Pendant-to-be-embellished

Pendant to be embellished
One day I wanted to have a pendant-to-be-embellished and decided to create it myself.
On the photo you see both sides of a charm of about 1,5 cm (appr. 0.6 inches) which I embellished with self-dyed fabric and some metallic yarn embroidery.
The embellishment isn’t quite what I dreamed of, but the core pendant worked well.

This is how I did it:
You need:

  • some cardboard (the thickness of the middle piece must be about the same as the wire)
  • some wire
  • glue

Pendant to be embellished img 1: Cut 3 equal pieces of your cardboard.

 

Pendant to be embellished img 2: Wrap the wire round a dowel to form the eye. Then turn a couple of times to form the peg and then form a bigger eye which will be hidden in the pendant.
Note: I prefer the hidden part of the wire to be an eye because then the wire can’t be dragged out by accident.

 

Pendant to be embellished img 3: Take the cardboard piece which will sit in the middle and trace your hanger.

 

Pendant to be embellished img 4: Cut out the place you will need for the hanger.

 

Pendant to be embellished img 5: Glue the hanger and the middle cardboard pieces onto one outer cardboard piece.
Note: I glue on also the cardboard piece in the eye to prevent having a hollow.

 

Pendant to be embellished img 6: Glue the other outer cardboard piece onto. Your pendant-to-be-embellished is finished and you may begin with the embellishments.

 

Pendant to be embellished Pendant to be embellished
img 7 & 8: This is a solution for a 2-eyed pendant.

 

There are so many ways to embellish your self-made pendant (mini collages, painted, beaded, stamped etc), I’d love to see them.
Please feel free to comment here to show your trinkets.

Have fun!

Crochet Spiral

Crochet Spiral

Links of entry

Sometimes you want to crochet not only a spiral, but a multicoloured spiral (beautiful in Freeform Needlework!).
I once found even two tutorials for crochet spirals, but the links don’t work anymore (I put them to the Links below in case you like to try them).
But because I didn’t found no more instructions I wrote a tutorial myself based on the previously found tutorials:

You will need 3 skeins of yarn in matching gauges.

Work in spirals, though NEVER JOIN!

st = stitch
sc = single crochet

1st row: work 6 sc on magic ring
2nd row: work 2 sc in each st = double each st = 12 st
work the 1st 4 st in colour A, the 2nd 4 st in colour B and the 3rd 4 st in colour C
3rd row: work * 1 sc, 2 sc in next st *, repeat from * to * = double each 2nd st = 18 st
work the 1st 6 st in colour A, the 2nd 6 st in colour B and the 3rd 6 st in colour C
4th row: work * 1 sc, 1 sc, 2 sc in next st *, repeat from * to * = double each 3rd st = 24 st
work the 1st 8 st in colour A, the 2nd 8 st in colour B and the 3rd 8 st in colour C
cont.


(Click picture to enlarge)
Crochet Spiral Hints:

  • At the colour change pull the loop of the ‘old’ colour into a large loop that you lay aside until you pick it up for the next round (see detail photo with loops).
  • The spiral gets hexagonal when worked this way. If you want to avoid this, move the place where you work two stitches in one stitch a little around (see photo above).
 


(Click picture to enlarge)
Crochet Spiral


Links:
Both links didn’t work when I tried them:
Crochet Spiral
Crochet Spiral


Magic ring
(Google results)
The Magic Adjustable Ring: A Better Way to Begin Crochet in the Round: very good illustrated instruction
Häkeln lernen: Der Fadenring (German)

Here at unikatissima:
Freeform Needlework

Beaded Shank Button

Beaded Shank Button

Links of entry

Many pieces of jewelry like necklaces or bracelets need some kind of closure. Purses do, too, journals perhaps. Maybe you crochet an iPod cozy that should be closable.
You can use pre-made closures (which I mostly don’t like), but you can make a self-made shank button match just as you like.
For my bracelet bracelet *Little Black Dress* with the beaded spiral bead I made such a shank button and it worked out really fine.


Links:
Beaded Shank Button (Tubular Herringbone/Ndebele)

Here at unikatissima:
Beaded Spiral Beads

Plaster Bowl

Plaster Bowl

Links of entry

Because I like to make bowls this tutorial on how to make a plaster bowl is high on my what-I-really-want-to-do-list.
I worked with plaster already, but never with those plaster bandages and I hope that I will have the opportunity soon.
Once I have read (but I can’t remember where) that you can cut some old fabric (e.g. old bedsheets) in strips, pull them through the plaster and put them on to emulate the rigid wrap from the tutorial.
Has anybody tried this?


Links:
MakingFriends.com: A website with lots of crafts for children
Plaster Bowl

Broomstick Lace Scarf

Broomstick Lace Scarf

Links of entry

After I have found tutorials on how to make Broomstick Lace I wanted to try it (for tutorials see Links below).
I like lacy scarves. So I made a scarf from it.

 

Broomstick Lace Scarf
That is how I did it:
Material:

  • Yarn (I used acrylic yarn)
  • Matching crochet hook
  • Dowel / Ruler / Cardboard tube (as you can see I used a cardboard tube)
 

Instructions:
Row 1: Chain as much as you want the scarf to be long (I chained 240). It must be a multiple of 4.
Row 2: Crochet every chain with one Broomstick Lace loop.
Row 3: Take four Broomstick Lace loops and crochet 1 sc (single crochet), 1 hdc (half double crochet), 1 dc (double crochet) and 1 sc (single crochet) around the four strands.
Do this with all groups of four Broomstick Lace loops until the end.
Finish this side and begin again at the other side of your first chain to work the second half of your scarf.


Links:
Broomstick Lace Tutorial (with explaining photos)
Broomstick Lace Tutorial (with explaining videos)

Flexagons

Flexagon Flexagon Flexagon Flexagon

Links of entry

Flexagons a quite interesting things: a kind of card with four sides, and you can flip from one side to the other, back and forth.
But to better understand what Flexagons are, how they work and how you can make one for yourself take a look at the Flexagon page.
On the photos you see the four pages of my first (and up until now last) flexagon. (Click on thumbnails to see the photos.)
It doesn’t work so well, because it is to bulky:
I made them from cardboard to make them lasting longer, glued then cotton on to the cardboard, because I thought that fabric would bend better if you flip them over and over and then glued on the pieces of my hand-embroidered and tape-transfered collages on the appropriate places.
Next time I will see to it that they get slender.
But anyhow: I love my flexagon ;-))


Links:
Flexagons

And if you want to embroider your collages:
English Embroidery Stitch Diagrams – Deutsche Stickstichbeschreibungen
(see also Paper Crazy Quilt)

If you want to know more about image transfers
Easy Photo Transfers (different techniques)
Image Transfer
Packing Tape Image Transfers
(see also Artist Book)

Here at unikatissima:
Paper Crazy Quilt
Artist Book

Bead and Wire Wall Vase

Bead and Wire Window Vase

Links of entry

Inspired by two wonderful items, the Bead & Wire Heart at The Bead Bugle and the Bead Godesses from Ronda Kivett at the Autumn 2003 Issue of ARTitude Zine I did deliberately my vase from the photo.
I feel that I was a little too cautious, but I like it already.
Next time I want to get nearer to those shining examples I had.


Links:
Bead & Wire Heart at The Bead Bugle
Bead Godesses from Ronda Kivett at the Autumn 2003 Issue of ARTitude Zine

 

Self-made Crochet Hooks And Knitting Needles

Self-made crochet hook and knitting needles

Links of entry

Once I wanted to have a really big crochet hook and knitting needles and after I found tutorials on how to make them (see links below), I made myself some.
In fact they are so big that it is quite difficult to work with them ;-)
I use them very rarely – but if necessary, I can ;-)

 


Links:
Making Crochet Hooks:
Making Crochet Hooks from Chopsticks (with explaining pictures)
Make your own straight hook (with explaining pictures)

Making Knitting Needles:
Chopstick/dowel knitting needle tutorial

Bead Picots

Bead Picots

Links of entry

Bead picots are a beautiful way to give you work a neat border.
I was therefore glad to find this tutorial on how to make bead picots tutorial on how to make bead picots.
On the photo you see a freeform bead embroidered pin I made; I worked the bead picots all around the pin.
I also made once a little book (given away without taking a photo ;-(), where I used the bead picots to border the paper pages – it look great, too.
Next time I’ll make an Artist Book, I will use bead picots on the paper, as well as on the next crochet purse I will make (but no one knows when this will be ;-)), perhaps even the next greeting card I’ll create and who knows what ideas I’ll get by then ;-)


Links:
Bead Picot Instructions
The original site doesn’t exist any more and is now available through webarchive: Bead Picot Instructions

Here at unikatissima:
Freeform Bead Embroidery
Artist Book