DIY Vintage Wrapping No 1: Norwegian Spisspose

Did you wonder what I’ve been using all those Digital Christmas Collages for? Well for starters I wrapped some of my Christmas gifts as traditional Norwegian “Spisspose”:

Spisspose (roughly translated into “pointed bag”) is really super easy to make, but creates a fun, triangular shape gift, suitable for small items or candy! It’s pretty much a semi-flat, closed cone. 🙂

Back in the day, when all goods were sold “over the counter” the Norwegian merchants would wrap any kind of edible goods like this, from coffee crounds, to spices, to toffees!  This was before plastic bags and ready made portions were left on shelves for self serve shopping! And a looong time before super markets of any kind. Although some modern, fancy grocery stores have kept (or re-installed) the counters for exclusive treats and fresh produce, but these days the goods are wrapped in cling film…lol

The easiest way is to use a square piece:

Instructions:

• Fold one side across the middle, without creasing it.
• Fold the other side across the middle, also without creasing it.
• Tape along the “seam”, I used double sided tape underneet the second side, to hide the tape, but you can also use clear tape or some pretty washi tape on top if you like.
• Fill the content into your Spisspose
• Fold the top down, also without creasing it, and tape it shut.

Or create a fancy closure of your liking. Brads, twine, seals: pick what you prefer for your gift! I chose a string closure for one of mine, since I wanted the receiver to be able to open and close the Spisspose many times, while enjoying the candy inside!

BTW: the candy peaking out is a very typical candy from my childhood (the 70ies). They are called Polkagriser, which would roughly translate into “Pigs dancing polka”… I have no idea about the origin of the name! Polkagriser are still very common (I believe) in Sweden, I half suspect that they are originally Swedish. They are peppermint flavored, although not nearly as sweet as the American/British candy canes and peppermint sweets. But so, so yummy, and so hard to get these days, they no longer sell them in the stores, like they used to when I was growing up 😦 I ordered mine online from the largest Norwegian manufacturer in Oslo 😉 Next year I’ll ask Maryann to buy them for me in Denmark, where they are also common, and I believe a lot cheaper than here!

The other Spisspose is made from a rectangular shape. Also the sheet is larger, it’s an A3 size (twice the size of an A4-sheet, for you Americans who are not so familiar with the European sizes).

This Spisspose was made in a more accurate way, by more or less rolling it into a large cone, taping the side seam to secure it, folding a small piece of the bottom up to make sure no treats escape (thus you don’t have to be perfectly accurate when rolling the Spisspose), and finally folding the top down and taping it shut. The merchants would make Spisspose like this, with any size paper, not necessarily square, and they would do it in seconds!

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