Heart-shaped basket tray weaving with diagrams

A heart-shaped receptacle for all those little things.

THIS heart-shaped tray is made using the weaving method. If you use cardboard as the base, you can weave a basket  tray fairly quickly without having first to form the base out of the recycled paper straws. The round cover on the left in the photo shows how a base is usually woven first before the stakes are bent and the weavers are added to form the wall.

For this project, the stakes are glued around the edge of the base first and then raised up. The weavers are added in and woven together in the pair-weaving method.
Twirls of colour: Delightful woven trays for your knick-knacks.

Tray

From magazines, flyers and stiff cardboard

You need:

    A4 flyers and magazine pages
    A4 stiff cardboard – 2 pieces
    A4 scrap paper
    PVA glue
    Pencil and ruler
    Scissors and cutter
    Felt cloth
    Craft varnish (optional)

The heart basket tray weaving

1. Measure and divide the flyers and magazine pages into eight strips along the length and cut them out. Roll each strip into a straw, with one end wider and the other, tapering.

2. Cut 15 strips into half and roll them up to make shorter straws.

3. Fold the scrap paper into half, lengthwise. Follow the diagram to mark the position of the dots and draw guidelines for the heart shape. Draw curves at the top before cutting the template out.

4. Follow the template to cut out two pieces of hearts from stiff cardboards.

5. Glue two short paper straws, about 1.5cm from one end, to the top and bottom tip of the middle of a heart cardboard. Arrange and evenly space out 14 paper straws onto the left side of the heart before gluing them onto the board. Then glue another 14 paper straws to the edge of the right side of the heart.

6. Spread glue evenly onto the other piece of heart cardboard and place it over the cardboard with the straws.

7. Apply pressure over the cardboard by placing a few heavy books on the top, to make sure that the pieces are stuck together firmly.

8. Remove the books and push all the straws upwards to form stakes.

9. Place a long straw behind a stake and another in front of it. These are the weavers. Crisscross the weavers to sandwich the stakes from opposite sides. When the weavers get shorter, join another straw firmly into their ends and continue to weave to form the sides of the tray.

10. Finish weaving when the sides are about 5cm high. Glue the ends of the weavers onto the inside of the cone. Then bend the stakes at the top to the right and tuck the ends in between the weaves on the inside of the tray. Glue them.

Follow the heart template to cut out a heart from the piece of felt. Place it inside the wicker basket tray to cover it.