A Crafty Weekend

So far this year I’ve focused a lot more time and energy into making things and getting more into crafting. Yes, I’ve done bits and bobs before, but those were all things I knew I could do anyway, there was no challenge there. Now I’m venturing out of my comfort zone a little bit and learning new things whilst at it. Crafting also keeps me from spending money (even though I still check out sales and find things I like and put myself out there to be tempted) by giving me something else to do, so there definitely will be more things coming!

These are not in chronological order, but from least to most challenging ones – starting with some bracelets. Although plain pearl bracelets are incredibly versatile and I love them, sometimes you need (or just want) a pop of colour. So off to AliExpress I went, bought a bunch of beads and made these, two of each style. I was thinking of making matching necklaces too, but I ran out of pearly beads, need to order more – and figure out how to make these so that they’re not on an elastic, that might be uncomfortable and could break more easily as it’d need more stretch.

Then came a project to complete my Dreamy Masquerade Carnival sash. This rosette brooch took me a little while to figure out, as the tutorial Iused was very brief and more detail would’ve been appreciated. But for the very first attempts it’s pretty nice. The fact that these are so easy and quick to make might convince me to make loads more to match a variety of different coords. The mask on top is also my very first attempt at using Fimo clay and again, I loved it. It’s literally a pop it in the mould, put it in the oven and then cool down kind of experience. I’m probably not skilled enough to create shapes with Fimo without moulds, but this is something that’d be nice to get into with the help of others and put moulds and different colour clays onto a Christmas wishlist or something.

Also, opinions, please: should I paint the mask or leave it blank? I have gold paint and was thinking of painting the lips (easy) and maybe something else (potentially more difficult for my shaky hands), but I’m not sure. What do you think?

And finally, the project that I’m most proud of. This time the tutorial was dead easy to follow, but the results are amazing – a pirate hat. I plan on making a Pirate Lolita coord for the July meet (a while away, I know) and in order to keep the costs down I decided to make my own hat. This proved to be a pretty cheap project, around £15 in materials – of which over half was eaten by the feather! – and a quick one too, maybe an hour, so great to do whilst you’re watching a daft film or something. For how little skill was required to make this the effects are seriously impressive, I can’t wait to wear the whole coord already just for the hat!

Unfortunately, for the time being I sort of ran out of projects to do. It’s ok, I have video games to keep me from spending all my money, but crafting makes you feel so much more productive. Do you have any easy-mode Lolita projects and tutorials that you’d recommend? Anything based around accessories would be fantastic as these are the finer details that really complete a coord, but I’m not always willing to pay the price (and the postage) for them.