teen guy DIY fashion - help!

[missh.livejournal.com]

I run high school programming for an outreach group targeted towards Asian-American teens in DC, and we're doing DIY fashion one day next week for our summer program. the girls are fairly easy: I'm going to bring in some books on how to embellish/reconstruct t-shirts (without sewing if possible) and also demo some found jewelry stuff.

I'm having some trouble with the guys, however. the emphasis is on budget/DIY, so I'd like this to be salvaged/thrifted stuff if possible. I'm thinking that the best thing might be to make some masculine (surfer-oid) necklaces and bracelets, but I'm struggling with finding any specific examples/tutorials. suggestions?

these boys are 14-18. they wear a lot of Hollister, Fox Head, et al. with a few more "urban" styles thrown in, so I can't talk them into wearing just anything - it has to be something *cool.* I wasn't out of HS *that* long ago, but I'm not coming up with a lot of ideas here. any suggestions and/or tutorials would be much appreciated!

three necklaces

[stealth-rose.livejournal.com]

Three necklaces I've worked on recently.

( Read more... )

Halloween birdhouse and tips on making miniatures

[delicatetruth.livejournal.com]

Hi everyone, I just found this community and thought it was awesome.

I've loved crafting for as long as I can remember. When I was little my mom had boxes of arts and crafts stuff and I would just stare at it all in a pile til I decided what I wanted to make. I don't have a specific field I work in....I know how to crochet (but not from patterns sadly since I taught myself), paint, basic bag/shirt making with buttorns/iron ons, etc... I'm probably not the most skilled at any of them, but I tend to dabble in a lot of different fields and just have fun making things. Although I'm looking forward to this community to help me fine tune some of my crafting techniques and projects for sure.

( I went to the craft store yesterday and nearly died of excitement discovering Halloween and Autumn is now for sale, and decided to make a Halloween birhouse. Here are a few pictures so far. )

(no subject)

[y_ctrl.livejournal.com]

hi crafters!

thought i'd show you some of my yummy cake brooches!



( CAKES TO WEAR )

Zelda Paper Crafts!

[hopesicle.livejournal.com]

Just found this link that has awesome downloadable Zelda paper crafts! There also links for mario, starfox, banjo kazooie, and a bunch of other games.

New sewing machine!

[jarethrake.livejournal.com]

Mini one. Quite cheap, and works very well, now I think I've got it figured out. Only problem is, the thread keeps snapping, which I think is because the tension is too high. I must find where I put down the little leaflet (only a few hours ago) and read up on how to adjust that.:(

Anyway, it's been a while since I used a machine. So far, I've cut up an old curtain and a t-shirt from a cancer research store, and made two toys.

I calls them Mr Bumble and Mr Scaredy.



The bunny (Mr Bumble) I made from a pattern I found in the FAQ section here.  I adjusted it a bit, so instead of having a plain front and patterned back, I had a plain head and patterned sides.  I couldn't get the seams very close, so he's not as chubby as he should be.  The features are drawn on with felt tip, because I was working more on sewing practice than embroidery.

My Scaredy is a pacman ghost, because the shape was very simple.  He came out tiptoeing, for some reason.  The eyes are made from the wrong side of the fabric, stitched on and with pupils drawn in (I found the white fabric very stretchy, and wanted to try something else).

With Mr Bumble, the final stitching, which is on the bottom for both of them, was quite messy.  That's because I'd forgotten how to do it.  I remembered for Mr Scaredy, and his is much neater.  I must apologise for the bad pictures here, btw; My webcam is built in to my notebook, and the light's weird here.

I'll spend a bit more time looking through the FAQ section, but can anyone suggest any simple sewing patterns that don't take much fabric?  I've got some bigger projects in mind, but they'll have to wait till I get paid next week.:(

metal primer & spray paint

[maeafair.livejournal.com]

A quick question for all my fellow craftrrrs....

I recently found a lovely little antique brass shelf (the kind you often see in bathrooms to hold towels, etc) that someone had discarded in an alley (criminal in my opinion), so I decided to rescue it, clean it up, and use it in my own bathroom.  The only problem is that it's rusting a little bit (since it's been weathered outside I'm assuming), so I need a type of primer, sealant, or varnish for metal to coat it and prevent it from rusting further and then also to protect anything I may want to put on the shelf.  In addition to that, I'm also wondering what would be a good spray paint to use on top of the first primer layer to make it look newer and give it some more color.  Right now it's a brassy-gold, and I'd like to stay with that color.  If you have any suggestions of products, let me know!  It's greatly appreciated!  

p.s. I will do my best to put up pics after I have finished fixing it up!  :-)

painting a piano?

[temporaryage.livejournal.com]

hey craftgrrls, i just have a quick question:

My aunt and uncle have just moved cross-country and given me their old piano. It's small, probably about three-and-a-half feet, and incredibly old. A lot of the keys don't even work, and I'm actually not even sure whether I'm going to be able to make it playable, but I've got a repairman coming out next week and I'm going to do my best. My question is this: can I paint this piano? Like, a regular old spraypaint? I was thinking like a navy with little white stars and maybe a quote painted on. I was reading articles online about it, but it seemed like most of them were geared toward people who wanted to paint a nice finish at home to save money but still preserve value; I don't care about value because this piano basically has none. It's actually probably got NEGATIVE value at this point because it hasn't been really played in like twenty years, and it's kind of just taking up space right now. The other thing I read about is altering tone, but I'm not worried about that either because from what I can tell, it's never going to sound that great anyway. I'm young and I'm hoping to be able to buy a better piano in a couple years, but for now I'm stuck with a sort of crappy one and I figured I might as well try to make it look pretty? does it sound like a kosher idea?

(piano will be eventually resting in a climate-controlled room against an interior wall, in case that means anything.)