Crafty Thread - what are you working on at the moment?

[wayward bob]

 

[moose]

Oooh! What are you going to do with them? I like the lilac one(s)

 

[8115]

Those are so beautiful wayward bob. Is it for university? You are so neat. You must have very cold hands.

Today's task is a stuffed dog I have promised my niece as well as thinking of something for my new nephew. I think I'm going to make it in 2-d, ie seen from the side and then stuffed to give it some 3-d-ness. My skills aren't up to much else. Putting it off. She wants " a bone in its mouth too". I think I will rue the day I agreed to make it...

 

[wayward bob]

it's all just playing atm, trying out a variety of geometric techniques. the middle one is the only one that i used a printed crease pattern, it's also a slight cheat because there are 2 cuts in the paper. my favourites are the blocky square ones but despite trawling the internet i can't find any instructions for them, so those i'm making up as i go along. i love the way that a square grid and straight folds makes for such organic finished shapes

 

[moon]

A mini album for my niece

 

[wayward bob]

bendy stuff

and a slight diversion - pop up architecture

 

[wayward bob]

i'm beyond chuffed with this

it's a pop-up version of my dad's house for his birthday next week it's taken me hours getting to grips with the software, designing, cutting and folding prototypes. it's way more difficult than the samples i did before because of the roof sections. bloody delighted i finally got it to work

 

[susie12]

Bob that is fab!

 

[Fez909]

wayward bob - they are absolutely amazing! Is there any way you can spray something on then to preserve them? I'm worried they'll get bent or creased and they're too good for that fate.

 

[wayward bob]

wayward bob - they are absolutely amazing! Is there any way you can spray something on then to preserve them? I'm worried they'll get bent or creased and they're too good for that fate.

they fold flat free patterns/instruction videos here if you fancy having a go yourself

 

[RubyToogood]

I think I'm going to order some fabric from the states. It's literally half the price it is here, and reading the hmrc website, if I don't order loads I wouldn't get hit with taxes etc

The rule seems to be that if the total value inc postage of your order is less than £15 you don't get charged, it would be VAT charged at EU rate ie 20% over that, but if it would come to less than £9 they don't bother.

 

[moose]

It always seems a bit inconsistent to me. I'v recently had to pay on just about everything, including a couple of fat quarters

 

[RubyToogood]

It always seems a bit inconsistent to me. I'v recently had to pay on just about everything, including a couple of fat quarters

Oh. Hm. How much do you end up paying?

I don't really understand why the price difference is so enormous

 

[moose]

I had to pay £13 on something that cost around a tenner. I bought a dress from Torrid for $45 and paid £23 when they delivered it. I'm thinking of getting stuff delivered to our office in New Jersey, and picking them up when I go over 3 times a year

 

[Boudicca]

Someone on the Sewing Forum mentioned that you can get a PO box in the US so that you can buy stuff which is only delivered within the country. What you really need is for them to mark down the value of the goods as well.

Aha, just did a quick google! These people offer 'removal of invoices and gift wrapping'

http://www.reship.co.uk

so I guess you just send yourself a present.

 

[idumea]

I found a stack of old cheesy 80s action comics for 50p - lots of muscles, bright colours, guns and ridiculous captions. I've also got a brand new white Billy bookcase, which I'm planning on decoupaging with the comics. Just need some wallpaper paste and some kind of spray fixture.

 

[wayward bob]

i'd do a test first idumea, check the adhesive doesn't wrinkle the paper. my instinct would be to use spray mount to attach the images then maybe diluted marvin medium (pva) to glaze. that's just from my experience of collage, never used wallpaper paste but i know how annoying it is to have paper wrinkle up when it's glued.

 

[idumea]

Good advice! I'll do a test first on a storage box I wanted to cover first. I'll have a little wander around a craft shop tomorrow.

 

[wayward bob]

hopefully you'll get away without needing spray mount cos its wicked expensive, but i've found out through bitter experience it's sometimes the only thing for the job.

 

[wayward bob]

anyone here ever sewn leather on a domestic machine? the seams are coming apart on my bag strap and having failed to find anywhere that does leather repairs locally i figured i may as well have a go myself. all it really needs is topstitching across the strap in a few places - will be visible but as long as it's strong i'm not fussed.

my machine's pretty capable, have sewn numerous layers of denim in the past and i have leather scraps for practice. just ordered a mixed set of leather needles. but would appreciate tips from experience if anyone has any...

 

[RubyToogood]

anyone here ever sewn leather on a domestic machine? the seams are coming apart on my bag strap and having failed to find anywhere that does leather repairs locally i figured i may as well have a go myself. all it really needs is topstitching across the strap in a few places - will be visible but as long as it's strong i'm not fussed.

my machine's pretty capable, have sewn numerous layers of denim in the past and i have leather scraps for practice. just ordered a mixed set of leather needles. but would appreciate tips from experience if anyone has any...

I found that my own machine just laughed, but my Granny's ancient Singer took it all in its stride. Haven't tried it recently.

 

[Treacle Toes]

A little crafty outside this weekend.

What do you do when you have charmed the neighbours builder to give you all the limestone offcuts from their very posh patio and steps being built?

Well....you could make an organised pile or two...increase the size width/depth of your fire pit, then arrange said pieces until you are happy with the mandala effect...

Just need to sink the rest of the stones flat into the earth now so will post again once it's done for the full effect.

 

[RubyToogood]

I'm making one of these. Well, to be accurate I've already made one. It's nice, but the sleeves are annoying and I've had to redo them but they're still a bit annoying. I want to make another one but I don't want the sleeves to be annoying!

 

[pennimania]

Just found this glorious blog! Apologies if it's been posted before but even if it has I reckon it deserves another plug.

Thevintagepatternfiles.blogspot.co.uk

Simply oodles of stuff from the (18) 90's to the 70's.

And it's all free.

I could spend the rest of my life looking at it

 

[wayward bob]

building a radio hopefully

step 1: enamelled copper wire, shampoo bottle, pencil.

 

[wayward bob]

step 2: strip the teeny fucking tiny wires from a phone handset with a lighter, trial and error with a battery to find the 2 out of 4 you need, solder those teeny tiny wires onto jump leads.

step 3: attach a diode to one end of the coil, attach one of the handset leads to the other end of the diode. attach the other handset lead to the other end of the coil.

step 4: attach a lonnnnng antenna wire with jump leads onto one of the loops (taps) on the coil

step 5: earth the non-diode end of the coil on a radiator

step 6: listen

step 7: hear incredibly faint and muffled sound of voices

step 8: jump around and yell "yeah bitch! magnets!" quite a lot

 

[wayward bob]

update: with a longer antenna it works a treat but it only picks up 5 live i think a longer coil with more windings would have a larger range of frequencies

 

[spirals]

Had to be done really!

 

[moose]

That's ace, spirals

 

[Chemical needs]

Made more things with resin the other day.