Month: August 2008

Crocheted Bookmarks

Crocheted Bookmarks - Gehäkelte Lesezeichen

Links of entry

I love to crochet but I prefer the item to be crocheted not too big (it’s all a question of patience).
Therefore I like to crochet bookmarks ;-)
On the photo you see the Quickie Bookmark from Priscilla Hewitt. She designed soo beautiful delicate bookmarks! (for more links to instructions for Priscilla Hewitt bookmarks see below)
Some of them can be used to make lacy scarves ;-)
But I think they could be beautiful bracelets, too.


Links:
Priscilla Hewitt bookmarks (all English):
Quickie Bookmark
Christmas Wreath Bookmark
Pineapple Bookmark
Heart Corner Bookmark
Icicle Bookmark
Scalloped Bookmark
Jacob’s Ladder Bookmark
Addendum of February 2009: The links above don’t work anymore, you can find the instructions for the bookmarks now as PDF (about 465 KB) at Priscilla’s Crochet – Free Pattern Index, check there for ‘Bookmarks’.

And please read her Terms of Use Terms of Use, that she published at the beginning of the PDF file.

unikatissima’s entry:
Lacy Crochet Scarves From Edgings

Papier Mache Recipes

Papier Mache Recipes

Links of entry

There are many recipes for making papier mache which I still want to try out.
On the photo you see one of my many UFO’s ;-)
It is a wall-vase-to-be, made with tore newspaper stripes and ready to use wall paste.


Links:
At ‘The Papier Mache Resource’ :
Some Advanced Papier Mache Recipes (English)
Take also a look at the other tutorials, the articles and the galleries

More recipes:
(Google search results)
Search for ‘paper mache paste recipe’
Search for ‘papier mache rezept’

Image search for ‘paper mache paste recipe’
Image search for ‘papier mache rezept’

Polymer Clay Faux Ivory

Polymer Clay Faux Ivory

Links of entry

One of the beautiful applications of polymer clay is the imitation of precious materials. Therefore I loved the tutorial on how to make faux ivory.
On the photo you see a pendant with faux ivory I made quite a time ago and I still like the combination of this matte shining black and the pale ivory.


Links:
Polymer Clay Faux Ivory

Custom Card Box

Custom Card Box

Links of entry

As mentioned before you sometimes need a little box.
I found instructions on how-to fold a custom card box which can easily be used as little gift box.
And best of all there is Craig Forbes’ Tuckbox Generator where you can fill in the sizes you want and get a PDF file with your special custom template.


Links:
Custom Card Box
Craig Forbes’ Tuckbox Generator

unikatissima’s entry:
Recycled Card Pillow Box

Hiragimi

Hiragimi

Links of entry

Once I found a tutorial on Hiragimi braid, but not only can’t I find it back, while googling for ‘Hiragimi’ I dind’t find anything.
Strange!
But at the tutorial the diagrams weren’t so good, so I sketched the diagrams again for myself.
And so you can download them now from here ;-))

Hiragimi braid is similar to Kumihimo braid, but the braid won’t be round but flat (see photo).
When making my braid I found it most difficult to get the tension right, I always pulled more to one side than the other so that the braid became curved ;-)


Links:
unikatissima’s Hiragimi (PDF, ~460 KB)
The PDF includes a template for a cardboard disk respectively card (at the end of the file) and a description for braiding the pattern that you can see on the photo

unikatissima’s entries:
Kumihimo
Kumihimo Beads
Kumihimo Edo Yatsu

Clothespin bobbins

Nature Paper

Nature Paper

Once I found a tutorial on how to make paper from vegetables, but I don’t find back the tutorial (it was at ARD-Buffet, but it seems to be too long ago).
On the photo you see a card made with cucumber paper for a friend for the end of fast.

How to make cucumber paper:

  1. Cut the cucumber in slices of about 0,5 cm / 0,2 inches.
  2. Put the slices between two layers of tissue paper.
    They must overlap to form a sheet of paper!
  3. Put everything into the microwave and put several plates as weight onto your paper-to-be.
  4. Heat at a high temperature for about 1 minute.
    (Note: Please be careful when using the microwave!)
  5. After 1 minute the tissue paper is wet, you have to change it. Also air the cucumber paper a little bit.

Repeat steps 2 – 5 until the tissue paper stays nearly dry.
Lay between new sheets of tissue paper and between several layers of old newspapers and put some weight on it.
About once a day you must replace the moist tissue paper and newspapers by dry ones.
After 2 – 3 days your cucumber paper is ready for use.

Cucumber seems to be one of the easiest vegetables to be used for paper. You can also use other vegetables, but I haven’t tried them and can’t say, how thick the slices must be and how long it takes.
The paper is real paper: You can write on it, you can cut it and so forth.

Cardboard Weave II

Cardboard Weave II

Links of entry

While surfing I found mini or hand-held looms (see links below), which I find very interesting, because 1st I don’t have much place at home and 2nd I know that I don’t weave, I just try it once in a while ;-))
On the photo you see the front and back side of my little woven patch.

 

Cardboard Weave II I would never actually buy a loom, therefore I made me one from – guess… – yes: cardboard! ;-)
On the photo you see me threading the loom in one direction.

 

Cardboard Weave II
Then I thread my cardboard loom in the other direction.

 

Cardboard Weave II That’s the way my cardboard loom looks at the back side.

 

Cardboard Weave II Now I’m weaving in one direction.

 

Cardboard Weave II And here I’m weaving in the other direction.

 

Cardboard Weave II After having finished with weaving I crochet an edging to neaten the edge.

The first photo shows back and front side of the finished little piece.

 


Links:
At Weavettes:
How to weave on a mini loom (English) (via knitting-and.com)
The original site doesn’t exist any more and is now available through webarchive:
At Weavettes:
How to weave on a mini loom (English) (via knitting-and.com)

At eLoomaNation: Big Ideas from Little Looms:
Get ideas what to do with your patches

Get basic woman measurement charts for clothing patterns at the website of Jessica Tromp just as for the Clothes From Crocheted Medaillons

Peyote Bangles

Peyote Bangles

Links of entry

As I saw the tutorial on how to make Peyote Bangles tutorial on how to make Peyote Bangles I bookmarked it immediately.
It seems to be so easy (although this technique seems only to work with slender bangles) – just the right technique for me ;-))
There is another tutorial for stripes bangles tutorial for stripes bangles – looks also great.

 


Links:
Peyote Bangles
Striped Peyote Bangles

The original site doesn’t exist any more and is now available through webarchive:
Peyote Bangles
Striped Peyote Bangles

Folded Paper Strips of Equal Width

Folded Paper Strips of Equal Width

Links of entry

Sometimes you need folded paper strips of the same width, when weaving paper baskets e.g., making a magazine purse or perhaps when making accordion folds.
Making those strips can be a time-consuming and frustrating experience – but it can be very fast and easy as well: Once I read somewhere (unfortunately I don’t remember where exactly) that you only have to roll your paper sheet over a dowel and then flat the paper roll.
Easy peasy, isn’t it? ;-)

 

Folded Paper Strips of Equal Width You need your sheet of paper and a dowel.
I used here one of my giant knitting needles.

 

Folded Paper Strips of Equal Width Roll your sheet of paper on the dowel.

 

Folded Paper Strips of Equal Width Pull the dowel out of the roll and flatten the paper roll.

 

Folded Paper Strips of Equal Width This way you get paper strips which are of the same width over the whole length.
Once I made a bowl like these magazine bowls. I preferred the ends of my paper strips to be thinner then the center, so that everything is about the same width everywhere.

 

Folded Paper Strips of Equal Width Roll your sheet of paper diagonally on the dowel.

 

Folded Paper Strips of Equal Width The paper roll gets longer, but the ends are thinner than the center.
You can now overlap the strips and create a strong bowl.


Links:
Paper woven basket

At craftster.org:
Magazine purse
Magazine bowls

Google image search result for ‘magazine bowl’