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DIY: Clay Wrapped Pots

04/13/15

I love me a pot, jar, “caddy”. I like coralling things together and having little places for everything; keeps me CALM; and pots are perfect for that. If it can be a pretty pot, then I’m a very happy bunny indeed…

And these are pretty, non? My love affair with air dry clay continues and these pots are very much in keeping with the style of my torn clay bowls. In fact the process Â is more or less identical….

Except for the “mold” of course. That is….these pots hold a sneaky secret!

Boring old food cans!

Cunningly disguised….

…and keeping me calm 😉

You don’t need a step by step tute for these, right? Good…because I fluffed the photography up so I don’t have one for you, lol. Â Just follow the same steps as for the torn clay bowls but instead of draping it over a bowl, wrap it around a can and trim the base with a sharp knife. Wetting the surface of the clay before you wrap helps it stick to the can and itself once wrapped.

Simple as that!

Crafting, decor, DIY, gift ideas, home, how to, interiors, Tutorials

DIY: Torn Clay Bowls

03/19/15

Staying with air dry clay for now, these bowls were actually the first thing I made, and the clay and copper magnets the last. While I smoothed and sanded the fridge magnets, there was also something that appealed to me about the texture of this clay in it’s unrefined state. I had planned on making simple circular bowls cut out with a knife, but I liked the uncut edge so much I thought I’d make it a feature….

I think it gives them a lovely delicate organic feel!

To make, you’ll need air dry clay, bowls (to use as molds) rolling pin, and a palette knife…

Knead the clay until soft and pliable then roll out flat. The edges will take on that “torn” appearance naturally as it’s rolled.Â About 3-5mm in thickness depending on how delicate you want it. The thinner it is the more fragile it will be. The edges of my bowls are pretty thin because I’ve never been great at rolling with an even pressure. So my bowls are pretty delicate around the edges and thicker around the base. But hey, I’m embracing the uneveness!

Drape over a bowl and gently coax into shape…you can see there are some faint cracks around the base….

I recalled from pottery at school (don’t ask me how because that was some time ago!) using tepid water to smooth the surface of the clay. Just a little on your hands and smoothed gently over the surface of the clay in a circular motion will smooth out any unwanted cracks, lumps and bumps…then leave to dry for a couple of hours on the bowl but not for the full drying time as the clay will gradually tighten on the bowl as it dries and shrinks and is liable to get stuck!

After a couple of hours veeeeery gently use a palette knife, slipped between the clay and the bowl, Â and gently work around the circumference until it pops off. Place on a rack on a sunny ledge and leave to fully cure for a couple of days…

This stuff dries a beautiful natural white. You could choose to decorate or leave it au natural like I did. When dried it has a very lightweight almost unglazed porcelain feel to it.

Gorgeous!

I have another project to share with you shortly. But considering how much I’m crushing on this material at the moment there may well be more!

Crafting, decor, DIY, home, how to, salt dough, Tutorials

DIY: Clay & Copper Fridge Magnets

03/16/15

I think I may have fallen in love with air dry clay! I have Â a couple more projects to share with you using this addictive stuff. But I thought I’d kick off with these super simple but delicately charming clay and copper fridge magnets. Once dried this stuff has a really beautiful texture that contrasts with the copper in a really lovely way…

You’ll need some air dry clay. I used DAS modelling clay in white. Some disc magnets. I used these neodymium magnets measuring 10mm x 1mm as they were nice and flat. A cookie cutter. Copper spray paint. (Not pictured but I used Kobra in Copper). Superglue. Fine grade sandpaper.

Knead the clay until pliable then roll out flat. About the thickness of a biscuit. Sorry I didn’t measure the clay at this stage but the dried clay is about 4-5mm thick…

Use a palette knife to lift the shapes onto a ceramic plate. Push the magnets carefully into the back of your shapes. Push them in a little more than you might think and more than you can see here! The clay shrinks as it dries and will force the magnets out as it does. We’re not aiming to secure the magnets in this step…but to make an indentation deep enough so that when dry, the magnet will sit flush with the surface of the clay…if that makes sense! Allow to go slightly hard then transfer to a cooling rack to fully harden. (about 24 hours).

When dry, gently smooth rough edges with a fine grade sandpaper. (120 grit or finer) and secure the magnets in their little indentations with a dab of superglue. This picture illustrates what I meant about the magnets. The one on the left worked perfectly because I pushed the magnet in far enough to make a deep enough indentation. The one on the right, I didn’t; and the magnet “popped out” as the clay dried and shrank. You can also see all the little fibres in the clay before it’s been sanded, and the result after a little bit of very gentle sanding.

To get the paint effect I simply decanted (sprayed) a small amount of the copper spray paint into a small plastic pot/lid so there was a puddle of paint in the bottom and (outside in the garden!) flicked the paint onto the shapes from about 4 foot above so as to get a nice splatter pattern….

Then just pop on the fridge and you’re done!

This is obviously a self indulgent grown up version. But this would be a great project to get the kids involved with. You could make a whole bunch and have fun splatting them with paint outside. Of course you don’t Â have to use air dry clay. There are DIY versions out there using cornstarch…or good old salt dough would work as well as polymer clay or fimo.

Cheap, easy, quick, fun. What’s not to love!

DIY, home, how to, Restyles, Thrifting, Tutorials, Upcycling

diy: geometric copper & wood fruit bowl

03/03/15

If you want a quick and easy DIY fix, then DIY doesn’t get much quicker and easier than this fruit bowl “tart up”. Happy days!

Materials

Thrifted Wooden bowl

Kobra Copper Spray Paint

Masking/Painter’s Tape

I thrifted this wooden bowl for like, Â£1-2, a couple of years ago. I’m loving copper accents and am looking at ways of bringing a liiiiiitle bit of copper into our room scheme without it being overpowering or too blingy. I used this same Kobra copper spray paint in a subtle way on the chair legs of our ikea tub chair refurb. (I am a bit in love with Kobra paint)

Like I said….doesn’t get much simpler than this! Mark out your design with masking tape. I went for simplicity with retro looking, nesting triangles. You could do anything though. Stripes, chevrons, criss cross the tape randomly. Use stickers of different shapes and sizesÂ instead of masking tape. Anything left exposed will be copper (or whichever colour you choose) and anything masked out will remain as it was. Plain wood.

Spray and leave to dry for the time indicated on the can. Yes, I know. The base is going to be a funny mish mash of shapes once the tape is removed. You can always tidy up the base later by adding a disc of felt if this is likely to bother you, which I shall probably do at some stage…

Remove the tape and tidy up any rough edges with the edge of your nail and you’re done!

It’s so simple I know. But for me simplicity is beautiful, and it’s the contrast between the shiny metallic copper and the softly aged natural wood that reallyÂ works . Â Each one makes the other more gorgeous.

decor, DIY, Future projects, home, Inspiration, jersey, jewelry, knits, Knitting, planning, refashion, refashioning, repurposing, Restyles, Uncategorized, Upcycling

DIY: 21 INSPIRATIONAL IDEAS FOR USING T SHIRT YARN

02/20/15

OK, so it’s fair to say I’ve developed a bit of an obsession with making T Shirt yarn. The next question of course is what to use it for! I’ve been browsing the interwebs for inspiration and thought I’d share a few ideas with you, just in case, you know, I’m not the only obsessive in the room….

These chunky knit cushions are right near the top of my “To do” list. Â A simple knit/purl square on chunky needles with a linen backing. What could possibly go wrong, right?! The ubiquitous T Shirt necklace deserves a mention here. This clutch bag, from what I can gather is knitted from lengths of rubber. No reason it couldn’t work in T Shirt yarn instead though…

The idea of a cosy blanket knitted on chunky needles appeals to me right now (instructions here); and I can see potential in this tutorial for crocheted cord being used in a jewelery piece or perhaps as handles for a bag? Now I know this rug is not made from t shirt yarn but a) its lush so I just had to share (and there are other delicious yarn art examples in this post) and b) the concept/technique could surely be applied on a smaller scale with T Shirt yarn?

I love copper, grey and simplicity. So this necklace tutorial particularly floats my boat. Again there are other tutorials included in this post from Brit +Co. Love this knitted tote pattern from Daily Fix and surely T Shirt yarn lends itself perfectly to macrame hanging plant holders. Several examples in this post from Censational Girl.

I mean seriously, how delicious do these knitted floor cushions look? No tute, but the idea would be simple enough to replicate? I can think of a multitude of uses for these crochet baskets (tutorial here from nimi design.com) and this macrame wall hanging has a simple charm. I’m thinking the technique could also be adapted to form a decorative element for a T Shirt refashion (party in the back anyone?) Â or maybe to create a cute string grocery bag?

Spoiler alert! Rugs are at the forefront of my plans. This spiral rug from A Beautiful Mess, crochet rug from WhollyKao and woven rug from Viva Le Jar, all employ different techniques to equally cool ends…none use T Shirt yarn but….you could, right?

This knitted rug pattern from Purl Bee could surely be adapted for T Shirt yarn. This free pattern for a crochet basket from Ravelry calls for 12mm cotton yarn so could be doable and I like the effect of this rope trivet from Design Sponge. I can’t help but think this nautical style of knotting could be fun to try too…

Another slightly more simple knitted bag. I think even I could manage this one. I love the effect of this idea from Oleander & Palm. Simple lengths of coloured yarn hung in volume to great effect;Â and a random woven belt design that I came across that could totally work!

So, I hope that gives you a few ideas of what to do with your squidgy balls of jersey goodness! I’ve started playing around with knitting mine and have a few ideas in the works….watch this space!

DIY, home, how to, sharpies, Tutorials

DIY: Geometric Sharpie Lampshade

12/28/14

Things happen when I’m sat watching Boxing Day TV and trying to prevent myself from fridge picking. I was staring at this boring old lampshade trying to decide how I could give it some design edge when this happened…..;)

Ok, it didn’t just “happen”. But I had a little light bulb moment (pun totally intended) and dug out my Sharpie and got doodling….(doodling is much better for your waistline than fridge picking)…

The pattern started off as random triangles joined with dots. It didn’t quite do it for me as was. So I then went on to connect each dot with all other dots within a 360 degree radius, which created a more satisfyingly dense pattern of radial shapes and intersecting lines. The overall effect of which reminds me of string art; which I actually really like and was totally intentional of course 😉

I love how such a simple method can give such a striking end result. I just love me a quick, easy and spontaneous DIY that works out!

Hope you are all having a wonderful festive season 🙂

DIY, home, how to, rit dye, Tutorials

DIY: Ikea Tub Chair Makeover

12/15/14

Every now and then a project turns out exactly how you had it planned in your head Well…this wasn’t one of them, lol! Ultimately I’m content with the finished chair but this project was not without its curve balls and wtf moments! So what follows is by no means a definitive “how to” but more of a “what worked well and what didn’t” and what I learnt along the way.

Ah, the ubiquitous Ikea Tullsta tub chair! Currently retailing at Â£80…this one cost me Â£0. A freecycle result about 18months ago 🙂 Â I had planned to reupholster it but it ended up just sitting in a corner all that time while I pondered how I was going to approach the whole thing. Then it occurred to me….fabric dye! So I googled…there’s a few bits out there about dyeing chairs. Enough for me to know it was possible but not enough to have a tried and tested route to follow. So I kinda winged it…as is my way, lol!

Once I had a plan in my head I gathered my supplies. Rit dye, clean empty spray bottle, car sponge, paintbrush, gloves, salt, and a funnel. I covered my work area in cut up bin bags…this is a messy job!

I started by detaching the seat pad using a seam ripper. It’s attached to the main body of the chair by means of a fabric “hinge”. I used the underside of the cushion to test out my colour mixing until I arrived at the colour I was aiming for. I used one bottle of navy liquid Rit, and a pack each of black and wine powdered Rit dye in 10 pints of water. So a very concentrated solution. Everything was mixed in a big stockpot on the hob with the addition of half a cup of salt (in hindsight possibly too much salt…you’ll see why further down) brought to a simmer and then kept hot while I worked…

I used two application techniques on this project. The first was applying the liquid dye with a paintbrush. I started with the seat pad here. Applying the dye generously so the seat pad was really soaked in it and overlapping my brush strokes to ensure even coverage. Then while the dye was still wet I used a sponge in brisk, firm circular strokes to even out the coverage and eliminate the brush marks…

The second application technique I used was to decant the dye liquid into a spray bottle. This was a much quicker technique but allow me to share a few tips! Test the spray pattern of the bottle you’re intending on using. You want one with a larger more diffused spray pattern as opposed to a jet of liquid. Â Also make sure the dye liquid is cooled a little first. If it’s too hot when it goes into the bottle it will cause the plastic to “suck” inwards and distort with the heat which in turn can mess up the pressure inside the bottle…if the nozzle gets a little drippy and blocked after a while…just soak in hot water and flush through with clean hot water….using this technique I covered the whole chair in about 10 minutes…overlap each spray area with the previous one for thorough coverage…

I started with the inside of the chair and worked my way round to the back. When I was done spraying I used the sponge again to really rub in the dye and even it out…

What astonished me about this was how much lighter the finished Â colour was once it dried. It was by no means the solid, rich, dark colour I was anticipating when I mixed the dye liquid! It looked soooo dark when wet, and at least 10 shades lighter when dry! I used 3 coats in total. Pictures in order below. The one on the right is the third coat, still wet….

The second problem I encountered was this! (Cue agonised screams of “noooooo!” when I came down to THIS the folowing morning!) I suspect it’s because I used too much salt in the dye bath for the amount of liquid. When the 2nd and 3rd coats dried I was left with these crystalised white patches. I first of all tried a mix of white vinegar and water wiped over the offending spots. Vinegar is supposed to dissolve salt. It lessened the white patches but didn’t eliminate them. My eventual saviour ended up being good old baby wipes! I gave the chair a thorough rub down with baby wipes and bang…white marks gone! (Cue sigh of relief!)…

Now for the legs. This part DID turn out exactly as I’d envisaged and I’m super pleased with this part 🙂 I used Kobra paints in matte black and copper. Go outside for this! These paints have a larger spray pattern than other brands I’ve used but coverage is awesome and these are substantially cheaper than larger brands too. I think this brand is gonna be my new go to 🙂 I stuck the legs upside into a wodge (real word;) of polystyrene foam to hold them while I sprayed…

First just one coat (told you, awesome coverage!) of matte black. Then I masked off everything but the tips and sprayed those copper…

And there you have it! Not all smooth sailing, not perfect, but ultimately I’m pleased with the end result….(I love the way the copper bands reflect in the flooring)…

And lets face it…it looks better than it did before! Oh, and one final step…once completely dry (I allowed a few days) check for dye transfer by rubbing with a white cloth…mine was fine but if in doubt, spray with Scotchgard to fix the dye in 🙂

decor, DIY, home, how to, Tutorials

DIY: Ink Wash Typography

11/24/14

Having had “such fun” (as Miranda would say 😉 with ink washes on my DIY Wall Art project, I’ve been brainstorming other ways to incorporate some more into our new home. I like some of the typographic art that’s out there but not necessarily the printed kind. Graphic prints are not really my thing. So I decided to have a play at creating my own with a slightly more handmade/arty feel….

A super quick project. Took me about 20 mins. You’ll need cardmaking sticky letters a bit like these, (mine were from the Â£1 bin at Hobbycraft about a ahem…year ago!) writing ink, watercolour paper,(or paper of at least 300-400gsm. Don’t skimp on the paper. You can just about make out some wrinkles in my paper where it buckled a bit from the wetting because it wasn’t proper watercolour paper!) a paintbrush and water…

Create your desired quote using the alphabet stickers, then wet over and all around them using clean water. Dip your brush directly into the writing ink and paint over your letters and onto the wetted paper around allowing the ink to “bleed” and diffuse into the wetted surface around. Be sure to get the ink into the centre of letters with closed loops like “o” “a” “e” etc,,,,

Allow to dry a little. Carefully lift the alphabet stickers away from the paper. They’ll be a little soggy from the water and ink so won’t likely come off in one go, so is a wee bit fiddly at this stage. You’ll also find that the shiny top layer will peel off but leave a little of the underpaper still adhered.(You can see this on the letter “n” in the pic below) So you may have to peel the two layers separately to fully reveal the clean white paper behind. I left the underpaper in place on a couple of the letters because I quite liked the slightly imperfect, textured look it gave….

Allow to dry…pop in a frame…simple as!

I keep thinking these would make great handmade Christmas gifts, no? When I eventually get my sewing space back…(ie when we build a new summerhouse in the spring) this may well find a home there…to serve as a reminder whenever I’m tempted to rush to get a project finished! I do that. Alot!

DIY, home, how to, Tutorials

Easiest ever DIY Wall Art….

11/09/14

Since we moved at the end of August we’ve been busy painting and decorating. We are finally at the stage where we can start with the fun part. Pulling room schemes together with accessories, soft furnishings and…..art! At the moment we’re focussing on the lounge. It’s evolving as a palette of greys, plums, mauves and neutrals….

For some time we have been looking for some artwork to go in these three frames that we both liked and that complements our new room scheme. Frustrated with fruitless searching, and unable to look at a bare wall for much longer we went down the DIY route as a temporary fix, and this was the result….

I can draw ok. But not to the standard of what I would call “art” and not to a level that I would have on display in my home! What I can do….and what anyone can do…is lay down a few colour and ink washes in complimentary colours and flick some ink & paint around! And hopefully what you end up with are some interesting effects, tones and textures that, once framed, chime perfectly with your room scheme (because you get to select your colours) and are “unique to you” abstract pieces of wall art! Well…art may be a stretch…but as an experiment…I’m pleasantly surprised at the results…and more than happy to live with this trio on our wall until we can find a more permanent solution.

So I thought I’d share how easy this is to do! I started by covering the floor in the kitchen. Popped the radio on and closed the door. This can get messy!

I laid out 3 sheets of A2 200gsm textured paper (from a Daler Rowney art pad) on the floor side by side, and using a normal decorators paintbrush, laid down a wash of plain water across all 3. You could wet them completely or a bit more randomly. The colour/ink washes you lay down in the next stage will have differing effects on wet or dry paper. Experiment!

I used watered down writing ink for the grey washes and used Elliott’s kiddo paint to mix a mauve wash. Again, watered down and all brushed randomly onto the wetted paper using, of all things, a pastry brush, lol! Ignore the proper paintbrushes in the pic. Didn’t end up using them. Don’t need ’em!
I tried to treat the 3 sheets as one big sheet, making some brush strokes cross over from one sheet to the next. So that once framed individually they would look like they were meant to sit together. I used scrunched up kitchen towel to lift the colour in random places and create a variation in textures to the colour washes. I then dropped undiluted ink in spots/droplets across all 3 sheets. The ink will naturally “bleed” around the edges on wet paper and give a softer effect. Then using a drinking straw I adopted a pre school technique (!) and blew the ink across the pages to get the spidery effect…told you this was easy!

Then the REALLY messy part. Using a paintbrush wetted with watered down ink and paint alternately, flick across all three sheets of paper. Random. Random. Random!

Allow to dry…pop in a frame…voila! No more bare wall taunting you with it’s bareness!

Top tips? Don’t think about it too much. Be random. Reserve judgement until it goes in the frame. Oh, and enjoy!

DIY, getting my house in order, home, how to, organising, storage, Tutorials

DIY: Vintage Map Box

08/27/13

Still on a bit of an organising kick here (since I can do no sewing right now) and some of the things I have never really had a specific place for are things like passports, leftover currency, travel adaptors and the like. Every time I need to lay my hands on things like that, I can never remember where I put them last. In the proverbial “safe” place of course! Trouble is, I can never remember what that safe place is so I decided to make a “travel” specific storage solution to corale all of those bits together in one place and Â put pay to the last minute, panicked passport hunt that precedes most of our foreign trips….

I had this lidded wooded box that struck me as ideal. What better for a travel related storage solution, than to cover it with a vintage cloth backed ordinance survey map, right?

After removing all the edges (which had been written on) I marked out the pieces I needed on the back of the map, drawing around the box and the lid as a template….

My map wasn’t big enough to wrap around the box in one go. So I ended up with one piece for the lid, and two pieces (one long strip and one square) to cover the sides of the box…

I cut the lid piece with a small allowance around the edge and brushed on some pva glue to the surfac of the lid…

Pressed the lid down onto my map piece, and smoothed flat with a soft cloth…

Snipping the corners as shown, allows the edges to be glued up and around the corners neatly like so…

Once dry, and with the lid replaced, cover the sides of the box with the remaining pieces. Covering right over the lid join/seam…

With the lid completely sealed/covered by the map, you might wonder how on earth you’re supposed to open the box? Because essentially it’s sealed shut at this stage…

While it’s all still damp, with a cloth gently rub over the “seam” where the lid join is to create an indentation all around. Using a rotary cutter or sharp craft knife, gently and gradually cut along this seam…(The main upside of doing it this way is that the all map details all line up when the lid is on. It’s a detail…I guess I’m a bit sad like that!)

Remove the lid, smooth the edges and allow to dry completely….

Et voila!

Now I just need a holiday to recover from the school holidays! (At least I know where my passport is now;)
I could have used a slightly more exotic map, granted, but it’s what I had to hand. If you can’t get hold of a vintage map, Â (or one that’s exotic enough to be inspiring!) then there are some fab map themed wrapping papers out there at reasonable prices that would do the job very nicely indeed 🙂

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