Podge, a foam brush, a bone folder, and rubber bands (optional).

Once you have a nice pile of paper strips, you’ll have to fold the paper. Thick scrapbook paper is a lot harder to fold than thin magazine paper, so you’ll have to prepare the fold lines with a bone folder or scorer. I also found it useful to use the scoring edge of my 12”-Fiskars paper cutter. You don’t have to be exactly when folding, so don’t worry about being too precise!

 

Score the paper strip lengthwise, right down the middle (0.5”). Make another score to the right and left of the center fold (approximately ¼”). After scoring, fold both sides of the paper to the midline and then fold the paer in half lengthwise. Holding the paper firmly, coil the paper into a tight roll, adding tacky glue as needed. I found it helped to secure the coil with a rubber band for a few minutes while the adhesive dried. This is a good time to watch TV or listen to music, while you create a pile of paper coils. Set this mound aside until you have created the bottom section of the bowl.

 

The best way to create a flat surface to the bowl bottom is to make one big paper coil. For this, you’ll need to use 12” paper strips. Once again, you’ll have to score and fold the paper strips.

Begin by coiling the first paper strip, as you did for an individual paper coil. However, at the end of the coil, add some tacky glue to the inside of the fold and slide the next paper strip inside – and continue rolling the strip. Continue the process until you have made a paper coil of the desired size; glue the ends shut.

Finally, it’s time to start building the bowl! Think about the angle that you want the bowl to have and begin adding the coils layer by layer to slowly build the sides. A little bit of tacky glue will help secure the coils to each other. You can also try using Mod Podge as your adhesive, but you have to be really patient (tacky glue dries faster). Make sure that the sides of the bowl are relatively even before you run out of paper coils!

Once you’ve finished building the bowl, you will need to apply a few layers of Mod Podge all over the bowl (it helps to work over wax paper!). This helps the coils to bond to each other and gives your bowl a nice finished look.

For those of you with Etsy shops, there’s yet another benefit to making these bowls – you can sell your creations! Personally, I think the bowls made from scrapbook paper are much prettier than those from magazines…

Happy paper rolling! J