Jill Of All Trades

Practical Origami, Newspaper Recycling, and a Guerilla Gardening idea



While searching for a more practical use for origami than continuing to fold billions of cranes, I stumbled across instructions to fold seed starter pots out of old newspapers. You know those fancy, expensive pots you can get at the garden center - the ones made of packed peat, that you can plant directly into the ground (as they decompose)? This is a much cheaper, and possibly greener, DIY option. Not only is it recycling old newspapers (rather than using up more natural resources) - because it's origami, there's also no staples, tape, or glue to fall into or contaminate the surrounding soil.


The instructions are here, and consist of 14 easy-to-follow (or I thought so, at least) instructions. If I have time later, I may put up my own version of the tutorial, especially as it relates to the newspaper proportions - the tutorial-writer lives in Japan and is using a Japanese newspaper, which from the pictures seems to have different proportions than most ones here in the U. S. I've just tried it with normal 8"x11" paper (not with newspaper), so the proportions and sizes may turn out different. I'll come back with an update - soon, I hope!

- Miz L.