Matzo Ball Soup: #7 How-to make a newspaper basket (Teneh) for Shavuot

One of the many great traditions of Shavuot is to make a Teneh (basket) filled with fruits and vegetables. I have never weaved a basket before (or at least I don’t remember so) but I was up for the challenge and so were the girls. A couple of months ago I visited a studio of a friend (Guy Lugashi) who weaved Huge baskets out of brown paper. Inspired by his work we started in a much smaller and manageable scale, using some left over newspaper that was lying around the house.

This is an easy tutorial and I think you will find wanting to make many more to use around the house for general storage purposes.

I found that weaving the basket is better for older children (7 and up), but if you have younger ones they will love helping out in the process and paint it at the end.

^{Zoe's Teneh}
You will need:

Newspaper
Scissors
Stapler or tape
Paints and brushes (optional)

How to:

Break the newspaper apart (take the center staples out)
Fold each sheet ,the long way, over till you get strips of about 1 1/2” wide. Folding the paper is important for making a strong and durable basket). the length is not that important, if your strips are too short, you may staple a couple of them together.
Start by weaving the base from the center out (we used 4 horizontal and 4 vertical strips). Stop when you think your basket is the right size.
Start to weave the vertical sides. Staple the first strip close to the base and go around the base lifting the strips up to a 90 degrees angle. Keep a consistent pattern of over and under. You may staple as you turn the corner (staples may be pulled out at the end).
Cut the access of newspaper strip
Repeat for multiple rows till you reach your desired height (our basket was 3 rows tall).
When you are done, fix the top row by stapling or gluing the ends. You may fold the edge inside or trim it into a pattern. Zoe cut it into triangles which I thought came out very nice.
Use another newspaper folded strip for a handle, weave it into the side of the basket and secure it.
You may paint it at the end, or decorate with flowers and other greens.
Use your Teneh to carry your lunch to school this week, or carry your Shavuot picnic supplies, Either way, Enjoy it.