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3.10
Hands-on Upcycling at Home: Making Gift-wrapping Paper for All Seasons
This week’s assignment is a practical exercise in upcycling on a simple, home-based scale. Create your own personalized gift wrap out of upcycled materials—make printing blocks and apply unique patterns onto old newspaper to reduce waste.
Traditional gift-giving often involves buying new wrapping paper, which is frequently made of plastic or paper. This wrapping is typically used for a very short time, often only once, and then quickly becomes waste, contributing to environmental concerns. A fun and sustainable alternative is to create your own gift wrap.
This exercise not only reduces waste but also allows for personalized and creative packaging. For your custom gift wrap, it is recommended to use old newspapers or any papers with a simple, monochromatic background, such as black ink on white paper. These provide a clean and appealing canvas for your designs. The main creative task involves making interesting printing blocks from various scrap materials found around you. Examples include using bubble wrap, tying a rope around a wooden block, or molding clay or other sticky materials into designs like flowers to create unique patterns. You can also make potato prints, as described in the video below.
So, gather the materials you can find at home or work, or save them up over a couple of days. Find a good space to work, then start by making the printing blocks or potato patterns, and finally, begin printing!
Please share your creations in Studium or in the WhatsApp group. Have fun!
© Daniel Mossberg, CEMUS, Uppsala University and Sonali Phadke, studio Alternatives and Stephanie Foote