The Sorting Process: Part One

I decided it would be easiest to sort the magazines by title and then by date, in an effort to keep things (somewhat) organized.  I have found some interesting and timely gems, such as a Harper’s Bazaar from January 1996 that has Whitney Houston on the cover, Fortune from March 17, 2008 with Steve Jobs on the cover and, somewhere, in one of the boxes surrounding me, is the Harper’s Bazaar with Princess Diana on the cover.

I have seen a few other examples online of stools and tables made from magazines that are rolled up for stability and that seems like a reasonable idea.  Even if their primary purpose was as art, they looked fairly sturdy.  I also found one wall  shelf made from old issues of National Geographic Magazine, where the magazines were soaked in a cornstarch and water solution and allowed to cure for a week or so, then cut like wood to make the shelf.  I liked all of these ideas and I have pinned many of them on Pinterest ( http://pinterest.com/princesssachs/ )  if you want to check them out for inspiration or to see what it is that started me off on this whole crazy episode.

Halfway through the sorting process. There are plenty more where these came from and I just found another box of magazines hiding under a pile of fabric!

I think it will take quite a few magazines so I have had to tap into the upstairs stash after all and the sorting process is taking a while.  I still haven’t decided if I want to paint the finished product, but in case I don’t,  I think it would look visually appealing if I grouped each magazine together and then roll them up carefully so they still spell out the name of the magazine once they are placed in a row.  I have an old aluminum pole that I have kept for years that I think will make an interesting central support for the shelves, an old bag of wooden chopsticks, some small rectangles of wood from an old shoe store display wall,  and plenty of flat cardboard, cardboard tubes and various bits of plastic to act as joints and braces on the interior, to keep if from collapsing in on itself. Twine, duct tape and clear tape are the only other things I plan to use right now, but that could start changing on a second to second basis.

I collected everything I think I will need and put it on my work table so that I can find it once I get started. Obviously, I have a few different projects going on right now and everything needs more space!

I am far too impatient to wait a week for the magazines to cure with the cornstarch solution if I don’t have to, so I plan to start by rolling up enough magazines to build the base level of the shelf and then see how stable it is.   My theory is that if the base is wide enough and I use enough magazine rolls on the sides as supports, I should be able to stabilize it with the center pole as it gets taller and narrower.  I’m hoping it will support two shelves that I will make doors for and at least two shelves atop those that are narrower and also have doors.  I haven’t figured out the doors yet, but I’m kicking around a few ideas that have potential.

Now, back to sorting so I can get onto the rolling and discover if my method for making the magazine rolls is going to work as well as I hope it will!