We all loved these like crazy when we saw them. They're 14" x 18" placemats, handwoven using recycled paper bound with cotton thread. Kind of a newsprint color. The printing creates beautiful random patterns. Sometimes you think you can almost see a letter or a word....you'll just have to see them to understand. As for the uses, well, the name certainly hints at the most likely one. You could gently over dye them with cotton dyes (pastels would allow the character to still show), they can be hand painted, stamped, or printed upon. They make a cool background for mounting artwork or photos. You can cut them up and they hold together pretty well. You can wash them, if you do it carefully, by hand, and they will still shrink a couple of inches.