I bought a "Pot Maker" (Tm) from a seed catalog to make pots out of newspaper. It is great but cutting strips of paper is tedious so I came up with this technique. I found a scrap piece of 3/4" PVC with an elbow on it and cut it to be 10" from the edge of the elbow. I then wrapped one sheet of newspaper around the pipe and cut it on the end of the pipe. I then slice the newspaper down the length of the pipe and presto! I had a nice stack of newspaper strips all ready for the Pot Maker (Tm).

Step 1: Get Everything Ready

You will need:

A piece of 3/4" schedule 40 pipe. It should be about 1" in diameter, cut to 10" as shown.
A Sheet of Newspaper (not shown).
A sharp knife like my box cutter here.
A Pot Maker (Tm).

Step 2: Roll Up News Paper

Roll newspaper onto pipe as shown. If you are using a two page sheet put the fold away from the elbow so it will get cut off on the next step.

Step 3: Cut the Newspaper

First cut the end off by feeling for the edge of the pipe. This give you a 10" tube of newspaper. Then make a slit the whole length of the pipe. Be careful to make the cut straight and to cut all the layers of newspaper.

Step 4: Use Your Strips

You now should have a stack of strips for use with the Pot Maker (Tm). The inner ones are slightly shorter than the recommended 3.5" and the outer ones are slightly longer but this just makes shorter and taller pots respectively.

You should now follow the Pot Makers (Tm). instruction (roll, fold, press). I find that two strips of newspaper make for a better pot but that is up to you.