Yarn From Old Newspapers
Today’s news, tomorrow’s textiles. A graduate from Design Academy Eindhoven, Greetje van Tiem, has found a distinctive and creative way to recycle old newspapers that have been sitting around. As part of a school assignment, van Tiem completed a project that turns newspapers into yarn, and although not quite the same as regular yarn, it can be spun tighter and woven into something like a mat to be nearly as durable and functional. These newspaper threads can be woven into products like rugs, curtains and upholstery for the home, to help create a very distinguishing look. The delicate yarn is handspun and requires few supplies: a pair of scissors, a spindle, and of course, the newspaper itself. Twenty yards of yarn can be made from each sheet of newspaper. Van Tiem calls the project Indruk. She says that it is possible to transpose yesterday’s news into tangible memories.
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on September 10th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Hey – that’s great!
Is something like this durable enough to knit with? Maybe not to wear – but to use for other knitted applications?
-Liz
on September 10th, 2008 at 9:45 am
This is nothing new, and has been done in Japan for a very long time.
In Japan, Washi paper is cut into thin strips, twisted and woven to make a cloth called Shifu. The Washi paper is treated with a starch of Konnyaku (devil’s tongue root), crumpled and cut into thin strips and twisted into yarn. The paper thread is used as weft, and the warp is usually of silk, cotton, or hemp. The resulting paper fabric becomes more pliable with use and is also strong enough to withstand washing.
Reference: http://www.takase.com/Washi/ArtOfWashi/Chapter04.htm
on September 10th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
thats great!
is it waterproof? does it have some kind of coating or something?
on September 17th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Yes, it is cool that this can be done, and yes, it is not new. I have spun similar twine from strips of recycled plastic grocery bags for a project introducing a series of college level teaching texts on art and ecology (http://www.avant-guardians.com). A basic knowledge of spinning on a drop spindle (thousands of years old) is all that is needed to do either paper or plastic. In addition to Shifu, which has been part of Japanese culture for hundreds (thousands?) of years, there are variations on this technology that are currently being used in small cooperatives in “developing” nations where they make products to sell in “developed” nations. You can find mats and other items made from spun or “rolled” newsprint sold as fair trade items at places like Ten Thousand Villages. Does this student’s experiment with an assignment from a “design” school in a “fully developed”, high tech, high consumption culture deserve special eco-recognition? I’m not so sure, since much of current design and art education is still rooted in the status eco-(nomical) quo. How can this yarn/twine/shifu be made in a truly sustainable way, by whom and for whose consumption and delight? At what price would she have to sell the mat she made to pay for the average lifestyle cost in the country in which she lives? Would she do the amount of labor required herself in order to make a local living? More importantly, were such questions part of the design assignment? I don’t read Dutch, so I am limited to the information presented in this blog in English. But I suggest that if these questions are left out of the design assignment, I’d give it a “D” – for Decadence – a grade not allocated to the student, but to the current western design education system.
on December 23rd, 2008 at 4:43 am
nice but not new. i found an interesting video about reuse newspaper as shopping bag. simple but useful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSfusvAP1vw