Craftzine.com blog: Columns Archives

Archive: Columns

December 21, 2011

Subversive Finds: Hidden Cross Stitched Messages from a Nazi POW

This story is so close to my heart that it's taken me a month to figure out how to write about it. It's the story of Major Alexis Casdagli, a British soldier in WWII who began cross stitching secret subversive messages while in a Nazi prisoner of war camp. It's the story of his son, Tony Casdagli, also a cross stitcher, and how he put together a book of his father's work. And it's also about the amazing show currently at the Victoria and Albert Museum in which includes work from both father and son.

So many people sent me the article that appeared in The Guardian, knowing it would be right up my alley. I was so enchanted with the story that I immediately ordered the book and then, to my great surprise and delight, was able to get in touch with Major Casdagli's son via email and ask him a few questions.

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October 26, 2011

Baby Food: The Halloween Genius of Isabelle Baril-Ortley

By Garth Johnson

CRAFT is excited to announce our new monthly columnist, Garth Johnson of Extreme Craft, who will be writing about crafter extraordinaires. Welcome Garth!

Isabelle Baril-Ortley knows how to kick it up a notch. When I was drawing up the short list of names for my inaugural Extreme Craft column for CRAFT, Isabelle's name kept coming to the top. Since Halloween is coming up, I have no choice but to expose CRAFT's readership to the mogul of mischief, the skipper of spooky, the master of macabre, the head honcho of Halloween... Isabelle Baril-Ortley.

Isabelle first came to my attention about five years ago, when she appeared like a bolt out of the blue on the Martha Stewart show. Amid a sea of cranberry scone recipes and window treatment ideas, Isabelle rocked the show with perhaps the best infant costumes ever known to man.

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September 14, 2011

Zero to Maker: Crafting 101

Maker newbie David Lang is writing about his adventures in the DIY world at Make with his column, Zero to Maker: Getting Up to Speed With DIY.

Over the next month or so, David Lang, something of a reluctant maker, is immersing himself in maker culture and learning as many DIY skills as he can, through a generous arrangement with our pals at TechShop. He's regularly chronicling his efforts in this column -- what he's learning, who he's meeting, and what hurdles he's clearing (um... or not). - Gareth

Yesterday's post was especially fun as he recounted his journey into the craft world. Read what he had to say about his first attempt at stamping, his thoughts on Etsy and the business side of crafting, and much more!

September 13, 2011

Subversive Finds: Stitching Up Some Manliness

The sometimes NSFW creations of Matthew Monthei have been seriously cracking me up for some time now. Anyone who cross stitches and then uses their crotch as a backdrop is pretty awesome in my book.

Matthew is a regular contributor to the Subversive Cross Stitch Flickr group, which is where I first saw his work. He's also got a new Etsy shop, and other spots on the web, which I'll link to below.

I like his self-description on his About Me page: "General shenanigans involving (more often than not) some form of behavior inappropriate for a man of my age and demeanor. Because I'm still 12. And drunk." I'm not sure how else to introduce him, but he's got some 'splainin to do!

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August 15, 2011

Subversive Finds Worldwide: Miso Funky

By Julie Jackson

I discovered the work of Claire Brown of Miso Funky a few years ago, when I bought two of her cross stitch pieces ("Sniff Glue, Worship Satan" and "In Case of Emergency, Breakdance"). I have never quite recovered from the hilarity of these, so I thought it was high time to catch up with my wee Scottish sister-in-stitching and see what she knows about Alan Cumming.

You can meet Claire in person if you're in planning to attend Renegade London in October, or you can watch from home as she launches her site redesign! Some of the photos here are a sneak peek at the fresh, new look of Miso Funky that's just around the corner.

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July 25, 2011

Crafting Your Online Presence: Customizing Your Blog Header, the Simple Way

Banner Dianegilleland Column

So you've started up a new blog. You can't exactly call yourself tech-savvy, so you've taken advantage of a free blogging platform like Blogger or Wordpress, and you've selected a nice design template from among their selection. So far, so good.

But now, your new blog could really use a spiffy custom header, so people can distinguish it from all the other free blogs using your same design template. How do you go about making a header when you don't know an HTML from a JPEG? You do have options... read on!

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July 13, 2011

Subversive Finds Worldwide: Steotch

Editor's Note: We're thrilled to welcome Julie Jackson back to CRAFT! Her monthly column will feature fascinating crafters from all over the world.

When I first discovered the work of Steotch.com, I felt like I had found my long-lost siblings. If I could anoint the next generation of truly subversive stitchers, they would definitely wear the crown.

Matt and Emily Fitzpatrick live and stitch in a small town in rural Northwest Connecticut, an area (according to them) "rife with traditional New England handcrafters and dorky rap-quoting white people." The photo on their Who We Are page shows them dressed as their alter egos: an old-timey crafty lady and a straight-out internet thug.

I have such an internet crush on Steotch because their work is deliciously smart. They've got serious traditional cross stitch cred (it runs in the family) and the way they combine it with internet memes, rap lyrics and anything else that makes them laugh results in pieces of art that are truly hilarious.

You've probably seen Steotch online recently: their work has gone completely viral thanks to a post on Reddit and coverage on sites including Boing Boing and Huffington Post. I had to know more about this brilliant couple and find out where they've been all my life!

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June 24, 2011

Crafting Your Online Presence: How Does the Money Follow from Doing What You Love?

Banner Dianegilleland Column

By Diane Gilleland

Last month, we talked about originality - why it's important to find that one thing only you can do, and then share it online. I drew on stories from last month's Crafting Your Online Presence panels at Maker Faire.

This month, I want to share another strong theme from those discussions: that often-repeated idea of "Do what you love, and the money will follow." Since I had two panels of crafty superstars in front of me, I asked them what, specifically, they did to make that money follow. Their answers were very enlightening. Read on....

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May 25, 2011

Crafting Your Online Presence: Being Original (Advice from the Maker Faire Panels)

Banner Dianegilleland Column

Wowee! The two Crafting Your Online Presence panels at Maker Faire were amazing. All kinds of great wisdom issued from the minds of our esteemed panelists - too much, in fact, to capture in a single column here. So I'll be drawing on what happened in these discussions over the next few months.

Today, I want to look at the biggest theme that emerged in these panels: the importance of originality and passion. You may have heard and read the phrase "blog about your passions" so many times at this point, it seems to have no meaning at all. And yet, this idea is so central to creating a successful online presence. So let's see if we can get beneath the surface and find some tips you can use.

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May 1, 2011

Have you Spring-cleaned your online profiles?

Banner Dianegilleland Column

(Image by demandaj, via Flickr)

How many separate online presences do you have right now? Do you have a blog? (More than one blog?) Do you have a personal Facebook account? A fan page? Are you on Twitter? Flickr? Pinterest? Ravelry? Others?

Whew. Chances are, if you're online for any length of time, you'll end up with a whole bunch of profiles in a whole bunch of places. Have you ever considered how well all these profiles coordinate with one another? Have you thought about how easy it might be for someone to navigate among them? Or why this matters?

Here are some profile-management ideas to consider.

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April 26, 2011

Subversive Finds: Pearlies

Subversive Finds

A few years ago, I saw a gorgeous photo on Flickr of people with pearl buttons sewn all over their clothes in amazing patterns, and my obsession with "Pearlies" began. I immediately started bidding on eBay auctions for pearl buttons and dug out an old black jacket in hopes of making my own. But, after a year of procrastinating, I decided that I'd better just write this column and show you some of the amazing photos I found of the real deal - the authentic Pearlies.

After some research, I found out that Pearlies are dedicated charity workers who raise money for a variety of organizations in London. There are about 40 families active today in different official guilds and groups - here's an interesting glimpse of the current officers in The Original Pearly Kings and Queens Association.

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March 31, 2011

Crafting Your Online Presence: How Do You Get More Readers?

Banner Dianegilleland Column

(Image by Ben Stanfield, via Flickr)

By Diane Gilleland

It's the number one question people ask me about blogging, Twitter, and Facebook: "How do I get more readers?" It's a fair question, but I think it's also a fuzzy one. So I want to spend this month's column examining it (and yes, answering it).

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