#i may still be struggling with making clay stuff but i actually really enjoy sewing things by hand | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

androgynousblackbox · 4 years

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Crafts I have done during quarantine

I was bored so decided to rate and review all the crafts I have done while I had nothing else to do. Working in felt Pros: -It’s fairly easy to do, even kids could try it, given that someone checks on them to be careful with the pointy stuff like scissors and needle. -You end up with something cute and soft that is going to be your very own plush, like wow, don’t you feel accomplished for making your own plush. And you can make it however you want, adding as many details as you could ever want. Or not, whatever, it’s your own choice. -There is a lot of free patterns for a lot of things online available. Do you want to make a beetle? Have a pattern for it. Do you want to make a bear? Have a pattern. And in case you don’t happen to find the pattern for the thing you want, you can always just make it yourself or adapt a prexisting one for the thing you need. -You can add details in embroidery if you want, to give something extra. Cons: -To work with felt you will either need a lot of glue or develop a second skill, that is sewing so it will take some practice before you are making the lines straight or as close as they need to be. Or else risk getting all untangled and have the fucking thing have it’s filling picking on a corner. -Time consuming. Between making/printing the pattern and cutting the parts there is no much trouble, that will feel like a breeze. Depending on the size and the level of detail, It’s the fucking sewing that will take you forever and, again, if you are not used to it, I hope you enjoy getting pinched, having the thread tangled up it’s own ass, having to redo a stitch because it came out way too fucking ugly and thread that motherfucker through the needle’s eye again and again, because you are going to do a lot of that with each single piece. Don’t try to make it perfect or your eyes will get tired. Which is a shit advice if you WANT to get it perfect and cute and exactly as the pictures show, but you won’t because you are just starting so, fuck, embracing the potential ugly it is. Take solace in the fact you made that ugly and that ugly wouldn’t exist without you. -3D images objects like balls for heads or body will take even more time and maybe especial patterns if you can’t just do them from your own imagination. -The plush will never end up exactly as you imagined after you put the filling the first times. Just deal with it. Rating: 6/10 because fuck sewing. Cold porcelain Pros: -It’s easy to make and if not, cheap to buy, infinitely cheaper than polymer clay and, on my case, so much easier to find. -Some cold porcelain can come in certain colors, but if you don’t have access to those that it’s okay, you can grab the cheapest paint you have on hand and kneed it together with just the tiniest amount. Your hands will end up a mess, but at least you can have all the color you could need to do anything with one single package. -Speaking of packages, cold porcelain is usually sold in bigger quantities than polymer clay so you could do a lot with just one. -You don’t like how it turned out in the end because the thing dried way darker than you expect? You can paint it over with acrylic paints no problem. -Did I mention that is cheap? The ideal glue for cold porcelain is white glue, the same shit kids use for school. Just a tiny amount will be more than enough to join any pieces together as long they aren’t too heavy, so with buying a big bottle you will served for a pretty long time. This only work as long the piece hasn’t dried completely, though. -If for whatever reason you want to save on glue, use water. In general you can use water to make more intricate details, join two pieces so they appear as one or smooth something out. -I have used three different brands of cold porcelain and I had never had a problem in which my fingerprints got stuck all over it. -Are you a terrible cooker that gets bored waiting for the food to cook, gets distracted with something else and come back to find you overcooked? Or rather, get so nervous about that happening that take out the food before it’s completely done and had to stand eating something undercooked because put it again on the oven sounds like too much of a hassle? Don’t worry, because cold porcelain doesn’t need an oven. Just make sure the thing can dry on the position you want and let the air do it’s job. -It’s completely non toxic so literally anyone can work with it. -It usually smells like nothing or like glue, so if smell is something important to you on your craft, this is not bad. Cons: -Cold porcelain can be sticky as fuck, especially when you add water or just kneed it with paint, so you will have to use some kind of moisturizer on your hands to handle it easier. Oh, and for this too you will need to cut your nails and clean your work station because once a little hair or unwanted particles get stucked there, good luck taking it out if you don’t want to paint over afterward. So, hey, this could be a pro actually, because if you are someone that doesn’t remember to clean your hands as much you should, cold porcelain will force you to do it and maybe help develop the habit. -Depending on your environment, it could take one, two or even three days for it to dry completely, so you will need to develop some patience for this. The more intricate your piece is, the more you will have to wait for each of them to dry some before putting the details or join together so it doesn’t become too heavy. This could also be a pro for some because you can take all the time you want to modify or add whatever you want. -You must be careful about cracking because what looked like a tiny line during the modeling could turn into an abyss once it’s dried. You will usually be able to fix it easily putting more cold porcelain on top or covering with something else. -Everything you do will be reduce in a 30% in volume, so the figure might never be as big or the size your expected it to, unless you can actually calculate that kind of stuff before time and, like, who has time for that. -Depending on the shape of the figure, you may have to keep turning it from one side to another while drying so it doesn’t warp. You can avoid this by putting the figure on top of a bunch of paper tissues. Rating: 10/10, fucking love it. Punch needle Pros: -Once you understand the basic principles (don’t pull the thread, don’t make punches too far apart, hold the needle right), then it’s very easy to do. -You can make your own pins, plush, pillows, handbag and, truly, anything you can imagine with the fabric. -You have a double effect in which one side looks all smooth and the other one it’s all fluffy and soft, so you can combine both to make something really cool. -There are different size of needles so you can work with embroidery thread or yarn. -It’s very satisfactory to “punch” on the fabric, going with the needle just up and down and up and down during the whole process. You don’t need to be extra careful with it for fear of hurting yourself by accident so you could get your hand busy with that while watching a show or seeing a video. -If embroidery seems like too much work for you, this is the easier version of it even though, as said, the effect and the way of handled it is not going to be the same. Cons: -You will need especial made needle for this, so if you don’t have easy access to them you are kind screwed. There are some needles that come with different options for different threads, but the cheaper one is going to be a single one of one size with which you are only going to work with one type of thread. -You will spend A LOT of thread in one single piece so you better have a lot in hand to complete it. -You will need a especial type of fabric in order to punch it without completely destroying it. -There is not a lot of people who do this kind of craft, so you might struggle to find people interested on it or that publish their work so you can get some inspiration from. -It is, after all, time consuming because you are going to spend a good while just filling up one single are. If you are doing an entire area, that is going to take even longer. Raiting: 8/10 because impatience. Wet felting Pros: -If you are still a terrible cooker, but somehow find the action of kneeding relaxing, then this is the craft for you. It’s so easy that it’s a good activity for kids too. -Low level concentration required because once you get to work the thing with your hands, you can be doing anything else with your eyes and it won’t matter because you are just working with wool, soap and warm water so you can’t hurt yourself even if you do get distracted. -You can do practically anything with this, from clothing for dolls, dolls themselves, accesories and more. It’s up to your imagination and the ways you find to make it. You can even use it to wrap a bar of soap and then not only will help rid of dead particles easier when you use it, but it will last longer. -You can use embroidery for details once it’s dried and ready, or also needle felting.

-Any type of clothing made with this will be the warmest shit you ever had when it’s cold, will last the longest and will keep you drier than other fabrics. Wool is fucking awesome. -Two pieces done the exact same way are never going to look the exact same way. There will always be something unexpected that will give it a unique touch. -Because all you are doing is working with soap and water, your hands will be all clean and nice by the end. -This is an old as fuck technique so you know it must mean that works. -You can dry it around any shape you want, like a vase, and it will permanently take that shape no matter what you do with it after. Cons: -You must be able to get access to natural sheep wool. Synthetics might have pretty colors, but they won’t stick to each other like natural wool does. This can get expensive the more colors you want to add, if you happened to be a lazy fuck like me who can’t be bothered to learn how to dye it. But, you know, there is that option at least. -Making this is an entire process: you need an area where you don’t mind if some water gets spilled onto the floor, space big enough that you can kneed it all you need, put plastic or a towell underneat, don’t mind that your own clothing can end up a little wet and have access to warm water. If the dyed of your wool starts coming out, your towell will end up tainted with it. -If you are doing something 3D, once it start drying, your piece will reduce it’s size and become tighter the more you kneed it so don’t expect it to look the same as it was when wet. And it will take a long while to dry completely until it’s able to be used, like two or three days depending on how big it is. -If you like a smooth kind of look, this is not the thing for you. It doesn’t matter how much you work the wool or how well it’s made, there will always be some hairs sticking out so you will have to learn to live with that and take it as part of it’s charm. But unless you are extremely sensitive about your skin, it won’t be itchy to use either. It just feels warm and comfy. -You try to find people who dedicate to this on the regular. Just try. Rating:7/10 because it’s a lot of work. Crocheting (amigurumi) -Very forgiving type of craft unless your warn suddenly decides it doesn’t want to untangle and end up with an unexpected knot or breaking something trying to pull it appart. -There is A LOT of information, resources, groups, channels and more for you if you are a begginer. Plenty of patterns are also available for free and there is a lot of inspiration to take from that you can easily customize to your own needs. -It’s extremely satisfactory see a shape slowly being formed through your work and in the end you can something soft and cute all for yourself, or whoever you wanted to give it to. -You can do your own dolls, doll’s clothing, figures and creatures adding or taking whatever detail you want, no one is stopping you. -Yarn as a source material is easy to get for most people. A crochet hook are not that expensive either. -Since the warn and the needle are bigger than what a needle for sewing and thread would be, sewing parts together or for adding details it’s not that diffcult. -If you don’t like sewing not even then, or you want something to look a very particular way, you can needle felt it. Cons: -High level concentration required, especially if you are a begginer, because you must count a lot and if you miss even just a single step, the entire thing will look forever weird to you, but aren’t willing to go back all the other steps to find out what went wrong either. -It will take a while getting used to hold the hook and the warn in a way in which the work doesn’t end up too tight or too loose. -Patterns can and will confuse the fuck out of you in the start because you first need to learn an entire vocabulary in order to interpretate them. It’s like reading music, it’s just a bunch of meaningless symbols without that aknowledge. -If you have any kind of cronic pain in your hand, you will need to take a lot of breaks because a lot of crocheting will only make it worse. -The limit of what you can do is always going to be how you descipher the right way to crochet it. You can’t just do the thing, escupt it like on the cold porcelain and then it’s done, there is what you wanted, but you must work it row to row with a lot of care so you don’t miss anything or overdo it. -There is a lot of ways to hold your hook, your work, to do this or that, but all amigurumis are always going to have the same samey texture and look, so you must really be sure you are all about it before getting into this. -Also, if you want to create a new pattern or modify a prexisting one, you will need math. Fuck that noise. Rating: 5/10 because numbers suck. Needle felting Pros: -Excelent stress reliever since you are literally stabbing the wool to do your betting. -Because you are working with a needle, you can be as precise as you could ever want, making sure your work looks exactly as you wanted it to be. -You can sculpt the wool into any shape you want, but unlike cold porcelain or wet felting, there is no drying time required. The work is done and ready when you say is done and ready. -You can do great dolls with this technique since the wool is so flexible and maleable. -You can work with the wool and a needle, or combine this with other techniques to make something more unique, like on the case of amigurumis, welt felting or punch needle. It doesn’t need a especiall fabric either, you can use it on any to add fun details to your liking. -You don’t even actually need wool if you don’t have it close. If you lack any specific color, you can get it’s equivalent on yarn, make fluff out of it with a steel brush and use that for felting just the same, or use the yarn directly. Although if you do that last one you will need to work it a little more to get rid of the original texture and make it smooth. Cons: -The more you work on your wool with the needle, the more firm and less hairy will be, unlike wet felting in which you have to live with it. Problem is, this could take a lot of time and even more so if you don’t have any especial holder and are working with just a single needle in your hand. We are talking about hours and hours of stabbing and stabbing, so make sure to take breaks and let yourself breath before keep going. -High level of concentration required because the moment you get distracted, you will end up stabbing yourself. There are accesories you can put to cover your fingers, but if you don’t have access to those, be careful because those needles can get pretty deep. For this reason I wouldn’t recommend it for a child. -Compared with other type of crafts, there is not a terribly lot of resources for people interested on this and a lot of it is tutorial videos in japanese for some reaosn. If you speak any other language but that one or english, even less than that so a lot of your journey is going to be experimentation. -The needles might have no trouble piercing your fingers, but they are still very fragile, some more than others, so you can’t just grab whichever and go ham to town with it because it will end up broken. If a needle seems like it bends too easily it can be used, but carefully and once the piece it’s too firm for it to penetrate you will need to change for a sturdier one. You will probably need multiple needles of varyin sizes to finish one single work. Rating: 9/10 because I saw a neede literally piercing my finger and that wasn’t fun. String dolls

Pros -I love them?? There are so easy and so cute, omg??? And you are telling me that I can add embroidery, felt, wool or anything I want into it but all I need for the base is yarn? And no math or couting stitches required? Fuck yeah. -Anyone could do any of this, with or without an armature, and as long you have the glue to make sure nothing comes out of place even after some handling, then you have something a keychain, a figurine or doll exactly to your liking. -There is not a lot of resources for people to make these, but those that do exist are fairly easy to customize. Most of them were done by kids so, yeah, definitely they can do it too if they want. -Theorically you could make them as big as you want, but there is nothing wrong with just having something small and adorable. -You can recycle little balls of paper or scrapped yarn in order to make the filling for the head. Cons: -Unless you construct them very well and use a lot of glue, and depending the level of details integrated, they might not be the most durable thing on the Earth. They are relatively easy to repair at least. -Because they are usually small, like small as the palm of your hand small, you might not have space to make it extremely detailed. You can try, though, I guess. -Medium level of concentration required because you have to make sure that the yarn is tense enough that will keep it’s shape and not unravel the moment you let go. -If it’s too firm but you still need to add something with a needle, good luck forcing it’s way through it. Raiting: 10/10 would string again.

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