…compilation of tutorials
I found a tutorial on how to make rice glue to be used with paper crafts.
I’m always glad when I find non-toxic recipes so I immediatly bookmarked this one.
For the photo I took a picture of rice but I think that Sushi rice or rice pudding rice will work better.
Links:
Rice Glue
The tutorial on how to make a faux fossilized agatized coral tutorial on how to make a faux fossilized agatized coral was one of the reasons I began to work with polymer clay – and it became one of the first polymer clay canes I ever made.
As seen on the 2nd photo I decorated a jar with this cane which holds a lot of my often needed tools ;-))
Links:
Faux Fossilized Agatized Coral from polymer clay
Tutorial moved to: Faux Fossilized Agatized Coral from polymer clay
Polymer ClayCyclopedia: Polymer clay canes description
Embellishing rocks seems to be quite popular. Some people paint them, some people embroider them, some people felt them, some people wrap them in lace, some people wrap them in polymer clay, some people crochet them and some people bead them.
And if you want them to be fragrant, check back the previous mentioned Fragrant Rocks.
I never did anything with rocks, because I’m living on sandy ground ;-)
But all those rocks rock ;-)
Links:
Painted rocks (via CraftZine)
Embroidered rocks
Felted rocks
Lace wrapped rocks (via CraftZine)
Polymer clay covered rocks
Crocheted rocks
Beaded rocks
At unikatissima’s:
Fragrant Rocks
One day I found a tutorial on flower pounding. It sounded strange to me and I was really surprised what people do to innocent flowers ;-) (we have already seen that people stitch flowers).
Anyhow, the results are stunning!
As you can see on the photo, mine aren’t: I pounded on tissue paper in place of fabric and did something wrong. But this experience showed me that I’m not the woman to wallop little flowers ;-))
Links:
Flower Pounding
Inspiration: Google image results for ‘Flower Pounding’
Here at unikatissima:
Stitched Flowers
As I saw the title ‘Papyrus’ in connection with ‘crafting’ (English for ‘bricolage’) I was instantly interested.
And the technique is easy and convincing.
The tutorial is in French, but there are very good illustrating photos.
And this is, what you have to do:
Materials:
Prepare the wallpaper paste with some cold coffee, not to liquid and not to solid.
Put the gauze on the sheet of plastic foil and coat them with the paste.
Let dry on a flat surface.
Check the photos in the tutorial to better understand what to do.
I used my piece of Faux Papyus on a card with a leaf and some other background papers.
While I was browsing through the projects of STITCH I found Precious Petals. They ‘glue’ the flowers on fabric and then embellish with decorative stitching.
A stunning idea which is still on my to-so list.
Links:
STITCH project: wonderful projects around stitching (how surprising ;-))
At eHow you can find a lot of instructions on how to extract dyes from plants or parts of plants and so forth.
One instruction is e.g. ‘How to Extract Dye From Leaves and Grass’.
I tried some of them with different results, some worked better then others.
But unfortunately I didn’t record what I did, so if I needed some dye today I had to start from scratch.
That way everything stays interesting for me ;-)))
Links:
eHow: A website with how-tos galore
How to Extract Dye From Leaves and Grass
Search results for ‘extract dye’ at eHow
I really like dried flowers, but I want to have them immediately, not after some days hidden in old books ;-)
Then I found this tutorial, where Christine Cox describes how to dry flowers in a microwave. She even tells about experiences she did with different kinds of flowers.
Links:
Drying Flowers in the Microwave
I find it always convenient to be able to create a fast, unique and beautiful item, such as a personal greeting card for my beloved.
One way to do this is described at making-greeting-cards.com. I really loved the Nature Cards.
Links:
making-greeting-cards.com: Instructions for making cards
Nature Cards