# Getting crafty



## Boofy (Jul 2, 2015)

I've been getting into all sorts of crafts recently. I make stuff with polymer clay, resin and now I've started on decoupage. I'm doing a crafts fair on the 30th of this month and I'm getting all excited. My friends think I'm mad but I'm sure you guys will put up with my gushing over craft techniques and price discussions... uhm... hello? Guys? 

Anyway, I was wondering... do any of you do crafty stuff? :3

Here's some of the coasters I made today, though they're not quite done just yet:


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## KLJo (Jul 2, 2015)

Those are amazing!!!

I'm not super crafty, or talented like that. My only related claim to fame is my terrible abuses of people...

Eg. My old roommate and I agreed that we would decide together on ALL furniture pieces, so when he brought home a table and chairs that were not approved I kept them in a state of unusability for MONTHS...


He'd go to work, and come home to the following 
Examples:


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## Boofy (Jul 2, 2015)

Haha, that's fantastic! The effort required to set all those up must be so worth it to see the look his face x3

I can't believe how big a hit my coasters have been already. I posted pictures up on facebook and have had three requests for custom ones in the last hour! :3


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## KLJo (Jul 2, 2015)

I believe it, they are seriously fantastic!

It was a ton of hours, but there are no limits to my need for revenge!


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## Boofy (Jul 2, 2015)

Weeeeeeee, thank you : D

I think I might have to commission you for all of my revenge projects... what's your hourly rate? ;3


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## musichal (Jul 2, 2015)

How well do your coasters handle moisture?  Glass sweat.  Absorption, pooling?  If they absorb, does the moisture end up on the table.  I have found it difficult to find coasters that perform well, regardless of price.  Seriously.


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## Boofy (Jul 2, 2015)

musichal said:


> How well do your coasters handle moisture?  Glass sweat.  Absorption, pooling?  If they absorb, does the moisture end up on the table.  I have found it difficult to find coasters that perform well, regardless of price.  Seriously.



Ah, that'll be because everybody seems to use glossy material these days for their coasters and the water pools or drips over the sides, making them obsolete. Style over substance! Mine are made on ceramic tiles for style but for functional ones I use wood or corkboard :3 I think bamboo coasters are good for absorption without leaving stains, they're durable and they look lovely too. I have a set and no others will do for me :3


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## bazz cargo (Jul 2, 2015)

Hi Boofy,
I can see why your coasters are such a hit. Good luck on your show. 

My beloved is seriously crafty, cards and stuff.

@KLjo, you should send some pictures off to the Tate, y'never know.


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## KLJo (Jul 2, 2015)

The Tate?


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## popsprocket (Jul 3, 2015)

I like bookbinding.

http://www.writingforums.com/threads/145608-Book-binding


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## Ariel (Jul 3, 2015)

KLJo said:


> The Tate?


I might be wrong but I believe it's an art museum in London.


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## walker (Jul 3, 2015)

I don't do stuff like this, but I like to poke through exhibits at fairs in summer.

I do photography. Printing is kind of crafty. Once in a while I print on an enlarger. I've been meaning to do some enlarger prints this summer, but haven't got around to it.


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## bazz cargo (Jul 3, 2015)

There are two Tates. One is for modern 'art,' like an unmade bed or shark cut in half or a tent covered on ex-lovers signatures. It is getting to the point where I was considering putting one my dog's poos up for the next competition.


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## Boofy (Jul 3, 2015)

I've never tried binding books before, but I do re-cover notepads and things with floral prints/aged book pages/blackmail note style newspaper clippings ^^;

Oooo Bazz, great idea! I was gonna commission my little sister to eat sweets all day long in one of the booths, throwing the wrappers on the floor with a forlorn expression whilst the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme tune buzzing in the background ;3

And walker, I've been meaning to try printing! I want to print onto wax paper and make photo transfers onto pieces of wood :3


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## walker (Jul 3, 2015)

Boofy said:


> And walker, I've been meaning to try printing! I want to print onto wax paper and make photo transfers onto pieces of wood :3



That sounds cool! Never tried it. I guess that would be a digital printer technique?

I know that in the darkroom some people paint liquid emulsion onto surfaces like tile, and then process it just like a photo print.

I really need to get more creative. There's a lot of cool stuff you can do nowadays.


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## Boofy (Jul 3, 2015)

Aye, that's the one ^^ Liquid emulsion, neh? I'll have to look it up. Gods, there really are so many things you can make at a fraction of the cost to buy them. The materials are all so damned readily available.

I desperately want a mini 3D printer. It would really help me with my jewellery making. Some of them are 400-500 pounds these days so I figure I could get one if my crafts fairs go well enough :3

I made 21 pairs of earrings today:


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## walker (Jul 3, 2015)

Boofy said:


> Aye, that's the one ^^ Liquid emulsion, neh? I'll have to look it up. Gods, there really are so many things you can make at a fraction of the cost to buy them. The materials are all so damned readily available.
> 
> I desperately want a mini 3D printer. It would really help me with my jewellery making. Some of them are 400-500 pounds these days so I figure I could get one if my crafts fairs go well enough :3
> 
> ...



That's incredible. Start a business! I knew someone once who got the idea to make jewelry from coins she placed on railroad tracks to be flattened. It took off, and she got her stuff placed in some pretty decent galleries. She must have been a good entrepreneur. Then someone came down on her for defacing currency. True story. But your earrings woudn't have that problem.


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## Boofy (Jul 3, 2015)

walker said:


> That's incredible. Start a business! I knew someone once who got the idea to make jewelry from coins she placed on railroad tracks to be flattened. It took off, and she got her stuff placed in some pretty decent galleries. She must have been a good entrepreneur. Then someone came down on her for defacing currency. True story. But your earrings woudn't have that problem.



Aw, that's a real shame, you know. It sounds really quirky! I always used to squash my pennies in those machines you could find at museums as a kid. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any of them around for a while... is that why?

And thank you :3 I do intend to build a business of sorts, 4/5 crafts fairs a year and I can pay for my hobby whilst it grows (3D PRINTER 3D PRINTER 3D PRINTER). Anything I buy I can turn a profit on, even if I stop doing fairs. I could sell it on etsy/ebay or even wholesale to local shops if I really can't shift it. I am uber frugal, so if people are selling earring hooks at 50 for 2.99, I go to ebay and bid on last minute auctions instead. I got 300 earring hooks the other day for £0.06! FREE DELIVERY! ^^;


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## walker (Jul 3, 2015)

Boofy said:


> Aw, that's a real shame, you know. It sounds really quirky! I always used to squash my pennies in those machines you could find at museums as a kid. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any of them around for a while... is that why?
> 
> And thank you :3 I do intend to build a business of sorts, 4/5 crafts fairs a year and I can pay for my hobby whilst it grows (3D PRINTER 3D PRINTER 3D PRINTER). Anything I buy I can turn a profit on, even if I stop doing fairs. I could sell it on etsy/ebay or even wholesale to local shops if I really can't shift it. I am uber frugal, so if people are selling earring hooks at 50 for 2.99, I go to ebay and bid on last minute auctions instead. I got 300 earring hooks the other day for £0.06! FREE DELIVERY! ^^;


Yeah, ebay's cool. I've bought and sold there for years, just a few things a year. I do buy it now sometimes, auctions sometimes. I guess one of the reasons I'm attracted to writing is independence. It hasn't paid off yet, obviously. Making crafts to sell on ebay has the same allure. Some people make it work.


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## Boofy (Jul 3, 2015)

I was talking to a woman at a fair the other day who makes 32,000 a year and employs her mother full time! I couldn't believe it ^^; They do 12 fairs a year and sell online and do commissions and parties etc too. It's amazing what you can do if you have just an ounce of creativity. Writing is very much the same, you're right. I'd love to be independent. Not just financially, either. Having an eco home is an indulgent dream of mine ^^;


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## walker (Jul 3, 2015)

Boofy said:


> I was talking to a woman at a fair the other day who makes 32,000 a year and employs her mother full time! I couldn't believe it ^^; They do 12 fairs a year and sell online and do commissions and parties etc too. It's amazing what you can do if you have just an ounce of creativity. Writing is very much the same, you're right. I'd love to be independent. Not just financially, either. Having an eco home is an indulgent dream of mine ^^;



An eco home doesn't have to be expensive. I lived at 9,000 feet once in the Colorado Rockies, or something like that, in a house that this guy had built to live in, but which he couldn't get a water easement for. Bottom line is that there was no running water, which we worked around in various ways. The house had plumbing, but the owner's neighbor wouldn't let the pipes cross her property. One of those feud type of things. Anyway, he had built it with a south-facing exposure and lots of windows, and air-tight. I mean, it was so air-tight that we had to open doors sometimes to breath. Incredibly well-insulated. And even though it got very cold in winter, a single woodstove, with very little wood, heated both bedrooms, kitchen, living room, etc. He didn't spend much to build that house either. He just did it right.

I also helped a man build a log cabin years ago. It was entirely his project. I was just labor for a few days. But he did much the same thing, built a very solid, well-insulated structure, that had minimal impact on the environment.

Here in Arizona, which was made for solar energy if any place ever was, you see garden-variety folks who are not particularly environmentally conscious with solar panels all over their house. Currently it makes financial sense to do so, but the utilities are doing everything they can to make solar energy economically unviable through lobbying state government.


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## Boofy (Jul 3, 2015)

That sounds like an amazing experience, Walker! What I wouldn't give to get out there and do it. Once my degree is finished with, I'm going to try my hand at teaching in Japan for a while I think. In my second year I'll get to trial it for 1-6 months so I can see whether it suits me. I'm quite fed up with the UK now. We muddle along under grey skies, queuing for things and complaining about the price of petrol ;3

I've been watching a series recently about families who go off grid and live in all sorts of harsh or barren environments. The one thing they all have in common is a sort of overwhelming happiness with their lot in life. They don't need TV, don't care about traffic, bills... anything. It seems like an incredibly freeing way of life. One day, damn it!

As for solar energy, don't get me started! Rrrr... heh


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## walker (Jul 3, 2015)

Boofy said:


> I've been watching a series recently about families who go off grid and  live in all sorts of harsh or barren environments. The one thing they  all have in common is a sort of overwhelming happiness with their lot in  life. They don't need TV, don't care about traffic, bills... anything.  It seems like an incredibly freeing way of life. One day, damn it!



I've never been to the UK, or anywhere in Europe. I've only been to South America outside of the states. I have been pretty deep in the rainforest, that kind of thing, on a few occasions.

One thing we have in the western US in particular is a lot of room. Phoenix is a city of 6 million people, but an hour or two outside of Phoenix there are hundreds of square miles of desert and mountains, where there are few people or no people at all. I didn't seek out that kind of an experience in particular, it just happened. There are towns in these western states which, while they aren't ghost towns, may have properties that are semi-abandoned, or pretty far off the grid, etc., so if you were the kind of person who might, say, squat an apartment in the UK, or rent a dilapidated property to renovate, you could end up in a pretty isolated property here. You don't have to necessarily be an environmentalist to do it.

About an hour and a half north of Phoenix there is a creek that we swim along, and while it is well known, and draws maybe 50 cars on a good weekend, is miles and miles long, and it is quite easy to find a large pool and have it to yourself, not even hear anybody else, and have large extensions of rock to lay in the sun, or have a picnic, etc. It is one of three similar creeks in the same valley. The water is cold and clear. There are shade trees everywhere. It really is astonishing when you think about it. If they transplanted some of the stuff that we have here in Arizona even to the eastern U.S., say, New York, it would immediately be declared a national park and treasure, overrun with thousands of people, and ruined. But here, we just have it. So, people live here for that reason.

Google "wet beaver creek" to see pictures.


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## KLJo (Jul 3, 2015)

Boofy said:


> I always used to squash my pennies in those machines you could find at museums as a kid. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any of them around for a while... is that why?



The state park Sudan Mine, in Minnesota has one, so I don't think it is a problem.


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## Ariel (Jul 3, 2015)

I would love to live semi-off-grid (I'm a sewer and running water kind of gal).  I also want to build my own house.  I want an attached greenhouse where I can grow food most of the year.

I also make jewelry and I'm more interested in learning how to use metal clay.  3D printing is undeniably cool but there's something about metal that attracts me.


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## walker (Jul 3, 2015)

amsawtell said:


> I would love to live semi-off-grid (I'm a sewer and running water kind of gal).  I also want to build my own house.  I want an attached greenhouse where I can grow food most of the year.
> 
> I also make jewelry and I'm more interested in learning how to use metal clay.  3D printing is undeniably cool but there's something about metal that attracts me.



You can have running water and a septic system off the grid. In the house I lived in, which I rented, the only reason there was no water was the supply needed to come from a neighbor's well, and she had some sort of issue with the guy that i was renting from. In fact, the only reason the owner moved out of his house was that he had teenage daughters, who didn't mind roughing it when they were little girls, but wanted running water as adolescents. That house did have a spring about a quarter mile away, with excellent water which people drove miles to fill up jugs with. So, we had a large collection of 5 gallon jugs, filled them up every couple of days, and did have water, even though it didn't come out of the tap.

I wouldn't live without running water now, probably. If there were a creek and spring nearby, then maybe. But 99%, probably not. But a lot of inconveniences like that are not inconveniences, if you're used to them, and depending on where you live, and what the expectations are of people around you. I lived in another place without electricity, and we used coleman lanterns for light, battery powered radios, etc. This was before PCs. Anyway, I realized that there is absolutely no difference at all between throwing a light switch and lighting a coleman lantern. None. It is such a trivial change in lifestyle, that it's not even worth mentioning. You don't spend any time worrying about it, or feeling inconvenienced, nothing. You just light the coleman lantern instead of throwing the light switch, and then read, or play monopoly, or whatever. Beforehand, it may look like a huge deal.


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## Boofy (Jul 3, 2015)

Semi off grid sounds like a good balance. All the comforts of home, without the bustle and stress of every day life ^^

I resent that you know how to sew! Hehe, I would love to learn, though I imagine the process would be painstaking and I wouldn't know the first thing about picking it up. Clay is just so easy to mould and play around with! I like self adhesive fabrics... I sometimes use those for fabric notebooks and little jewellery projects. I really would like to make purses and things though.

You like the shiny things then? I am somewhat of a magpie myself :3 Metal clay is also something I'm looking at using in the future! Being able to 3D print sounds too good right now, I mean... you can 3D print PORCELAIN of all things ^^;


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## Ariel (Jul 3, 2015)

I'm only at a very basic level for sewing but have excellent resources for learning more.

As for not having running water--I was more or less homeless as a teenager and my parents and I lived in a very dilapidated house that had no running water.  Washing consisted of a rag and water being dumped on your head.  Brushing your teeth included a cup.  I hated every moment of it and I will not live without running water.  I'll go without electricity if I have a way to heat the house in the winter but I will not live without running water.


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## Boofy (Jul 3, 2015)

I'm making lacelets now! ^^

Also Amsawtell, I'm really sorry to hear that. I can't begin to imagine what that must have been like. I spend a lot of time gloomily reflecting on my life at home but reading that made me appreciate just how good I had it, at least so far as necessities go anyway. I do hope you're doing well now ^^


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## Ariel (Jul 4, 2015)

I cannot find those end clamps anywhere.

My situation has much improved.  As an adult I have been fairly careful with my money and I'm lucky enough to own my house debt free.


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## am_hammy (Jul 4, 2015)

You got some good stuff going boofy. Thought about fiddling with etsy?


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## Crowley K. Jarvis (Jul 4, 2015)

My mother has an endless collection of metal trinkets.

I make jewelry with them. Stones and crystals, cogs, chains, rings, bracelets. I worked with leather too. 

Also, I put pictures up here awhile ago, I stitched together my own cat doll, Wilburr. 

I'd have pictures of the jewelry but I never photographed them.

Now, I have a huge clear quartz on a thick chain I wear around my neck constantly. 

People always look surprised when I tell them that I made it.


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## Boofy (Jul 4, 2015)

Good to know amsawtell! Oh, I get my materials on ebay and I am forever browsing for bargains so I managed to find some in all sizes/colours available for you: 

*Here ^^ 

*Ammy Hamster! I have thought about etsy/folksy from time to time but Iunno! I think I'd like to experience selling to people and getting to know my fellow crafters a little first.... plus! Sites like that are full to bursting with crafts! I dunno if mine could compete with so many other skilled artists ^^;

Oooo Crowley! I demand pictures of shiny things, they sound amazing! :3


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## patskywriter (Jul 4, 2015)

I'm slowly becoming a toymaker. I sell my stuff at a local toy store and I'm also trying out local craft fairs.

     This one shoots water bottles (made out of PVC pipe).


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## Boofy (Jul 4, 2015)

Today I've made a clay figurine!




I still have a long way to go with clay people but I'm happy with my progress... iiiiiif a little impatient to be good ^^

And! Patsky that's so clever :3

My little brother would have killed for one of those back in the day! He's 18 now and might still bloody want one!


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## fallenangel09 (Jul 6, 2015)

I do mostly  paper crafts and  scrapbooks. I  can  post  pictures  tomorrow


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## Boofy (Jul 6, 2015)

Ooo, definitely do angel, I dabble in paper craft myself ^^

Update on my Mario clay sculpture:


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## Kevin (Jul 11, 2015)

I harvested, cut, planed, doweled, glued, sanded, stained, installed, urethaned these: 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	
















....


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## escorial (Jul 11, 2015)

View attachment 8891


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## Boofy (Jul 14, 2015)

Aww, I can't see the pictures Kev! ;___;

 And Escorial, that pose is uncanny! I ended up changing his pose in the end to have his hands on his tummy.. still got to finish his little costume and fire/paint him but I'm not brave enough just yet ^^;

I've been making a ton of hypo-allergenic earrings of late. Family and friends love them!


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## Ariel (Jul 14, 2015)

Those earrings are amazing.  I just received a (I think) 50 count package of mini craft vials with the loop and cork.  I have . . . plans.  I think it'd be neat to turn a few into prayer bottles, a few could be wish bottles, etc.


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## Boofy (Jul 14, 2015)

That's a lovely idea, Am ^^ I used a bunch of small corked vials to put thank you's in when I got married. They made for unique party favours :3


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## Ariel (Jul 14, 2015)

Oh!  I like that idea!  You could even paste small fake flowers or pearls or gemstones to them to decorate them a bit more.  You could even wrap them with lace ribbon!


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## Boofy (Jul 14, 2015)

Lace would have been pretty! God damn it Am, _why_ didn't we have this conversation earlier? </3


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## Ariel (Jul 14, 2015)

I don't know!  You're giving me great ideas for _my_​ wedding though!


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## TKent (Jul 14, 2015)

This is soooo not right. I love it!



KLJo said:


> Those are amazing!!!
> 
> I'm not super crafty, or talented like that. My only related claim to fame is my terrible abuses of people...
> 
> ...


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## TKent (Jul 14, 2015)

Those are awesome!



Boofy said:


> Aww, I can't see the pictures Kev! ;___;
> 
> And Escorial, that pose is uncanny! I ended up changing his pose in the end to have his hands on his tummy.. still got to finish his little costume and fire/paint him but I'm not brave enough just yet ^^;
> 
> ...


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## Boofy (Jul 14, 2015)

Gah, thank you Tk! ^^;


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## TJ1985 (Jul 14, 2015)

I love those M&M Earrings, that's crazy creative stuff!


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## Boofy (Jul 14, 2015)

Thaaaaank you! It's surprisingly hard to keep from going out and buying real M&Ms when I look at them. I may unintentionally start an advertising campaign if they take off >.<


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