Newspaper Tray

I am already feeling so good by recycling loads of newspapers that are decorating my house instead of going to the trash. Here i have made a simple tray out of old newspapers and leaflets. I will be using this as a decorative tray that will sit on the counter or table in my living room. It will give an asthetic look to the corner as well as it will help me to keep some flowers or keys and change them occasionaly. 

Materials Required: 

• Newspaper or Advertisement leaflets
  
• White glue
• A Skewer or Knitting needle
• Glue Gun or Super Glue
• Acrylic Paint or Watercolors
• Water Sealant or PPA(Perfect Paper Adhesive)
• Decorative Flower (Optional)

Step 1: Prepare paper tubes by rolling the paper strip over the skewer. I can't say how many tubes you will require. So try to make as many as possible before starting the project.

Step 2:  Now gently flaten the tubes between your finger or with the help of a ruler or hard object. 

Step 3: Start rolling the tubes one by one to form a large coil of the desired shape. I have made an oval shape tray. You can try a circular in the beginning and as you practice, you can experiment with sqaure and rectangle as well. Keep adding the tubes until you are satisfied with the size required. Be careful while rolling, roll as tight as possible by placing it on a hard surface like a table or floor.

Step 4: Now  apply a generous amount of white glue all over the coil so that all the tubes get together perfectly. While the glue is still wet, using both the hands, hold the coil and slowly push the centre inwards, and the edges outwards to get the desired shape. this has to be done very slowly, or else you will ruin the coil.

Step 5: Once it is dried for around 1 hour, start painting it with your choice of color. You can even decoupage at this stage if you donot want to use any paint. Now let the paint dry completely for 1-2 hours and then give a second coat of paint incase you want a darker shade.

Step 6: I have decorated the edge of the tray with a newspaper plait. For making the plait, hold three paper tubes together and start making a plait in the same way as we make hair plaits. Stick this paper plait on the edge of the tray with the help of Glue gun. After it is dry,paint it.

Step 7: For some more decoration,i have glued a porcelain clay flower. You can also use a paper flower or satin flower or any other thing of your choice.

Step 8:  Finally, coat the tray with a sealant or paper varnish. I have used 2 coats of Triple Thick Glaze.

I would love to see your side of creativity, so pls do mail me some pics of your artwork and do let me know your valuable feedback.  

Thank you,
Simply Meraki

Quilling - A Fun Craft!

Quilling Fun

Interested in Quilling? Attracted by the beautiful designs over the internet? then why not try some yourself. Quilling is a simple and fun craft that can be done at all ages. you just need the enthusiasm to start up, loads of patience & a very few tools to make it. So, Get Set & Go.............

You will need some strips (of 1/8inche width both ends) colored paper, a toothpick, white glue & glaze/acrylic varnish.
Some professional tools are very easily available at any craft store. But if you are a beginner, i would suggest to start with the materials readily available at home.

So, here is a simple tutorial for all the beginners showing the basic technique of quilling. As the word "Quilling" itself explains its meaning as "Coiling". Most of us may have come across this shape . For instance,the traditional Indian snack called "Chakali" or "Murukku", a mosquito coil or it could be a rope coil that remembers me of my later employer manufacturing ropes.
Anyways, so these are a few examples where coiling is involved with varying techniques and purposes.

Lets start with the tutorial.
Materials required:

Paper strips

Toothpick

School Glue

Start by rolling the strip on the toothpick till you reach the end. place a tiny dot of glue at the end and hold the coil for a few seconds so the end sticks well. This is the basic coiling method. 

Now lets introduce ourselves to the basic shaping techniques. 

1. Closed Teardrop: Taking the above coil,  pinch the circle with your thumb & index finger. This will give you a closed petal shape.
   
    

2. Roll a coil and just before applying glue, loosen the coil between your thumb and index finger. This is called as Loose coil.

Loose Coil

3.Loose Teardrop:  Now, Pinch the loose coil to form a teardrop.

Pinching a loose coil

A Petal Shape

Now we can make similar teardrop shapes to form petals and glue them together to form a beautiful flower!

Flower made with Teardrop shaped petals

I Hope you have enjoyed this basic quilling tutorial. Please do try these and send me your craft pics. You can visit my page https://www.facebook.com/simplymeraki to see my creations. Also do not forget to write your comments and feedback. 

Thank you.