...And have a great weekend too!
Showing posts with label tools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tools. Show all posts
Friday, January 15, 2010
Nifty Tools for Etsy Sellers
...And have a great weekend too!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Using Common Household Items and Inexpensive Tools for Feltmaking: New Tips, Old Tips and Your Tips Please!
Although traditional feltmaking is becoming more common with kits and supplies popping up at local chain craft stores, it is still somewhat of a rare art form. When I started felting several years ago, I had to search local specialty yarn and fiber shops as well as online for supplies. I also found that some common household supplies and other inexpensive items came in handy during the felting process. That made me think about all the little things that I've used over the years for wet felting and needle felting. Some of them have been specifically purchased for the art of feltmaking and some of them have been improvisational. I know that my fellow fiber artists understand what it is like to shop for feltmaking supplies at the hardware store or grocery store! Whatever works well is what you end up using. I decided to compile a list below of some of the odd ball things that I've used and adapted for feltmaking. Please feel free to add to my list with your own experiences. Leave a comment and let me and my readers know what kind of improvisational items you have used during the felting process. I know that you probably have some good suggestions and stories to share!
The Funky Felter's Little List of Non-traditional Household Items Used in Traditional Feltmaking:
Bubble Wrap - Okay, so this one is becoming much more common now and even recommended by several feltmaking books. It is quite helpful during wet felting and provides a nice surface for agitation.
Foam Swim Tubes - This one is also pretty common. Those dense foam swim tubes make a great inner stabilizer to wrap your wet felting project around and roll repeatedly for agitation. I use this in conjunction with bubble wrap and a string to tie it all together. Then you can easily roll, roll, roll, your way to a finished felted item. Oh, and I recommend that you cut the long foam swim tubes into smaller segments according to your project size.
Thick Foam Sheets - I don't know how common this one is, but I personally use large-sized thick foam craft sheets to cut out my patterns for wet felting three-dimensional objects like purses. They make a good reusable relief structure for wet felting. I have several foam pattern cut-outs that I've used over and over again. These do have a smooth texture though so they aren't as good as something like bubble wrap for agitation, but foam sheets are water resistant and easy to cut through for making patterns of all shapes and sizes.
Bamboo Beach Mats - At the end of last summer, I found several large bamboo beach mats on sale at Pier 1 Imports. They were only a buck each! I couldn't resist and ended up buying at least five of them to use for feltmaking. Bamboo mats have been used a long time in the process of wet felting. They are good to wrap around your fibers and then roll for agitation - similar to what you would use bubble wrap for. I always seem to find bamboo mats in the strangest places though. You don't have to buy one specifically for feltmaking. Check out your local dollar store for small size bamboo mats.
Dish Soap - I know that many feltmakers use olive oil soap and more expensive soaps for feltmaking, but the truth is that plain old dish soap will work just fine. I have almost exclusively used dish soap for wet felting with great success. It can be hard on the skin and hands though if you don't wear gloves. I have also found some brands to work better than others.
Pantyhose - Either full size women's hose or knee highs can be of great help in felting smaller items. I use hose to wrap around a fiber covered bar of soap when making felted soap. It holds the fibers in place as they full and shrink. Knee highs are also great for tying around your rolled up fibers that have been bubble wrapped around a swim tube or other stabilizer.
Plastic Storage Lids - If you don't have a nice size sink, table, or bath tub to felt in, a thick plastic storage lid works well. I've used all sizes of plastic storage lids to felt in. Since they have a slight lip on the edge, they work well for catching water. Sometimes I use a plastic storage lid on the counter of my kitchen for feltmaking. Then I just pour or sponge off the excess water into the sink as I work. Plastic storage lids aren't good for large projects though because they are difficult to handle when they are big. I recommend using them as a work area for smaller items only.
Pillow Foam and Pillow Bolsters - I use dense pillow foam pads for needle felting. I usually buy a large square pad and cut it into smaller pieces to have several needle felting surfaces because they wear out rather quickly with regular use. I also modified a round pillow bolster to make a hat form for needle and wet felting. It works better if you cover it in clear plastic. The plastic helps the form to keep its shape, and it will degrade less over time during the felting process.
Those are a few of the household items and inexpensive tools that I use to make the feltmaking process a little easier. I'm sure that there are many more. If you have a tip, please do share by leaving a comment. I always appreciate your input!
The Funky Felter's Little List of Non-traditional Household Items Used in Traditional Feltmaking:
Bubble Wrap - Okay, so this one is becoming much more common now and even recommended by several feltmaking books. It is quite helpful during wet felting and provides a nice surface for agitation.
Foam Swim Tubes - This one is also pretty common. Those dense foam swim tubes make a great inner stabilizer to wrap your wet felting project around and roll repeatedly for agitation. I use this in conjunction with bubble wrap and a string to tie it all together. Then you can easily roll, roll, roll, your way to a finished felted item. Oh, and I recommend that you cut the long foam swim tubes into smaller segments according to your project size.
Thick Foam Sheets - I don't know how common this one is, but I personally use large-sized thick foam craft sheets to cut out my patterns for wet felting three-dimensional objects like purses. They make a good reusable relief structure for wet felting. I have several foam pattern cut-outs that I've used over and over again. These do have a smooth texture though so they aren't as good as something like bubble wrap for agitation, but foam sheets are water resistant and easy to cut through for making patterns of all shapes and sizes.
Bamboo Beach Mats - At the end of last summer, I found several large bamboo beach mats on sale at Pier 1 Imports. They were only a buck each! I couldn't resist and ended up buying at least five of them to use for feltmaking. Bamboo mats have been used a long time in the process of wet felting. They are good to wrap around your fibers and then roll for agitation - similar to what you would use bubble wrap for. I always seem to find bamboo mats in the strangest places though. You don't have to buy one specifically for feltmaking. Check out your local dollar store for small size bamboo mats.
Dish Soap - I know that many feltmakers use olive oil soap and more expensive soaps for feltmaking, but the truth is that plain old dish soap will work just fine. I have almost exclusively used dish soap for wet felting with great success. It can be hard on the skin and hands though if you don't wear gloves. I have also found some brands to work better than others.
Pantyhose - Either full size women's hose or knee highs can be of great help in felting smaller items. I use hose to wrap around a fiber covered bar of soap when making felted soap. It holds the fibers in place as they full and shrink. Knee highs are also great for tying around your rolled up fibers that have been bubble wrapped around a swim tube or other stabilizer.
Plastic Storage Lids - If you don't have a nice size sink, table, or bath tub to felt in, a thick plastic storage lid works well. I've used all sizes of plastic storage lids to felt in. Since they have a slight lip on the edge, they work well for catching water. Sometimes I use a plastic storage lid on the counter of my kitchen for feltmaking. Then I just pour or sponge off the excess water into the sink as I work. Plastic storage lids aren't good for large projects though because they are difficult to handle when they are big. I recommend using them as a work area for smaller items only.
Pillow Foam and Pillow Bolsters - I use dense pillow foam pads for needle felting. I usually buy a large square pad and cut it into smaller pieces to have several needle felting surfaces because they wear out rather quickly with regular use. I also modified a round pillow bolster to make a hat form for needle and wet felting. It works better if you cover it in clear plastic. The plastic helps the form to keep its shape, and it will degrade less over time during the felting process.
Those are a few of the household items and inexpensive tools that I use to make the feltmaking process a little easier. I'm sure that there are many more. If you have a tip, please do share by leaving a comment. I always appreciate your input!
Thursday, November 06, 2008
If you love Flickr, check out these handy dandy sites and tools to do more with your photos!
Well, I just love Flickr! I have been using their photo storage service for over a year now to back up my felting photos as well as some of my personal family photos. I have found it to be a great place to network with a large community of people who have all kinds of interests. There is a group there for just about everything, and if you don't find what you want in a group, then you can make your own. Below are a list of a few direct sites and article posts that offer services and tools to go along with your Flickr account. I have found these to be very helpful in using my Flickr photos to the fullest. I hope that you find them to be useful too.Big Huge Labs has lots of cool tools! I used their mosaic tool to create the image above.
Slide allows you to make neat slide shows and more with your Flickr photos and other apps too.
Quick Online Tips has an article with a huge list of sites related to Flickr toys, tools, and more.
PedagoNet also has a big list of sites for Flickr tools.
FlickrTools is another list of sites for more toys and tools.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Handmade Artists and Crafters, do you have your own website? Here's some handy dandy internet tools for search engine optimization and etc.
Hey artists and crafters out there, do you have your own website? I know that there are a lot of Etsy sellers that just use their Etsy shop as their website, but I'm talking about your very own registered domain name (a .com or .net address). I personally like having my own website outside of my Etsy shop and blog. I feel like it is very helpful for integrating all of my online venues and providing information and resources that don't belong elsewhere. I admit that I'm not that web design savvy, but I did manage to build my own site, and I'm constantly looking for little ways to improve it. For instance, I spent some of this morning updating my meta tags which I'll probably be updating again. I thought that I'd pass along some useful links in analyzing and improving your personal websites. Some of these tools also work on your Etsy shop and blogs. If you have a great online tool to share that will help improve our websites, shops, and/or blogs, please leave a short description and link to the tool in a comment. Also, if you'd just like to share your personal website link, I'd like to see those as well.
RESOURCE LIST
Page Rank Tool
http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php
Meta Tag Analyzer
http://www.seocentro.com/tools/search-engines/metatag-analyzer.html
Link Popularity Check
http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop
Backlink Checker
http://www.iwebtool.com/backlink_checker
An Explanation of How Search Engines Work
http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/keyword-basics-part-1-how-search-engines-work
Improving Search Engine Results: Using Meta Tags
http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/chap15.shtml
Major Search Engines and Directories
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156221
A List of Search Engine Submission Pages
http://www.freewebsubmission.com
RESOURCE LIST
Page Rank Tool
http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php
Meta Tag Analyzer
http://www.seocentro.com/tools/search-engines/metatag-analyzer.html
Link Popularity Check
http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop
Backlink Checker
http://www.iwebtool.com/backlink_checker
An Explanation of How Search Engines Work
http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/keyword-basics-part-1-how-search-engines-work
Improving Search Engine Results: Using Meta Tags
http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/chap15.shtml
Major Search Engines and Directories
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156221
A List of Search Engine Submission Pages
http://www.freewebsubmission.com
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