Innholdsfortegnelse for A little bit crafty i A little bit crafty by frankie magazine

Have you ever glued your fingers together, sneezed glitter or splattered paint all over your best clothes? You might be a little bit crafty – in which case, this book is for you. The projects here come from 39 creative types across Australia and New Zealand. Designers, makers, musicians and illustrators who also like to stitch, hammer, paint, weave, snip, print and sew. Most of these crafts can be done in an afternoon in front of the telly. Most use secondhand materials, or stuff you can buy on the cheap. All inv olve getting your hands dirty, in the nicest possible way. And creating something beautiful – or wonky, or silly, or odd – that you can be proud of.…

HOW TO This stubbie sling is easy to customise so it’s exactly the right size for the wearer. Start by measuring out your length of rope. Hang it over your shoulder so both ends are touching the ground (get a friend to help if you can). Cut this piece, then cut five other lengths that are exactly the same, so you have six altogether. Next, to get the plaited shoulder strap, hang all six lengths evenly over your shoulder. Mark where the rope touches your hips at each end. Tightly wrap coloured string at one of these points (to join the ropes together), then gather the ropes into three bunches of two and plait them all together until you reach the second marked point. Bind this tightly with more coloured…

HOW TO Flatten your box and separate the four sides by cutting down the main folds. Every cut counts in this project as the edges are often on show! Cut a 38cm x 38cm square from one of the box sides: this will be your base. Now come the frame panels. Measure and cut 12 strips, each 3cm wide, making sure they are a little longer than the 38cm base. Using the mitre box, cut each strip at a 45 degree angle with a small saw. Lay one of the cut strips on the base and mark the edge on the outer of the frame strip with a pencil (it should be 38cm long). Saw another 45 degree cut from the pencil mark on your strip. Repeat with the rest…

HOW TO Postcards never really reflect your memory of a place. They may capture the look of the city, town or beach, but not the adventures you had in it. This is where your trusty needle and thread come in handy to add in those personal details – the good, the bad and the oh-god-why-did-we-do-that. First thing, obviously, is to gather some postcards from a well-loved trip. Now have a good think about the memories you made there. Is there a particular place or thing in the image that reminds you of your trip? Think about adding stripes, arrows or dotted lines to highlight it. Got a phrase or in-joke that’s forever linked to the holiday? Copy it out using nice typography and stitch it on. Or perhaps you want…

HOW TO Start by choosing a hardware store that offers a timber cutting service. They can cut the pegboard and pine planks to size in a jiffy! Once that’s done, we’ll need to prep the pegboard, so lightly sand the white side and wipe it down with a dry cloth. Give the sanded side and the brown edges a coat of the flat white undercoat paint. While the paint is drying, cut some fun shapes from the cardboard scraps to use as pattern templates. Then quickly paint a coat of white paint over the dry undercoat and leave to dry. Before you get stuck into the next few steps, here are some quick rules for the painting part of this project: 1. Make sure any lines of painter’s tape run…

HOW TO For the lemon-printed pockets, start by drying the halved lemon with paper towels or leave it to dry out overnight. Cover a flat surface with paper towels and lay the material squares on top. Squirt a little fabric paint onto the plastic lids and spread with a clean paintbrush, then dip the cut lemon half in the paint and remove any excess with the brush. Now comes the fun bit – printing! Use the paint-covered lemon to create patterns on the fabric. When you’ve finished with one colour, wipe the paint off the lemon with another paper towel and repeat the process. Let it dry. If the stencilled look is more your thing, fold the card paper in half and cut geometric shapes on the fold, then open…

HOW TO Hand-lettering your own wrapping paper might seem a little daunting, especially if your handwriting looks like the cat did it, but now’s the time to feel the fear and do it anyway. Too nervous to start? Grab a piece of scrap paper and pencil and do a few test runs first. When you‘re ready, take the roll of kraft paper and cut to fit the present you’re planning to wrap up. Give the gold paint pen a good shake and make sure the paint is flowing by pushing the nib down a few times (do this on a scrap of paper to be safe). Start with easy upper case, sans-serif lettering for ‘YAY!’ and ‘HIP HIP HOORAY’ from the top left corner on a 30 degree angle. Then…

HOW TO Clear a flat surface – the floor is good! – and measure 1.3m of the rope. Snip through it, then repeat this twice to end up with three matching pieces of rope, each 1.3m long. Next, measure and cut a 1m length of rope. Repeat this twice to end up with three matching pieces of rope, each 1m long. Finally, measure and cut a 60cm length of rope. Repeat twice to end up with three matching pieces of rope, each measuring 60cm. The leftover piece of rope should measure around 80cm. Hold onto this guy – he will be useful later. Now, sit somewhere comfy and plait each of the three sets of rope together. You should end up with a long plait, a medium plait, a short…

HOW TO First you’ll need to cut out a terrarium shape with a flat base. Try to make the shape tall so the soil and base have room to sit in – you can always cut it down later. If you want to include a terrarium lid, do it now. With scalpel and cutting mat, cut into the top of the shape with parallel lines to make a little slot for the lid to sit in. Glue into place. Next, cut out some long strips of paper to form the soil and base layers – these need to be long enough so they can fold around the base of the terrarium. Using glue tape, stick the strips together with an overlap. Think of this as a kind of paper belt.…

HOW TO Give your jars a good scrub in hot soapy water to make sure they’re nice and clean. Remove the labels so you have a smooth surface to work on. To make the air-dry clay, start by mixing the baking soda and cornflour in a large saucepan. Slowly add the water and whisk until the mixture is smooth and well combined. Place the pot on the stove, over medium heat, and continue to mix until the paste bubbles and starts to thicken. Remove from the heat and keep stirring until it just begins to resemble mashed potato. Don’t let it cook too long – the more moisture the clay has, the longer you’ll have to work with it while it’s flexible. This is one of the benefits of making…

HOW TO Let’s make the bag base first. Lay the secret base fabric flat, then put your dinner plate on top. Trace around it with a pen, then neatly cut it out. If you fancy it, decorate your secret base now: some sew-on gems, googly eyes and pom poms never hurt anyone. Lay the piece of felt out flat and – using the dinner plate again – cut it to the same size. With the fun part of the material circle facing outwards, stitch the two circles together around the edge. This makes a nice firm base for the bag. Now it’s time to make the bag trunk. Measure the circumference of the base and write it down. This is the horizontal length that the rectangular piece of fabric (the…

HOW TO This tutorial is for a square self-watering plant stand. The size is based on a generic 20cm plastic pot, but you could adjust the measurements to suit any size you desire. You could also make a rectangular stand, with the plant to one side, then it could be a side table. Or, with some more complex joinery, you could make any shape at all! Wahoo! First let’s learn the basics. This project will be a lot simpler if you stick to these rules: 1. Get all the timber cut to size when you buy it.2. Make sure the higher quality side of the timber faces outward.3. Use wood glue AND screws for every joint, and drill a pilot hole (using a drill bit slightly smaller than the screws)…

HOW TO Confidently take the scissors and snip the legs and toes off the tights, creating two open-ended tubes. Cut each tube in a spiral, creating a continuous length about 2.5cm wide. Don’t worry if it’s not too exact! Work your hands along the length of the fabric strip and pull it taut (this might need to be done a couple of times). The strip will curl, creating something that resembles stretchy cord or tights yarn – let’s call it ‘tarn’. Now, grab a jar that is a bit smaller in circumference than will be required for the finished piece (this way the extra bit of stretch will help keep it in place). Take a strand of tarn and wrap it around the jar, creating a spiral, leaving only a…

HOW TO First you’re going to use your own iPad or tablet as a template, so lay down a piece of brown paper and pop it on top. Trace around it, then add a 1.5cm margin to the sides and bottom, and a 12cm margin to the top. Also mark where the original iPad lines are, with a little note about which is the top and which is the bottom. Neatly cut out this shape and fold in half lengthwise. Measure 6cm across from the fold along the top edge, then draw a line from this point to the original line where you traced around the top of the iPad. Cut along this line – so the shape is looking a bit like an envelope – then round off the…

HOW TO This project is best carried out over a couple of weekends to give the plaster enough time to dry, so you’ll need to be a little patient. The first task is to raid the pantry, supermarket, hardware store and $2 shops for a variety of plastic containers, looking for interesting textures and architectural forms. Don’t use anything too precious, and avoid shapes that may make it difficult to remove the plaster later. Lightly grease the inside of each container with petroleum jelly, avoiding any lumps or streaks. Then lay out some newspaper on the ground and arrange the containers on top. Mix your plaster according to the instructions on the packaging and stir well. When the plaster looks like thick cream, carefully pour into each of the containers.…

HOW TO Start off by creating a 2cm border around the screen with packing tape. This creates an inkwell when you are printing. Next, tear up little pieces of the masking tape and stick them all over the front of the screen in any kind of pattern you fancy. Don’t put anything on the inside as that needs to be a nice, smooth printing surface. Give the fabric a quick iron, then lay it out flat and tape it down at the corners. Carefully place the screen face down onto the fabric, then dab a line of ink along the top inkwell (making sure it doesn‘t seep through the open mesh). Grab the squeegee and do three hard pulls across the screen – if it’s a big one, get a…

HOW TO If your cork came in a flat sheet: congratulations, you’ve got a head start! If it came in a roll, flatten it out as best you can while deciding what shape your mats should be. (Cover cork with a cloth and carefully press with a steam iron if it’s being stubborn.) Next: carefully cut the cork with scissors. Use a cake tin or bowl as a round template, or get out a ruler for more geometric shapes. Here’s the choose-your-own-adventure part: you can paint or embroider the mat, or use a combination of the two. If paint is your thing, play around with some pattern options on paper first before starting to replicate the design on the cork. To embellish any painted details, cut a 20cm piece of…

HOW TO There are no rules when it comes to this project, so get kids involved and feel free to go a little nuts. Clear a space and lay out the card sheets, then go crazy painting washes of colour all over them. It‘s all about having fun, so put orange next to pink next to green next to happy. To add texture, play around with painting with a sponge or flicking paint off an old toothbrush. Let the card dry in the sun. Now, snip-snip those lovely painted bits of card into creative shapes. Start building and sticking them on top of each other. Look, it’s a lady with a big hat! Look, it’s a dude with a big chin! Look, it’s Stacey! Next, bring the Bloobs to life…

HOW TO Rescue the esky from wherever it’s been hiding out and give it a good scrub down with sugar soap. Now be patient and let it dry! Set up a painting area and put a drop sheet or some old newspaper under the esky to protect any other surfaces. Give the esky body two or three coats of cream paint, letting them dry properly between each one. Once the body is dry, unleash your inner creative and paint something pretty on top using the pastel colours – geometric patterns or even some picnic-inspired motifs. Leave it somewhere safe to dry, then spray completely with the permanent matte sealer. Next up, pimping the handle. Fire up the hot glue gun and firmly glue the ribbon or rope to the underside…

HOW TO Grate the soap into a large bowl, using the coarse or medium side of a food grater (mind your knuckles!). Keep similar colours together for a more uniform look, or mix contrasting ones for a speckled effect. Lightly spray the grated soap with water and stir to ensure that it is thoroughly dampened. Start with just a few sprays – it’s easier to add water than it is to take it away. Leave for 10 minutes to allow the water to soften the soap slightly. With clean hands, knead the wet grated soap to form a dough – it should be firm, but still malleable. Spray with a little more water if it seems dry or crumbly, and continue kneading. Accidentally added too much water? Let the mixture…

HOW TO Finger knitting is the star of the show with this project – and there are loads of tutorials online if you can’t quite remember how to do it. The chunkier the yarn, the faster the process. First, you need to finger knit the yarn into a simple chain. The chain can be as long as you like: the longer the chain, the larger the end product. Keep the tension firm, but not too tight, and leave about 7cm of yarn at the end of the chain when you are done. To turn this chunky chain into a vessel, it’s best to proceed sitting at a table. Once you’re settled in a comfy position, rest the upturned noodle bowl on a flat surface. Now this next bit is all…

HOW TO Hit up your local op shop for a nice old vase or vessel. Look for a curvy shape and turn a blind eye to any hideous existing designs on its surface – these will soon disappear. Wash the vase and give it a quick rubdown with fine sandpaper if the glaze is particularly textured. Say goodbye to your vase’s past life by painting it with two or three coats of white paint. House paint undercoat will block out even the most ghastly of old patterns. While the vase is drying, sketch out a design on paper to help the creative process. Painting on a curved surface is quite challenging, so it’s helpful to have a reference. Now for the fun part—either lightly sketch the design onto the vase…

HOW TO Unless you’ve found some funky coloured rope, the first task is to dye or paint the rope. For a flat colour dye, follow instructions on the dye packet, then let dry. For a speckled effect, soak the rope in water for five minutes, then remove it from the water and sprinkle the dye over it. Leave it to sit for at least an hour, then rinse well. Follow the instructions on the dye packet regarding setting the colour. Once the rope has dried, knot three of the lengths together and plait firmly to the end. Bind the loose ends tightly with masking tape and repeat with the remaining lengths of rope. At the end of this stage you should have two colourful rope braids, each at least 40cm…

HOW TO Carefully cut out four identical cloud shapes (the ones you see here are approximately 4cm wide). Using the embroidery thread, stitch a cute face with little pink cheeks onto two of the cloud pieces. Take the knitting needle or skewer and carefully poke a hole in the middle of the two remaining cloud pieces. Feed half of the paper clip through this hole, so it is firmly anchored in the cloud. Repeat with the second cloud and paper clip. Turn the front cloud pieces so they are face down, then secure one end of the chain to each piece with some neat and tidy stitches. The chain should run between the middle of the two of them. Now, lay the paper-clipped back clouds on the front ones, making…

HOW TO Start off by cutting your mould containers down to the preferred size. Have your mixing container and stirring spoon ready and mix the plaster by following the instructions on the plaster powder packaging. Aim for a 50/50 ratio of water to plaster powder – it might look watery, but it will set quickly. If you want the candle holder to be coloured, add paint to the plaster mixture once it has a smooth consistency. Continue mixing until the colour is uniformly dispersed, then pour the plaster mix into the moulds, filling to approximately 1cm from the top. Now you can take a break and have a nice cup of tea while the plaster sets enough to work with, which will take about 20 minutes. Do keep an eye…

HOW TO Open the notebook out flat and lay it over the section of t-shirt you want to use. Gently mark a cutting line, around 0.5cm out from the edge, with tailor’s chalk or soft pencil. Carefully snip along this line - you’ll end up with a piece of fabric just a little bigger than the entire book cover. Next up, you need to cut two more pieces – these need to be the same size as the front cover, plus 0.5cm bigger around three of the edges (leave one long edge without seam allowance). These pieces are the inner flaps, so they can be cut from the back of the t-shirt. Place the main piece and the two ‘flaps’ right sides together (print sides in), so you end up…

HOW TO Take the crepe paper out of its packaging, but DO NOT unfold it. Using a guillotine or sharp scissors, simply cut down the length several times until you’re nearly at the centre. Repeat this on the other side, leaving a 10cm band in the middle. Take the crepe paper by this central section and shake it like a pom pom until it’s a loose mess. Find a nice open space and unroll it out flat (don’t worry if it rips in places). Neatly fold the crepe paper in half lengthways to end up with a long length of fringe. Repeat this process with the remaining packs of crepe paper – depending how much space you have it might be easier to do this one at a time. Now,…

HOW TO On pieces of A4 scrap paper, draw some block letters to spell H-E-L-L-O. Use the entire length and width of the paper as a size guide. The letters don’t need to be perfect, but do use a ruler to ensure the edges are straight. Carefully snip around these letters, then use them as templates: place them on the coloured card and trace each one. Neatly cut out the cardboard letters and set aside. Cut out long strips of coloured cardboard, measuring about 6cm x 60cm. You’ll need two or three in each colour. Measure and mark out a line along one long edge of each strip, 1cm in from the edge. Use a ruler and the blade of the scissors to gently score along this line. Fold along…

HOW TO Begin by cutting out your pattern pieces – the stem, leaf, pear body and pear base. (Trace or photocopy so you’re not destroying this nice book!) Next, pin each pattern piece to the corresponding fabrics. Remember you need two pear shapes, so pin two pieces of fabric, right sides together, to the paper pattern. Cut out all fabric pieces by cutting directly around the paper pattern (the pear body and base include a 5mm seam allowance). Remove the paper patterns and pins, then separate the two pear pieces and turn one of them right side up. On this piece, using a fabric marker or pencil, lightly draw a face on the lower area of the pear body. If you’re not comfortable drawing a face, you can trace the…

HOW TO Put the berries in the strainer and set it over the bowl. Use the fork to mash the berries through the strainer. Mash hard to extract as much as you can, as the pigment is found in the berry skins as well as the juice. Discard the fruit in the strainer and stir the vinegar into the pressed juice. Vinegar is a preservative and will give the ink body. If the ink will be used for hand-lettering with a calligraphy pen, it’s worth stirring in the gum arabic at the end to give the ink a bit more viscosity and flow. Now get going and make some fun things with your ink! Natural inks are a little lighter than their traditional counterparts, but they work perfectly well for…

HOW TO First grab the wooden scrapbooking shapes and choose a few that go well together – preferably a smaller one for the top and larger for the bottom. Next, choose some complementary paint swatches and wallpaper scraps. These will be the coverings for your earrings, so go for colours and prints that pop and combos that you love. Put these pieces of card and paper face down on a covered surface and spray the backs of them with spray adhesive. Place the wooden pieces on the cards and papers and press gently but firmly. Let them sit for 10 minutes or so to adhere properly. Once they feel firmly stuck together, run the scalpel around the edges of the wooden pieces – but not too close! It’s OK if…

HOW TO First, prepare your lei cuttings. Cut 180-200 lengths of florist ribbon at 12cm each. Make each cut on an angle. Next, place the coathanger over the chair with the hook end facing you. Take the three lengths of plastic raffia and tie a knot at one end. Place the knot on one side of the coathanger hook end, bring the strands around towards you and begin plaiting. The hook will help hold the other end of the lei and provide tension as you plait. Plait the three strands together to make a length of 25cm. Now take one of the cuttings and pinch in the middle as if you were making a bow tie. Place it under the middle strand of the plait and above the left and…

HOW TO Before you start this project, it’s a good idea to brush up on how to tie a double half hitch knot (the type of knot used in friendship bracelets). When you’re ready, find the centre of the three pieces of rope and clip in the middle with a bulldog clip. Starting on one side, coil the longest piece of rope around the shorter two until all three ropes are the same length. Secure them with a tight, flat single knot so the three strands of rope point down. You now will have half a coil. Unclip the bulldog clip and repeat on the lengths of rope opposite. You should now have a secured coil in the centre of the rope, with three equal length strands on either side…

HOW TO Start by locating the centre of one of the racquet heads, then take the black yarn and weave vertically through each square to create a pupil in a cross shape. Stitching each square separately will result in a better finish, but if you’re short on time you can create longer stitches by weaving the yarn the whole length of the section instead. Next add the iris colour, by stitching or weaving it across approximately two additional squares around the pupil. The white of the eye extends the whole width of the racquet face, so start at one side and work across the face of the racquet, leaving roughly three squares along the top and bottom. Use the skin tone yarn for these areas to create the eyelids. To…

HOW TO Grab all the materials and head to the couch. Pop on a great movie (preferably a western, obviously) and decide on which classic designs – llamas, cacti, desert roses – to add to the blouse. Sketch them out on paper first to get an idea of scale and style. If you have some graph paper handy, you can easily colour in the different squares to form a cross-stitch pattern. Attach the embroidery hoop to the blouse by placing the fabric over the inner ring. Press the outer ring down around the inner ring, sandwiching the fabric between them. Tighten the screw on the embroidery hoop to keep the material nice and taut. Thread the needle with embroidery thread and cut loose with the chosen designs, focusing on one…

HOW TO Let’s start by breaking some rules. Put the jumper through a hot wash in the washing machine, using regular detergent, then tumble dry on hot. While this treatment would be disastrous for most woolly tops, it’s good to shrink the garment and slightly felt the fabric in this instance because the knitted fabric will now be slightly denser and warmer. Carefully trace or photocopy the pattern pieces provided and cut them out, making sure to enlarge to roughly your hand size. Turn the jumper inside out and pin the pattern pieces to it, ensuring the bottom of the front and back pieces are flush against the jumper’s ribbed edge. Trace around the outline of each pattern piece with a fine permanent marker. Each pattern piece has notches on…

HOW TO First, separate the outer frame from the backing, glass and other internal bits. Put these somewhere safe while you get busy with the frame, the pasta and the paint. If the frame is white, give yourself a pat on the back. If not, take this opportunity to paint it white. Once the frame is completely dry, it’s time to fire up the hot glue gun and start sticking the individual farfalle bows to it. Place the bows in different directions and layer them up. The goal is to create clusters of pasta so none of the frame peeks out. When the glue is dry and the pasta feels secure, generously coat it with white paint. It’s essential that all the yellow bits of pasta are totally covered, so…

HOW TO Apply light washes of watercolour paint to the card stock, using circular motions. Feel free to let the different colours mix a little to create interesting gradients and tones. Once the paint has dried, place the envelope template on the card and lightly trace around it with a pencil. Neatly cut it out. Decorate the painted side of the card with bits of washi tape, stickers, collage papers and all those other magic bits and pieces you’ve been saving for this purpose. Once you’re done, fold and crease the bottom and side flaps of the card – using the old envelope template as a guide – and use glue tape to firmly stick the edges down. Crease and fold the top flap, leaving the envelope open and ready…

HOW TO If you’re a stranger to the ways of the latch hook, there are loads of online tutorials to learn from. Hang about in a craft shop and you might even get a real-life lesson from a latch hook pro. Whether you decide on a stylised pattern or a more freestyle look, it’s all about texture and colour. To begin, you need to open up the embroidery hoop and sandwich in the latch hook canvas. It will be quite stiff, so it may need some convincing that it will fit in the hoop. Be firm with it and secure the hoop tightly with the adjusting screw. To prevent the canvas from escaping the hoop, use the string and needle to sew the two together with running stitches. Neatly snip…

HOW TO Start by snipping off the sock toe in a straight line and cut off any tight elastic at the top of the sock. Fold the heel of the sock over so it forms a little half-circle flap. Now make a 3cm snip in the middle of the semi-circle’s flat bottom, making sure to cut through all layers. Unfold and neaten up these leg holes, making them a little larger if necessary. If you’re worried that the sock will fray, blanket stitch around the two leg holes, allowing for a little bit of stretch in the fabric. Set the sock aside and lay the felt out flat. Decide what shape the scales will be – a close-ended ‘U’, triangles or squares, each about 1cm wide, all work well. Cut…