Archives: September 2006

September 29, 2006

Pre-order CRAFT on Amazon

If you are excited to check out the first issue of CRAFT, in addition to subscribing, you can also pre-order your copy of Vol. 01 from Amazon.com! Volume 01 features 23 projects with a twist, including how to sew a light-up tank top, turning old shoes into great new knitted boots, felting an iPod cozy, embroidering your skateboard, making a jet-age garden, and more. Link.

Related:
Vol 01 Table of Contents - Link.

Tree Ring and the Portable Landscape Series

Colleen Baran has created a series of intricately designed jewelry that definitely stands out from the rest. Creating small "portable landscapes", the pieces speak to nature. For the Tree Ring (2006), Colleen used paper mache, plastic, astro turf, acrylic, and pebble.

Colleen Baransays, "I was considering the idea of jewelry as small portable landscapes, of how textures and environments evoke a feeling and I wanted to make little evocative pieces of wearable land. Simple little spaces with grass and trees and ants and animals. With dirt wet from rain. With freshly cut lawns. They're also a product of the materials; my rediscovery of paper and plastic. I wanted everything to be surprisingly comfortable, light and wearable- if delicate."

Colleen's Tree Ring will also be in the upcoming exhibition "Tree", opening Nov 2nd at 5pm and running until Dec 2nd, at the Influx Gallery in Calgary, Canada. Link.

Next week on the CRAFT Blog: Craft Book-A-Day

Hi Crafters! We've got a special treat for you next week. Each day we will present you a craft book featuring a review of the book and also an interview with the author. It's a perfect way to browse the bookshelves and start a new project or learn a new craft!

Also, did you know next week is also National Spinning and Weaving Week? Yes that's right! So to kick the week of right, CRAFT is also part of the Spin to Knit and Time to Weave blog tour.

Here's the schedule for CRAFT Book-A-Day:

Monday - Spin to Knit by Shannon Okey
Tuesday - Time to Weave by Jane Patrick
Wednesday - In Stitches by Amy Butler
Thursday - Craftivity by Tsia Carson
Friday - Get Hooked by Kim Werker

Pirate Amigurumi

Amy's Babies has created a pirate pattern amigurumi that looks like Captain Jack. You can buy the pattern for only 5 bucks off the Interweave Crochet site. [ via ] Link.

HOW TO - Bury a knot

Kathy of Pink Chalk Studio has a great step-by-step pictorial on how to bury a knot for embroidery or quilting. Kathy says, "I'm currently teaching myself how to hand quilt using "That Perfect Stitch" by Roxanne McElroy. She demonstrates how to bury a knot on a quilt top. I took that technique and applied it to embroidery on my softies." Link.

CRAFT Podcast Pattern: Monsters of Teen Craft

This week's pattern is the Monsters of Teen Craft created especially to kick off the book tour by crafty authors Shannon Okey (Knitgrrl and Knitgrrl 2) and Kim Werkeer (Get Hooked) next week. Crochet yourself Humphrey or knit yourself Puck, either way you'll have a cute monster friend to keep you company.

Click here to get the PDF (and other CRAFT content) delivered automatically via iTunes - Link.

HOW TO - Make a vinyl pencil case

From the CRAFT Instructables group, splityarn shows you how to make a handy and stylish pencil case that fits perfecting into a 3 ring binder. Link.

HOW TO - Build a better bat costume (from an umbrella)

From the MAKE Blog:
Lenore writes - "Halloween is coming right up, so it is time to post one of our favorite costumes to help get everyone in the spirit. This is a darned good looking bat costume you can make from a hoodie and an umbrella. Yes, similar costumes have been made before. Even Martha's done it. However, our version is better. Forget instructions that call for elastic harnesses and throwing out the "insides" of the umbrella. You don't need elastic, and the umbrella parts are absolutely essential. Those extra ribs make extra big bat ears. The only raw materials that you will need are an umbrella and a hooded zippered sweatshirt. You will also need some tools and supplies: needle and thread, pins, pliers, scissors, and something to cut the umbrella ribs, such as tin snips, bolt cutters, or cutting pliers." - Link.

Related:

• Photos the bat costume in the MAKE pool - Link.
• Halloween projects, how-tos, articles and more - Link.

And.... Halloween is fast approaching, a "maker" holiday if there ever was one! Have a great spooky project, hack, tip, costume idea, favorite material or tool related to Halloween? Email Phil and also stay tuned for a fun MAKE & CRAFT Halloween contest!

September 28, 2006

MAKE and CRAFT logos

We get asked for our logos for all sorts of things all the time - so, we've posted multiple versions, and high resolution ones for whatever folks need. If you something neat with them with one of your projects let us know too.

MAKE logos - Link.
CRAFT logos - Link.

Interview with Hillary Lang of Wee Wonderfuls

There's no doubt that most of us in the craft world get tons of inspiration through Hillary Lang's Wee Wonderfuls site. Whether it's her signature Wee doll, her quilted or sewn toys, or her current obsession with embroidery, Hillary no doubt keeps our hands busy with her overflow of fun projects for us to make. I got a chance to talk to Hillary and find out how she does it all -- endless creativity, a thriving craft business, and balancing motherhood.

Hillary Lang
Wee Wonderfuls - Link.
Flickr Photos- Link.

Nat: Tell me how you got your start in crafting and when did it become more of a business for you? How hard is it to run a craft business?

Hillary: Started in crafting? The usual answer, the Grandmas. They kept me in sewing machines and hook-rugging kits starting in my preteen years. Started in craft blogging? Again, the usual answer, after the birth of my son. Being home with some free time and a very bad conversationalist for company left me vulnerable to the enticing world of craft blogs. They sucked me in and it's been so much fun. It has become more of a business for me since I did the Put-together book, when I finally decided I could let go and share my patterns and that it would be a lot less painful than trying to sew up an army of stuffed toys to sell. How hard is it? It gets harder every day. It's an odd situation being a stay at home and working from home mom. Every little success makes things that much harder. So it's kind of a constant state of stressed happy around here. Lots of "woohoo! Ah crap, when am I going to do that!" I think the most difficult thing is trying to prioritize and decide what's the best use of my very limited time. I feel like once I make these decisions and get a few things up and running in an orderly fashion than it will all fall into place and become easier. At least this is what I need to tell myself, over and over.

Nat: Your blog, Wee Wonderfuls, has lots of inspiration from sewing, embroidery to thrifting. Where do you find your inspiration?

Hillary: I find inspiration in all things vintage - children's books illustration, antique toys, thrifted fabric, old decorating magazines and also in all things mid-century modern, 50s color schemes, poster design, architecture and furniture design and then I love all things folky, scandinavian, simple country design. These are the things I always come back to when working on a design.

Nat: How did the Wee Wonderfuls little plush come about?

Free Wee pattern

Hillary: I was trying to make something more abstract, something simple that I could make an army of and the wee is what I came up with. I wanted a sort of blank slate to embellish and play around with and that would work decorated or pared down. Reminds me, I still need to make that army...

Nat: The Wee Wonderfuls Put Together Book #1 sold out the first day it was for sale. Why do you think your pattern booklets have become so popular? Why do people like making toys?

Put Together Book #1: Kitty Bunny, and Bear

Hillary: The put-together book fell into the gap. The gap between the craft book publishers catching up with what people really want to make. There seems to be a slew of new pattern books on the horizon which is exciting because hopefully there will be many more toy patterns for us all to play with. Toys are just cool. Or wait, aren't we all just kids or something? Maybe that's why. I just think toys are popular because they are a relatively quick and easy (as opposed to a quilt or something more elaborate) project. The end result has a personality! No matter how shoddy your sewing skills are as soon as you put a face on something it has a great little personality and that's addictive.

Nat: The Make-A-Long story is such a great idea - downloadable patterns. Tell me the idea behind it.

Make-A-Long Story & Patterns

Hillary: Impatience is what's behind the make-a-long project. I was thinking of book ideas and this seemed like the perfect blend to me of all the things I'm interested in, photos of staged toys, mixing all different types of crafts, telling a tale, making patterns -- a kids book and a craft book combined! So I found an agent and started talking about writing up a proposal and there is so much work you need to do up front and it all has to be behind the scenes which leaves no room for blogging about what I'm working on. And I can't believe how long the period of time is from idea to final published work. So I decided to just do it online in real time with PDF patterns. It's a fun process and immediately gratifying which is wonderful but I'll always want to do print patterns and cards too. I'm way too much of an archivist to go all online.

Nat: What other craft blogs, web sites and books do you enjoy?

Hillary: Well I'd let you peek at my bloglines but you might think I'm insane. It's overwhelming how many great craft blogs are out there. As I get more and more busy the less able I am to keep up with everyone which is really upsetting to me. I need my daily fix of craft blogs to inspire and delight and of course cause jealousy and feelings of self doubt ;)

Nat: What kinds of craft projects are you working on this fall?

Hillary: Well, more make-a-long projects for sure! They have many adventures planned. For the shop, the new fall designs of the Stitchette embroidery will be available soon and I was hoping to get a robot toy put-together book ready in time for Christmas gift giving. On the personal crafting front I have to figure out how the heck to tastefully decorate for Halloween, do I need one of those black feather trees? Do I artfully arrange gourds? Big decisions. And I have to figure out how to wrangle my toddler into a Halloween costume although, as he will loudly inform anyone who asks, he wants to be NOTHING.

Thank you Hillary for the great interview! We can't wait to see what you make next, and we can't wait to make it!

Free Patterns from Wee Wonderfuls

Urban Street Bazaar in Dallas on Sept 29 - Oct 1

Hey crafty peeps in the Dallas, Texas area, don't miss the Urban Street Bazaar starting this Friday, Sept 29th through Sunday, October 1st. Closing down Thomas Avenue at Boll for the weekend long event, the Urban Street Bazaar will begin Friday from 5:30 to 9pm and run Saturday from 10am to 9pm and Sunday from 11am to 4pm. The event is free to the public and welcomes hipsters of all ages. The first Urban Street Bazaar this past Spring 2006 proved to be an occasion where even the most determined browser became a buyer and small time crafters became business owners. This time around the Urban Street Bazaar has added a few new elements, including teaming up with Nette Radio to provide local entertainment from over a dozen talented music groups like Eden Automatic, Super Sting and Better Off Dad; as well as ongoing crafty demonstrations where shoppers can experience the latest in urban crafts. Link.

Urban Street Bazaar
2632 Thomas Avenue @ Boll
Dallas, TX 75204

Sept 29 - Oct 1
Friday 5:30 - 9pm
Saturday 10am - 9pm
Sunday 11am - 4pm

HOW TO - Sew a tissue holder

Craftapalooza has put up a tutorial on how to sew a tissue pack holder. I love the addition of the ribbon trim. Link.

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