Some people are fantastic!
At craftster somebody published a tutorial on how to make yourself cheap shoes.
I don’t know whether I will make some, but I wanted to present it anyhow!
Links:
At craftster: Self-made Shoes (Shoes!)
Plastic Bottle Beads
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
Plastic Bottle Box
Yesterday we cut a plastic bottle to make a knitting loom, today we can make a box from the cut off bottom of the bottle.
It’s not a real instruction, but when you look closely at the photos you can see that the plastic bottoms are perforated at the edge and that a zipper is sewn into the holes.
Fantastic!
Addendum: There are instructions now, you can find the English ones here (thanks, Nina).
Links:
Plastic Bottle Box (recycled box/Recycling Box)
English instructions
German instructions
I’ve seen the photo and found it time-consuming to find the source:
I found the link to the plastic bottle box:
via Need More Fiber,
via Dollar Store Crafts (they have more great ideas!),
via greenUPGRADER,
via Superuse.org
I thought that I’d never reach an end ;-))
By the way I suggest to take a look a the flickr group TRASHION NATION, they also have great ideas!
Knitting Loom from Plastic Bottle
I always wanted to play around with a knitting loom, but I won’t buy such an item!
Therefore I was delighted when finding the instruction on how to make a knitting loom from a plastic bottle.
For a begin she even added a tutorial for a much easier knitting loom from a toilet paper roll and some popsicle sticks (that’s no April Fool’s joke ;-))!
I will try the loom from the bottle in any case :)
Links:
Knitting Loom from Plastic Bottle (How To’s Day: Bored? Nothing to do, Make a knitting loom with stuff in your house!)
Basic Loom and Board Instructions
There are two PDF files: Knitting Board Basics (ca 790 KB) and Loom Knitting Basics (ca 3300 KB)
She even added a tutorial on how to make mitered squares with a knitting loom (see also here at unikatissima the Patchwork knitting and the Module Sock)
Here at unikatissima:
Patchwork knitting
Module Sock
Tattooed Soap
I already presented felted soap and poured soap and was therefore curious when sseing the tutorial on how to make tattooed soap.
I find the idea cute and think it would be a nice small present.
Links:
Tattooed Soaps
Here at unikatissima:
Felting Soap
Goldfish in a Bag (poured soap)
Making Hollow Tube Beads from Polymer Clay
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
Self-made Hook and Eye Clasp
When you have finished your bracelet or your necklace you sometimes ask yourself: Where do I get now a beautiful closure?
I found an instruction for a self-made hook and eye clasp that I didn’t try yet.
But I think that you can’t make things very wrong, can’t you?
Links:
At Polymer Clay Central: Hook and Eye Clasp
Fabric Origami
Recently a friend had the idea to make some Origami with fabric but the fabric didn’t fold properly.
Some research showed that there are more people who do this and that they simply stiffen the fabric with starch or fabric stiffener.
And then (it seems!) that you can simply start folding… :)
By the way there seem even to be two groups: those who incorporate their Origami fabric in their quilts and those who fold other things like wallets.
Unfortunately I don’t have much fabric (because of the design) that I could use for Origami folding and I won’t surely begin to build up a fabric stash here, but somehow…
;-)
Links:
At instructables: Fabric Origami Quilt Block
At Origami Resource Center: Fabric folding – scroll down to about the center until ‘Fabric Origami Quilts’ and ‘Fabric Origami’
Fabric Origami – under ‘Technique’ you can find more ideas about what to do with ‘solid fabric’: stamping, maschine embroidery, lamination etc.
Connie Fox’s Brangles
‘Brangles’ is a made-up word that is put together of ‘Bangle’ and ‘Bracelet’.
That sounds quite dry but fact is, that I find her jewelry her jewelry fantastic and I think it’s great that she published in internet an instruction instruction on how to make such pieces.
Links:
Bangle Bracelet
The original site doesn’t exist any more and is now available through webarchive:
Bangle Bracelet
Connie Fox’s Jewelry
Page moved to: Connie Fox’s Jewelry
Simple Pop-Up Card
Recently I re-discoverd the website of Lisa Vollrath whose tutorials I always found really great.
When I saw her ‘A Simple Tabbed Pop-Up’ I wanted to try it immediately.
But then it started: No, I don’t want to make an Eiffelturm, but something else. But what? Somebody wrote something about sail boats in the comments.
Ok, good idea.
Ehm, the toner of my printer won’t suffice to print something.
Hmm, Lisa said that actually it doesn’t matter how large the tabs are…
Thus I took an A4 paper horizontally and my Xacto knife and startet to cut a sail boat and the sea.
I find my card for a try on the spur of the moment quite nice, but I haven’t decided yet what to put on the front side ;-)
Links:
At Go Make Something: A Simple Tabbed Pop-Up