Pen holder with magazine papers

This is totally a DIY with least materials involved .I made this pen holder long back but I did not capture the step by step process as I was not blogging at that time.I mean some 8 months ago.I thought this would be a great idea to share with everyone so made it again.I learnt this from a YouTube tutorial in foreign languages.I am not even sure what the language is but I am sure it is not English :P.Even though it was a video,It was quite tough to follow.When I attempted it for the first time ,it was a epic fail!With some experiment again and again ,I finally got it. Another thing which made to do this is, when I was studying school my dad bought a wooden pen holder of similar kind that I am going to show you.At that time , I was like wondering how people can make such a beautiful pen holder.I even made some trials with popsicle sticks but I did not get it right.Now when I feel about that, I feel really great !! I will update a photo of that pen holder when I go home for vacation.Now to the DIY part.
                                       
Materials Used :
1.Magazine papers
2.Glue
3.2 Cardboard piece of 10 X 10 cm
4.Bamboo Skewer (If you don't have one ,Use any round thing like a long screw driver to help you make your work easier)
5.Scissors
6.Spray paint (Optional-Not shown in the picture)

Step 1: Rolling the papers.For this fold the magazine paper into half and cut it.Keep the bamboo skewer at an angle as shown (picture 2).Roll the paper till you ran out of it.When you come to the end,apply glue and roll it to complete.Remove the skewer.Repeat this steps and make a lot of them.Lot I mean around 60 to 70.You can do this while watching a netflix movie or a tv show. :)

This is want I mean a lot :)

Step 2:Take a cardboard piece and cover it with magazine paper.Cut the magazine paper leaving around 1/2 inch on all sides .Make a diagonal cut at the corners as shown(Picture 7) and glue it to the cardboard.(Picture 8).Repeat the same for another cardboard piece.You can use the shipping boxes /pizza boxes for the cardboard pieces.Glue 2 rolled papers on left side bottom corner (Picture 9) and one rolled paper on all other sides.

Step 3:Apply generous amount of glue and place another cardboard piece as shown(Picture 11).

                                     

Step 4:Next we can start creating the wonder! .Take the top rolled paper at the left bottom corner say A as shown (Picture 12) and fold it as shown.It should lie parallel to the cardboard piece AB .Now take the rolled paper from right bottom B and fold it over the AB rolled strip and it should lie parallel to BC (Picture 13).Next take the rolled strip from C top right and fold it over the BC strip so that it is parallel to CD.(Picture 14).Take the rolled strip from D and fold it over the CD strip so that it is parallel to DA.(Picture 15).

Step 5 :Take the bottom rolled strip from A(We glued two strips here!!.Hope you remember that) and fold it parallel to the already folded AB strip.(Picture 16).Repeat the same steps by folding one over the other starting from A to D in Counter clockwise direction.When you ran out of the strip,take another strip and just insert it to the already existing one.No glue is required .It will automatically fit ,if you have rolled all the strips of same size(Size I mean the diameter).If you feel it is not fitting try some other strips or apply little glue at the end and insert it.

Insert the strip in such a way that almost 1/4 th length of the strip goes inside the other.Don't keep folding till the end, insert the rolled strips before it is going to get over .

Step 6: Repeat the process till you reach the desired height.Picture 18 shows half of the pen holder.Picture 19 shows the completed one.After reaching the desired height ,glue the strips to already existing one and trim the excess.The completed look is shown in picture 20.Voila!You are done!!If you are not okay with the magazine look,you can spray paint it with colour of your choice.Right side of the picture below shows the look of spray painted one.

I would strongly recommend to use bamboo skewer/any round object to roll the papers to maintain the equal size and make it easy for you.When I was trying it for the first time I just rolled the papers with hand without any guide ,because of that I ended up making a lot of rolling as one rolled strip did not fit into other .I glued some.It was a total mess.But this time when I tried with bamboo skewer ,it was very easy to roll the papers.So, I don't want you to end up in a mess and give up making this pen holder.Even though you don't want it as a pen holder you can increase the height and use it as a flower vase or just as an home decor piece.

You need not want to make any twists or turns to make this shape,the foldings that we make will automatically end up as shown.Definitely, give a try and you will feel like as if you have created a wonderful architectural piece.

Feel free to share your comments or ask any doubts in the comments below or write a mail to vikalpah@gmail.com. I will be happy to hear from you and help you.

If you try this don't forget to share a pic with me in any of my social media sites.Have fun crafting!!