Philotic Web

Ooooh, pretty, Twinny. Be a doll and explain how these kits work?

Bookmaking always reminds me of illuminated letters -thanks to Cornelia Funke's Ink series - which I <3.

So I should keep reading, Alea? I got a few chapters in and got sidetracked.

It's a strange series, to be honest. I started reading the first and was pushing myself through it in parts, which is not exactly a good thing. On the whole, I'd say it was a net positive since I was curious enough to read the second -which I considered to be filler and weaker than the first- but just barely so. I thought the third was the best executed and most interesting, and it is the one that I most actively enjoyed. I think that means I hesitantly recommend trying to finish the first. If you like that, I think book two is worth going through to get to the third.

This kit basically just came with the pages (which i've been reading up on and they sound pretty easy to make, or at least attempt) and the hard cover's for the book.

So the pages came bound together already? How hard would it be to bind them if you make the pages yourself?

The kit did come with the pages already bound, but from what i've been reading online binding them yourself shouldn't be too hard. It'll probably take a lot of practice and such, but I plan on learning that next.

I'm going to start with glue binding, then once i'm pretty comfortable with that head into stitch binding.

My current "when I'm not busy with school work" project! It's very flat at the moment.. but I will go back and put shadows on it after everything has one coat of paint on it!

I like that "The Enemy's Gate is Down" touch. very artistic.

Does this count at Crafty Craftiness? Ah well. The fact that these came from my hands, via a pencil, looking at a real object, astounds me. It's as if I'm erasing a blank page when I draw lately! Yay, art class!

A rose, drawing contour lines only, that I had on my desk from Valentines Day:


A stemmed glass, filled with water, sitting on my desk, trying to draw only values:

That reminded me of the best thing I ever drew, which isn't saying much since I'm not an artist. I was in 9th grade and it was 1991, so don't tease me about the subject matter. For those of you too young to know who it is, it's Jason Priestley (of 90210 fame). It's pretty big, 18" by 24".

Nomi--that's incredible!

Thanks! It was entered in some local hs art show, so I had to get it framed which is why it has lasted these 18 years (wow, I'm old!).

Oh my goodness. That's unbelievable. Seriously amazing. You did that with a pencil? Charcoal? Magical powers?

That is amazing. Nice work!

Charcoal. The teacher had us use a technique where you drew it upside down, which worked really well with my brain for some reason.

eta: Oh, and I think we also used a grid drawn over the original photo and very lightly traced on the large picture. I always felt like using these techniques was kind of cheating...so I feel like I can't take much credit for the picture. Like it was more science than art.

Oh, man, the upside-down black and white technique is the absolute best for reproducing images when drawing. What proof do you need beyond your drawing? It's awesome!

I think we also used a grid drawn over the original photo and very lightly traced on the large picture. I always felt like using these techniques was kind of cheating

I think it's a great practice tool and isn't cheating at all. It's taking one picture, creating tons of smaller ones, and you're still expected to get the dimensions and shape of it from a look or it will appear to be off. I've used the grid technique in a drafting class (on a car rather than a face) and although it was close, it was definitely off.

This is the valance I made for baby girl's room. I think I'm going to make a new cover for my boppy pillow and a blanket out of the same fabric because I just adore it!

That's really cute fabric!



This poster among two others was my project for today! I figure people here would be most likely to appreciate it, though. My school administration rarely acknowledges our academic achievements. Even though almost every person on the BPA team made it to the state competition for the past three years and we've had increasing numbers making it to nationals. Even though our robotics team has for the last four years placed 3rd in the state competition where we're generally the only public school to even place. Even though our science bowl team just secured a spot in the national science bowl competition. I'm not bitter, I swear.

But in my own small way to raise awareness for our academic team about to compete at the district meet, I made this poster to hang in our school. =]

I need to clean it up, especially the big, black blob in the upper left corner, but that is what I've done on my door thus far.

Very nice! Good job.

That's really pretty! I'm envious. Did you do that all free hand? I have the amazing inability to paint without me drawing out what I'm painting first. And then I have to have a picture before I can draw anything, anyway.. The only thing I find I can draw without guidance is letters. Anything else just doesn't really look right..

Thanks, but don't be; I too need to see a picture of what I'm drawing and draw before the paint even gets opened up. I did do some without drawing it first and there was an awful lot of improvising on swirl placement due to size restrictions (I eyeballed the big flower all wrong -> made it too big) but basically, I am terrified of painting off the cuff because I suck at it.

That's awesome Twinny! I've been feeling kinda crafty lately, but I don't know what to do. I bought a little set of cheap pastels the other day and I was thinking of experimenting with those (I literally haven't touched any since elementary school).

I just don't even know how to start.

I am just in awe over the artistic talent that everyone here has! Can someone please spare just a little bit of talent for me?

Anyways, here's what I've been working on. These flowers will go up on the wall in the baby's room with some green fabric leaves and some stems. They've been a lot of work, cutting, coordinating, ironing, and stitching, but I think they'll look really cute in her room!



Joann's didn't have anymore of the fabric I was going to use to recover my boppy pillow, so this is what I picked out yesterday. As soon as Brian fixes my sewing machine, I'll be making that and some curtains for the boy's room.

The upper left-hand flower is my favorite but they're all very nice. I think you're doing just fine in the talent department. I can't wait to see the whole room, by the way. The little peeks show a very pretty space.

Lately I've been painting lead figurines for tabletop RPGs. They're pretty crappily done, so I'm not posting pictures, but they are very fun to do. So far I've done two for our game of Cyberpunk 2020 (which no one has specific figurines for due to it not being very popular, but I reappropriated some from Shadowrun) and one for our game of D&D 3.5.

Really fun, difficult stuff. It's annoying how you can only find figurines for halfling rouges, though. Apparently poor hobbitses are never anything but.

Mich, was it you who posted about the paper craft? My friend just presented a paper craft Lucario to me as a late Christmas present. It's so cool!

Mich, was it you who posted about the paper craft? My friend just presented a paper craft Lucario to me as a late Christmas present. It's so cool!

They're super-fun to make! I thought about making a different one for each of my friends, but they're so time-consuming (and super-glue consuming. I wreck about a tube a craft).

I don't know if this counts as crafty, per se, but it turned out so pretty that I wanted to show it off. I made my first moss terrarium using four different types of moss that I found in my yard. This has been a project I've been wanting to do for awhile but I had to wait for all the snow to melt. The glass jar does have a lid but I left it off for the picture. Now we'll see if I can keep it alive!

Moss terrariums (terraria?) are kinda awesome! I love it!

I think I've been playing too many video games lately, but that totally reminds me of a little world.

I think I've been playing too many video games lately, but that totally reminds me of a little world.

*waters Rose* *looks for baobab saplings*

Thanks for bringing back those memories!

Now that you mentioned that, it really reminds me of Grow....

I got your DS case today, Jan! It's even better in real-life.

I have selected a model to craft in return and you'll get it, um, eventually. It's not the most difficult one I've done, but I need to stock up on supplies, then figure out a safe way to ship it.

*double post*

Be expecting something in the mail within the next 6-10 days, Jan! Wooooooo.

YAY!!!

Well, it's been a while, but I'm back in the swing of things. I've been having fun with wire!

I'd really welcome some feedback on these, since I'm thinking of opening an etsy store, and I'd like a jewellery category. I'm thinking maybe a $10 price-point for the first two, and possibly $15 for the third. Keep in mind they're first attempts and will probably gain better shapes as I keep working. And, sorry about the photo quality. I suck at close-up photos.

I like them a lot. What metal is the wire and ear hooks? I ask because for myself, I only like sterling silver so you might want to look into making some out of that too. You can get really good prices on wire and findings (with cheap shipping even to Canada) here: http://www.artbeads.com/

I have two etsy shops, one for my earpins and one for crochet stuff. I have found that the best way to make some initial sales is to have something as unique as possible AND price wicked cheap. Also, don't expect to make much money out of it but just think of it as a hobby or for fun.