Linked Strips in the Style of Gum Wrapper Chains

 

Los Angeles Basketry Guild

Mini Workshop with JoAnne Cook

November 22 2009

 

The following instructions cover the basics, in regular type, and the specifics of our change purse project, written in italics.

 

Although there are a lot of words here, most of the process is very easy.

 

1) Measure and cut strips

a)  Choose a material that can hold a crease.

 

b)  Cut the paper or similar textured item, such as wrapping paper, high quality magazine pages, paper ribbons, or sturdy plastic bags, into strips.

 

If your material is fairly rigid, such as plastic dog food bags, cut the strips 8 times longer than they are wide, plus a tiny bit longer to accommodate the three widthwise folds that each strip will have. 

 

If you are using chip wrappers or some other material that is flimsy, your strips will need to be beefed up with lengthwise folds before they are folded widthwise.  In that case, the material would be cut into strips a scant 2” by 4”.

 

My dog food bag strips are 7/16” by 4”.

 

Cut your strips with scissors, a rotary cutter or, in some cases, with a standard paper cutter.  In many cases you can cut several strips simultaneously by stacking the material and holding it firmly while you cut.

 

For my dog food bags I used a Rotary cutting bed made by Fiskars.

 

2)  Fold strips to make links

 

a)  Fold the strip in half (wrong sides together), crease at the fold, then open strip up again. 

 

In the case of our change purse, you now have a 4” strip with a crease line that marks the center.

 

b)  Putting wrong sides together, fold the two short ends to the center crease.  Crease these two folds and keep the strip folded. 

 

Now your strip is 2” long.

 

c)  Fold the strip in half again and pinch the crease. 

 

Now your strip is 1” long.

 

d)  Make lots more folded strips. 

 

In the case of our 5 ½” wide by 3 ½” tall change purse, we need about 180 strips.

 

3)   Join the links to make chains

 

If you look closely at your links, you will see that each link has one fold on one end and two folds on the other end.  We’ll call the single fold the male end, and the two folds the female ends.  Each link is hermaphroditic, so to speak, with both male and female parts.

 

a)  Hold one link in your left hand (if you are right handed), with the single fold (male end) to the left.  Take a second link and slide its two female ends through the folded female ends of the first link.  Push the second link until its single fold (the male end) stops the link from going any farther.

 

[Before continuing to build a chain, secure a paper clip to the first link to keep it firmly closed.  Doing this also helps you designate the first link of the chain, which comes in handy later.]

 

Notice that just after you have added a link, the most recent link has its male end oriented to the upper left (or northwest) and its female ends to the to the lower right (or southeast).

                                                 

b)  Flip your chain over, so that the female ends of the most recently added link are now pointing up and to the right (i.e. northeast). (Please note: you are flipping on a horizontal axis here, not turning on a vertical axis as you would the pages of a book. Turning on the vertical axis instead of flipping on the horizontal axis would switch the orientation of subsequent links, and that leads to trouble later on, come lacing time.)

 

c)  Join the third link just as you did the second one, by sliding the female ends of a new link through the female ends of the preceding link.

 

d)  Flip chain over again.  Repeat until you have a chain of the length desired, using an even number of links. 

 

Instead of counting, you can go by the configuration of the two end link tips; they should both be pointing down, like an M, or they should both be pointing up, like a W.  If one points up and the other points down, either add or subtract a link.  I prefer using a multiple of 4 when calculating the number of strips in a chain ring. It makes for neater sides.

 

In the case of our change purse, we want a chain about 11” long (twice the 5 ½” width).  If we are using 7/16” wide strips, this will require about 36 strips.

 

Periodically check that all your male ends are in the same orientation on your chain. As described above, your male ends will appear to the northwest and your female ends will appear to the northeast.  If you forget to flip the chain at some point and you end up with some of the male ends to the northeast, your piece will not hold together properly when you later lace it together.

 

4) Circle the chains to make rings

 

Here’s the trickiest step, linking the first (paper-clipped) link to the last so that your chain forms a circle.  Here’s how:

 

a)  Curve the chain into a circular shape. 

 

b)  Remove the paperclip from link #1.  

 

c)  Unfold the female ends of the final link. Let’s call it link #36.  Note that the ends of link #36 protrude out of  the two folded female ends of link #35.

 

d)  Take one of the unfolded female ends of link #36.  Have it extend past the two layers of one of the folded female ends of link #1, and then poke it into the slot in the center of link #1. 

 

e)  (Here comes the hardest part)  As soon as this opened female end of link #36 has exited the slot of link #1, slide it back into the  area of link #35 from whence that strip came.  It helps to use a tool for this—something thin and flat, such as a screwdriver —to guide the end of the strip back into place.   Repeat this procedure with the other opened end of link #36.  When this procedure is done correctly, the ring looks seamless.

 

 

5)  Lace the rings of chain together

 

a)  Use 18” of a sturdy thread (such as crochet cotton) and a tapestry needle to lace the links together.  Pass the needle and most of the thread through a single link in a chain and knot the thread’s tail to itself.  You will only need to do this once.  All subsequent threads will simply be tied to their predecessors. 

 

b)  Stack your first chain ring (with its thread and needle) on top of another chain ring.  Be sure that both rings are oriented so that male ends will adjoin female ends.  This is crucial for chains to be properly secured.  If a ring is not oriented correctly, try turning it inside out.

 

c)  Notice that each chain ring has an upper part (with points pointing up) and a lower part (with points pointing down).  First work along the face (or outside) of your piece.  Lace the two rings together by taking alternate “stitches” through the lower part of the upper chain and the upper part of the lower chain.  The thread will be hidden inside the folds of the links. Work only in one direction, say counterclockwise, while lacing around the outside of the ring.  The lacing, at this point, will not feel very secure.

 

d) Once you have laced all the way around the ring on the outside, pass the needle to the inside of the ring. Proceed lacing around again.  If you again work counterclockwise (but this time from the perspective of the inside of the ring), you will be lacing in the opposite direction from that in Step a above.  But that’s fine.  As you lace the inside, you will feel the two rings become a cohesive unit.  It’s very reassuring!

 

e) When you need to end one lacing thread and start another, simply knot the two threads together and rethread the needle.  It will be easy to hide the ends of thread and the knots inside the chains. 

 

f)  Once you have joined two rings together, join subsequent rings to those two.  You can build rings upward or downward.  Just be sure that you always have males and females conjoining.

Paper Beads

--brief description

At the February 2010 meeting Sue Kandel gave a mini-workshop on paper beads. Supplies:

Glue stick or white glue

Thin paper from magazines, gift warp, etc. Small busy, brightly colored patterns work best. Sometimes people just want black and white and once someone used the red, black and white off of a Netflix envelope.

Straw, either regular or coffee stirrers

Scissors, ruler, and pen that can write on glossy paper

Clear nail polish, white glue, or sparay shellac for finishing the batds. This can be done at home.

Cut strips 1" wide and then cut on the diagonal giving you two triangular shaped pieces of paper. Roll onto a small straw beginning at the wide end and ending at the pointy end. Add glue, using a glue stick, to the narrow end of the triangle.

When dry either cut straw or slip bead off straw and coat with clear nail polish or other finishing sealer.

There are lots of web sites including video demos to give you ideas of what to expect and creative ideas to execute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJKU0L2CKgM or http://paperbeads.org