Hand-woven Paper Chewing Gum Chain

Look what I found up in my closet.  I forgot all about it.  Store in the back of my closet, is a box of stuff that I have kept from my childhood.

Proof I have been a papercrafter from a long time ago.

This is a gum chain.  I made it when I was in seventh grade...that would put me at about 12 years old.  Okay, do some math here Val, that would make the chain 41 year old.  Oh how did that happen.  Never mind, back to the chain.

The chain is made from paper gum wrappers.  My girlfriend Paula and I would collect a series of papers from particular types of chewing gum.  It took all five wrappers to make one section.  The best part was getting some rare types like Clove.  No one chewed that gum. 

We would trade wrappers in order to finish a section.

My chain measured 13 feet 8 inches long.

By carefully, hand tearing each paper in half, then making a series of folds, would make one link.  The link would then be interwoven into the chain. 

I like the look of this paper chain and am going to try it out with some scrap paper I have to use as trim on a project.  I'll let you know how it turns out.