apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

My Japanese aunt gave a waste paper basket made like this to my grandmother back in the 1970's; it was kind of orange-ish overall. And then this kind of thing seemed to become kind of a craft craze. Does anyone else remember it?

Anyway... I do remember seeing this in person at Pier 1, but I didn't notice whether it was varnished or anything, but I would think that it should have been.

Yes, this was a fairly popular craft in the 1970s. The waste paper baskets were often made using an ice cream tub from Baskin Robbins as a base for the rolled magazines.

http://tinyurl.com/2c4n7q

MrGreen believes that this particular project is time-consuming. The rolls must be identical for good effect. One's time might be better spent in making a "beautiful origami Christmas tree" from the old magazines:

http://tinyurl.com/2s7ck5

I saw this (or something very much like it) at Target a year or two ago. The laundry hamper was about $40 or $50, and they had other storage boxes made out of the same stuff. I almost bought it, but when I looked closer the magazine pages were all fake. I wouldn't have felt good buying it if it wasn't from real recycled pages.

Does anyone know Pier 1's story on child labor? Tried to find it on their web site--"child labor" search generated rocking chairs and other nursery items :).

my dog is trained to pee on paper...me having this will give him cute..but not dog friendly.

opps i misspelled...i meant it will give him the cute idea to pee on my stuff...

Paper seems like a bad choice for a laundry hamper; one damp towel and mold is your best case scenario.

The paper is on the OUTSIDE of the hamper, like a textural wallpaper. I believe the interior is lined with muslin.

I remember doing a craft/art project like this in grade school. We ripped pages out of a magazine and rolled them as tight as we could and clued the end. We then glued the rolls to cardboard oatmeal cansters and then coated it with elmers glue which dries clear if applied thin. I guess to duplicate it on a larger (taller) scale, just lay magazine rolls end to end and trim any overage. I think too, we covered the ends by sticking pieces of elbow macaroni inserted from hole to hole.