Sara of Creative Jewish Mom shares downloadable art and instructions for creating these fresh nature-inspired cut paper silhouettes. I love the touch of ric rac!
Posted by rachelhobson | Monday March 8th, 2010 8:00 AM
Categories: Home, Paper Crafts | No Comments
Matthew Borgatti figured out a way to screenprint scratch-off cards. Fun for invitations, postcards, business cards, or starting your own lottery scam.
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Posted by Becky Stern | Monday March 8th, 2010 7:00 AM
Categories: Craft | No Comments
I love this simple technique for creating a nice burst of color in your spring decor from Betz White. Using gathered branches and a couple of handy craft supplies, she made this impressive rainbow pussy willow arrangement. See how she did it over on her blog.
Posted by rachelhobson | Monday March 8th, 2010 6:10 AM
Categories: Home | No Comments
Apartment Therapy has a great DIY up showing how to totally transform a bad floor into a good one. Whether you are renting or on a budget, this project will make all the difference.
Posted by Brookelynn Morris | Sunday March 7th, 2010 6:00 PM
Categories: Craft, Home | No Comments
From the brilliant embroideress, Sarah of Totally Severe, who brought you Tim Gunn in stitches, behold the amazing details of Amy Winehouse.
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Amy Winehouse Tattoo Sweater
Posted by rachelhobson | Sunday March 7th, 2010 3:00 PM
Categories: Art & Design, Sewing | 1 Comment
This week in the CRAFT Flickr pool we saw:
Pterodactyl Dresser by isfive,
Olympic Torch Monster by dkoss2,
Scarf/Halsduk by Meltman,
and Jellyfish Crocheted Rug by recyclingartistemily.
Posted by Becky Stern | Sunday March 7th, 2010 12:51 PM
Categories: General | No Comments
Lee Meredith has a great roundup of fingerless mitts on Threadbanger. I love these fingerless mitts made from felted sweater pieces by Kristin Roach of Craft Leftovers. So cozy!
Posted by nataliezdrieu | Sunday March 7th, 2010 6:00 AM
Categories: General, Home | No Comments
This jewelry made from reclaimed gun parts is a beautiful conversation piece. The intention of the GUN Reclamation Project is a statement about non-violence and transforming weapons into peaceful wearable art. I wonder if people who use and enjoy guns will want to wear them as well?
[via ecouterre]
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Posted by Brookelynn Morris | Saturday March 6th, 2010 6:00 PM
These little fuzzy friends come just in time to welcome spring. Check out Whit’s Knits over on The Purl Bee for the pattern and tutorial.
Posted by rachelhobson | Saturday March 6th, 2010 3:00 PM
Categories: Knitting | No Comments
For her son Logan’s 5th birthday party, Katie Goodman whips up some solar system chocolate cupcakes and shares her recipe.
Katie writes:
Logan always likes to ask people what their favorite planet is. Most have never thought about it before and have to think for a bit before answering. I always tell him Earth is my favorite and he always asks why. I love this beautiful planet, especially now that I’m seeing a tiny evidence of the spring we will soon experience.
Posted by nataliezdrieu | Saturday March 6th, 2010 6:00 AM
Categories: Food & Beverage | 1 Comment
For the past few weeks I have been covering preparations for the Fairytale Fashion Show at Eyebeam on CRAFT and Make: Online. The Fairytale Fashion Collection uses technology to create magical clothing in real life. Electronics, mechanical engineering, and mathematics come together to create clothing that changes colors and transforms shapes. Research and development for the collection are shared in an educational resource online at FairytaleFashion.org.
Here’s the official Fairytale Fashion Show video:
The outfits in the show used four different technologies, electroluminescent (EL) wire with a custom built driver, deployable structures, Twinkle Pad, and inflation. Some of the outfits will be sold later this month at my site,DianaEng.com.
Here is a look at the collection and some behind the scenes shots of how the garments were made.
1. EL Wire Dress: Aqua silk chiffon organically draped dress edged with electroluminescent wire controlled by an accelerometer. Circuit boards are housed in a custom 3-D printed neck piece. All of the EL wire garments were inspired by the movement and look of sea creatures like the jellyfish.
2. Deployable Hoodie: Red wool silk hoodie with Miura Ori structure pleat pattern to help the hood collapse small and open big.
3. Twinkle Dress and Twinkle Cardigan: LED circuits are hand embroidered with silverized thread and a custom sewable circuit board Twinkle Pad, developed specially for the Fairytale Fashion Collection. Twinkle Cardigan’s removable black wool melton shoulder patches overlay a washable cotton sweater. Twinkle Dress’s removable gray silk chiffon twinkle pad circuit overlays washable black cotton dress. I have been working hardest to make Twinkle Dress available for purchase. I want it to be a sophisticated sparkling party dress.
4. Cameo EL Shirt: Peach silk organza edged with electroluminescent wire controlled by an accelerometer. Circuit boards are housed in a custom 3-D printed Cameo.
5. Twinkle Skirt and Deployable Scarf: LED circuits are hand embroidered with silverized thread and a custom sewable circuit board Twinkle Pad, developed specially for the Fairytale Fashion Collection. Wool felt deployable scarf is created with the Miura Ori pleat pattern.
6. Origami Jacket: Lavender cotton canvas jacket with origami pleated sleeves inspired by the Miura Ori pleat pattern.
7. Inflatable Dress: Inspired by time lapse videos of blooming flowers and emerging insect wings, I used inflation to create a growing transformation.
8. EL Wire Coat: White silk organza illuminated by EL wire patterns beneath which are controlled by an accelerometer.
9. Dream Dress:I wanted to create a finale for the show that captures a moment of fairytale like magic.
Photographs by Rick Louis and Doug Eng.
Posted by dianaeng | Friday March 5th, 2010 10:00 PM
Categories: Craft | 2 Comments
I really admire Ira Glass of radio’s This American Life. He’s just so intelligent. And it comes across in a very real, down-to-earth way that’s indicative of someone who seriously mulls things over.
This is a snippet of a longer talk on creating stories for television or radio, but in this particular segment, he is speaking on the topic of improving your craft, and it’s inspirational to anyone who creates. He describes the difference between your aspirations and the level you are currently at as a gap, which is especially large when you are first embarking on a new genre of craft. He underscores the importance of imposing deadlines on yourself in order to churn out a large amount of sub-par work, which will enable you get to the level of skill that you aspire to. In other words, perfecting your craft through diligent practice. “… You have to turn out that work. Because it’s only by going through a volume of work that you’re actually going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.”
He concludes with words of encouragement. “It takes a while. It’s going to take you a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that. Okay? You will be fierce, you will be a warrior, and you will make things that aren’t as good as you know in your heart you want them to be. And you will just make one after another.”
Posted by Laura Cochrane | Friday March 5th, 2010 5:00 PM
Categories: General | 2 Comments
