Moldable Stamps

Moldable Stamps

I knew about those moldable foam stamps, but I never realized how versatile they are and what great stamps you can make from them. You can even combine them into stunning collages.
I’m speechless again ;-))

On the photo you see my attempt at stamping a clothespins pattern. Because I don’t have no moldable stamp, I used my kneaded eraser. I think this is a great background for a card.


Links:
Moldable Foam Stamps
Foam Stamping: The Follow-Up

unikatissima’s Eraser Stamps

Loom Woven Bead Bracelet

Loom Woven Bead Bracelet

When working with beads I also wanted to try loom weaving – just to see, how it works ;-)
On the photo you can see both sides of my self-woven bracelet with a self-designed pattern. It was very easy and I like the simple elegance of the pattern.
Because I created the bracelet for me, I didn’t need a closure, I can simply slip the bracelet over my hand.


Links:
Make your own bead loom (with explaining pictures)

Tutorial on Bead Loom Weaving
Another tutorial on Bead Loom Weaving
Another tutorial on Bead Loom Weaving

Two very good pictures (in English text): select in the left sidebar ‘Woven Beadwork’ and scroll down
Two very good pictures (in German text): select in the left sidebar ‘Gewebtes’ and scroll down

Tips to bead weaving (German) at Perlenhobby.de: click on ‘Tipps + Tricks’ in the sidebar left and select there ‘Tipps zum Perlenweben’

African Needle Weaving Necklace

African Needleweaving

Once a found an instruction on how to work an african necklace using needle weaving (also called ‘pin weaving’). It’s a weaving technique that allows to easily create strange shaped fabrics and to incorporate beads into.
Stunning!
I played around with this technique and thought that it could as well be used for little bags, for bracelets and so forth.
Unfortunately it’s a technique that requires a lot patience – which I don’t have. ;-)
I’d love to hear what you think about!

 


Links:
African Needle Weaving Necklace

Crazy Daisies

Crazy Daisies - Wickelblumen

While searching for something else I found a lot of instructions and tips about Crazy Daisies and had to try them immediately ;-)

As you can see on the photo, my attempt on winding daisies on my own daisy loom worked out very well.
I cut the loom (the purple item on the photo) from thick cardboard. I think that the ice cream lid loom is better, because plastic won’t loose its shape so easily, but for just a couple flowers cardboard is fine.
At my first flowers I just made a very simple backstich center, but even so I find those little flowers stunning ;-)
The dark red flower is a daisy with an open center, but I made it in a different way: I didn’t wind the thread to the other side of my selfmade cardboard loom but to another notch (always the fourth notch in place of the sixth, I think. I didn’t write it down, because I don’t like it so much).
I’m planning to make something like the shrug with a lot of flowers and a simple crochet edging.
Eventually. ;-)


Links:
(all in English, but with explaining pictures and photos)
Instructions and tips about Crazy Daisies

For example:
Round ice cream lid daisy loom
Instructions on how to wind daisies
How to make a backstich center daisy
How to make a open center daisy
Simple crochet edging

Stole, Shrug, Handbag and Three Different Shapes on the Crazy Daisy Winder (from 1945)

Watercolor Button Garden

Watercolor Button Garden

Pink Paper Peppermints has a beautiful project: 31 Crafty Flowers.
I checked them all and I wanted to present one of them, although I haven’t tried it yet, because I dont’ have the right markers: the Watercolor Button Garden.
Aren’t they beautiful?
And be sure to check the other flowers too :)


Links:
Watercolor Button Garden

Pocket Graffiti Pen

Pocket Graffiti Pen

I found an ingenious way to make my own Airbrush tool.
I haven’t tried it yet, but I think of using it with the cut-out letters from my letter stencils.
(The picture is a mock-up, made digitally to show what I am aiming for.)

 


Links:
Pocket Graffiti Pen (with explaining photos)

Here at unikatissima:
Letter stencils

Letter stencils

Letter stencils

Rosie showed her beautiful carved stamps and mentioned that she wants to carve letters too.
I prefer to use letter stencils, because I can use them in such a flexible way.
On the first photo you see a page from an artist book of mine yet to be finished. It has the theme ‘Colour’ and I stenciled the word ‘Pink’. On the other photo beneath you can see the stencil.

This is how I did it:
You’ll need:

  • Plain paper
  • Different fonts on your computer
  • Clear tape
  • Sharp knife, like an Xacto knife

What to do:

  1. Print the word you’re interested in in the requested size on paper.
    Note: You can use just one font, but I found different fonts for every letter more appealing.
    Note: Best are big fonts because they are easier to cut out.
  2. Put some clear tape on the print.
  3. Cut the letters carefully.
    Note: The tape makes the paper sturdier, so that the cutting is a little easier.
  4. Stencil your word wherever you want (paper, cardboard, fabric, glass, wood etc.).
    Note: I painted with a marker on the clear tape round the letters and smeared them with my fingers onto the paper.

Letter stencils The tape makes the paper not only sturdy, but also quite waterproof, so that you can use it several times with nearly every kind of colours. If necessary you can put tape on both sides of the paper prior to the cutting.

You can find a similar tutorial on instructables.com for making your own freezer paper and your own freezer paper stencil. I guess it is better for making bigger stencils, but I haven’t tried it.


Links:
Rosie’s carved stamps

Eraser Stamps Tutorials
Photo Stamps Tutorial

My Artist Book

Freezer paper and stencil tutorial

Photo Stamps

Photo Stamps

I already presented links on eraser carving, but perhaps you want to go a step further and make stamps from your own photos?
I found a tutorial on how to prepare your photos for carving stamps.
The preparation of the photos is similar to the tutorial on making your own digital stamps (and while we’re at it why not making stencils from your own photos? ;-))
On the picture you see a stamp template I made from a photo from a magazine.
Not yet cut, first I must find a big eraser ;-)

 


Links:
Prepping Photos for Carving
Carving 101

art-e-zine: a cornucopia for artists
Make your own digital stamps
Stencil Art

Here at unikatissima:
Eraser Stamps

Arm Knitting

Arm Knitting

I prefer crochet to knitting, mostly because I’m faster crocheting than knitting.
But then I found a tutorial on how to knit with your arms tutorial on how to knit with your arms – the speed of arm knitting arm knitting can’t be beaten ;-))
On the photo you see a scarf I made this way in no time. And you can see in the detail, that it is really knit – no cheating. Just chasing ;-))


Links:
Arm Knitting
The original site doesn’t exist any more and is now available through webarchive:
Arm Knitting