Krafty crafts?

January 10, 2008 3:26 PM

What cool things can I do with a big roll of brown kraft paper?

I'm in the process of trying to spruce up my apartment, and I bought a big roll of kraft paper to help me hang pictures on my walls. The pictures are up, and I have a lot of leftover kraft paper. Anyone have any fun ideas for things to do with this stuff? I know that a lot of people use kraft paper to wrap gifts. Are there any other cool, crafty things to do with it? Extra bonus points for ways that I can use my kraft paper to further spruce up my living space.

(Kraft paper, by the way, is the thick brown paper that they use to make things like paper grocery bags.)

posted by craichead to Home & Garden (16 answers total)

giant origami
posted by gnutron at 3:27 PM on January 10, 2008

>> giant origami

OMFG, I stopped in here to say this exact same thing! But I'll also add that giant paper mache (sp?) sculpture can be pretty cool, too...
posted by Pecinpah at 3:29 PM on January 10, 2008

Wrap a friends car in it.

Then hide around the corner with a video camera, post it on YouTube, and come back here to tell us about it.
posted by LarryC at 3:37 PM on January 10, 2008

Ever seen Project Runway? Ever worn a dress? You know what to do ... think about it.
posted by heyho at 3:44 PM on January 10, 2008

Kites!
posted by clockwork at 3:47 PM on January 10, 2008

Decoupage! You can cover just about anything with brown paper and a clear sealant (mod podge, watered down white glue, etc) for a leather look on storage tins, photo albums, frames, lamp shades...one idea here:

suitcase project

or even your walls.

Googling 'brown paper crafts' should give you enough ideas to keep you busy for a long while :-) Good luck and have fun.
posted by faineant at 3:50 PM on January 10, 2008

A good friend of mine did a wall in her living room that looks so amazing. It looks like leather. It's surprisingly rich and luxurious-looking. She took plain kraft paper and ripped it so that it was all rough edges, no smooth ones. She glued it randomly all over, covering the wall, lots of overlapping. She finished it with some matte polyurethane.
posted by iconomy at 3:50 PM on January 10, 2008

Save it for a special occasion and have a dinner party, using the kraft paper as the table covering. Pass out crayons and have your guests draw pictures!
posted by sarahnade at 4:48 PM on January 10, 2008

I wrap postal packages in it (boring) and also use it as wrapping paper for birthday gifts. If you can draw at all black and silver metallic sharpies take to it wonderfully.

I drew a huge comic on the top side of a wrapped silkscreen kit one year. I bought everyone books for Christmas one year in high school and those all got personalized comics as well. If you don't have a large flat rectangle to work with you can do all sorts of patterns and designs, instead of a comic.

Every Christmas the super late packages I send out have snowmen and such all over them. I am also a fan of drawing someone in the bottom left with a word bubble containing the address, and a thought bubble with the return address.

I also like to sniff freshly unrolled kraft paper and sigh dreamily.
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:02 PM on January 10, 2008

I came in here to say what sarahnade said.

Have a tournament of hangman, tic-tac-toe, the dot game, and any other games that are played on paper! Have lots of crayons all around. And drinks, of course.
posted by bassjump at 7:19 PM on January 10, 2008

Best answer: As I kid I used that stuff to make my own armadillo. I crumpled a bunch inside a grocery bag, and then wrapped it up with more brown paper, folded to make the banded part on his midsection. A few more wrapped up chunks of crumpled paper served as feet, tail, and head. The ears were, obviously, a few cut-out pieces of kraft paper, and a sharpie provided the eyes.

Unless you have a basement playroom like I did, I have no idea how you'd fit a paper armadillo into your decor. It was a fun project, though, and our cats always seemed to enjoy chewing on his feet.
posted by vytae at 7:42 PM on January 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

Save it until Halloween and make an undead army.

OK, save it until Memorial Day and then start making an undead army for Halloween. At chez Charlemagne we take frighting small children seriously.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 9:17 PM on January 10, 2008

wrap some textbooks like you are in 5th grade again
make a life sized flat stanley
posted by bottlebrushtree at 11:05 PM on January 10, 2008

Paint a wall. Kraft paper is a great alternative to covering your floor with plastic wrap or a canvas tarp before painting, provided you do one wall at a time; it's much neater, both on the ground and when you're cleaning up, and it's much easier to lay out without missing a spot.
posted by davejay at 11:11 PM on January 10, 2008

Cat toy. My cat has a ten foot length and he plays with it all day. He springs on it, goes skidding or sledding around the room on it (self-propelled, I might add: he runs across the rooms and leaps, then the paper slides like ten feet) sleeps in its crinkley goodness, hides his catnip fishes in it, stalks our ankles from inside its loops, and snuggles with it.

Cheapest cat toy you'll ever see, and if you're having company, you can just wad it up and toss it in your closet- when it comes out he will be insanely happy.

That is, if you have a cat.
posted by arnicae at 12:48 AM on January 11, 2008 [1 favorite]

Don't save it for anything. Use it extravagantly. There is so much paper there. A roll of brown paper has been part of my basic supplies for years and years. When I was a sculptor I made patterns for the canvas sculptures I made. Having a hugh supply can also lead to creative wrapping of presents. You will get used to having it around and uses arise if you stay aware.
posted by pointilist at 7:54 AM on January 11, 2008