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H A P P Y H O L I D AY S
Dreaming of a green Christmas?
Story and photos
by Carol Blitzer
A touch of glue can turn everyday materials into colorful, creative gift wrapping
C
offee filters? Check. Old calendars? Check. Last year’s phone book? Check. With just a little glue and ingenuity at the holidays, anyone can turn ordinary household scraps into beautiful gift wrap — and keep more trash from going to the landfill. Recycled calendars can become bows that resemble roses; coffee filters can become big, puffy chrysanthemums; and thin paper bags can be transformed into frilly bows. At a recent workshop on “EcoBoxes, Tags, & Wrap,” Monica Lee, a teacher at San Francisco’s SCRAP (Scrounger’s Center for Reusable Art Parts) and artist-inresidence at Ruth’s Table, and Dorothy Yuki, a design and production consultant, shared their ideas for using everyday items to add sparkle to one’s gifts. A toilet-paper roll, for example, can be folded at each end and decorated with a wallpaper scrap. Voila! A gift box is born. The workshop was hosted by FabMo, a Mountain View nonprofit devoted to the creative reuse of de-
signer materials. Here are some of their ideas.
Chrysanthemum bow Start with six or seven large white coffee filters; fold each circle in half, then again and again. Grasping the point, cut the edges into either rounded shapes or points (think snowflake). Open. Repeat with the other filters. Place one filter on the table and
dab some glue from a glue stick in the center. Press the second cut filter on top, rotating the cut edges. Repeat until all layers are glued together. When dry, pouf the bow by lightly crushing the fronds. You can then glue a bead or button in the center.
A book bow A simple bow can be easily created from a 1-inch strip cut from an old book (these can be cut at Office Depot for $1/ cut, Yuki said). Break off a 1/2 inch-deep portion of the book strip at the spine. Then fold each sheet into the spine. You can alternate and double fold every two or three. When finished, the bow can be fanned out and attached to a package.
To make a rose bow, begin with about an 8-inch square of colorful paper, perhaps taken from last year’s wall calendar. Round out the four edges. Then cut a continuous spiral of about 3/4 inch, starting from the edge (“It doesn’t have to be straight,” Yuki said; in fact it’s better to cut a wavy line.) Beginning with the outside edge, with the side you want to see on the inside, start rolling tightly, all the while keeping the bottom edge together. When you get to the end, twist the end flat underneath, add a dollop of glue (from the glue gun) and press down. “A rose petal is never ever, never exact,” Yuki said. And no two “roses” are ever the same. One can cluster a trio in different sizes at the corner of a package and glue in place.
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Gift tags
Paint-strip bow
Rose bow
Gift tags can be made from mat board (or old cereal boxes), with glued-on designs made from torn newspaper or magazines or junk mail. They can be enhanced with bottle caps, stickers or colorful twine.
Paint-strip bow Wondering what to do with all those paint strips you’ve brought home over the years, only to discard? You can create a fan of color
Scrap-paper tree by folding along the white strips between the colors (a “mountain” fold), then folding halfway along each color square in the opposite direction (a “valley” fold). Repeat for a second strip. Then fan each out and glue the ends of the strips together, making a circle (see picture (continued on page 17)
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