Black and White and Re(a)d All Over: Making Newspaper Wrapping Paper Look Fancy

Intro: Black and White and Re(a)d All Over: Making Newspaper Wrapping Paper Look Fancy

Reusing newspaper to wrap presents is cheap and eco-friendly. Only problem is, people usually think you are a cheap jerk when you use it to wrap stuff. This simple Instructable will teach you how to spruce up your newspaper so people can tell how much you care. This Instructable assumes you know how to print an image using a silk screen. If you don't know how, I would suggest you look at Screen Printing: Cheap, Dirty, and at Home.

Also this is my first Instructable, so lemme know if I can improve.

STEP 1: Gather the Ingredients

You will need:
Screen--already exposed with image and ready to go. I did mine by putting marigolds on the screen and squishing them down with a sheet of glass and exposing the screen in the sun.
Squeegee
Screen printing ink
Toothbrush--this just seems really handy for printing. You can use it to put ink onto the screen and when you are done you can use it to scrub it off!
Newspaper--lots of this. Put some down so you don't make a mess. Save the coolest sheets for printing on. I found color pages and pages with huge mostly black ads worked really well. Try printing with whatever pages you like best.

STEP 2: Printing

Lay out your sheet of paper on top of your work area. Place screen on top. Put some ink along one edge of the screen (see picture). Spread ink across with squeegee. Pull screen away carefully.

STEP 3: Make Designs

For best quality, you should make sure to wait between printings. After you print once, if you want to print again right next to where you just printed you have to wait for the first printing to dry. Otherwise you will get wet ink on the bottom of the screen and smudge it all over. I chose to go with an "artistic" approach which means I let it smudge some of the time. You can make stripes of repeating patterns, space them out around images in the paper, or overlap lots of repetitions. See the examples below.

STEP 4: Wrap Presents!

When you are done printing, lay your pages out to dry. When they are dry it is time for wrapping! Here's a package I wrapped for my girlfriend using one of my favorite pages. It took her a few minutes to realize I'd made the paper myself! I hope your friends and family enjoy!

Comments

[ourika]

This is pretty, but the people who think you're a cheap jerk for using newspaper are terrible. I knew my partner of 11 years was the one for me when during our first year together I received my first wrapped gift in newspaper because it was known that I hate all that wasted wrapping paper and never buy or use it! I never thought to paint-up the newspaper. I've been using towels or stealing comics out of the recycling bins of folks who still receive paper delivery.

[SMU79]

I am a cheap jerk- but now they won't know that until after they unwrap the present. THANKS

[bob31415]

Hi I'm from Ecuador. Your instructable is very funny! LOL!!!!

[GorillazMiko]

wow, that looks very nice, looks like leaves! thanks for showing, i love this instructable! (favorited)