As I’ve mentioned before-I’ve been fascinated with paper crafts this year. It really appeals to my frugal nature to make something lovely out of junk mail, catalogs, old books and magazines! I already tried making folded paper books, so it was time to try something interesting with magazines and catalogs.
Coiled Magazine Paper Bowls are an attractive, artistic, sustainable craft that anyone can make. They are great as conversation starters, decorator pieces and can be given as gifts. Since almost everyone has magazines and catalogs lying around they are (practically) free to make!
These look even better in person-I'm not a great photographer.
Although this craft will take you some time, it isn’t difficult at all. Here we go with the tutorial!
Materials:
Magazine pages
Tape
Modge Podge/Glue
Directions:
Step 1: Fold your magazine slats.
Remove pages from the magazine or catalog. Although you can use any of them, the more colorful pages will give your finished bowl more color.
Fold your magazine page in half down the middle.
Fold both edges in towards the middle crease.
Fold the new outside edges in to the center again.
And fold the edges in to the center a final time.
Finally fold it in half down the center.
Note: The finished dimensions of your paper “slat” are important. If it is too thick, it will be hard to coil, and the finished width of the slat itself effects the look of the bowl. I personally think that the finished product looks better with a narrower paper “slat”. You can even cut each page in half legnthwise to make a thinner, and easier to coil, slat.
Tada! A folded slat. Notice by continually folding in to the center you get rid of any rough edges that you may have had from tearing the pages out of the magazine.
Repeat until you have a lot of slats.
Step 2: Tape the slats.
I like to join the slats with tape. You simply pull off a piece of tape, lay it on your surface, then lay the two slats you are joining end to end and wrap the tape around.
A close up of the taped join.
I like to tape all of my slats together before I start coiling-typically 3 at a time.
So you wind up with a big pile of slats 3 magazine pages long.
Step 3: Coil the slats.
This is the part that takes a bit of coordination & hand strength. I like to do all my coiling at once-it’s not the kind of project you want to stop in the middle of because it will come unwound. If you desperately need to stop, try securing it with rubber bands (have those on hand before you get going!)
So just bend the first slat and start coiling. When you get to the end of your slat, tape a new one on and keep on coiling!
I like to make my coil as tight as I can. Once I’ve got a bit of coil done, I lay my palm down flat on it and kind of “spin” it tighter. . .not really sure how to explain that better. . .
Keep going until the coil is as big as what you want the diameter of the bowl to be. Then tape the end of the last slat down to the bowl itself.
Step 4: Form the bowl.
Now comes the tricky part. You have to slowly push the sides of the bowl up. Be careful or you might wind up with this:
Much cussing ensues. Trust me-it is much harder to coil the bowl once you’ve got all the slats joined. Grrr.
Here you can see the formed bowl from the top (this is how I think they look the neatest).
And here it is from the side.
Step 6: Seal the bowl.
Now you can trim off any little flaps of tape you can see (use an exacto style knife). Once it is all beautiful it is time to seal it. I like to use Modge Podge as a sealant, but you could try watered down glue or even some polyurethane.
I give each side 2-3 coats. It will take quite a while to dry fully-that paper can soak up the glue a bit on the first coat.
Aren’t they pretty?!?
Now I want to try to make a “square” bowl and a long oval mantle bowl.
Those are amazing! I think I will try this with my son over the holiday break. I am literally LOL on “much cussing ensues,” though of course I’m sure it wasn’t funny at all when it happened. 🙂
This is perfect! My wife is a Girl Scout co-troop leader. We’ve been looking for a way to put that free labor to work for us. Time to start an Etsy shop.
Well, they are selling similar ones on Etsy for about $30 😉 http://bit.ly/afjT8R
That’s cool!
Are the bowls washable at all? I haven’t worked with hodge podge before, so I have no idea what it’s like… 🙂
Well-I used both regular & gloss modge podge on my bowls. You could probably wipe them down with a damp sponge if you needed to, but I would not wash them. They do make outdoor modge podge now (who knew) so that might make them more water resistant-after all, it is supposed to be left out in the elements. Again-I wouldn’t use for food or really expect it to be more than slightly water resistant.
These directions are excellent. The only suggestion I will make is to thin the Mod Podge with a little water;
Then the finish is better absorbed by the paper bowl, and the bowl will be more sturdy. I do three coats, inside and outside.
If you use dishwasher-safe Mod Podge, you can wash these bowls. I make them as well, though I use a different process than the author. They are not actually dishwasher safe because they are delicate, but a couple coats of dishwasher-safe coating will allow you to wash them without worrying.
They should never be used to contain food, however, as the coating is toxic.
Jenn,
I love how pretty the bowls come out, thanks for a great idea for my presents to coworkers, I envision several who would love these bowls!!!
Sorta similar to the trash can i made in the 70s. Roll up magazine pages longwise and paste them to a commercial size ice cream container. My mom had that thing around the house til I was well into my 30s. Haven’t seen it for a few years now. I’ll have to ask her where it went! LOL!
I don’t typically buy magazines anymore but this looks awesome! I might have to dig around the house to see if we have any left. I definitely want to try this out.
Go to any public library. They will always have tons of magazines for sale for about 10 cents each or less.
Great tip Stephen!
I love the thought of this, I’ve seen a mirror done this way as well. Thanks for sharing the tutorial, I’d love to share this with my readers! :]
oo! cool! you just gave me an idea! THANKS!
I’m trying this today! Any ideas on how you would go about making a square one? I’m going to make a set of three nesting circular ones, if all goes well.
I’ve been meaning to try a square one and a long oval one. . .I think for a square I’d make the initial coil about the size of a silver dollar or so, and then sort of squish it into a square. . .
You ended up being more of a paper genius than me. Just can’t get it to go into a bowl shape! I’m going to cheat a little and layer the strips with glue.
On average how many slats does it take to make a medium size bowl?
Well, I didn’t actually keep track. But my initial bowl was made from a full Coldwater Creek catalog.
oo! never thought about CATALOGUES! what a GREAT way to recycle!!!
ive seen a few tutorials on how to make these. this one seems the least messy and might yield the best results! cant wait to try it out! thanks!
Smiley-thanks, I’m glad it seems useful to you. I hope yours come out great!
I’ve made a small one using your instructions, and it I’m thrilled with it. Just wondering if you’ve made the square or oval ones yet, and if so, how did you shape them?
Heather-so glad your turned out well! Woohoo! I haven’t tried the square or oval ones yet-it’s on my list of “things to do” 🙂 You have one of those, right? I will post about it when I eventually get around to it though. Promise pinky swear.
I have my bowl all wound. Bought something called Collage Pauge today. I’ll try it out tomorrow. I also made a purse out of woven magazine pages. Yes, my non-crafting frinds think I am nuts. They do, however, save their old magazines for me.
I will send photos if you explain how to do this.
I have started to coil my first magazine bowl…I have found that if I need to stop, which I seem to have to do often when I remember yet another job that needs doing NOW :), that the use of a mini bulldog clip is just right. (I have just noticed, they are also called binder clips) The clip is also useful when attaching the next set of slats.
Hope this helpsx
shirleyanne
ShirleyAnne-that is a great tip-thanks for sharing! I hope your bowls are coming out well 🙂
My friends and I tried our hand at this last night. We’re still doing our tearing and folding, and look forward to coiling next time. Thanks much for the tutorial!
p.s. I blogged about the experience relative to repurposing and writing. Take a look if you like.
Just found your site through Pinterest, and I love this idea! I’ve seen bowls like these for sale at markets and craft shows, but they’re way too expensive for my frugal student budget. Now, I can make them myself out of junk mail (which is just the right price – FREE)! That’s two solutions in one crafty project. Thank you so much!
Hope they work out well for you Leigh!
I have seen bowls like these for sale at art fairs and gift shops, but never dreamed they were made from recycled magazines. I immediately grabbed some old magazines and started the process. It’s a great craft to do while watching TV. The process went much faster than I first thought it would, and after about four hours of TV, I was ready to begin coiling. My bowl is finished, and I love it, probably about 6″ in diameter. I made my last few slats from pages that were mostly black or very dark, which made a nice top rim for my bowl.Thanks for sharing this craft with us!
They are so fun to make, I’m glad I was able to encourage you to try it!
I love the idea for these bowls. I have not glazed mine yet. Does that make them really tight/secure/durable? Mine are so flimsy right now. I just worry; it seems every time I move them a tad, they fall apart (hence the cussing part).
Yes-glazing them makes it into a single solid object 🙂 I did several layers of glaze letting it dry well in between.
These magazine paper bowls are amazing.. thank you so much for taking the time to post this tutorial! I’ve just finished a frugal crafts round-up and hope it is okay that I featured your amazing magazine bowls. You can see it here: http://jamiebrock.hubpages.com/hub/Frugal-Crafts-15-Easy-Craft-Ideas
Thank you again.. I love crafts like this using things we have around the house like paper,etc.. and making them into something amazing 🙂
Thanks so much for this great tutorial! What was once a Pottery Barn catalog is now an adorable bowl that I am gifting for the Holidays! I used watered down craft glue and that worked great as a sealant. Can’t wait to make a bunch more!
Yay! So happy you enjoyed the project-I hope that your gift recipients appreciate your work 🙂
I made a square one and an oval one. I just started with a round coil about 4-5 inches in diameter. Then I pushed all four sides repeatedly till they stayed in a square shape, or shaped them into an oval. Then as I built up the walls with repeated strips about 1/8 inch from the previous one, I creased the corners for the square one and molded the oval into the shape. Hope this makes sense. I can send photos!
I’d love to see pictures!
Just wondered how many magazines I can expect to need for this for a medium size bowl.
1 magazine should be more than enough for a bowl
I bought a folded paper bowl, a swan , and a lidded bowl at a fair years ago. It is made with smaller folded suares- triangles that fit into each other similar to the way gum wrapper creations are made. I do fine until I try to connect a row. At that point everything explodes into a pile of separate folded papers. People make replicas of buildings, bowls etc out of this craft. I sure wish I could go further than just folding the paper and making a straight line. Anybody out there have some words of wisdom to help me out of this dilemma?
Thanks,
Bonnie
I’ve seen those kind too-they look great! Unfortunately I don’t know how to make them. I’m a straight up coiled paper kind of gal.
i Believe you can only make strips… I connected my by hand sewing them together. Worked well.
Hello and thanks for the great tutorial! Just a quick question, after you’ve folded the slats do you tape the individual slats so as the don’t pop open or is the only time you use tape is when taping the slats together to form the longer slats? I hope that makes sense!
Liz-so glad you enjoyed the tutorial! I waited until I was joining all the slats together to use the tape. I figured it was easier, and more frugal 🙂
Thanks for your very clear instructions. I just love these bowls. Now that I’ve made my first five bowls I’d like to make two suggestions. First, when I fold the two sides to the center, I don’t go exactly to the center,. This leaves a small gap – about 1/8 inch. With each additional fold I keep the gap open. This makes the last fold easier, and keeps the strip flat. Second, I now thin the Mod Podge with water. This makes it easier to apply the sealant with a regular paint brush.
Thanks much for the additional advice!
Am I the only crafter that’s just now making a magazine bowl ? Darn covid19, I’m still in lockdown. Thank you for the excellent directions.