Archive: Intern's Corner

February 5, 2010

Intern's Corner: How to Make "Silverwear" Earrings

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Lindsey North, projects intern

The trend now -- and I love it -- is recycled accessories: earrings made of bottle caps full of resin, belts made from candy wrappers, purses from pull tabs, and a plethora of other cool things. In CRAFT Volume 02, Kathy Cano Murillo showed how to fashion earrings from recycled tin, and in CRAFT Volume 03, Casey Dougherty showed how to make Fishing Lure Earrings. And then I saw some really cool jewelry at Maker Faire made from funky old utensils, watch gears, and tons of other random things that you'd never think of.

Ever since Maker Faire, I'd been looking for the perfect something to make into a fun pendant or pair of earrings (I'm an earring junkie, a constant collector). While visiting my grandparents recently, I found my inspiration: a silverware set that had once belonged to my great-grandmother, the most beautiful utensils I have ever seen. They were aged to perfection, slightly tarnished, but that only served to enhance the delicate flower pattern that decorated the handles. And so I was inspired to create earrings out of spoon handles.

Of course I wasn't allowed, nor did I want, to make the earrings out of my great-grandmother's spoons -- they're a family heirloom. Instead I went to the local thrift store and purchased some mismatched utensils. You can find some very fun and inexpensive flatware at thrift stores. I also found some cool inexpensive silverware at the local Safeway grocery store.

Once you've found your pieces of silver, cut the utensils to the desired length. I used a band saw at the Craft: Labs but you can also use a hacksaw. I like to vary the earring length, it just makes them more interesting.

After you cut the flatware, drill a hole near the top with a small drill bit. It's a good idea to oil the bit as you're drilling, to save your bit, especially if you're drilling stainless steel. Use sandpaper to sand down the rough edges of the metal to prevent future cuts and scratches.

Then just put in your jump ring and your earring hook! Now I wear my silverwear all the time.

Your CRAFT intern,
Lindsey

January 22, 2010

Intern's Corner: How to take real photos with the iPhone

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Ed Troxell, photo intern

Last month I traveled to the Big Apple, New York City. This was my first time to the metropolis and I know it won't be my last. Of course I was excited to be going to New York with two friends, but what I was really looking forward to was seeing, and capturing in photos, the life of the big city.

I will note that I did not bring my SLR camera. I know, what is wrong with me, but I prefer to haul the least amount of equipment and go unnoticed as a photographer. This way I can capture real moments. The minute someone sees a camera you usually end up losing your shot. I did take with me my handy Canon point-and-shoot and, you guessed it, my iPhone.

Anyone who has an iPhone knows that its 3.2-megapixel camera is nothing compared to a point-and-shoot digital camera (though Apple is rumored to be adding a 5MP camera to the 2010 iPhone). While I shot 98 percent of my trip with my Canon, I did end up shooting that 2 percent on my iPhone (when I forgot my camera in our apartment). Yes, the photos may look good on the screen of your iPhone, but they don't always look so good anywhere else, and you can't print them too big.

Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree. Not bad for an iPhone shot.

Yet, despite this, I've noticed that many people use their iPhone (or Blackberry, don't get me started on those) as their primary camera. So I decided to check out the best tips for shooting with the iPhone. Although I don't recommend using it as your main camera, these tips should help you get better quality photos:

Read full story »

January 8, 2010

Intern's Corner: Origami New Year's decorations

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Meara O'Reilly, projects intern

My family reuses holiday wrapping paper to a hilarious extreme -- presents have been known to show up swathed in paper as old as I am! This year, I started trying to think of what to do with the little scraps of beloved prints that are just really too small to be useful.

Enter origami! I've been playing around with a couple of different instruction books recently (especially a pretty great one by Mari and Roshin Ono called Origami for Children: 35 Easy-to-follow Step-by-step Projects), seeing what I can do with different-sized scraps. I've found that clever folding can address various weaknesses or flaws in the recycled paper -- with enough folds, even the scariest snowman becomes a lovely abstract pattern.

So far I've been making delicate gift boxes for next year:

And multi-layered spinning tops that can be used for games or just for decoration:

Up next? Origami tessellations! I can't stop folding!

December 11, 2009

Intern's Corner: How-To: Cast yourself in plastic

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Lindsey North, projects intern

Here's a project I just made with the casting skills I learned for CRAFT Volume 07 -- a jewelry stand in cast resin, molded from my own neck and shoulders.

But let's go back. It was my first plastic experience. Not a credit card kind of plastic, but a liquid form of plastic, the kind that can get everywhere if you're not careful. In CRAFT Volume 07 we did a fun how-to project, the Kona Kai Jewelry Stand, using bamboo and casting resin -- fun stuff, but I didn't know that yet!

So I'm reading the directions; I know where to get bamboo, aquarium gravel, et cetera, and then I come to the resin and catalyst. Up until this point I'd been a somewhat traditional crafter, ya know, knit, crochet, and so on. I have no clue where to find resin or how it works. I have a vague understanding of it because I've used epoxy in the past and heard that it was similar.

Off to the computer I go, trying to find a local place that sells plastic supplies. And I'm in luck, only 20 minutes from the office is TAP Plastics. After doing this project, I fell in love with casting resin and silicone for making molds. You can make pretty much anything from these materials.

Read full story »

November 27, 2009

Intern's Corner: Reupholstering Converse All Stars

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Meara O'Reilly, projects intern

My kindergarten teacher Mr. Harris always kept a bin in the classroom where parents could donate old computers or typewriters; when a kid was angry or had too much energy, they'd be sent to the bin, where they could tinker and, well, tear apart the contents until they stopped simmering and started exploring. I learned a lot about basic machinery and material composition just from taking things apart with abandon.

One of two "Converse A La Mod" projects in CRAFT Volume 07 (Shoe Time!), the All-Star Fabric Swap project uses this "technique" to great effect. I'd always wanted to make my own shoes, but was intimidated to make something so structural and weight-bearing from scratch. Since this project uses an old pair of Converse All Star sneakers as a pattern or template, there's not a lot of worrying about how to re-invent the wheel (so to speak), just some fun tear-down and hands-on learning about how a classic shoe is constructed.

To test the project, I modded a pair of the high-tops in the CRAFT Labs, replacing the old fabric with a new navy blue with white polka dots. All it takes is some simple sewing and shoe glue.

Then I made a San Francisco Giants themed pair for a CRAFT event at the 2008 "Stitch N' Pitch" baseball game at AT&T Park. For the fabric, I used Giants bandanas from the team's 50th anniversary celebration, with huge SF logos and a crazy Golden Gate Bridge print.

Now that I've made a couple of pairs of these, I feel ready to branch out in the world of shoe reupholstery and design a pair for my sister for Christmas. I'll post pictures here once I give them to her, to show how they turned out!

November 13, 2009

Intern's Corner: Crochet-Along Panda Party

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Lindsey North, projects intern

In September we launched a new feature: the CRAFT Crochet-Along brought to you by Lion Brand Yarn. Readers followed along online, live with Tamie Snow from Roxycraft, to crochet a cool Fuzzy Panda Amigurumi in three lessons, then entered their finished pandas in the CRAFT Crochet-Along Flickr Group for a crafty prize giveaway. Tamie's the author of Tiny Yarn Animals, she's extremely talented, and she created this fun pattern just for us CRAFT readers. Pretty sweet!

Download the Fuzzy Panda Amigurumi pattern in PDF format

It's a wonderful project for someone who's always working on the same types of knit and crochet projects. If you feel like you're endlessly making hat after scarf after afghan after hat, you should really try it. If you already crochet, it's a walk in the park, a lovely sunny day when the leaves are starting to turn and fall from the trees. And if you're new to crochet, the stitches are easy to learn, and as long as you use your stitch markers you can be confident your panda will turn out just like it's supposed to. Tamie gives row-by-row instructions the whole way.

So after I completed my little top-heavy, adorably fuzzy panda, I decided to challenge myself by trying to change the scale and making a panda party. At the moment, I'm playing around with both scale and color -- here's my original Pinkie and a larger-scale Rusty -- and I encourage everyone to do the same. Have fun with this cute little ball of fluff, make it your own.

Enjoy the other Crochet-Alongs in the future. It's a great way to make the most of the free time you may have in this busy season to do something creative and fun!

Your CRAFT intern,
Lindsey

• Related: CRAFT Crochet-Along home page

October 30, 2009

Intern's Corner: Cover It with Crochet, Escama-style

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Meara O'Reilly, projects intern

Ever since I found out about Brazilian craft cooperative Escama (featured in CRAFT Volume 03, "Pull-Tab Crochet") and saw some of their work at Maker Faire a couple of years ago, I've been on a thread-crocheting kick. I just love the way that the process involves a sort of functional, enterprising spirit (what can I cobble together and how do I invent the stitches to do it?) as well as a really interesting aesthetic.

Once I learned the basic stitches and figured out how to wrap them around just about any object, I was off!

Apart from making this pull-tab wallet for the CRAFT Archive and a few demonstration flowers from the article, I started covering everything I could think of: hoop earings, bracelets, and yup, recycled bra under-wire!

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to secure the ends of my crochet (I've so far used beads and glue on the end of each wire to keep the stitches on) but I love the structure of these bra-wire necklaces and I think somebody could make something really beautiful with the idea -- baby mobiles or lampshades, anyone?

October 16, 2009

Intern's Corner: How to make sand art with kids

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Ed Troxell, photo intern

Looking for some entertainment that kids will love? Try sand art.

I not only work as a photo intern at MAKE and CRAFT, but I also run my own magazine. Well, on top of that I work in the afternoons at an after-school day care center.

Every Wednesday -- it's our long day because the kids get out of school early -- we try to come up with a craft project they'll actually want to do. If you've ever worked with kids, you know that when it comes time to do arts and crafts not everyone jumps at the opportunity to get started. However, this simple project turned out to be one of our best yet: it keeps kids entertained while allowing them to be creative.

How-to:

Read full story »

October 2, 2009

Intern's Corner: Cocktail Hats, Anyone?

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Lindsey North, projects intern

So your best friend calls -- you're to attend a fancy dress party, costumes mandatory. But you have nothing to wear! However, you see fun beads and feathers sitting on your crafting table ...

From these small items, along with a clothes hanger, a headband, and a few scraps of fabric, you can make the perfect cocktail hat. (And if you want to make it completely outrageous, you can cover it in peacock feathers and sequins.)

In CRAFT Volume 10 we featured a Fancy Cocktail Hat and showed readers how to make a basic hat form. You start with a piece of metal wire -- an old clothes hanger works wonderfully, since it's light enough to bend easily but strong enough to hold its form.

Read full story »

September 18, 2009

Intern's Corner: The Hunt for Pineapple Yarn

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Lindsey North, projects intern

As readers of CRAFT and MAKE know, finding materials for projects can sometimes be challenging, if not downright maddening. I've spent hours online looking for very specialized materials that appear to be as mythical as unicorns. And even when you know exactly what you're after, you have to surf the web looking for the best deals.

To make CRAFT's Crocheted Wooden Bowl project by Vickie Howell, I remember hunting for yarn made from pineapple fibers that would be used to crochet around the wooden bowl to add decoration and color.

Pineapple fiber yarn! Come on! Where do you find that?

I searched online and learned that pineapple fiber is commonly called pina or piña. I called every yarn store in Sonoma County and then started calling the bigger stores in San Francisco. I couldn't find what I wanted.

So I did a general search and found Knit Purl, a store in Portland, Oregon, that carried the whole line of alternate-fiber yarns. These were made from various barks and leaves, and dyed with amazing colors; the saturation and hue reminded me of a florist's shop. And they had pineapple yarn! Theirs is called fique (fee-kay) and is made from a relative of the commercial pineapple plant. The store owners were very helpful, as they allowed me to pay over the phone and shipped the yarn to me. Knit Purl is the place to go for strange and awesome yarns. At this point in my crafting career that has been my greatest acquisitional challenge.

I had a blast working on this project after I found the yarn and some wooden bowls that didn't "cost an arm and a leg." (I would have a hard time spending big bucks on something I'm just going to drill holes in.) Returning to the Craft Lab, I measured and marked the points where I would be drilling my wooden bowls. (Measuring is very important and should never be skipped ever if you are a trained professional.)

Then I crocheted my way around the bowl, slowly decreasing as I got closer to the base. I ended the last ring around the base, and wove the end back in. This bowl looks totally awesome when it is full of fruit -- or balls of hard-to-find yarn.

Your CRAFT intern,
Lindsey

September 4, 2009

Intern's Corner: Crash Course in Chicken Knitting!

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Meara O'Reilly, projects intern

When I started interning at CRAFT magazine, my skills and interests tended more toward soldering and sawing than knitting and sewing -- but I was ready for a crash course! Of course I'd knitted a few scarves growing up, and taught myself to crochet just by messing around with yarn, so I thought learning how to knit objects would be cinch!

I'd had a great time knitting the hyperbolic baby pants from CRAFT Volume 06 and was really excited about learning how to mold different shapes and build my stitch repertoire, so the reversible Chicken-and-Egg knitted puppet (also from CRAFT Volume 06) seemed like a logical next step.

By the time it came down to finishing the project, though (to show it off at the CRAFT booth at the Craftaluma fair in Petaluma, Calif.), I was running around 24/7 helping my sister get ready for her wedding, so time got a little tight! I actually stayed up all night knitting the chicken-and-egg the night before the fair, desperately trying to finish it up (a memory my poor hands will not forget soon!).

But on the bright side, I will also never forget these basic stitches and tips that I learned, courtesy of a few benevolent YouTube mavens:

Read full story »

August 21, 2009

Intern's Corner: The Mini Kitties

Every other week, CRAFT's awesome interns tell about the projects they're building in the Craft: Labs, the trouble they've gotten into, and what they'll make next.

By Lindsey North, projects intern

On my first day as an official CRAFT intern I entered the lab for the first time. It was like entering a new dimension, a creative person's dream. There were supplies everywhere; you could build just about anything out of what you found in there. And in this lab I received my first assignment: I was to build miniature kittens dressed in little dresses.

I was later shocked to see my mini kitties featured on the cover of Volume 03 of CRAFT magazine. Turns out they're Japanese imports: we excerpted the patterns for White Cat, Striped Cat, and Black Cat from Aranzi Aronzo's The Cute Book (Random House).

When completed, each of these little creations made of felt were smaller than the width of my hand. It's surprisingly difficult to sew small pieces of felt together when you plan on stuffing them. You have to sew close enough to the edge so that you still have room to fill with stuffing, but you can't get too close to the edge or else the stitches will pull out when you try to stuff the mini kitty.

I ended up making six of these little fellows, and it took me several days to complete them all. Your fingers can get really sore trying to sew through layers of felt, so take breaks in between kitties if you choose to make a litter.

These cute little creatures make amazing presents, the purrfect addition to any gift. It's fun to play around with the felt colors. Try crafting a few!

Your CRAFT intern,
Lindsey

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