Check out this online craft zine ‘What You Make It”
http://www.what-you-make-it.com/index.html

It features interviews with crafters and artists. See Janice from Copacetique. It is edited by Melissa Stajda Freelance Artist/Crafter/Web-Designer. Best of luck, Looks like a great project!

From Karrie who found this via Funky Finds (another great link-yummy site).

Friendly warning to browsers: I found it slightly awkward to navigate because of the book-metaphor in the design. At the time of writing this post, you can’t click on the names in the table of contents, you have to click on the upper right hand corner where you’ll find a black-on-brown pointing finger, so you can ‘flip’ through the pages. Interviews are broken over several pages. Alas. It’s about the experience I suppose! The editor says she wished she could have printed. :)

Forgive my fairly rough images below: I wanted to share a great bookbinding technique, but I’ve only made maquettes using it so far. I’ve got a proper book in progress, but it’s a joint venture, and may take months yet!

The Canberra Bookbinders’ Guild has started a website, and if you head over there you’ll find the seeds of what it going to be a very valuable book resource. Their section on ‘Workshop Notes’ has (to date) two very clear book stitch tutorials: single sheet coptic, and figure-of-eight stitch. This latter one is marvellous for making flippy books using heavy cardboard, slide mounts, or even, as I’m showing here, CDs and other such materials. It binds the single sections together — the sections do need to be thick and/or stiff — yet allows them to be flexible, bending easily both ways.

Here you can see I’ve made a maquette using those clear CDs you get at the bottom of a spindle, but real CDs work well, and snap cleanly through if you score them heavily with a stanley knife and metal ruler. I’ve used a very heavy waxed linen thread, but you could use wire, fishing line, heavy wool, anything that can withstand a bit of friction over time.

I’ve seen a fabulous little book using this technique which had a map laminated onto square and triangular sections of thick card, and the book pieces follow the line of the coast in the map, and the whole book is able to fold up into a small square.

The Guild has plans to expand their online tutorials, so keep checking back there occasionally. If you’re in Canberra and are interested in bookbinding of all types, come along to a meeting. Lots of techniques are shared and encouraged.

Happy making!

Lush. Vibrant. Crazy. Intense. Completely and absolutely unique. Dyeing your own yarn, fibre, or fabrics gives you ultimate control over your finished product and your craft. There are as many ways to dye as there are personalities in this world and you can make your dyeing process as complex and scientific or easy and intuitive as you want. But before we get into splashing dye about Jackson Pollock-style, there’s a little dye safety stuff that needs to be addressed…

Industrial Strength Chemicals

The dyes and chemicals used by home dyers are generally non-toxic but should still be handled with care.

The most hazardous part of dyeing is being exposed to the dye powders. Prolonged exposure to dye powders may cause respiratory irritation or sensitization, so to minimize contact always wear an approved dust mask (at a minimum) or a respirator. As well, wear rubber gloves and an apron to protect your skin from direct contact with the dye solutions or auxiliary chemicals and so that you don’t absorb anything through your skin.

Finally, you want good ventilation for when you are steaming or heating up dye baths BUT don’t mix your dye solutions near windows or drafty places — the dye powders are very light and will blow all over the place… even if you can’t see it! You might want to put a damp towel underneath your mixing area to catch any stray dye powder.

DYE ONLY — NO FOOD

Anything that you use for dyeing should not be used again for cooking. That includes any kitchen pots, cooking utensils, wooden spoons, measuring cups and spoons, stock pots, crock pots, and turkey roasters, etc. Pick up inexpensive, used equipment from the local Salvation Army to use for your dyeing projects and save your pretty kitchen stuff for cooking!

Some people like to dye with their microwave ovens or conventional ovens — again, these should be reserved for dyeing only.

Just like you wouldn’t be using bathroom cleaner while eating lunch, keep your food and drink away from your dye area!

Mise en place

If you do much cooking or food prep (or read Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential), you’ll know the importance of "mise en place" which, literally translated from French, means "setting in place".

When I apply this to my dye work process, what it really means is that you have everything you need for your dye project prepared and ready to go. The above photo is of my dye area as I get ready to mix stock solutions. The dye powders are lined up in sequence next to the squeeze bottles. The respirator and gloves are on hand. I have a small scale to weigh the powders (I make 1% or 2% dye stock solutions by weight, not by teaspoons/volume — more about this another time!) and a large wet/dry scale to measure the liquids. Finally, I have a mini food processor that I use to blend the dye stocks (so that I minimize the chances of inhaling dye powder while stirring).

With everything ready at hand, it is more efficient to mix the dye stocks while also minimizing the chances of mistakes or accidents caused by running around looking for that measuring spoon or that dye powder. Neat, clean, efficient is what you are going for.

Exceptions?

Some dyes, like Gaywool Dyes are sold in a crystallized form and look almost like coloured kosher salt. They may appear to be safer in this form (unlike fine, dusty dye powders), however there is still powder residue with the crystals. Use a dust mask or respirator to be safe.

Kool-aid is obviously approved for human consumption (although sometimes I wonder…), so you could dye with Kool-aid and use your regular kitchen equipment or utensils. However, you still don’t want to be breathing in the Kool-aid powder either.

Happy, safe dyeing!

Reference Books and Sites

• Color In Spinning by Deb Menz
  
  has some information about setting up a safe dye studio with photos of her large basement studio (pg. 58-59)
• Dyeing to Knit by Elaine Eskesen
  has quite an extensive description of safe dyeing procedures and studio set up (pg. 27-29)
• Dyeing Wool and Other Protein Fibres: An Introduction to Acid Dyes by Susan Rex
  is an excellent resource for everything to do with acid dyes (from Koolaid to Lanaset and everything in between). There is a small section about dye safety in general, but dye safety for specific dye products is discussed throughout the book. Susan also indicates in several places that microwaves used for dyeing should be reserved only for dyeing.
• Pro Chemical’s website
  has detailed material safety sheets on pretty much everything they sell including all the acid dyes and auxiliary chemicals.

The CRAFT blog will bring you a daily dose of crafts –everything from projects, interviews, books, tools, and more.

CRAFT begins with a week of toys. The first crafter off the bench is Jess Hutch. A crafty tool belt tutorial, and a review of craftmemo - an online organisational crafty project management system.

Living in the American South, I tend to put down my knitting for the summer and forget working with fiber. It’s hot enough already without toting around heavy projects.

The beginning of this autumn is no different.

With this in mind, I go on a summer craft hiatus each year only to delve back in each fall with excitement and entirely too many projects. And since my main focus is on the activist side of crafts, here’s a reminder that craft can be used in all sorts of ways.

While conflicts are rising in the Middle East, it’s important not to forget the lives of those involved. There are numerous charities that have cropped up over the past few years, however, and one such charity is Afghans for Afghans. Since 2001, Afghans for Afghans has been collecting handmade items for Afghan individuals who may not have adequate clothing to last the winter.

Several times a year they send goods to Afghanistan, and the next shipment will be sent sometime in late September.

So this year, while you start to think about making (sewing, crocheting, knitting) hats and scarves for you and your loved ones, consider making one more garment for someone else. I’m going to make ths vest to send off for the current drive to help clothe young children in Afghanistan once the temperature drops.

I have extended the whiplash for a couple more days - I have been busy and hadn’t had a chance for reminders so many of you may have forgotten about the whiplash comp or unsure about when it finished - so last chance - 2 more days - finish on Aug 17 - time to photograph and post your project.

Part of the whiplash prizes this month is the book ‘Generation T; 108 ways to transform a t-shirt’ by Megan Nicole.

A while ago Zoe wrote up a bit of a review of the instructions on the generation T website, which she reckons was pretty easy to follow.

Megan is a resourceful, thrifty and fashion conscious chic with a love of making things. In this book she takes the blank canvas of a t-shirt and re-fashions it over and over again to express her style and mood and creates an original personalised outfit out of old t-shirts, what is even better is that she gives instructions for us to do the same.

The books begins with the basics: inspiration, supplies, measurements, types of fabrics, stitches, style tips and very importantly the anatomy of a t-shirt, so you can figure out exactly what you are doing.

Then comes de-construction, thats right - cutting, slashing, snipping that old or boring Tee up. This section involves projects with lots of excellent illustrations and a couple of black and white photos. These projects are not for everyone, but hey we all have our own ideas of what is cool. I don’t mind the slashed t’s, or the cute ruffled sleeves or wide a-symetrical necklines, but I draw the line at the tribal fringeing and the safety pinned sides.

Next comes the party shirts, some major alterations happening here such as joining two t’s together, adding a hood, lots more slashing and revealing of skin, some really good ideas like how to alter necklines, using drawstrings and tying to add charactor, different ideas for sleeves or no sleeves as well as decorative options. … My god even more shirt is cut away in chapter 4, not much left now, they just keep getting smaller, this is the sexy summer section with halter tops and bikinis all made out of the good old Tee.

What else can you do with a t-shirt? surely there’s more than more shirts? Well yes in fact there is. Turn your old t-shirt into a skirt, a poncho, a flapper dress, bags, belts, and more. The middle section of the book contains full colour images of most of the projects, so you can really visualise what you can achieve. Lots of these are pretty cool, but if you are not stick thin some of the drapey and loose bits might not work so well for you.

In conclusion while the book contains lots of great ideas, with good illustrations, and photos, most of these projects would not suit everyone, but as the book is aimed at teens and young twenties this is probably ok. I would definitely get this book for a young fashion conscious teen who is into diy, what fun they could have expressing themselves and experimenting - and how good it feels to take a pair of scissors to some old ugly outfit that you never wear. I might even get this book for myself if I had less flesh and wasn’t cultivating grandma flaps on my arms!

This may not be a craft link, but it’s a wonderful tutorial about how to make something crafty and cunning for your blog.

Animated gifs!

Follow Fluffy’s wonderfully clear directions as she walks you through making your own moving pictures… make your craft blog illustrations a bit special and unusual, a bit different…

A collection of soft boxes from felt and fabric:

sewing caddy by julieree

felt box+tutorial by applehead

felt box by little birds

Some Japanese craft book inspiration from Lisa’s Flickr stream.

Betz White has a great needle felting tutorial on her blog that includes a ton of photos. Rather than using individual needles on foam, she uses the nifty new Clover needle felting tool and fancy brush-like base. Her results are really quite lovely!

Other needle felting tutorials:

• Basic instructions on Clover’s site
• Needle felted flower tutorial
• Needle Felt a Ladybug
• Needle-Felted Pillows

Among the many objects from the industrial and mass-produced to the hand made showcased at Sydney Design 06, Droog Design’s rag chair is just one of a number showing creative re-use of materials. More Droog Designs.

Sydney Design has many events for those able to reach Sydney, Australia, in August, but the program has links to websites that can be explored from anywhere in the world to see the fruit of numerous imaginations.

One of the associated events at the Object Gallery involves several exhibitions, including 8 Ounces by Ahn Wells, bright and oversized crocheted teacups Wells crocheted with her mother. The work embodies universal concerns and intentions: time spent with family; learning craft from a master, and the importance of technique and process.

Also at the Object Gallery: The ideas and objects that weave throughout a matter of time invite us to think about the relationships between time and making, materiality, ritual, the present and memory. Concerns not only relevant to exhibited artists, but to anyone making craft, whether quilt or sock or embroidery. Many of the things we craft could have their purpose supplied by industrial objects, but that is not enough reason to stop our creativity, imagination and joy in the work of our hands.

How do you see one or more of those features in relation to your crafting? - time and making, materiality, ritual, the present and memory? I make quilts when I could easily buy mass-produced bedcoverings, but the quilts resonate as bought stuff cannot. I love fabric and buttons - just yesterday I was running my hands through a huge bowl of vintage buttons in a shop, just for the pleasure of their feel, sound and something else that’s irresistible about buttons. There are all sorts of rituals associated with my crafting - not to confine it, but sometimes it’s my hands’ wisdom - they know how to hold a quilt and sew a binding, how to steady a ruler or control fabric through a sewing machine - and sometimes ways of working that I’ve arrived at and remained with. And memory? Everything I make conjures memories in all sorts of ways.

What about you? Is one of those in particular the ‘engine’ of your crafting? Looking forward to reading your comments.

Since some time ago I want to write an article about crafts in Latin America; but it´s very difficult. Crafts in Latin and Portuguese cultures are a history of fusions: of religious and secular, of materials and the land where they are born, of the extinct and what is reborn; and very varied topics and ages: ceramics, fabrics, artistic techniques…

For that reason I have decided to begin with what is at the same time the result of traditional techniques and new trends alien to the Latin world: “zakka” or oriental.This could be one, but not the only, definition of the work of Lucía Dorado, “Chicadecanela“.

As she explains: “chicadecanela are nice things handmade with extreme care, putting a lot of love in them…As they are always handmade, using different craft techniques, chicadecanela’s objects are always different from one another.A combination of design and craft, which allows the design of special and different things using in their creation knowledge and love for details. ”

More info on: her blog (in english) and web-shop(in english and spanish).

Hace tiempo que quiero escribir un artículo sobre la artesanía en Iberoamérica; pero resulta muy difícil. La artesanía en la cultura latina es una historia de fusiones: de lo religioso y lo profano, de materiales y la tierra donde nacen, de lo que se ha extinguido y lo que renace; y de muy variados temas y épocas: cerámica, tejidos, técnicas artísticas…

Por ello he decido empezar por aquello que es el resultado a un mismo tiempo de las técnicas de “toda la vida” y las nuevas tendencias ajenas al mundo latino, lo “zakka” u oriental. Esta podría ser una de las definiciones del trabajo de Lucía Dorado, “Chicadecanela“, pero no la única.

Como ella misma nos explica: “chicadecanela son cosas bonitas, hechas a mano con sumo cuidado, poniendo mucho amor en ellas… Puesto que se trata de cosas hechas a mano, siguiendo distintos procesos artesanales, los objetos de chicadecanela siempre son diferentes unos de otros…Una combinación entre el diseño y la artesanía, que nos permite idear cosas especiales y distintas y poner en su creación conocimiento y gusto por el detalle.”

Más información en su blog ( en inglés) y su web-tienda(en español e inglés).

I like Flickr. I like the community of people it attracts and I like the craft groups.

But it is after-all, a photo sharing site. There are alot of semi-professional photographers edging their way into a new career through Flickr. They are not (yet) in the business of buying and selling objects. And they don’t want us to use it for buying and selling.

Lately, I’ve seen alot of talk about this, and noticed a recent ‘crack down’, with accounts being shut down. Do they have something in the works I wondered? I wanted to find out and clarify somethings once and for all. I wrote to the Flickereenos (as they refer to themselves) and got these answers:

1- There should be no links to ‘buy’ a photographed item
from the photo in the Flickr photostream.

True

2- You cannot link to your own blog from your photo
description, if the blog has “links to” sales sites on it.
(This is the most confusion for me, since I often see links
back to longer descriptions on blogs).

If the intent is to sell something, then linking to a blog
isn’t cool. Bottom line, at the present time accounts are
for personal use and not to be used as a vehicle to sell
stuff.

3- You can link to your online shop or blog from your
profile page.

True

4- You don’t give warnings before shutting down someone’s
account.

Depending upon the extent this is both true and false. For
an individual selling their own stuff we do send them a
reminder of our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines
asking them to remove sales links, etc. If the account is
that of a larger commercial entity, we may elect to
terminate the account without warning as is specified in
our Community Guidelines:

“Don’t Use Flickr for Commercial Purposes
Flickr is for personal use only. If you sell products,
services or yourself through your photostream, we will
terminate your account.”

http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne

5- You can use a tag like ‘etsy’ on items.

true

6- Having a ‘PRO’ account does not allow you to use the
Flickr site for sales.

true

7- You cannot mark or describe an item as ‘for sale’.

true

Otherwise, in case I missed something, what other FAQ have
you been getting that you’d like to clarify once and for
all?

I think that it’s spelled out clearly in our Community
Guidelines as mentioned above:

http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne

Also, if you have anything else you can say officially
about Flickr’s position regarding commercial sales through
Flickr in the future, it would be great to know! ;)

I don’t have anything to share on future plans at the
present time.

Edit, links to read more about Flickr hassle from Etsy sellers

‘my flickr is gone’ thread on etsy: http://etsy.com/forums_topic.php?thread_id=22897
trying to work around the TOS: http://etsy.com/forums_topic.php?thread_id=22390

Denise Burge, Machinations, 65″ x 90″, 2002

Denise Burge is a Professor at the University of Cincinnati School of Arts who, in addition to making exuberant quilt-leaning compositions, also draws and makes short films. I think I’m in love.

Denise Burge, Tug Fork Breakdown, 63″ x 61″, 2001

“Denise Burge is a quilter in a strict sense of the word. Her quilts, literally, don’t fit inside of the box. They’re messy affairs, spilling out of boundaries and constructed of a variety of fabrics and stitches, grabbing the viewer by the scruff of the neck.” — Extreme Craft’s Garth Johnson, who is the one to thank for this link

Denise Burge, Devil Fishing

“[A]ctivity reaches overflow everywhere. Branches are drawn or painted onto cloth, then cut and reassembled to create a growth pattern. Some patterned areas are produced by cutting periodic holes from the fabric and allowing another fabric to emerge from beneath. Plus, the continuous change of stitch direction and materials becomes a fascination in itself.” — Fran Watson, Citybeat, 2001

Imagine going to an academic conference about something you were actually interested in? The biennial symposium at the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska (right smack in the middle of the country for those of you who aren’t familiar with US geography) will take place in March 1-3, 2007. The deadline to submit an abstract for a paper is Tuesday, August 15 via email, fax or mail. We’re not talking high-school term paper here, we’re talking a chance to research and write about something really interesting related to quilts. Even if you don’t have an interest in presenting a paper, you might consider going.

I was invited to speak at this conference two years ago on creative collaboration and will be submitting an abstract again, this time on the role of quilting as a tool for rehabilitation in prisons around the world. It’s a fascinating group of people and a chance to learn about interesting current and historical research that people you’ve never heard of are doing. And although you can expect cold, snowy weather in Nebraska in March, you can also expect to see (about 45 mins away) HUGE flocks of 5-6 ft. tall Sand Hill Cranes resting in the farm fields along their migratory routes back north, marking the coming of spring.

From time to time we get reader submissions, asking us to link to a special project or website. This week, I will be featuring reader-submitted links. Send to whiptips at gmail.com to suggest a link!

I’m starting a blog carnival (a monthly
collection of interesting blog posts) called “Yarnival,” and I was
hoping you’d be interested in submitting a post for the first issue.
It doesn’t take any extra time; the point is simply to choose the
post you think represents the best or most interesting work on your
blog for the past month and send it in. There’s more information
about the carnival at http://needles.guzzlingcakes.com/2006/07/23/
yarnival/

Red Current:
You posted a gorgeous pencil roll you made. I really want to make some. Would you prettiest please
consider a tutorial or even just a pattern?
Love, twobadmice

I was asked to provide a pattern or tutorial for the pencil roll I made a while ago for my daughter. This Pencil roll is really fabulous and is really just a variation on knitting needle roll. But here is a bit of a tutorial/pattern. Please ask questions if anything is not clear.

Technical info:
fabrics used: Amy butler (pink and green large floral on one side of bag), 1930’s reproduction collection (smaller floral on the outside of the roll and one side of bag) pink dutch pear and partridge (inside of roll), and a sturdy pink floral cotton on the bag lining.
I used woven cotton tape to bind the roll for the pencil holders, and the roll is quilted and 100% batting used inside, and closes with velcro.
I adapted the hobo bag (tutorial on craftster) for the shoulder bag, this time instead of tying it at the shoulder (which proves uncomfortable if carrying heavy items) I put a button at the side.

Yes you heard it - now check it out

This Autumn, the fine people behind MAKE magazine (www.makezine.com) will release CRAFT, the first project-based magazine dedicated to the current renaissance in the world of crafts.

To celebrate, Etsy and CRAFT are teaming up for a little contest. Go here for the full details, rules and prizes.

entries so far

Link from Amy at Simple Charm

free pattern at zephyr [via making things]

From time to time we get reader submissions, asking us to link to a special project or website. This week, I will be featuring reader-submitted links. Send to whiptips at gmail.com to suggest a link!

Bears for victims of domestic violence- “I just read about this very worthy cause, knitting (or sewing) teddy bears to be given to children who are victims of domestic violence. Perhaps you could give it a mention on Whip Up?”

This was recommended from Julie Vician a.k.a Alotasplainintodo