I saw the weekly challenge for chopsticks and for some reason, this popped into my head. They actually turned out pretty nice. I will have to use them to see how durable they are. Wood is good for heat resistance (NOT FLAME...) and that's why they use wooden utensils in most kitchens. I hope they last but even if they don't, at least they look nice hanging as art.

Step 1: Gather Tools and Materials

I went to my local Chinese restaurant and ended up buying 20 sets of chopsticks for $2.00 (they also threw in free fortune cookies).

Besides chopsticks (I used 39 chopsticks total for both trivets), I gathered the following:
- Scissors
- Ribbon
- Mechanical Pencil (for spacing)
- Glue (I used Loctite Super Glue - It sets in 10 seconds)
- Scotch Tape (not pictured)

I also used a scrap piece of paper to glue my trivets over.

Step 2: Flexible Trivet

First, I laid out my ribbon and a horizontal chopstick so that I can try and make the trivet square. Then I laid the ribbon down on a piece of paper, securing it to the paper on either end. After everything looked good and I picked out the nicest looking chopsticks and began gluing them down.

I used a mechanical pencil to do the spacing (as seen in the second and third picture). The amount of glue that I needed was incredibly minimal. I used about 4 tiny-tiny drops per chopstick and it is holding up really well.

Step 3: Flexible Trivet Finished

After I glued down all of the chopsticks, I made sure I had enough by holding one horizontal to it again. Alas, it was square. I let the glue sit for 5 for minutes and then I carefully pulled the trivet from the paper just enough so that I could get my scissors under it to cut the ribbon very close to the ends.

Here is the finished flexible trivet.

Note: If you make a longer version of this, you could use it to make your own sushi.

Step 4: Rigid Trivet

First, glue two sets of chopsticks together to make a good base. I started this one by making a very solid square shape (or the best that I could). I used the 'X' shape to help with that. After that, just space and glue down to the base chopsticks. Much like the first trivet I showed except we are gluing to chopsticks to make this trivet rigid.

Step 5: Rigid Trivet Finished

Here is the finished rigid trivet. Just let the structure dry for a few minutes and make sure that there is NO glue residue on top or in areas that a hot pan could touch (glue could ruin the pan and/or release noxious gases).

Step 6: Display (Rigid Trivet) or Store (Flexible Trivet)

We actually had an empty space above our stove (I used a screw in hook). Maybe I will make 2 more to fill in the extra space.

The flexible trivet rolls up well and fits nice in our drawers next to the hot pads.

Thanks for looking!

"If it ain't broke, make it better!" - Chris W.