If you’re anything like me, your “junk drawer” is filled with condiment packets, plastic utensils and chopsticks. Sometimes they come in handy — like the one time in college when my roommates and I had an epic dish-washing standoff and we all resorted to eating everything with chopsticks rather than clean our utensils. (Yes, everything. Even cereal. I’m not proud.) Lately they’ve just been taking up space, but no more, thanks to these inventive chopstick arts and crafts. Who knew a free side of cool DIY decor comes with that Kung Pao chicken?
This chopstick placemat from RightAtHome is practical and easy to make. A little glue, a little burlap and your table’s totally protected from scratches, burns and water rings. Don’t have many pairs of chopsticks to spare? Try a trivet instead.
Joy from HowJoyful put this impressive chopstick lampshade together, and though I have never been so wild at a party that I put a lampshade on my head…I would don this lampshade gladly. It is that stylish.
Danny Seo is responsible for this DIY diffuser that’s sure to be your powder room’s new BFF. He filled a small Pellegrino bottle with essential oil and dressed it up with twine. The chopsticks (shaped with a pencil sharpener) are porous enough to suck up the oil and gently perfume the air.
If you love sushi AND sunburst mirrors, you’re in luck! Lori of Sort Of Creative fashioned this beauty from chopsticks and wooden skewers, which you’d never guess at a glance. If you’re a few California rolls away from having enough chopsticks to pull this off, you can attempt our sunburst mirror tutorial using branches or twigs instead.
You may be wondering where the “art” from the title of the post comes in. It comes in here. Take a look at this chopstick wall art by Michelle of delicateCONSTRUCTION. I swear, I’ve seen similar pieces made from metal that cost a pretty penny. If you make this, you probably just saved yourself a couple hundred bucks, so don’t feel bad about your once a week Pad Thai habit anymore, okay?
So, which of these chopstick crafts sticks with you? And what common material would you like to see MacGyver tackle in the future? Tell me in the comments!
My "junk drawer" is filled with something else.
Wow, that lampshade is so cool.
I bet that was a sight to see…eating cereal with chopsticks! Anyway…I love all the different crafts that you've shown done with the chopsticks.
It definitely was a sight! They also baked a birthday cake for me in a frying pan and we ate it with chopsticks, too. Very glad to have a dishwasher in my apartment now. Thanks, Elaine!
That placemat looks totally do-able. I generally am not a fan of placemats, but this one I dig.
I have a drawer full of chopsticks. Now I'm kind of inspired!