I was browsing the hardware section at the store the other day and happened upon the duct tape. I knew that duct tape came in lots of fun colors these days, but I was still amazed at the selection I saw before me. I just couldn’t pass it without grabbing a few rolls in bright spring colors, and I knew that I wanted to make something fun with it.

I started thinking about Easter coming up, and an idea popped into my head… could I make an Easter basket out of duct tape? Sure, why not? I grabbed my newly-purchased tape, some scissors, pliers, and a couple of vinyl-coated clothes hangers and got to work.

I knew that the duct tape wouldn’t be strong enough to hold itself up, so the first step was to create a wire frame for the basket. I started by using the pliers to cut the hook part off the hangers.

Then I bent the hanger into a circle, leaving a 3″ piece at the end straight. Then I bent that straight piece so that it stuck straight up, like a tail. I did the same thing with the other hanger, but made this circle a bit smaller than the first one.

The next step was to close the loops. I just used a small piece of duct tape to hold the ends together, and wrapped it until it was secure.

With both loops completed, I took one of them and flipped it upside down, and lined up the extra tail pieces so that one was on each side.

I held the tail pieces — which were now the side supports for the basket — in place and secured them with some more duct tape. I flipped it so that the larger hoop was on top, and there was my completed basket frame!

Now it was time to cover the frame with duct tape. I started with a strip of tape that was long enough to cover one side and the bottom of the basket. I placed one end on the top edge of the basket, letting it stick up an inch or two beyond the wire.

Then I folded the top part over, securing it in place. I ran the rest of the tape down the side of the basket frame, stopping to press it onto the bottom of the frame.

I then ran the tape across the bottom of the basket frame, to the other side, and stopped. Okay, one piece down, lots more to go!

I grabbed another strip of another color of duct tape and did the same thing, overlapping the tape strips about a half an inch.

I kept going with more strips in alternating colors, working to eventually cover the frame.

When I got it halfway covered, I realized that the end of the strip on the bottom couldn’t hide and had to be trimmed neatly so that it would look good on top of the completed part of the bottom. I cut each one a little bit shorter than the last, so I ended up with a neat spiral design on the bottom.

At this point I had a nice basket that was very sticky on the inside, and a table edge full of scraps I had trimmed off the long pieces. So I took those pieces and used them to cover the bottom of the inside of the basket. I really like the patchwork look I ended up with.

For the sides of the inside, though, I wanted to continue with the striped design from the outside. So I used a bunch of 3-4″ pieces of tape and overlapped them until the inside was totally covered.

Here’s the completed basket, covered in tape.

It’s missing something, though, right? The handle! I started with a really long piece of duct tape that would be long enough to make a nice big handle on the basket. Then I folded one edge up about 1/3 of the way in.

Then I folded the other edge over, creating a nice strip of tape with no sticky sides exposed.

At this point, the strip of tape was nowhere near sturdy enough to stand up on its own as a handle, so I covered it with another strip, folding over the two edges the same as before. Then I covered that with another strip. Then another. In all, I used five layers of tape, finishing with yellow. If you want a really firm handle, you could always put a piece of wire inside to really make it sturdy.

I held one end of the handle in place inside the basket and secured it with a short piece of tape to hold it in place.

Then I took my time and added a longer strip, taking care to line it up nicely. Then I attached the other side in the same way.

I was so pleased with the results! The basket is ready to be stuffed with some colorful grass (see our tutorial for making paper grass) and filled with candy and Easter eggs on Easter morning.