…compilation of tutorials
Once I found an instruction on making buttons by weave wrapping wooden beads and tried it immediatley with different weave patterns: It is great!
I really like the weave wrapping of the buttons and find that the results are too beautiful to be used as buttons, I like them more as beads ;-)
Links:
Weave Wrapped Bead Buttons – scroll down to ‘To construct this type of button,…’
Here at unikatissima: Entries with the tag ‘button’
I found the fringed buttons very nice. But they are done with ready-made fringes which I don’t have at home.
Therefore I made a kind of pom-pom from wool rests and put my button inside there and although I find the button awful kitschy I quite like the combination ;-))
Of course you can as well tuck a Crazy Daisy under the button ;-))
Links:
Fringe-y Goodness
Here at unikatissima:
Crazy Daisy Ring
Crazy Daisies
Crazy Daisies II
For a certain time I worked tubular nets, e.g. to make necklaces like the ones on the photo.
I find them beautiful and that a simply eye catcher like the beaded freeform bead is enough. Additionally they are wonderful soft because the tubular net is so elastic.
You can use tubular netting as well to bead glass tubes like at the bead and wire wall vase or to bead little bottles.
Links:
TubularNet
Netz-Ketten (German) (short description, scroll down to ‘Netz-Ketten’)
Net technique (German) (not tubular)
Here at unikatissima:
Bead and Wire Wall Vase
Beaded Bottle
When knitting or crocheting you must often count the rows.
I have seen people who kept checklists in a very disciplined way, but personally I find this taking-the-pen-and-sketching-a-checkmark-on-the-list bothersome, the more so as one needs a table for this (at least I need it ;-)).
But not if you’re making a row counter bracelet (ok, you must leave your work beside, but you don’t need a table ;-)).
I didn’t make one yet, but I found the tutorial very good.
I’m sure that you can make the beads yourself, e.g. from polymer clay or felt (but felted beads may be too lightweight ?!)
Links:
Row Counter Bracelet
via: Row Counter Bracelet at ravelry
Google search result for ‘row counter bracelet’
Google image search result for ‘row counter bracelet’
Here at unikatissima:
Entries with the tag ‘polymerclay’
Entries with the tag ‘felting’
I wrote several entries about crafting with plastic bottles (see links below), this one is more of an inspiration: I’d like to present the PET-project and the wonderful PET jewelry.
Fantastic, aren’t they?
Links:
PET-Project
Flower with sash
Here at unikatissima:
Knitted/Crocheted Bangles
Plastic Bottle Beads
Plastic Bottle Box
Knitting Loom from Plastic Bottle
DIY Shrinky Dinks
Box from woven PET stripes
Recently I wanted to make some knitted napkin rings as a gift and looked for a way to 1. keep their shape and 2. make them washable.
And I really found a solution which is also great for making bangles ;-)): use a core of recycled plastic bottle and a knitted or crocheted all over cover.
That’s what you do:
Cut rings in the desired width from a plastic bottle.
I cut here two rings because the circumference of the bottle was too small for a bangle for me.
Where the rings are to be joined you need an overlap of about 2 cm.
I pricked 3 holes with a pointy needle and threaded the yarn I used later for knitting through them to fix both sides. The big advantage is that you don’t see anything of this later.
Then knit the ‘cover’. I worked with quite thick acrylic yarn and began with a stocking stitch part for the inside whereas outside I used a moss stitch pattern.
Depending on the used yarn the inside diameter can get a good deal narrower, in this case make the plastic rings a little bit larger.
When the cover is finished sew the sides together.
That’s how the finished bangle looks.
Originally I wanted to have the seam at the inside of the bangle but I ‘produced’ always a thick bulged seam. Therefore I knitted the ‘folding line’ between both patterns with purls and sew at the rim (which is much easier, too ;-)).
The bulged seam looks similar to the purled row and now I like it.
The plastic ring core has more advantages (besides the fact that it is cost-saving): the bangle keeps its shape but is flexible so that it doesn’t interfere with writing (usually I don’t wear bangles for just this reason).
What is more I can wash it: That’s how my bangle looks after I machine-washed it at 30°C together with dark(!) cloths.
No problem there ;-)
But this depends strongly from the used yarn.
I used thick acrylic yarn here and find that it looks like a winter bangle, but it can surely be crocheted as well with fine cotton thread or knitted in stocking stitch with variegated sock yarns or simply be wrapped with fun yarns, possibly even be wrapped with a sewn fabric cover…
If you try something like this I would appreciate if you’d link it in the comments!
Have much fun.
plastic bottle bracelet
I find those polymer clay beads so beautiful and there is a great tutorial on how to make them ;-)
Have fun swirling :)
Links:
Lentil Swirled Beads
I already presented several tutorials for rings and the wire wrapped ring wire wrapped ring matches great.
I find it beautiful.
If you don’t have a ring mandrel to wrap the wire around you can possibly use the solid paper roll from the woven ring.
I’m still determined not to buy some wire, too.
We will see how long I hold out ;-)
Links:
‘Rosette’ Wire Wrapped Ring
Tutorial moved to: ‘Rosette’ Wire Wrapped Ring
Here at unikatissima:
Woven Ring for the solid paper roll
More tutorials for rings
There remained some leftovers from our cut plastic bottle, from which we already made a knitting loom and a plastic box and we can use them to make some beads.
In the instruction on how to make plastic bottle beads they roll up the plastic strip and melt it together with a heat gun.
I don’t have no heat gun and I’m a little afraid of possibly developing fumes, therefore I did it in a different way:
I brought water to the boil in my craft pan (which I don’t use for food preparation anymore!).
Then I cut a stripe from the plastic bottle and rolled tightly using some tweezers.
Look out, it always try to uncoil!
I hold the rolled ‘bead’ with my craft wooden pliers (also not used for food preparation anymore) into the simmering water and in seconds the bead was finished.
I don’t know if I could have coloured the bead with permanent markers, I’ve forgotten to test this.
Besides the end doesn’t fuse with the bead, but it doesn’t open neither.
Because it always wanted to uncoil I hold it quite firm with my wooden pliers and the bead became a little flat.
Pressing it in the other direction and dipping into the simmering water again didn’t make the bead round.
But 1. I like the shape and 2. I think it’s only a matter of practice.
Links:
Plastic Bottle Beads
Ok, the title isn’t the best ever made, but the bead does look beautiful, doesn’t it? ;-)
I have it on my have-a-go-at-it-list for a long time already but it keeps being pushed down by other projects.
Now I place it back to the top ;-)
Links:
At Polymer Clay Central: Making Hollow Tube Beads
