Papyrus Press

The Papyrus Press is a project to upcycle compressed paper into a simple desk tidy or pen holder.

It's a very simple of Micarta.

It's simple and only requires a few parts:

• Used paper
• Glue (best to use one the glue hard and fast)
• Brush (for spreading the glue)
• Cardboard or 3mm Ply (suitable for a laser cutter)

Step 1: Find Some Paper

Go on, pop ofter to you favourite skip or bin and find some of that sweet, sweet used paper.

Step 2: The Glue Up

Find some fast drying glue and get to work!

Glue layer by layer and trying the mix the colours and patterns to give a nice grain in the finished product.

Try to glue in sets of 10-20 pages this is to speed up the drying prosses and to help with aligning the pages.

After each block is done (you can do more than one at a time!) us a heavy object to keep constant pressure on them.

Store them in a dry place once the glue has been added. Use a hairdryer if you have to!

Step 3: Clamp, Fix and Cut

Keep you block clamped for as long as you can.

If you see anything the may need fixing with some more glue add it here.

Cut your block up in the desired length (we used a band saw but a handheld will work just be as accurate as you can)

Step 4: Laser Cut Upper Panels

Nock up some files in Illustrator and be as creative as you like!

Step 5: Glue Uppers to Base

Glue the upper section to the base and wait..... just wait for the glue to fully dry this can take up to 24 hours so hold on!

P.S. The other photo shows a second way to finish the tidy it works but is a little less nice.

Step 6: Enjoy