Ampersand love in design has been around for a while, and yes, we’re part of that group too. My first introduction to this logogram was as a kid watching Wheel of Fortune – I always thought it was so neat that you could get the ampersand for free.
So fast forward to now: an ampersand in our working space is just what we need. Continue reading »
What’s a bricolage brunch without the DIY projects? In the last post we featured Part 1 of how to plan your own bricolage brunch, mainly focusing on decoration and recipes. In this post we feature a few food-related DIY projects to work on at your party.
1. DIY Project: Bohemain Textured Eggs (above) – Victoria of A Subtle Revelry featured this great Easter project in her new magazine Styled. take some hardboiled eggs and decorate them with Japanese washi tape and other items around the house (leather, ribbon, buttons, beads)
2. DIY Project: Stencilled Placemat – Victoria created these mid-modern looking placemats with simple stencils, freezer paper, a piece of fabric and paint.
3. DIY Project: Animal Cameos on Highball Glasses – Amy and Julia etched animal cameos on to plain highball glasses to create a safari-themed set ready for drinking.
4. DIY Project: Placemat Aprons – Dana recycled vintage placemats by adding ribbon and some appliques to create new aprons for her little ones to cook in.
5. DIY Project: Porcelain Painted Dish – AshleyAnn used special porcelain pens to print various patterns on her plain white dishware.
By popular demand, here’s the link to the original instructions for the DIY Deer Heads which inspired one of the projects at last month’s Spins & Needles Apres Ski installment, courtesy of Dorm Decor (published in 2009 by Chronicle Books). Big thanks to CB for posting the instructions on their blog!
For the deer head making at the Spins & Needles party (imagine 75+ people making them all in the same room!), we had to make a few adjustments to the instructions, so here’s our version:
Materials
We used scissors instead of a Craft/Exacto knife (don’t want any accidents!) Make sure the scissors are sharp enough to cut through foam board.
Instead of wrapping paper and spray adhesive we used patterned wood-grain adhesive paper, the kind used for lining drawers. (You could even switch your wood grain up with plaid or polka dot lining.)
We ended up using foam board from the dollar store but if you can’t find foam board, substitute it for cardboard, like from wine boxes, leftover packaging – you’ll get some really interesting patterns when you assemble it.
Instructions
1. Cut out deer templates.
2. Trace onto foam board: 2 deer heads, 1 deer body, 1 deer nose, 2 deer antlers, 1 mounting board.
3. Cut out foam pieces.
4. Take your wood adhesive paper. Trace templates onto your paper then trace a second set of templates. (You’ll also cover the back of the foam).
5. Cut out all adhesive pieces.
6. Remove backing of each and stick onto front and back of each foam piece.
7. Assemble pieces as shown in the photograph.
8. Cut a piece of wire about 10” long. Poke a hole on either side of the mounting board with . Thread end of wire through both holes and wrap onto itself.
9. It’s now ready to hang about the mantle. THE END!
It takes a bit of patience cutting out all the pieces but the end result is so worth it and definitely way greener and animal-friendly! Awesome project to work on if you’re stuck indoors at the ski lodge or your humble abode, with lots of potential for other animals too (elephants, giraffe, horses?)
More photos from our Deer Head Hall of Fame posted on our Flickr account.
One of my favourite thrift store finds of all time is a 1967 Better Homes and Gardens: Treasury of Christmas Ideas book with tons of retro holiday inspiration. To get you in the mood for tonight’s Craft-mas installment in Ottawa, here’s some photos from the book to get you making some awesome stuff:
Pipecleaner tree ornaments
Pop Up Christmas cards
Retro Wreath
Retro Wreath made from paint can sticks
Thread Christmas tabletop tree
Yummy shortbread Christmas cookies
Tabletop Paper Christmas tree
Little drummer boy doll ornaments
Back cover
As promised, here’s the easy-peasy DIY tutorial on how to make your very own batik chic scarf using inexpensive materials from around the house.
Batik is a printing technique and type of textile popular in Asia and African countries. Different shapes are painted onto the fabric using liquid wax then dipped into dye. The wax is removed and you end up with some great handmade textiles.
If you draw repeating shapes like circles, squares and zig-zags, you can end up with some very contemporary fabric, like the patterns in the 2010 spring/summer collections of Dries Van Noten (especially the men’s accessories: pocket squares and bracelets) and the 2011 Max Azria women’s resort collection. Other inspirations include instructions found in a thrifted McCall’s craft magazine, the and posts around the web. We’ll list the web resources in another post this week.
The photos were taken at the Spins & Needles Pop-Up Batik Chic Picnic we held this past Sunday at park in downtown Ottawa. More photos can be found on the Spin Off Stuff Flickr page.
DIY Tutorial: How to Make a Batik Chic Scarf
Materials
* Wax paper or craft paper
* Cotton fabric (for scarf – we used 40″x10″ pieces of fabric)
* Pencil and paper
* Paintbrushes (varying sizes)
* Tealight candles (paraffin wax)
* Lighter/matches/firestarter
* Small aluminum pie tins
* Small fondue stand with candle base (optional)
* Paper towel
* Plastic tubs or buckets
* Water
* Salt/vinegar
* Dye (RIT-dye, Dylon or Procion MX)
* Rubber gloves
* Wooden spoons or barbecue tongs
* Iron
* Beeswax (optional)
* Apron (optional)
* Picnic lunch + picnic mat (optional!)
1. Prepare your pattern, working surface and fabric: Sketch your pattern on a piece of paper. Then place wax paper or craft paper on your working surface so wax doesn’t seep through. Place your scarf right side up on your wax paper.
Tip: Use natural materials (e.g. cotton, silk, burlap). Man made materials (e.g. polyester, rayon) are harder to dye.
2. To make your liquid wax: Remove the candle wick from several tealights. Then take one of the small aluminum pie tins and poke a couple holes on the side of the tin with a pencil. Next, light three tealight candles with a wick and place it into another aluminum pie tin. Place the tin with holes on top to cover the flames, then place another aluminium pie tin on top with the wick-less tealight. (In all you’ve used three aluminium pie tins). The wax should be completely liquid within 5-7 mins. Do not leave unattended or inhale the smoke!
Tips:
3. Start drawing: Dip your paintbrush into the melted liquid and draw directly onto your fabric. You can use varying brush sizes. Make sure wax line is thick so it will block the dye. After you’ve finished painting, look over and do touch-ups. Let wax harden.
Tips:
4. Prepare your dye: Prepare your dye in the plastic tub/bucket according to instructions. We used Rit-Dye which usually calls for hot water, but, because of the wax, we used regular room temperature water. You can also use Proxion or Dylon cold water dyes. For colorfastness, add a 1/2 cup salt or vinegar to the dye bath. Use a wooden spoon or barbecue tongs to mix the dye with the water and salt/vinegar.
5. Start dyeing your fabric: With rubber gloves on (required or you’ll dye your hands) and an apron (optional if you don’t want the clothes you’re wearing a different colour), place your piece of fabric in the dye bath. Use the spoon or tongs to move fabric around and try not to splash yourself. Leave the fabric in depending on how intense you want the colour to be: shorter for less intense, longer for more intense. Note that some of the dye will wash out after washing.
7. Letting the fabric dry: Take your piece out, wringing out any dye. Place on your wax or craft paper and let the piece dry.
Tip:
8. Setting the fabric: When your fabric is dry, place a fresh piece of wax or craft paper on top. Iron on top of the paper to heat wax, then let cool. The wax should adhere to the paper and off of the fabric. Repeat on areas where you still see wax. Put in washer or run under sink to wash out excess dye then put in dryer to set print.
Now wear in style for cool fall nights!
Here’s a project if you’re heading back to school this fall or want to spruce up your workspace. You can post inspirational photos, notes, magazine clippings, etc.
The inspiration for this was super unexpected. While surfing the UsedOttawa.com website (a site similar to craigslist) for furniture last year, I came across the photo above which was in an ad for a work table/desk. But it wasn’t just the table I was interested in – I was interested in how the seller made the “Make” Corkboard Wall. She was kind enough to send me easy-peasy instructions which I’ve modified to use the words “MAKE STUFF”.
Materials
Roll of cork sheeting (from an office supplies store or craft store)
Scissors
Stanley knife
Thick cardboard (e.g. from furniture boxes)
Pencil
White glue
Instructions
1. Measure the wall space where you want to place your corkboard.
2. Cut out a piece (or pieces if it is a large wall) of cork that match your measurements. Cut out a piece of thick cardboard this size that also match your measurements.
3. Glue the cork sheeting to the cardboard.
4. Print the “make” lettering. I’ve included a template below for “make stuff” and also on my Flickr page. You can use different words if you want (e.g. DIY). You can get other free fonts at dafont.com.
5. Cut out the letters and trace them onto the cork and thick cardboard. Cut out with scissors or a Stanley knife.
6. Glue the cork letters to the corresponding cardboard letters. Then glue to the main large piece.
THE END! Now tack above your desk or anywhere else in your house where you want to post project ideas and other stuff.
Thanks to Rilla for the instructions who moved back to Copenhagen last year (and who was coincidentally also a fan of S&N!)
So for us Canadians this Thursday is Canada Day, which means it’s the country’s birthday and equally as important it’s a holiday and more time to DIY!
I’ll be posting a couple Canada Day-related tutorials this week to get you in the mood for celebrating the country’s 143rd birthday, whether you are lounging on your patio with a beer, somewhere abroad spotting backpackers with the Canadian flag sewed to their gear, or in Ottawa watching the fireworks at Majors Hill Park.
First up is how to make a Canada Day stencilled pennant bunting (or string garland), one of the more popular projects in the handmade scene right now (check out a great tutorial roundup courtesy of whipup). mixed with traditional Canadian symbols such as the maple leaf, the moose, hockey sticks and knitted toque (cue the cheesy closing ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games). I love how such a simple idea as piecing fabric triangles together can completely transform a space, inside and outside, and how it’s so easy to make.
You’ll notice that rather than use red and white (colours of the Canadian flag), I opted to replace the white with a striped silver fabric (coincidentally it ended up looking like birch bark and so added some unexpected woodsy flair).
Thanks to geek x nerd’s post on Independence Day buntings that inspired me to revisit this idea and create this Canadian themed project.
DIY Project: Canada Day Bunting | String Garland
Materials
1. Create a triangle pennant template: Using your piece of cardboard, measuring tape and marker, draw a triangle approxiamtely 9″ wide by 11″ deep, then cut it out. You can find a template for a smaller triangle here.
2. Cut your triangle pennants: Pin or tape the template to the material.For the thicker silver fabric, I used pinking shears to cut out the triangles. (I cut out 4). For the lighter red cotton fabric, I cut one triangle and then a second one so that I could sew them together to make the pennant sturdier and hang better. (I cut out 10). If you buy thicker fabric for all pennants you can skip Step 5. For my bunting I had a total of nine pennants.
3. Prepare your stencils: Print out or draw your stencils. You can use the ones I’ve collected on one page here or create you own. Make sure its size is smaller than the centre of the triangle. (There should be about 1″ of space around). Trace each stencil onto the adhesive paper with the black marker. Cut out each stencil so that you have a negative.
4. Paint your stencils: Adhere a stencil to the middle of the triangle. I decided stencil would be on the silver pennants. Using your sponge brush, apply black fabric paint to your stencil making sure you get every nook and cranny. Repeat for each triangle using the different stencils. Tip: make sure the paint is dry before removing the adhesive otherwise you may lift up some of the paint. Use a hairdryer to speed up drying.
5. Sew sides together: While letting the paint dry, match up one red triangle with another red triangle and pin together. Using your sewing machine, sew along the sides leaving a small hole at the top. Turn inside out. Repeat for the rest of your red triangles.
6. Pin pennants on ribbon and sew: Unravel your ribbon and leave about 15″ of ribbon free. Pin one triangle at this point under the ribbon, then continue pinning each triangle so that the point of one pennant meets the point of another pennant underneath the ribbon. Using your sewing machine, sew down either side of your ribbon to the pennants to secure your triangles. Unravel another 15″ of ribbon then snip.
7. Optional: Iron your triangles so they are nice and flat.
Your Canada Day bunting|string garland is ready to hang! THE END
For inspiration on Canadian symbols and fashion I came across this au courant article from the Ottawa Citizen. Also, the Globe and Mail is teaming up with Facebook in the days leading up to Canada Day, asking Canadians about what our true national symbols should be. (E.g. I wanted to stencil poutine on a pennant but not sure how I could capture that). For all you Canadians out there, what symbols do you think should be added ? Are there any crafty-related ones that should be included? The closest one I could come to was a knitted toque. I’m sure you’ve got better ideas and I’d love to hear them!
Photograph by: Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa Citizen, June 2010 article on Canadian fashion here
Those of you who subscribe to our newsletter know this already – but after getting all our archives organized and all our DIY ducks in a row, Spins & Needles is happy to announce we’ll now be posting DIY project instructions from each of our past and future events online! Throughout the summer we’ll be adding new sets of instructions and plan on having all of them up by the end of summer 2010.
We’re bringing you more DIY goodness for all you peeps who can’t make it to an event, people who are itching for more projects post-event, people surfing the net for project inspiration and also all those who wonder what the heck do people work on at the events….
You’ll now have access to full instructions in three ways:
1. On the Spins & Needles website as 8.5×11″ easy-to-print PDFs under the Projects page
2. On this blog as JPEGs – search for “Instructions” OR click on the Instructions button in the sidebar (coming soon)
3. On the Spins & Needles Flickr page as JPEGs in the “Instructions” collection.
Photos of some of the creations from the night of the event will be featured. So watch out – one of your creations might be selected!
If we don’t provide a PDF, we’ll try to post links to sites that provided project inspiration.
And feel free to share and distribute under the following Creative Commmons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. 
First up is what we worked on at the May 2010 installment which was our Post-Cinco de Mayo Party. We worked on three projects:
1. Paper Bag Pinatas (PDF) (a papier-mache alternative)
2. Papel Picados (PDF) Traditional Mexican cut-out banners
3. Craft Tacos (via e-scoutcrafts.com)
Whip up some delicious felt or craft foam tacos with cut up lettuce, tomato and cheese pieces. Instructions here.
—
Be sure to check back often for more posted instructions starting from back in the day in 2005! Plus don’t forget that there’s more DIY tutorials over on spin off stuff’s Flickr page.
1. DIY Retro Holiday Circle Wreath – Materials, 2. Cut Circles, 3. Arrange Circles, 4. Glue Circles, 5.Add Sparkly Beads, 6. Add Red Bow, 7. Add Elastic Hanging, 8. End Result
So we’ve been a wee busy with holiday events and sales. But as the dust settles, I’ve still got a few days to craft up some holiday decorations and add some cheer to our place!
Here’s a tutorial on how to create a retro-inspired, holiday wreath from materials around the house. It’s an updated versions inspired from one of my vintage Christmas how-to books from Better Home and Garden and uses circles instead of flowers. The original photo is below.
So here we go:
DIY Project: Retro Holiday Circle Wreath
Materials:
Materials:
-circular backing (preferably in green – I used a straw cover but you could also use a straw or paper plate)
-green craft foam (this is what I used) or construction paper or felt
-gold or silver beads
-glue gun
-ribbon (optional)
-string (optional)
Instructions
1. Using varying shades of green craft foam or construction paper or felt, cut out circles in three different sizes, enough to fill the perimeter of your circular backing.
2. Arrange your circles so that the largest circles fill the outer perimeter. Repeat with the medium-sized and smallest circles so that they overlap the layer before. Once all the layers have been arranged, you should have a small circle with a bit of your backing peeping through.
3. Using your glue gun, attach each circle to the backing.
4. Using your glue gun, attach large silver beads to random spots on the wreath.
5. Add a bow to the bottom of your wreath.
6. Tie a piece of string to the back of your wreath to hang.
7. Hang your wreath on the front of the door to wish everyone happy holidays and spread good cheer amongst your neighbours! THE END!
Happy holidays from spins & needles and spinoffstuff!
Wet Felted Votive Candle Cozy – Materials, 1. Pulling Pieces of Batting Apart, 2. Adding (Almost) Boiling Hot Water to Glass, 3. Adding Soap to Glass, 4. Rubbing Wool Vigorously With Soapy Water (inside Glass), 5. Rubbing Wool Vigorously With Soapy Water (Outside Glass), 6. Rubbing Wool Vigorously With Soapy Water (Outside Glass), 7. Washed Out and Letting Dry, 8. Adding the Wool Lettering, 9a. Lit and Flickering
A felt cozy is a great thing to whip up, especially for the holiday season. It will definitely add a touch of home and nostalgia on your table, fireplace, etc.
Above is a photo of the prototype. I spotted them on sale at one of the large book chains here in Canada. I immediately thought, hey, I have some wet felting materials around. Why not try it out?
These cozies were also inspired by our event at the National Gallery of Canada in September, where Spins & Needles presented wet-felting projects for the first time. Check out the pics www.flickr.com/photos/spinsandneedles/sets/72157622305198″>here.
By the way, we’ve got some cozy-related surprises coming up in the next few months, so stay tuned!
Materials
-Hot water (boiled and cooled down a bit in kettle shown)
-Little bowl
-Dishwashing Soap
-Felt batting (very important! not acrylic or any other blend – just wool)
-Yarn (I chose blue)
-Scissors
-Glue gun
-Small tub to do washout in
-Votive candle holder (instead I reused an old cup bought from a thrift store)
-Candle
1. Tear your wool batting into pieces. (Don’t cut – if the ends are too blunt they won’t felt. Plus thin layers felt better than thick layers). Inside your glass, add batting pieces horizontally around the bottom, and then vertically. Continue to add pieces this way. Build up the batting so it reaches almost the top of your glass.
2. Boil some water and let it cool down a bit. Add the almost boiling water to the inside of your glass.
3. Add liquid detergent (one squirt should do).
4. Use your hands to rub the batting together and create soap suds. If the water is too hot, use rubber gloves. Use quick motions for more friction. Each individual piece of batting should begin to lock to other pieces to create a thick layer of felt.
5. When the batting pieces start locking together, gently remove the wet felt piece and place it around the bottom and outside of the glass. This is so you can shape the batting to the cozy shape.
6. Again, rub at the felt quickly to create a lot of soap suds.
If you find you are having trouble getting the pieces of batting to stick together, take a nylon stocking, pull it gently over your batting and glass, and rub on top of the stocking to create friction. The batting will felt together because it is restricted from moving around when you rub it. (You’ll know this is happening when little pieces of felt start to peep out of the stocking or the stocking starts to lint).
7. Once you are done (when the pieces of batting can no longer be picked off), dunk the felt cozy in cold water to shock the fibres together even more. Rinse suds out thoroughly and let dry.
8. Once it is dry, add lettering to your cozy. Using wool yarn, spell out one a word (e.g. joy, hope, noel). I used cozy (just to be literal and also inspired by one of our upcoming projects!). Glue gun the yarn to the cozy.
9. Place the cozy over the bottom of your glass, then place a candle inside and light it up. Your wet felted votive candle cozy is done. Great for the fireplace mantle, side table or dinner table. THE END!
