Showing posts with label Upcycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Upcycling. Show all posts

Introducing... YARN

So yes, yarn. it is not so much a new thing as just new to Some Art Fabric. At our next show, Quilters & Stitchers Marketplace, One Stop Shop Hop in The Villages, FL we will introduce recycled - reclaimed yarn. I am not sure if it should be called recycled or reclaimed.
Recycled: to pass again through a series of changes or treatments: as a : to process (as liquid body waste, glass, or cans) in order to regain material for human use b : recover 6 c : to reuse or make (a substance) available for reuse

Reclaimed : to rescue from an undesirable state; also : to restore to a previous natural state <reclaim mining sites>
I am working on some tag info to go with each center pull cake of yarn:
Out on a trek to hunt and gather new materials, I came upon this forgotten sweater hanging forlorn in a thrift store. I took the sweater home and gently washed it. Once the sweater was dry, I carefully dismantled it, creating yards and yards of beautiful fluffy yarn that would soon be used by countless creative individuals to make new and amazing things. 
This used to be a sweater! What are you going to do with it?  

Yarn For Booth

New Bad Habits

I'm sure it really began way before 2011. My oldest daughter took her first crochet class in 2008, she is a natural and picked it up easily. Fast forward to the spring of 2011, J decided she wanted to make Amigurimi creatures. Introduce Janet, the crochet teacher at out LYS (Local Yarn Shop), she is amazing, we love her. Since they did not have a children's class, I purchased private lessons, I decided to hang around and refine my limited skills.
Spinning


Saint Brigid Day February 1

One day Dubhthach takes his daughter in a chariot to the King of Leinster to see if he can strike a deal to make her a member of the King's court. Brigid is left outside in the chariot, and while there, a leper approaches her, seeking alms. Without hesitation, Brigid hands over her father's sword, an item of great value. In the warlike province of Leinster, this says more than words can capture about Brigid's system of values. Needless to say, these values do not correspond with her father's, and he is furious when he discovers her action. Fortunately for Brigid, the King of Leinster is present as Dubhthach begins to chastise her, and he checks Dubhthach rage, saying: "Leave her alone, for her merit before God is greater than ours." Thus Brigid returns home, and through this incident of being praised by the king is also delivered from bondage. In time, Dubhthach tries to arrange a marriage for his daughter (another way of making her someone else's responsibility), but she isn't interested. Beautiful Brigid consecrated herself to God at a young age, choosing a life of virginity, dedication to God and service to the poor.

Comedy Of Errors

Magnets 2010

Have you ever had an idea, then bumbled your way through figuring it out, spent way more than you anticipated and yelled at your kids because it was all for them?

That would about sum up the holiday gifts we (I) made (are making) for my daughters' friends and teachers.

Idea!! Magnets are cool but who wants them for just the refrigerator. I want to make a necklace with magnets that kids can swap (cause I am so over silly bandz).

Research: I see it on etsy, looks doable. A lot of folks use bottle caps, those make me nervous they have sharp edges and you fill them with epoxy, yuck! I see that they now have an epoxy style sticker, still sharp edges. My best bud has a 1 inch button maker I can borrow. DONE! Let's order the magnet button supplies (100 is the minimum, we don't have that many friends, we will give multiples) and something that we can make into a pendant.

Reality: I am cheap, I don't want to order bezel pendants, so what else would work? Dog tags out of stainless steel, much less than pendants.

Recycling for Christmas


Those of you who make your holiday have already started, right. Since I make holidays for others I started working on our Christmas line back in March. I am prepping aluminum cans to the made into ornaments, earring & bookmarks.

My friends and family save all of their cans, but then I have to cut them down to make space. Usually I don't need thousands of cans but this year I went global and two of my ornaments will be in a VERY BIG CATALOG, which will remain nameless until the print date.

Here is a sneak at the glamorous back side of using recycled cans for creating art:

Once I get them all cut down and washed they head to the basement to be stored or if I still feel like standing for another hour I run them through the accucut. Making 500 items was easy, I think making 3000 may be a huge challenge.

Drink up and save your cans cause I need them to make Some Art.

Sneaters

Little Bit is lovin' all the new Sneaters! I dropped them at Young Blood Gallery & Boutique last week. I will have more soon, promise!



Hey what is a Sneater?

A Sneater is a snugglie plush creature made from recycled sweaters. Hug them, hold them, share them with a kid. Each one is a unique one of a kind creation. These Sneaters have a special pocket to hold your very best smile.

More Can Can Earrings




New dies came in this week and we have more unique earrings, book marks & necklaces. Each charm is hand cut then attached to an appropriate dangle.



2. Scalloped Heart Can Can Earrings, 4. AeroPlane Can Can Earrings, 5. Alien Head Can Can Earrings, 6. Shamrock Can Can Earrings, , 8. Celtic Clover Can Can Earrings

Valentine's Day @ Sloth Craft

>We are working hard to prepare for the next big holiday, Valentine's Day.
With 2 girl children and a birthday to celebrate we get a bit heart happy here at the Sloth Craft abode . In December, I was busy working up ideas and getting dies made for February. Here is our first launch of new items available at our parent store Some Art Fabric.
Peace Heart Can Can Earrings: Sparkly & Eco minded
Made from felt backed recycled soda cans, these lightweight earring are available in a bunch of different charms and cans.

Can Can Bookmarks : We love to read!
Made from felt backed recycled soda cans and a 3 inch wavy metal book mark.

Can Can Necklace: More fun with our new charms!
Love me, love you! Our felt backed charm is now on a 22 inch rubber necklace.


Are you makin' cards? we sure are and banners too! With our DIY collage and banner kit.
Filled with over 80 die cut hearts in 5 different sizes, these are perfect for stringing in your windows or using for your one of a kind Valentine's Card.
The hearts are cut from a variety of discarded books including Romance Novels, please make sure to tell us if you will be using them with children and we will try to keep it clean.

One More THING and it is the best, only available during the season of love!
Venus of Willendorf "Stone" soap : The most famous fertility goddess in your bathroom!

The perfect gift for an artist, a new couple or just about anyone who bathes!
Available in Cloves, Chocolate & Sunshine


We hope you guys are looking forward to the season of love, we sure are!

Naked Art Kitchmas




Looky Looky, One of our Sloth Craft's ornaments is on the Naked Art Postcard for their holiday Kitchmas show.

Recycled Pop Can Skull Earrings






Nothing like being timely. This die came in last week. So this weekend during our playdate Miss Shannon from Patina showed me how to make the skulls into earrings. Perfect for Christmas, right??

Sugar Skull Paper Banner


Well it was time!
I wanted to update the family room to celebrate the season: new paper die cut window treatment and a new banner for the mantel.


The window treatment was originally done 2 summers ago and I keep changing out the paper die cuts to fit my mood or the season. This is the original blog entry with instructions.

The mantel banner is a new idea, the sugar skulls are so easy to string horizontally. You just slide the string through the existing decorations in the forehead.




Look like we are almost ready for the wicked.

Wool Gift Bag Ornament



I kinda love these new gift bags but I am quickly becoming aware aware that I like the design part....

AND not the lets make 30 of these to mail out to various shops & shows the first of November.

Kinda having a YIKES week!

I did complete the headband goal for today.

Many Faces of the Poly Ball

This week I have been looking for and making more Polyhedron Balls out of found recycled materials, Romance Covers, Album Covers & Atlas Books. I love the ones from the paper I made but I don't have time to make another batch of paper (I Keep Saying, maybe I should just go out to the garage and crank up the Critter). So this past week has found me at thrift store and book sales looking for cool new thin cardboard for the ball.


1. Recycled Fabric Paper, 2. Billy Squier Album Poly Ball, 3. Romance Novel Poly Ball, 4. Photo Ball, 5. Recycled Fabric Paper, 6. Atlas Poly Ball

Last night at KraftsWorks these were a huge hit to pick up and marvel, unfortunately I had as many at the end of the night as at the beginning. I did not hang them on a tree but left them in a bowl that truly looked super wonderful, perfect for every hip house on the block.

Many of these balls will only be available at the upcoming local shows since they are very much one of a kind. Keep an eye out for them!

Wicked Wool



I started getting ready for holiday shows and I pulled out the wool sweaters this weekend. I was dismayed to find that many of them were not neatly folded in boxes as I (cue the dream music) remembered, they were wadded into boxes. Now they are wrinkled and need to be pressed (or rewashed).

Under the direction of the EXTREME wool goddess Betz White (her blog not her personally), when I felted a sweater I cut off the sleeves and then cut the sleeve down the seam. Well in these boxes I have wadded sweater bodies and even more wadded sleeves. This obviously is not a very workable method for me and the boxes make finding the color I needed almost impossible.

THIS year I am slicing the sweaters open a bit differently, to eliminate the loose sleeves I am slicing them up the side seam, through the armpit and down the sleeve. So far I am please with the amount of workable felt.

This new method of cutting the sweaters open allows me to hang them effectively. So I purchased a wood closet pole and put it on the existing shelves in my sewing room. I used shirt hangers for most of my sweaters, on the miscellaneous sleeves I used skirt hangers.

Cause I now could
, I color coordinated them and realized I have a lot of red and turquoise and only one blue. I am please with the final results but realize I need another pole for the yet to be felted ones. Wonder if hubby would give up some of his closet space.

Introducing Sloth Craft

Drum Roll Please!

Sloth Craft: the division of Some Art that is all about the crafty things we make.

Last year we designed an ornament to give to friends and family and it was a huge hit. Fueled by the success, I designed a few more and they are ready to go PUBLIC. (Although if you were at the last Kraftworks you got a sneaky peek).


The Sloth Craft elves are ready to get the holiday season started with a beautiful line of repurposed, reclaimed and reseen holiday ornaments that you can feel good about giving and of course keeping for your holiday heirlooms.

Each ornament is made by hand in the USA using a variety of materials with an eye towards unique and creative misuse.

Featured Exclusively at SomeArtFabric.com

ICE Atlanta 09

If you missed Indie Craft Experience, Atlanta, GA 2009
I am sorry; great vendors and amazing weather.


This is our combined loot.


Loved these owl pouches, made from recycled bags. Bought one for my very own.
So She Sews


Two thumbs WAY UP on this shop. They traveled from Chicago and I am so glad
Miss Alison

Toilet Paper Faces

I originally saw this up at Loudreams.
It was inspired by the work of Junior Jacquet.



This is totally me trying to find something good to do with toilet paper roll. I am ever the art teacher. Unfortunately I may not be the sculptor, at the very least I need more practice.



To create the faces I dampened the TP roll let it sit for about 10 minutes than started to push, pinch and bend. Many were unrecognizable.

BUT you can see it RiGHT?? My students helped me paint these and they are a bit garish. One student was particularly complementary and asked how I could be so good at something I just tried, those are great teaching days. I think I might do this with my campers, I need to check the with resident children and see if they can make these with out destroying the rolls integrity.

Amy Vanderbilt would be so happy!

I was a bit behind the eight ball on my mother's day offering. I pulled through with a great project that saved not only me but about 35 teenagers from certain parental doom and disappointment.

Thursday evening the wonderful UPS man dropped my Accucut order and I was off to the basement to make SOMETHING!.

These flowers are so beautiful and classic they gave life to my Amy Vanderbilt "Complete Book of Etiquette." I am sure she would be proud.

I cut a bazillion flowers and brought them to school on Friday were both of my classes indulged me and made gifts for their maternal units. The kids got really creative and added them to cards and made bouquets.



Kinda interesting my photo kids loved them plain and my younger basic art kids wanted to add color to them. This is one of the projects I will use this summer at camp.

I need to go to the big box and get another wire wreath cause I need one of these to keep for myself.

Family Photo Ball

There was a time....

When I thought that I could sell postcards of my photography work, so I picked 6 of my best images and sent them off to be printed. They were a hit but this was well before Etsy or even online. When I left Nexus (now "The Contemporary") and started having children they got stashed. I pulled them out this past year determined to make something with them.

Sell them (you say), well to be honest, the info on the back is no longer correct and some of them are starting to yellow on the edges. They might still show up at the store but I love what I made with them, this will certainly be up at the store very soon.


Here is one of the images that I used and you can see the rest of them up at our main site.

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