Tiki's DIYary #3 ^-^...today : ~~ "Good Morning, Mr.Magpie" Bag ~~

Say hello to Mr.Magpie!
. . . I'm really excited to present my third  Making-Of to you guys! *yay* ^^

This time I tried something else and am not un-proud to upload my first DIYary VIDEO! . . . ;)

As in the last DIYary, it shows the steps from a plain blanco cotton bag, to a unique accessory tote,

that you can even purchase in my shop !!! =D)

Hope you will enjoy. . . 

(and maybe feel inspired to try it yourself, when you see how easy it is;)

in case the Video below isn't shown right .. check out directly on YouTube, HERE

If there's anything you like or didn't about this, or you have any kind of tips and critique - please feel invited to shout it out in the comments!

<3

Tiki

mondayMAKINGS #3 ~Tinkering with Paper~

Because of the tight schedule I had during the last week (4 family birthdays, college tasks, job and other organizational stuff) I'm still not able to show you some NEW "makings" here today. Sorry for that!!
But since no one knows my "old" stuff either,. . . (therefore wouldn't notice anyways) I suppose you won't mind when I post some crafty output from the last few years. ;b

Last week I showed a drawing, and the week before that there were also sketches and paintings. So I thought, why not go one dimension further and post 3D objects I (re-)designed. . .

I mentioned  my handmade goods shop on DaWanda.com before. . . And that I plan to build up on it in the near future . . .

SOOOooo looking forward to jump into that adventure!! =D

So, to let you get a hint of what it could - maybe . . . somehow - look like, what I'm going to offer there I'm posting some of the crafty designs I've made as presents for friends before. 

I don't like giving loved ones something unpersonalized,. . .simply bought in a shop kinda stuff. All of my friends have more money than I do anyways, so they can better buy things they want for themselves. But what they're not so likely to do is create or design things for themselves.
So I take a chance whenever I can. ;b

Here are some more or less kitschy examples.

I know, things like that are maybe not necessarily suitable for the masses... 
But for a handemade-business-to-be it's at least worth to work out...

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click to enlarge

decoupaged calendar diary book

customized Ikea wall clock design

Hawaiian surfer style customized Ikea mirror with keys hooks

fancy key holder board

So... what do you think?!

Would YOU have liked these as a present?

Do you see yourself falling in love with a tinker thingy like that enough to purchase it?!

Grand opening of Tiki's DIYary!!! ^-^...today : ~~ Hand-painting a color lined Shirt ~~

So here's the first CRAFTY POST I'm sending out. =D
I'm really excited to publish this! ^-^

Actually it's nothing special for you Readers, but since I'm new to the Blogworld, and still got a lot to learn, this Project - or more precisely: its documentation - took me a lot of work and time.
The making of the shirt itself, took only a few hours (plus drying time), but it was a long road to the point I'm writing this. Exams in college and the start of a new semester afterwards kinda got me stuck in a whole lot of other things to do than blogging. :/
But as I tried to introduce in the latest post on the whole idea of that DIYary section here, I'm gonna just try to go through the making of that crafty stuff here, documenting what happened, and maybe shouldn't have happened. You can re-craft this, or improve the idea for your own needs, learn from my mistakes, or just scroll through the pictures and think what a fool I am thinking this would be interesting at all...
whatever you like - hope you enjoy it.
And please feel free to leave critical comments...;)

BEFORE         -            AFTER

For the design I roughly played around on Photoshop to get an idea.
I saved pics of basic shirts from the H&M online shop before, so I can
digitally paint over them to try out how designs will look in the end  and how big I should make them.
This was the 5-minutes messy sketch I made for this graphical top.

Here's the raw materials I used. 

• a plain white cotton shirt from our favourite swedish fashion empire;)  
  (I love these, because they're incredibly cheap (about 5€), available in various colors and - which is crucial for me personally - long enough!)

Of course every other shirt will do. But be sure it is 100% cotton or linen or other natural fabric. I experienced that the paint doesn't stay well on synthetic fiber like polyester or something like that. That is true even for mixed textiles, that contain just about 5% spandex, like a lot of basic shirts unfortunately do. Another point is, that you need to iron the fabric with maximum heat to fixate. Some materials get ruined by that.
 So just check the label before you start.

• self-adhesive book foil        (it's my first try working with this foil as stencil material. It's simply that transparent stuff you can wrap around your study books or something, to protect them from dirt, liquid, scratches and co. You'll find it in any stationary store or supermarket)
• textile paint (I like Javana Tex or Marabu, which are both similar in prices and I never made bad experience with those. They're available in almost every arts or hobby supplies shop)
• two simple brushes - 1 bristle brush (for tapping the paint onto the stencil) and 1 thin brush (for the manual corrections afterwards)
• scissors & cutting knife (crafting scalpel)
• cutting mat
• triangle ruler (suggesting a big one - 30cm)
• big sheet of cardboard (cut to size, that fits inside the shirt - covering all the area you want to paint)
• ball-pen or pencil
• a sheet of backing paper
• flat iron

Huh, what?! DIYary?...

or: an Introduction

     Though I happen to be an architecture&design student, I find myself still quite far from being a professional crafter.

So I thought ..well, wouldn't it be kinda strange to start acting like a tutor here? 

Here in this huge web-world, that's packed with skilled experts in just about every topic and niche…

     ' How could I dare teaching anyone anything?!...'

For I, myself are still a regularly peeking DIY-tutorial-student!

     But then,… that thesis came to my mind, that I'm actually somehow incapable of doing things exactly how they are described anyways.

Seriously, I got some issues there…

     It's just a quirky fact, that I really seem to be off my head when it comes to recipies and similar guided instructions! Something inside me vehemently strives against it... and thereby against my will, too.

     So I regularly end up making things by my own Trial&Error and succumb to the force to take various, often painfully idle alterations, no matter how great the tutorial …

     (making me also an unbelievably bad cook and forced-to-eat-my-food-aloner)...

No matter how much I really want to make that [bag/crochet/papercut/print/cake/drink..etc.] e x a c t l y  how they show it (for it looks just wonderful!), I just can't!

'..whoops!' I go, and find a handful of frozen raspberries in my glass of  "Caipirinha" that I was just happy to have ready to serve… 'Damn, who did that?! =/' … 

     I don't know if there's someone out there, who might recognize this pattern..

-- if so please mail me! Maybe we can start up a self-help group ;) --

     Now, taking into account that - as in case of the raspberries! (try it!!) - these alterations do sometimes bring out splendid results, I thought I could maybe make something like a DIY-diary of my trials through creative crafting. ('hey, wait: DIYary! nice…')

     I'm not sure how far, or actually IF this will significantly differ from a DIY tutorial anyways, but I'm pretty sure  I'll make mistakes during the documentation of things, and also (definitely) change my mind at the very doing moment more than once… and this, I'm going to let you see and maybe be warned better to avoid producing a mess like I'll certainly do.

     So… long story short: ^-^

What you can expect from my DIYary pages will be roentgenized trial to (hopefully) nice & beautiful  "stuff" that bring a little more fun into everyday life. ^-^

     There will rather be craft-storytelling, than before-after short-cuts. (Though I might give those, too, for those with short time or temper;)

      I will (not on purpose) make mistakes here and there for you, so that you can do it right in the end. ;)

Meaning that I'll hide no accidents, slips or faults from you, and try to share my experience and thoughts about it as good as I can, giving tipps, tricks and suggestions on variations, too. ^-^

    

     Hope you're gonna enjoy it.

Das erste DaWanda-Buch ist da!

   YAY!! Here it is! Finally, a book from DaWanda!

Kreativ mit DaWanda

   DaWanda?! - What's Dawand?!--- if this question pops into your mind, let me tell you it's SO worth learning the answer! ;)
I cite their FAQ Website here:

"DaWanda is a marketplace where you can buy unique, customised and handmade products made by talented people, and sell your own creations. It also functions as a meeting place for artists, designers and creative individuals, buyers and sellers alike. On DaWanda, you can find out about the creative minds behind the items for sale, compare notes with other members, comment on products, be inspired by great design and share ideas and experiences in the blogs and forum.
Plus on DaWanda you can find a huge selection of handcrafting supplies (fabric, beads, accessories etc.)
And since Summer 2009 we have also included a category for vintage products us. For us, vintage means: unique ‘Products with Love’, which are at least 20 years old."

   Those of you knowing ETSY, will have a déja-vu on DaWanda, but that's sure a great thing! Never enough Handmade goods out there! =)
I have my little virtual booth at that platform, too. THough at the very moment there's only one item online... I promise to work on that!

   Well, to the point:
DaWanda published a book! And I SOOOO need to get it!
For the time being it's only in german I think, but I must spread the word and promote it, because it surely is worth even just for the pictures of items! ;)