how to make yarn (or seed tape) from old newspapers

After stumbling upon the paperphine blog, I really felt the need to make paper yarn myself (even more so as my (physical) mailbox was overflowing with (real paper) junk mail)! In her blog, she talks about cutting the paper into thin strips (obviously) and then dampening it (very useful) before spinning. The dampening comes in very handy as you will now see... behold!

Dry paper strips behave somewhat like this... they crumple and gristle and don't really want to be spun... they'll be very hard to get onto the bobbin of your spinning wheel (btw, I recommmend a spinning wheel — or supported spindle — for making paper yarn, but I'll go into this further at some point later in the post).

Yet, if it's too wet, it ill disintegrate immediately (or later in the process when it's pulled onto the bobbin).

And here's how it should look: smooth, somewhat fibery (triangular shape) and very obedient. Still, it's very very fragile, so be careful not to break it.

For dampening, I put the cut strips (cut them when dry! 1-1,5 cm wide should be a good start) onto a damp cloth (soaked in hot water and thoroughly wrung out), rolled the cloth to a loose roll and let it sit for some minutes. The perfect time for this has yet to be determined, as it was my first try and pretty makeshift everything. Nevertheless, I can give some advice on determining the right amount of humidity. If it's too dry,  it will still crackle and don't spin well, just dampen it for a few more minutes. If too wet, you'll be able to see the letters from the back shining through (depends on the paper, though) and it will feel too heavy and fragile overall. Let some of the water evaporate before spinning. After a few tries, you'll get the hang of it, no worries!

Basically, you can handle it like any other fiber, it's just way more fragile, so put the tension on your wheel to next to nothing and carefully guide it anywhere it goes. Slooooow treadle, too. As the damp paper can't bear much strain, a drop spindle would not be exactly the best choice (although, if you manage to do it, please tell me about it so I can include your experiences!), but a supported spindle should work great :)

If you're an avid guerilla gardener (and spinner) like myself, you'll probably also have this train of thoughts: ... wait... spinning wheel... wet paper... wet paper... SEEDS! SEED BOMBS! SEED TAPE! SEED DETonationCORD! OMGmustdo!! :D

So that's what I did, haha! Just choose some handy seeds, not too small (or "glue" the small ones to the paper beforehand and then roll them in like a pizza wrap), nor too bulky (for any larger seeds, you'd also have to cut wider strips of paper... about 8-10 times the width of the seeds worked for me :D). I'll show you more pics of the seeds when I get back, I'm off to university now! *dash*

And here is the finished thingy :D

Your hands will probably look like this... printer's ink...

 

A little sidenote on seeds: I used Cosmea seeds that I got form my mother, unfortunately they were full of non-seed matter that I somehow had to get rid of. The easiest way to to this is to put the seeds in a small bowl (box, glass, anything), constantly shaking them a bit and blowing on them very lightly — the light spelts will fly away and the heavier seeds will stay inside. Yay!

Your dress will look like this... full of spelts and stipe bits.

But hey, now you got seeds only in your box :D