Crochet Bangles

These cute crochet bangles started life like this.

I found a heap of these metal bangles at a garage sale recently.

Simple and fun to make and wear.

The Crafter’s Way 220–Repurposed K-Pod

This is the first DIY to reuse K-pods. They are surprisingly pliable and make a great blank canvas.

I used: K-pods, Hammer, Felt, Heat Cutting Tool, Bamboo Skewer, Super Glue and Assorted Findings and Mixed Media

Before starting prepare the pods as per last week’s column. The preparation instructions are also on my blog. http://trishalandesigns.blogspot.com

Step 1: You need to flatten the pod. I chose to gently tap with a hammer. They don’t need brute force so take care and tap away.

Step 2: Turn to wrong side and tap flat.

Step 3: Glue a circle of felt to the wrong side. This will make the wearing more comfortable but feel free to omit if you prefer.

Step 4: For one of my chosen designs I needed to insert a hole to suspend a cord. I used my hot cutting tool. Please take care here; DO NOT hold the k-pod with your fingers or metal. The heat will transfer. In March 2003 I published a tutorial on how to do this; you can find it here, http://trishalandesigns.blogspot.com.au/2009/03/crafters-way-87-tie-earrings.html

Step 5: Play around with possibilities. I tried a couple of different design options before settling on my final design.

Note: I incorporated a number of different items; buttons, charms, buckles, jump rings and a kumihimo cord. In the final design I attached all the pieces using super glue.

The k-pods come in lots of different colours so don’t hesitate to mix and match them to create an individual design.

Hello Old Friend

Crocheting was the first ever craft I learnt. I still have all the hooks my Grandmother gave me. Unfortunately they have seen better days largely because I insist on using them for other things like making fabric beads.

Just after Christmas I was strolling through Spotlight when I happened upon this.

A complete set of shiny new hooks. Of course this meant that I would have to do some crocheting. With all of the funky crochet flower patterns available I decided I would grab some of my hand dyed threads and make some. My enthusiasm didn’t last long. They are all written using American Crochet and I grew up with English Crochet. Back to Crochet School.

Started on a granny square ‘cause at least I knew what it should look like in the end.

I stayed with the wool and tried a simple flower. Ready to move on now. Different patterns and more interesting yarns and threads.

The Crafter’s Way–George Clooney Crafts

I’m sure George Clooney has inspired people to do all sorts of things but I may well be the first person he has inspired to create new craft ideas. Okay maybe it wasn’t Gorgeous George himself; it was more like that little coffee machine he promotes.

By now you are starting to think I’ve really lost it but have you seen the delicious colours the coffee pods come in? The colours alone are enough to inspire me to create something from them however after I read that they are not good for the environment I was on a mission.

First job was to source a supply of the used coffee pods. My initial thought was doing some dumpster diving at George’s. The thought of explaining to a judge, “no really your honour it was only for my art”, brought me to an abrupt halt. As most crafters know when you need hard-to-find supplies you put out an all points bulletin to family and friends. Turns out my friends have been holding out on me, 3 of them have coffee machines AND they all used different brands of pods.

Used pods started arriving, the aroma of brewed, used coffee filled my studio and my creative juices started flowing. Where to start? Well, the first thing was to remove the let over coffee. This was much easier than expected. I peeled back the foil lid, tapped out the coffee dregs then gave a quick rinse. I air dried the pods in the sun. Result: aroma free, clean pods.

Now, I was no longer on a caffeine high. Clarity returned. Dumpster Diving at George Clooney’s? What was I thinking? What exactly could these little treasures reveal? Quite lot actually. I have discovered k-pods are versatile. 

You can: Collapse

Embellish

Collage

Stitch

Burn

Engrave them,

and that is just for starters.

I have quite a few recycled & repurposed k-pod tutorials to share with you in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, a quickie inspired by George.

Lake Como Candles:

Step 1: prepare pods as described above.

Step 2: remove filter, this may take a little fiddling as it is adhered very firmly.

Step 3: Gently flatten bottom of pod.

Step 4: Light an inexpensive candle and carefully drip some melted wax into bottom. Place taper candle onto bottom. Hold until melted wax sets

Note: this works best with the half tapers, the full length candle are too top heavy.

Craft Day

Last night when the was rain bucketing down I made the decision to not go into the shop today. I had planned to do some dyeing but knew the fabric wouldn’t dry. A day at home creating would do me good.

I started making some fabric coasters. Probably should have kept going until I finished them but today wasn’t about shoulds. Besides I didn’t feel like doing detail work. I was in a scrappy mood.

 Grabbed some fabric and did a bit more on the fabric collage I have been working on. Then I ran out of glue….. 
Delved into my bag of thread scraps, found some fabric strips  and started twisting.

Still need to add brooch backs to these. Will make a few more before I start that step, I haven’t even made a dent in that thread bag.
PS The sun came out.