Craftswap Love December 22, 2009

Every now and then I receive something through a craft swap that is just so damn awesome and sexy that I need to share it with the rest of the world. This is one of those times. I run the risk of shooting myself in the foot here because there is nothing I could make that would surpass the gloriousness you are about to see.

Plus, this site has been pretty hurtin’ for content recently.

BEHOLD!

Yup. I’m a nerd. I love Mario and all things Mario related. These melted bead creations you are seeing are from Super Mario Bros and Super Mario Bros 2, respectively.

Seriously though, how awesome is THAT!?!?

Power Through December 21, 2009

This project has become less about getting rid of all my crafting supplies and more about finishing that Lace Ribbon Scarf. I continue to attack that thing…once a week. I know. It should be at least twice a week.

I’ve already picked out my next few projects. They’re all yarn related. That’s because what I have most of is yarn. Exciting stuff.

So, next TWO projects are for my next swap partner:

A Dog Facecloth

Mary Jane Slippers (which I will most likely at some point make for myself)

The next swap I am starting is a Bath and Beauty swap due in February. This will be a little something extra to throw in the package. She has two dogs and I don’t know a whole lot else about her.

Below you will find pics of stenciling in progress. It’s the best I have for now. I made this shirt for a craft swap and I heard that the recipients daughter really like it. So, here it is:

Ta-da! I cut that stencil out all by myself with an exacto knife. Still in love with freezer paper.

I also completed that cowl I was working on, but in my rush to make it to the post office, I forgot to take a picture. Hopefully the recipient will do that and I can share it with you all.

Since we last spoke… December 10, 2009

I have been crafting. I swear. Here are three things I have going on:

1. T-Shirt Stenciling: I stenciled a fawn on to a t-shirt yesterday. Came out great. I hope to move on to more complicated stencils soon.

2.  I am going to start working on this hood/cowl for a craft swap

It’s super easy and a great first project if you’re learning how to knit in the round. I love cowls oh so much.

3. My dear old friend the Lace Ribbon Scarf has grown a few inches in the last week. It’s a weird pattern and a little complicated, but once I get started on it on the regular it becomes much easier to pick up randomly and do a few rows. I wound yarn for it the other night and realized that I absolutely can’t wait until I am done with it.

This years Bazaar Bizarre was disappointing. Everything seemed over priced and/or easy to make. I did pick up some awesome things though. Let’s review my purchases…

1. Three pairs of stud earrings that were made using polymer clay.

2. 4oz of orange/yellow/brown roving to spin into my own yarn

3. A tape measure with a crochet ladybug cover.

I can’t wait to learn how to spin my own yarn. It’s scary! 

Tonight, Erin, Angelina, myself and others will be going to Bead and Purl in Newton to do a wireworking class. Full report tomorrow!*

*eventually

I know, I know… December 2, 2009

When I started this blog a few months ago I made a promise to myself that I would not let the content lag. Well, here we are. Two weeks and no recent posts. I’m sorry. This doesn’t mean that I have not been crafting. I just haven’t been crafting anything new to show you.

I’ve recently been wrapped up in the world of craft swaps again. The swap that I chose to participate in is  one where I can post what I want and someone picks something from that list to make for me. I get to pick from someones list as well. This ensure that I get stuff that I want and I get to use supplies that I already have.

I was able to make things for two swappers this past time. To one, I am sending a stenciled skill shirt for her daughter and some crochet hookes. The other, in Germany, got scrapbook paper and soap.

I *should* be receiving a handmade recipe book and hair accessories from one. And a birds nest necklace from the other. For those, I will post photos.

The past two weeks I have been mostly making soap and stenciling t-shirts. I may be in a little bit of a rut as far as picking other projects goes. I am not really in the mood to sew anything. The lovely and light fabrics that I picked up a few years or months ago are not suited to winter skirt making and I hope, as I do at the beginning of every winter, that when the time comes for me to make those skirts, I will be at least 4 sizes smaller. So, why make them now? Welcome to my brain.

I’m bored with jewelry making. I can only make so many beaded necklace strands or put a bead on an earring finding. Boring. Challenge, please.

Knitting is fun. It’s winter. And that’s the best time to knit. Most of my craft supplies are yarn and fiber related. I really, really, really need to finish that scarf. Or rejuvenate with a fresh project.

I’m open to suggestions. Give me some ideas!!

In crafting related news, this Sunday, December 6th, is my favorite day of the year: The Bazaar Bizarre. This event has grown substantially over the past few years as the “craft movement” has become more mainsteam. I’m excited to pick up some handspun yarn! Hopefully the couple that was selling felt mustaches filled with cat nip will be back. Mickey loves those.

The following weekend I will be going to CRAFTBOSTON which sounds ok. It looks like there are more artisans than crafters. I won’t be able to afford a damn thing.

And for eye candy, I would die for this bacon scarf.

Sunday Morning Stenciling or How I Learned to Love Freezer Paper November 16, 2009

Up until Sunday, I had a love/hate relationship with t-shirt stenciling. I picked stencils that were just shapes and used regular paper as my stencil. Terrible idea.

The best resource out there for stencils is stencilry.org. Not only do they have a pluthera of stencils of everything imaginable (including Bob Saget), but they also have tutorials and how-to’s. All these tutorials recommend using freezer paper.

I’m such a minimalist when it comes to crafting. I try to do as much as possible with as little as possible. I never imagined that I would have a use for freezer paper, but upon purchasing it, I’ve found a multitude of uses: stencils, covering soaps in their molds, putting paint on it. Okay, maybe three. Still, that’s more than without it.

For the first freezer paper stencil, I picked one I thought to be relatively easy. These tiny little army men. Looks like a piece of cake, right? Well those little triangles between their legs are a separate piece that need to stay in place. Luckily, my plastic coated freezer paper made this dream a reality.

To start:

1. Place freezer paper over the regular paper print out of what you plan to stencil. Some people actually print it out on freezer paper. I’m too scared.

2. Take an exacto knife (its what I normally use) to cut out your stencil PLASTIC side down. Do not to this on your vinyl table cloth like I did. You will cut it. (If you do this, simply turn the tablecloth around so that it is covered by a bowl or box of wheat thins.)

3. Lay out your pre-washed t-shirt. Lay out stencil on top where you want it and iron the pieces into place.

4. Take your fabric paint and foam brush and apply the paint.

5. Let sit until dry. Peel off stencil. Touch up. Iron design to set paint. Wash.

The toughest part is cutting out the stencil. Since I have no patience, it’s almost maddening. I’m happy with the way that this one turned out and I am looking forward to doing more stenciling….away from my tablecloth.

Class: Cold Process Soap Making November 13, 2009

I’m falling in love with the classes at Brookline Arts Center. As you might recall, I made a ring there in October during my Jewelry/Metalsmithing class. The idea of taking the Memories to Art intensive gets me a little too excited. I mean, putting pictures on tiles and fabric – AWESOME!

This past Saturday, I took a wonderful cold process soap making class with Back Porch Soap Co. founder Marla Bosworth. I was curious about cold process soaps because I’d always done melt and pour and thought I could get a little more fancy with cold process since it’s essentially creating a soap completely from scratch.

I have a soap making book and I’d read about the process on various blogs, but I could never wrap my head around it. I am definitely a learn by doing type of person. Plus, the idea of working with Lye was downright frightening.

Lye is a corrosive substance that is often used in oven cleaner and draino. My grandfather used pure Lye soap to combat his terrible acne. And it worked. Because it burns a layer of skin off of your face. It is currently only sold at Ace Hardware due to the fact it is an active ingredient in some chemical bombs.

Lye is nothing to mess around with, which is why Marla outfitted us all with Judge Doom like rubber gloves, goggles, and a mask. Pretty bad ass for soap making, right?

Based off of Marla’s recipe, we combined the correct amounts of Lye and distilled water together which, on their own, heated to about 160 degrees. While we waited for the Lye concoction to cool, we melted the essential oils (which I believe were coconut butter, olive oil, and shea butter). Once both liquids had cooled to 115 degrees they were combined. (Note: Always, always, always add the lye to whatever you’re combining it with).

After they were stirred together and started to harden (there is a technical term for this) the fragrance oils of peppermint and rosemary were added. And they smelled incredible. This particular batch gave us about 40 bars of soap.

Marla provided us with smallish tupperware containers as molds. We adorned what will be the bottoms of our soaps with rose petals, chamomille buds, cranberry seeds, poppy seeds, etc. Sheets of freezer paper protected the bottom and tops of our soaps.

Our soaps were then to sit for 24 hours in their molds. I cut mine after about 36 hours after ripping the tupperware apart. I knew my soap would be stubborn. It is now curing on my shelf for 4-6 weeks. Right now, due to the lye, it is the most dangerous soap in the world.

Soap Making Class (Taken from Marla's facebook page)

I would also like to note that Lindsay posted a really awesome post on her blog about various scarf projects – which I really want to do – and mentioned my post about the t-shirt scarf! Happy Happy!

CRAFT NIGHT #1 November 12, 2009

On Tuesday a group of very fabulous ladies, that I am lucky enough to be able to call my friends, gathered at my apartment for the first, of what I hope will be many, pot luck craft nights. (Attendees: No worries. It won’t always be pot luck).

After eating copious amounts of everything delicious, we hunkered down for some knittin’. Erin and Kerin are working on scarves, Holly is knitting a boot/sock/slipper that she hope will match the other, and Ashia started her handlebar mustache. Kaitlynn read her food magazines and Rachel cheered us on.

I forget exactly how it came up. It could’ve been the sight of a record bowl or the fact that we were listening to records, but Rachel requested a record bowl.

Note: Not mine.

This is a fun and really quick craft project. If you’re not careful like me, you will burn your finger prints off. My old roommate Josh taught me how to make these. He melted everything.

1. Go to Goodwill and buy a record to use (Not Prince’s Purple Rain. I’d give anything to have that on vinyl). These are usually about 99 cents. Buy a few. It can be addictive.

2. Pick out a saucepan that is the size you want for the inside of your record bowl. The record is going to melt around the pan, so make sure it is smaller. I also find it helpful to use a pan with a handle because it is easier to remove from the oven. Also, make sure the side of the record that you want to be the inside of the bowl is facing DOWN.

3. Set your oven anywhere from 200-225 degrees. Insert record on sauce pan. Patiently wait anywhere from 1-3 minutes.

4. Take pan out – wear your oven mitts – and slowly peel the record off of the pan. It will flop around and look like it is falling apart. Just hold the record together in the position that you want it for about 15-30 seconds. Records harden up VERY quickly.

If you’re not happy with the way it came out or you want it to look a little different, stick it back in the oven.

This is a great beginning craft activity and great for craft nights due to it’s low cost.

I hope that everyone that came had fun and comes to the next one – which will hopefully be sometime in early December.

Did I take pictures? Of course not. Next time, I promise. If there is anything this blog needs it’s more photos. And more craft projects. Which reminds me, I have completed some things, I just haven’t had the time to take pictures and post. I’ll be doing that later this evening.

I’m Soap Inspired November 4, 2009

My apologies for no new project last week. I got sidelined with a nasty cold that is still having issues checking out of my system. The rest of the week was just too busy to actually do a project.

Last night I ran around picking up little things that I needed for projects that I have. I had ambitions of completing three projects last night, but the arrival of Season Six, Disk One of The L Word kept me from my work. Oh, and I forgot to buy an exacto knife. Yeah, that was the big part of it.

I did make more soap. Soap that I am very excited about. I picked up some white shea butter soap, poppy seeds, and lemon(grass) essential oil and voila! I made this soap recipe that I went looking for when Rebecca mentioned that any Lemon Poppy Seed product would be awesome due to the exfoliating the poppy seeds would do.

We’ll see how well it really works. I tried to add a layer of poppy seeds to the bottom of the soap for extra exfoliating power, but that didn’t work too well. I’m hoping that the cold process soap making class I am taking Saturday gives me some tips!

I also added some yellow coloring to my batch. I think it’s pretty.

(And since I forgot that exacto knife, there will be a bonus post later this week)

FINISH HIM! October 31, 2009

I started knitting in the winter of 2006. My friend Ruby and I signed up for classes. Until then, my life revolved around another hobby: improv comedy. When the theatre dispanded and our groups run ended, I was bored. And that’s how it started. Awesome story.

Class was difficult and intimidating. It took place during a Stitch and Bitch so all these women had these complicated and amazing projects and we still hadn’t even mastered casting on.

Three years (!!) later and I still know mostly basic stuff. I can k1, p1, k2tog, yo, sl1, m1, ssk – add any number you like after the letter. It’s just more of the same.

My most daunting project has been the Lace Ribbon Scarf. A seemingly non threatening project in appearance, but a project, that I believe, is impossible to complete.

I started it in Spring 2008. I took it on a trip to Ft. Myers, Florida with my family. I worked on it at a stitch and bitch at Spark Craft in Cambridge. I had it with me at my parents house when I was laid up with ankle drama and I knit one row. And that was the last time I picked it up.

If I complete one project during the course of this, er, project, please let it be this scarf. I’m about to pick it up today for the first time since April.

Oh yeah, and I want to learn cables.

 

Edit: It’s now 9:23pm, I had picked it up in the early afternoon to discover that I have lost one of my knitting needles.

I Made It Over The Course of Three Sundays: My “Jewelry Piece” October 29, 2009

Let me preface this entry by saying that this is a “piece of jewelry.” This is not a series of beads strung on some wire and twisted around to make a cocktail ring.  This ring is not made of two pre-made pieces and glued together. This piece gave me the official title of  “Metalsmither” for three Sundays this month.

As I stare at my piece right now I am completely overcome with joy. I don’t ever think I imagined that anything I made from complete scratch could look this good, but it does. And I am very proud.

The process started by cutting a thin piece of silver into the size that I needed to be my actual ring. There was a tool that the teacher provided us with to do this and I chose my own route of not taking measurements.  I hate measurements and find that they are often times not accurate. I would rather wrap a piece of paper around my finger and mark it off accurately. I did just that and it fits perfectly. I did this same method when measuring the circumference of my ring. Take that, math. (An adult ed learner commented that mine was “way longer” than hers. First of all, “thats what she said.” Second, I have huge fingers. Can it.)

One my piece of metal was cut for my ring there was lots of sanding, smoothing, pounding, and SOLDERING. Blowtorch and all. Cover the ring with some flux (a pasty residue used to help your piece from melting and to distribute the heat evenly around the metal), blowtorch, drop in some acid, rinse in some water, move on.

For the stone I picked this rather large metallic black/silver stone. It’s gorgeous.  Next I made a bevel – which is the silver piece that keeps my stone in place by encasing it in a silver tray type object. File, sandpaper, flux, solder were all done mutliple times. And since the bevel consisted of two pieces, you can only imagine how long that too.

After I finished my bevel, I drilled a hole in the back so that I could pop my stone in and still be able to pop it out when I needed to. File, sand, etc the back of the bevel to even off the drilled hole. (Does this sound like a lot of work yet?)

During the last class, I solder the bevel and the ring together, pop my stone in, set, and polish. Simple right? Well all that took about three hours.

The class was awesome and I feel like I learned a lot from it. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to continue with this hobby because of my access to the necessary items in a rentable studio space. Plus, I needed guidance with this. It’s complicated. You can only go in one direction with the file or it scars the piece, which was my most common mistake. I made plenty of common mistakes and some not so common.

I am absolutely thrilled with my piece. I think it looks professional and shiny! I’m glad that I took this class and learned just how much painstaking effort and attention to detail goes into metalsmithing. It’s awesome. I am so proud of it. So unbelievably proud!