Round ‘n round … and finished is your paper twine basket! After the big success of our knit bangle DIY kit you can now also make your own paper twine knit baskets – fun and easy and no knitting skills required!

Our Knit Basket DIY Kits are availabe in three sizes and include everything you need to make your own baskets:
- A round knitting loom (diameter 13.5cm / 5.3 in)
- Hook tool
- Strong Paper Twines
- Detailed instructions on how to make a basket, shape it and possible finishing touches
- An extra postcard for you to keep our give away with one of the baskets

and you can even choose and personalize the colors for your very own DIY kit. A total of 24 colors are available and 5 of them a exclusively available as part of our DIY kits. All kits are packed in a beautiful cardboard box filled with fun paper frizzels to protect the precious contents.

We need to warn you though: the risks are high that you’ll get hooked! Luckily paper twine baskets make a beautiful gift as well so keep knitting and all your friends will love you for it! Just get some more strong paper twine and keep knitting and knitting…

Paper Twine Baskets & Water:

Our strong paper twines are also used for the manufacturing of carpets and are very sturdy. They’re colorfast and do not stain when wet. It’s no problem to wash them gently by hand or to rinse them from time to time. You will need to re-shape your baskets after the washing (instructions found in the DIY kit).
To keep your baskets in perfect condition for a long time we suggest to nevertheless avoid contact with water when possible and to never leave them humid for long (let them dry!).

The DIY Kits: Knit Baskets are also available in our Etsy store.

There is so much going on at the moment – and we’re really happy and grateful that more and more people fall in love with our paper twines and paper yarns! At the moment we’re very busy with deliveries to wholesale customers so you can purchase our products locally, too. But we quickly want to share some pictures with you today: some of our paper twines are showcased in the new November/December edition of the German magazine “Living at Home”. You can find these products in our online shop and on dawanda (in German).

Also we had a blast at the FESCHmarkt (design market) in Vienna last weekend! It’s great to meet customers in person, have a chat, meet other designers and exhibitors and have a glass of punch. Thanks to everybody who stopped by and said hello – see you again next year!

Busily preparing goodies for the goodie bags both for the Viennese and London markets

FESCH’markt in Vienna:
Ottakringer Brauerei
Saturday, November 26th 2011: 10 – 16:00
Sunday, November 27th 2011: 11 – 20:00

Details about the FESCHmarkt (in German) can be found here: FESCH’markt Winter 2011

SELVEDGE Christmas Fair
St Augustine’s Church Hall on Archway Road in Highgate, London N6
Saturday 10th December 2011: 10 – 17:00

More details about the Selvedge fair here.

We’re excited and look forward to meeting you and having a little chat!

Made by PaperPhine: Two Balls of Twisted Paper Twine (55 yards / 50m each) on a tall, reclaimed wooden spindle

Perhaps you’ve already spotted our newest product in the PaperPhine shop and on easy: Twisted Paper Twines on Old, Reclaimed Spindles. We already gave you a little sneak preview of these new paper twines a week ago and we’re very excited to finally have them online and for sale right on time for some serious Christmas gift-wrapping!

Made by PaperPhine: A ball of either Red-White or Black-White Paper Twine (55 yards / 50m) on a small, reclaimed wooden spindle

There are two different options available:

- Two balls of Twisted Paper Twine (each one 55 yards / 50m) – one in Red-White and one in Black-White on a tall wooden spindle

- One ball of Twisted Paper Twine (55 yards / 50m) in either Red-White or Black-White on a cute, smaller wooden spindle

The spindles stand upright and add a lot of flair and warmth to your workspace or home while keeping your paper twines ready for all the creative projects that come to your mind. We’re curious to learn what your personal favorite will be!

PaperPhine DIY: Paper Twine Bracelet in Paper Runway Issue 2 (page 51)

We love the internet and all the possibilities it offers, don’t get us wrong. But as paper lovers we’re always especially proud and honored if one of our products or the PaperPhine studio get mentioned in a printed publication – on “real” paper, so to say.

We already told you about the DIY that the lovely ladies over at Paper Runway published in their latest, second issue. Head over here to see it on page 51 or of course purchase Paper Runway to get a “real” papery copy – we’re paper lovers after all!

PaperPhine portrait in dawanda lovebook winter 2011 (page 15)

Also we’ve been featured in the recent “dawanda lovebook Winter 2011″ (in German only, sorry). And yes, that’s a picture of PaperPhine’s Linda you’re seeing there.

… in case you’re wondering: NO, we’re not called “PapierPhine”. We’re called PaperPhine. Just to make this clear.

dawanda is marketing itself heavily and often with the wrong attitude towards sellers (e.g. I’m neither allowed to use the PaperPhine logo in the shop banner because it’s “PaperPhine.com” and therefore leading people to another site – this one here! – nor can I mention the PaperPhine blog on the dawanda site for the same reason… interesting, no?). And dawanda also has a spelling problem, obviously. But still dawanda is playing an important role in the revival of DIY, arts and crafts in German speaking countries. The dawanda love book winter 2011 can’t be purchased yet but you can have a look through it here – the choice of product is nice.

This easy-to-make barrette takes advantage of one of Paper Twine’s outstanding characteristics: it’s stiffness that is especially evident when the Paper Twine is cut in short pieces. Instead of the bright colors I used you can of course use more subtle hues as well – think about the person who will wear the piece and the hail color when choosing the Paper Twines you want to use.

Supplies and Tools:
- an empty barrette from you local craft store – I used a 1.6 in (4cm) long one
- Paper Twine: about 4 x 20 in (50cm) in different colors
- a small piece of a heavy fabric to stitch on
- transparent sewing thread and a needle that goes with it
- some glue
- scissors

First prepare the piece of fabric you’ll sew the pieces of Paper Twine onto. Make it slightly longer and about three times as wide as the “empty” barrette. You’ll trim the fabric later on to its final size. Also prepare your pieces of Paper Twine that will be sewn onto the fabric: a total of about 40 pieces (2 in (5cm) long) in your chosen colors. You can cut them to the final lenght after the piece is finished.

The piece of fabric you just cut is folded in half to make it stiffer – this will help a lot when it’s fixed onto the barrette in the end. Make a big knot into your sewing thread because transparent thread tends to be rather slippery – you’ll need about 30 in (75cm) to finish your piece. As you can see I doubled the sewing thread (see next picture). The rather knot is hidden in between the two layers of fabric.

Start stitching. Once you’ve secured the first piece of Paper Twine the needle comes out again about a bit before this first piece of Paper Twine and you stitch backwards over the second piece of Paper Twine! Remember to always stitch backwards over the Paper Twines – like this it’s easier to avoid. If a gap nevertheless appears (like in the third picture above) come out with the needle in between the two Paper Twines and fill the gap with another piece of Paper Twine.

After a little bit of stitching your piece should look like this. Now it’s time to trim the fabric …

…. preferable like this! What you do is you cut the top layer of fabric very very close to the sewn line, the bottom layer of fabric to about 0.2in (0,5cm). The bottom layer of fabric is folded toward the middle and secured with some glue. Now is also a good time to trim the piece of fabric at the end you just stopped sewing at – cut shortly after the last piece of Paper Twine sewn onto it. A little glue will prevent it from starting to fray.

Now we can start to stitch “back” – the idea is to fix the other side of the fabric that has not been glued to the middle during this process. Fold this other part of the unstitched fabric towards the middle as well and fix it there with the stitched you make now back towards the “beginning”. I don’t double-stitch over all the pieces of Paper Twine that are already in place – only over about every tenth or so. If you still have gaps between the pieces of Paper Twine then this is the time to fill them up – come up with the needle in the gap, add a piece of Paper Twine and stitch over it…

Once you’re back at where you started stitching in the first place it’s time to trim that side of the fabric as well. Instead of simply cutting the fabric you can also fold it onto the backside and fix it with some stitches. Use some glue to prevent fraying and leave the glue to dry before continuing if necessary. You can also add a last piece of Paper Twine to prevent too much of the fabric to show in the finished pieces.

The metal barrette piece is sewn on (on both sides) and also glued onto the fabric for further stability. Leave to dry depending on the glue you used.

The last step is to cut the Paper Twine pieces to your preferred length. Twist them slightly between your fingers to make them curl upwards a bit. And finally: enjoy wearing!

I hope the tutorial is clear – I did my best to take pictures all of the steps and to explain all the in-betweens. Drop me line if you have any further question or comments – and as always I love to see what you’re coming up with as well so pictures in the mailbox are always a reason for some jumping-of-joy!

Kirsty Hall: Jar No 100 close up, April 2011 (left) and Jar No 147 close up, May 2011 (right)

Oh yes, we love to see what becomes of our paper yarns and twines once they leave the studio. The email by Kirsty Hall that popped up in the mailbox last week was a special treat – and we’re now seriously thinking about a business trip to England to do some jar-hunting! So what is this about…

Kirsty calls herself an “Artist & Purveyor Of Mad Obsessive Projects” living in Bristol, England and this year’s “Mad Obsessive Project” is to produce a jar filled with art a day – and release it into the wild to be found by other people: 365 Jars!

Kirsty Hall: Jar No 91, April 2011 (left) and Jar No 100, April 2011 (right)

Looking through an art-jar into an English town: Kirsty Hall: Jar No 119, April 2011

Kirsty puts a lot of time and effort into the creation of each single jar and needs up to a couple of hours daily to make a new one, document it on the website and hide it in the wild. We’re very thrilled that she enjoys working with our paper twines so that she has used them for quite a few jars by now – we can’t show them all here but you can find the whole collection on Flickr. Kirsty writes about our paper twine and paper yarn (we’re so proud that we have to share it) “I’m so impressed with it, it’s a dream to use. It’s so versatile, strong and handles so well: it’s definitely the best paper yarn I’ve tried.” Thanks a lot – and in case a jar ever makes it to Austria it’s sure that we’ll go hunting for it.

The place to look for in the Innsbruck’s Pfarrgasse (street’s name): feinheiten…

Welcome to feinheiten…
(in English “Feinheiten” means “niceness” but also “subtlety” and in this case very fittingly “refinement”)

PaperPhine’s Paper Yarn Jewelry is now present not only in the East of Austria (Vienna) but also in the Austrian West in the beautiful town of Innsbruck. Thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit and taste for modern design of Marianne Ecker who is the founder and owner of feinheiten… a wonderfully selected range of articles by Austrian designers can now be found in the old quarter of Innsbruck.

Austrian design in the skillfully rejevenated gallery rooms

Marianne is not only selling the articles themselves but also tells the customers about the young designers and crafters behind them, their inspiration as well as the story behind each product – so the origin and emergence of the finished pieces are shared to add unique value that can’t be found in mass produced goods.
Definitely a place to visit if you come to Innsbruck – and the perfect place if you want to buy some special souvenirs truly Austrian!

feinheiten…: Pfarrgasse 8, 6020 Innsbruck (Austria)
Mo – Fr: 10:00-13:00 & 14:00-18:00 and Sa: 10:00-14:00
www.feinheiten-innsbruck.at (currently only in German)

The abundant availabilty of chocolate, coffee and tea is crucial to ensure that the studio is running smoothly – and most certainly not only the PaperPhine-studio. But now it has become clear that macaroons can also become an important part of life in the studio: first to restore energy levels and heighten the spirit of the hard working PaperPhines and then – once all the macaroons have disappeared rather quickly – as a perfect prop for a photoshoot!

The structured paper yarn rings themselves can be found here (… and yes, you know the pictures there, too): PaperPhine Shop

Made by PaperPhine: Button Rings made of Paper Yarn shot during the last photoshoot

Well, of course not the macaroons themselves were used for the photoshoot (it would be difficult considering their rather ephemeral nature…) but the packing they come in. In case you’re wondering – these are Swiss macaroons by Sprüngli. And now imagine how many boxes we would need to eat if we wanted to make a whole display out of the packing – and since we’re very dedicated to your work we would even do it!

As mentioned before PaperPhine is now sold in a first bricks-and-mortar store in the USA: The Oliver Shop in Solana Beach. Heather who owns the shop was so nice to send us some picture of her place and the PaperPhine-corner – and we definitely like it! Looks like a great store to stock up on crafting materials and odds and ends – and of course some Paper Twines and Paper Yarns.

The address: The Oliver Shop in the Leaping Lotus, 240 South Cedros, Solana Beach, CA 92075.