Handmade Fireplace Logs

To make handmade fireplace logs, all you need is a large amount of newspaper, a wooden dowel (or a metal rod, shower curtain rod or closet rod) about 3/4-1+ inch diameter, a few drops of dish soap and some water.

Do not use slick, colored paper from sales inserts and circulars etc. Telephone book pages may be used, though they are small and must be torn out of the book.

Fill a kitchen sink or a large tub 1/2 full with water (warm will be more comfortable for your hands). Add a few drops of dish soap and stir. Run newspapers, folded in half lengthwise, like you are reading the front page, through the water. Wrap the now-wet newspaper around the dowel and smooth paper down as you wrap. Overlap the next piece a few inches over the end of the previous one and continue to add more newspaper until the log is as big as you like it. Wiggle or twist the dowel/rod as you slip the paper log from the dowel.

Stand the 'logs' on end outdoors in a protected area out of the rain. If good weather is predicted they can be left in the sun and they will dry faster. Place them to dry on piles of clean dried leaves, flattened cardboard boxes, or in mesh crates with plenty of space between them so air may circulate around them.

Over the next few days, rotate the logs to place the opposite end up, and move them around to ensure all the sides get dry. When thoroughly dried they may be burned just like regular logs. Store them in a dry location. Cotton or jute twine may be tied around each log to hold them together, if the final edge curls up or you wrapped them loosely.