Craftzine.com blog

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Crochet Jar Lamps

I just love these beautiful jar lamps by Bay Area artist Marin Camille Hood, found over at Recyclart. It's a great idea for what to do with extra glass around the house, and the light patterns made through crochet netting are delightful. Be sure to check out her bike chandeliers and subversive embroidery.

Posted by Katie Wilson | Mar 19, 2010 10:00 AM
Crochet, Recycle | Permalink | Comments (0) | Suggest a Site

How-To: Block Printing

Meg at Decor It Yourself met up with Dailey Crafton for a lesson in linoleum/rubber block printing.

More:

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How-To: Make Your Own Custom Copper Cookie Cutter

This tutorial from Root and Wings Co will allow you to create whatever cookie cutter shape you can think of with just a bit of copper and some basic tools.

How-To: Yoga Pants

Corrine at Threadbanger shows us how to make a pair of stretchy yoga pants, all the way from pattern to namaste.

How-To: Brown Paper Bag Bird Nest

Shred your brown paper grocery bags and settle in for some paper mache-style fun as you make this bird nest from Ellen of The Long Thread for Alpha Mom.

Professor Snape Car Seat Cover

Walking through a parking lot and coming across a handmade car seat cover that looked like this would totally make my day! Becky of Beck's Blog crocheted this car seat cover of Severus Snape, one of the characters in the Harry Potter series. She explains that she was influenced by Neil Cicierega's Potter Puppet Pals, a series of imagined-scene skits involving plush Harry Potter puppets.

Newton's Laws in Claymation by Three Creative Teens

When I visited my cousin last week, his daughter Neeka Mashouf (age 13) and two of her classmates (Nicole Bronstein and Sydney Schonefeld) were deeply engaged in creating a stop-motion animation film for a class project, complete with a homemade stage and camera platform. The assignment was to explain and show examples of Newton's three Laws of Motion in a creative way. They chose clay as their medium and did all their stitching and editing in iMovie. It was fun to hear them talk about their learning process. When they first started, they weren't capturing small enough motions in each frame and the flow was coming out choppy. They went back to the drawing board and this is what they came up with. Way more dynamic than any presentation I remember doing for science class in 8th grade. It's exciting to see what this next generation is crafting.

Easy-Threading Sewing Needle

Sean @ Make: Online writes:

You know, as long as human beings have been squinting and poking at the tiny eyes of sewing needles, it's pretty amazing that it's taken so long for some clever inventor to address the problem. These spiral eye sewing needles are available direct from their inventor, Pam Turner of Minnesota. I've never used one, but the user feedback I hear echoing through the tubes is uniformly positive.

Photo by morganeth.

Bamako Chic: Women Cloth Dyers of Mali

I recently met an amazingly passionate filmmaker named Maureen Gosling. I was so excited to learn about her current documentary, Bamako Chic. The new film tells the story of women in Mali who create complex dyed textiles as not just a creative outlet, but also to support their families and communities economically. Maureen is having an event tonight at the Hillside Club in Berkeley to help raise funds to finish her film. The evening includes screening of footage from the movie, plus Malian music and food. She writes:

In Mali, as in other West African countries, cloth has served as social-capital, equity, wealth, inheritance and articles of beauty for hundreds of years. In the early 1970s a group of Malian women dyers helped to re-invigorate the hand-dyed cloth industry throughout West Africa by producing a wider palate of vibrant colors and innovative designs, which continue to evolve even today. Their creative use of bright color-fast dyes and intricate patterns have turned hand-dyed bazin (an imported polished cotton) into popular fashion, sought after by rich and poor alike. Now a lucrative industry, hand-dyed cloth provides a sustainable source of asset building for many women. This is occurring in the context of trends towards "Cheap Chic" and disposable clothing, and the out-sourcing of garment industries through globalization that has made Western clothing all the more ubiquitous. By following the daily challenges of several Malian cloth dyers at different levels of economic attainment, we witness the power that women¹s artistry and entrepreneurial skills have to express the universal human need for beauty, identity, and indeed, survival.

Cardiganize an Old Pullover

UpCraft!

By Linda Permann

Whether you want to add a little breathing room to a too-small sweater or spruce up your clothing for another season, just add crochet! A simple cut with your scissors, some embroidery, and 2 crocheted button bands later, you'll be ready to wear your "new" cardigan. I used this technique to revamp one of my favorite striped sweaters, but it would also be a great way to make kids' clothing last longer, or personalize thrift store finds and hand me downs.

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Detroit, Here's Your Call for Makers!

Announcing... the call for the Detroit Maker Faire! (Applause, applause.)

Detroit is hosting its first Maker Faire this year and the call for proposals is now open. Starting today, and going through May 31, you can submit your ideas to be a part of the gang at the Henry Ford this summer, July 31- Aug. 1. This Detroit Maker Faire page has all the official details, but essentially we're looking for creative and unique ideas that show off your talents and how you'll share them with others. You can find the application here.

The application page has all sorts of suggestions for projects; this year we have a focus on Young Makers, so keep that in mind, too!

Notifications will be sent out June 1 - good luck! As always, please drop a line here if you have any questions.

DIY Sculptural Rose Tape Artwork

CasaSugar shows you how to make your own artwork with tape, inspired by her recent trip to Italy. Learn how to make your own sculptural rose tape artwork from her tutorial.

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Most recent posts: page 1 of 6