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This kind of recycling design work is really remarkable.

Super cool!!

yup it works, but what so cool about it? there’s nothing so new about the idea, i had the same project when i was at preschool!

Fantastic! How can I get a rug?

Seeing the rug at the door, I wonder: can it deal with moisture? (wet newspaper = terrible mess)

Wet newspaper does dry quickly, and it doesn’t degrade as quickly as one would think. It’s also been processed quite a lot to be more like a mesh, i.e. more air circulating around. I’m thinking about sandgrass mats… both are made from plant fibres, except the newspaper would have been processed more. Does that make it stronger?

yay for yarns made from everything! gorgeous

How does one spin newspaper? It much finer a weight than you would think, and newspaper doesn’t grab onto itself like wool does.

I’m really tempted to try this out on my wheel, as if I don’t have enough to spin

FABULOUS! I’m very much into recycling and this is TOPS!

how amazing! i love the rug.

I wonder how they spun it to yarn? Would one do that on a regular spinning wheel?

Maki, if this is something you did in preschool, please tell us how to spin the newspaper into yarn.

Thanks

Ab fab! I love this.

This is beautiful yarn! What a fantastic thing to do with newspaper. I’m not a spinner, but would love to buy some yarn for knitting. How can I get some?

This is so clever. I do have a question - won’t the ink rub off on surfaces it is on? Thanks - I’d love one of those rugs!

It is surprisingly durable, and has a nice drape when woven into cloth.

You would cut or tear the newspaper into very long strips, in a zig-zag pattern to keep from having to make joins. And just spin! I’ve not seen it plied, but why not? It will hold together very well when used as weft. I have not seen it used as warp, but, with care, it should work too.

Does anyone know if she sells it, or where you could purchase some?

Thanks!

I adore this. Green and gorgeous. I would LOVE a rug like that! Someone needs to start making this stuff!! –Beth

That is truly amazing and inventive! However, I wonder with the others above whether or not the finished pieces would hold up when introduced to moisture. Also, newspaper is STINKY!

This is awesome!

However, for some odd reason, prolonged exposure to newspapers gives me gas.

Recycling is veery cool, but this hots it up, its a wow idea and a wower job. Maki, why do you forget your pre-school lessons—-tsk tsk…. learn to appreciate others. efforts

This is VERY cool! What a great way to recycle!

Very clever. I’ve heard of spinning paper before but wouldn’t have thought of trying newspaper. I would love to know how the newspaper is prepared for spinning, and how dirty one’s hands would get from the newsprint. Would also be curious as to how sturdy the woven fabric is.

I have been looking for alternative fibers to use…dryer lint, etc. This is exceptional! As soon as I learn to spin, I’ll be attempting this. It’s a wonderful way to upcycle something. I feel compeled to reuse everything that I have, using magazine ads for envelopes, etc. This is very exciting. What if everyone was as motivated to reduce waste!?

I would like to see exactly how this is done. A very intriguing idea!

Truly amazing! and I love the fabric that it creates. Amazing reuse.

I would love to know where to get this yarn, and whether or not you could order a specific current date or date range, depending on the amount of yarn needed. It could certainly make a fantastic conversation piece, even though you could not read the paper, just knowing the date would be fun.

As a handspinner I have a couple of thoughts about this. As far as strength goes - twisting makes any fiber stronger, and I think that would include newspaper - although I’m not sure how well anything made from it would wear if it got wet (and what about the ink running?).

As for how to prepare it - you could take a page and cut strips along its length *almost* to the end, then make another cut parallel to that one but going in the opposite direction, again almost to the (other) end. Keep doing that and when you’re finished with the page you should be able to pull gently and have a continuous strip. This is what we were taught to do with carded wool batts; the corners, where the cut doesn’t go quite to the edge, will even out with a wool batt. With newspaper you might have to trim them. (As for the width of the strips - I’m not sure, maybe an inch? The width of the strip would determine the thickness of the yarn.)

I think she must use a wheel; doing this on a drop spindle would be really hard. I wonder if she spins it wet, like flax; I don’t think it would hold up well, newspaper is really fragile when it’s wet.

Back in 1971 when I first learned to spin we were spinning paper of several kinds. One I remember was rice paper, another was crepe paper……..oh did that stain your hands. Never did anything with the “yarn” and haven’t seen it in years if it is still around. Newspaper might be interesting……….I spin silk scarves all the time, for making jewelry. Got to do something with all those “Redneck Shibori” silk scarves.

This is really cool! I too, wonder can it be washed? If it could, imagine the possibilities.

I’m not sure why this came to me, but this would be a great project for the prison system. Let them recycle newspapers into a usable product. And while they’re at it, let’s have them make jackets out of it for the homeless

Another product that would be great to spin would be all the old phone books.

I love this type of thinking and follow through, I hope this inspires others to do the same.

Beautiful!

It’s really great to see all this work of dutch designers, makes me proud of my country

you can really spin almost anything into yarn. habu, a japanese company in new york has tons of alternative fibers, including paper yarn, stainless steel and silk yarn, and loads of other amazing things to ooh and aah over. i wonder if you could treat the newspaper yarn with something after knitting it up to protect it from water? polyeurothane? super cool idea, though.

I used to spin almost obsessively but haven’t done much with it in years: until I saw what Greetje did with the newspaper. Frankly, my dears, it’s been driving me crazy trying to duplicate her results. Like other fibers, newspaper is directional: lengthwise it can be easily torn into long strips, but across the page it breaks. It looks to me like she’s used a shredder that cuts strips about 1/3″ wide, then glues the strips end-to-end. Spinning it dry doesn’t work for me, but water quickly turns the paper back into pulp. Oil is too slippery. I tried hand lotion, hand cream, “school glue”, spit, glue stick on the fingers. What works best so far is ultra hold hair gel, although there’s an aesthetic clash between the recycled earthiness of the paper and the commercial “what’s in this stuff anyway?” aspect of hair glorp.

Hmmm…next up: beeswax! We’ll see…

I love the whole concept but I am wondering why it is assumed that she spun the yarn.

FW–when you say you wonder why it is assumed that she spun the yarn, do you mean you think someone else spun it, or that it’s not spun at all? To this spinner’s eye, the yarn appears to be wound on spinning wheel bobbins, and that to me says spun. However, if she had it spun somewhere else, that would be something I would want to know–mainly so I could try to get some!

would love to know:

instructions on how this is done

and

could one incorporate dryer lint with newspaper or other throw away material?

I just think it’s kool!

That is so great!! I wish more people would think to do that!!!! Way to be green!!!!!!! How did you do it?

Will you please write to tell me where you can purchase this product?

Thanking you in advance.

Lily Wrey
http://www.TulipsTreasureBox.Etsy.com

Very cool indeed!, Glad someone pointed out the directionality of the newspaper, it would make a difference in the strength. If one is unsure of the direction of paper just try tearing it into strips, the direction you get a nice long strip of is the way you want to cut it.

We made some paper yarn using the zig zag cutting method others
described and then just rolled it into a thread on the table, “ala clay snakes” it would be nice to be able to do it more speedily though.

As for durability we used soaked wet newspaper when blowing glass to smooth the hot gathers so it CAN be durable, and the weave or mesh if crocheting or knitting would make a big difference.

The finished product could easily be painted with acrylics and finished with varnish. Think about the strength of paper mache and boxes etc made from it and spun would be Much stronger.

And It is reported that the process for making paper was originally smuggled out of the east by writing the directions on paper then rolling it into yarn that was woven into monks robes and worn out of the country, then unwoven unrolled and put back together!

Great idea! I’d love to give it a shot. Can’t wait to get my wheel!

For those who mentioned dryer lint, be VERY careful, becuase of the detergent and softeners we use in our laundry, dryer lint is EXTREMELY flamable.

So much so, that we save our dryer lint to make the best firestarters for camping. Candle stubs, egg cartons and dryer lint… it’s not trash to me!

COOOLL!
Im a spinner and would like to try!!!
Any advice?

Isabel

Margreet mentioned beeswax. I’m wondering if it’s lightly waxed. it looks almost polished. And if not, a waxed version would be cool.

This is fabulous, and so thin looking. I may just have to try it as well. Would love to see a movie clip or tutorial on this process.

I wonder if this was made from the slick newspaper pages, like on ads and inserts rather than the normal newsprint pages?? Seems like the slick pages would behave differently from the reg newsprint. This is very, very cool.

A warning to those who might try Alexis’s tip on using dryer lint for firestarters. One of the reasons the lint burns so well is the manmade (plastic) fibers that are mixed in with the cotton and wool. These fibers give off toxic fumes and should not be burned.

You can have a look on the site of Ivano Vitali, maybe it will help you to solve the mystery about how the yarn is made, or it might help a little bit… Cool work
http://www.artnest.it (or google it)