Plaiting or is it weaving with bus tickets

i always seem to do it to myself and i'm obviously a sucker for punishment but i'm still plodding through the bus tickets. it all stemmed from conserving a straw bonnet at work and weaving japanese paper strips to match missing areas of  straw plait. i enjoyed the rhythmical nature of the plaiting and thought i would remember it for future use!

Travelling about on the bus here in Devon leaves me with a purse full of tickets i always think a waste to throw away and at last i'm putting them to some good use.

the tickets themselves are quite small 6cm x 8cm so i join about 4 together with adhesive and then cut them into 3mm wide strips! i'm using 5 strips to plait, joining more on when needed. when finished they look a bit stark although the backs are quite colourful with 'McDonald's', 'Subway' or 'Burger King' vouchers on the back - just think of all those missed meals i could have had (or not), perhaps that's another work for the future.

the great thing about the paper they use is that it's heat sensitive so i take an iron to the plait which makes the front a beautiful dark grey. i then wax the whole strip and construct them into reticule type containers using traditional bonnet making techniques by spiralling round and stitching the edge of the braid through the layer underneath.

a taster of part of the finished item. i dread to think how much i have spent on tickets!