Other Craft Creations
As well as the major long term project of a cape that I have been working on. I have been involved with other bits of crafting. These were mainly presents that I was making for friends and therefore could not be posted until they had received them.
So in no particular order here is what I have been playing at. Due to time constraints I did not make a record of how exactly I was making them. Firstly a knitted item. This was a baby blanket for a lady's new addition to the family. Though we do not see each other very often I am very grateful to her for her kindness to me when I was unwell on an outing.
Baby Blanket
Being aware that she was expecting a boy I proceeded to make a blanket using a technique of knitting squares in plain garter stitch and sewing them together. The hardest part was trying to decide on which colours and in what order in which to place them prior to sewing up. Thankfully I had some excellent help in choosing the final design from a good friend.
Then it was simply a case of sewing them all together (not one of my favourite jobs) then giving it a good wash and allowing to dry. If you notice the blanket does not have an edging on it. This is deliberate so as the child grows more squares can be added.
Baby with Blanket
Photograph by kind permission of his mum Joy Kelly
Another craft item I tackled which when finished I presented to my mum was a pyrographed chopping board. This was made with the assistance of Tessa Kaine who allowed me to play around with her pyrograph machines. Having made my selection of a Rose, Tessa kindly printed of the design so I could trace then burn it.
Me being rather clumsy had to enlarge the original pattern in order to cover up my various mistakes. However it turned out okay and mum loved it so I consider it a win.
Present for Mum
Carrying on with the pyrography theme I made another gift for a friend. Having expressed an interest in Braiding I decided to make her a Braid Wheel.
As always my theories are better than my ability to carry them out and I had several major problems.
1 Tools. Unfortunately some of my tools are rather old and I did manage to break some in the process of making the item.
2 Material. The wood I was using wasn't as good as I hoped and this lead to several redrafts.
3 Design. The design was a little adventurous given the other two problems and in the end I had to alter it.
Failed Attempts
As you can see I had about finished the notches when the darn thing snapped - Twice grr!
Therefore instead of trying to put in 16 slots as I originally intended I had to start again and reduced the number of slots to 12. This meant that the wheel could take up to 11 yarn as you always have to have an empty slot.
With this in mind I redrew the design however this time I deliberately did not place the slots exactly evenly. The reason for this was two fold. Firstly it was my intention that the wheel could take yarn of a variety of thicknesses. Secondly I had an ace in the hole.
As previously stated the wheel can take a total of 11 yarns. By carefully arranging the slots so that there was an area of just wood a thirteenth slot could be added if the user wished to ever make a 12 thread cord to correspond with the months of the year or zodiac.
Apart from the actual structure of the wheel I also added visual markers to help with working out which slots were in use. Though the wheel will take 11 threads it is not necessary to use them all. Indeed different types of cords can be made by adding or taking away the number of threads used.
When I have made previous wheels I have only ever put in 8 slots and have usually labelled them with the Sabbats. However since there were more slots and intended receiver has a slightly different path I decided against labels altogether. If wished they could be added by the recipient at a later date according to her own taste.
Therefore I created a design with lines that drew the eye. The widest slots were marked with an arrow in the centre for easy identification. The slots in-between are highlighted with either thick or thin lines. That means the wheel is divided into three, arrows, thick and thin lines. All of which are directly opposite their corresponding partners or in other words a thick line is never opposite a thin line or arrow.
Once the design was created and drawn in pencil I could then begin to pyrograph it. The effect is that of a flower. If you look there is one anomaly which is a line with no corresponding opposite. This is marked with little leaves imitating a stalk. This is the possible 13th slot highlighted if ever required.
All that was left was to give a good sanding especially in the grooves so the yarns did not snag. When satisfied it was as good as it was going to get I gave it several coats of varnish.
Finished Braid Wheel
And that is another selection of my Blue Peter Craftmanship : )
As well as the major long term project of a cape that I have been working on. I have been involved with other bits of crafting. These were mainly presents that I was making for friends and therefore could not be posted until they had received them.
So in no particular order here is what I have been playing at. Due to time constraints I did not make a record of how exactly I was making them. Firstly a knitted item. This was a baby blanket for a lady's new addition to the family. Though we do not see each other very often I am very grateful to her for her kindness to me when I was unwell on an outing.
Baby Blanket
Being aware that she was expecting a boy I proceeded to make a blanket using a technique of knitting squares in plain garter stitch and sewing them together. The hardest part was trying to decide on which colours and in what order in which to place them prior to sewing up. Thankfully I had some excellent help in choosing the final design from a good friend.
Then it was simply a case of sewing them all together (not one of my favourite jobs) then giving it a good wash and allowing to dry. If you notice the blanket does not have an edging on it. This is deliberate so as the child grows more squares can be added.
Baby with Blanket
Photograph by kind permission of his mum Joy Kelly
Another craft item I tackled which when finished I presented to my mum was a pyrographed chopping board. This was made with the assistance of Tessa Kaine who allowed me to play around with her pyrograph machines. Having made my selection of a Rose, Tessa kindly printed of the design so I could trace then burn it.
Me being rather clumsy had to enlarge the original pattern in order to cover up my various mistakes. However it turned out okay and mum loved it so I consider it a win.
Present for Mum
Carrying on with the pyrography theme I made another gift for a friend. Having expressed an interest in Braiding I decided to make her a Braid Wheel.
As always my theories are better than my ability to carry them out and I had several major problems.
1 Tools. Unfortunately some of my tools are rather old and I did manage to break some in the process of making the item.
2 Material. The wood I was using wasn't as good as I hoped and this lead to several redrafts.
3 Design. The design was a little adventurous given the other two problems and in the end I had to alter it.
Failed Attempts
As you can see I had about finished the notches when the darn thing snapped - Twice grr!
Therefore instead of trying to put in 16 slots as I originally intended I had to start again and reduced the number of slots to 12. This meant that the wheel could take up to 11 yarn as you always have to have an empty slot.
With this in mind I redrew the design however this time I deliberately did not place the slots exactly evenly. The reason for this was two fold. Firstly it was my intention that the wheel could take yarn of a variety of thicknesses. Secondly I had an ace in the hole.
As previously stated the wheel can take a total of 11 yarns. By carefully arranging the slots so that there was an area of just wood a thirteenth slot could be added if the user wished to ever make a 12 thread cord to correspond with the months of the year or zodiac.
Apart from the actual structure of the wheel I also added visual markers to help with working out which slots were in use. Though the wheel will take 11 threads it is not necessary to use them all. Indeed different types of cords can be made by adding or taking away the number of threads used.
When I have made previous wheels I have only ever put in 8 slots and have usually labelled them with the Sabbats. However since there were more slots and intended receiver has a slightly different path I decided against labels altogether. If wished they could be added by the recipient at a later date according to her own taste.
Therefore I created a design with lines that drew the eye. The widest slots were marked with an arrow in the centre for easy identification. The slots in-between are highlighted with either thick or thin lines. That means the wheel is divided into three, arrows, thick and thin lines. All of which are directly opposite their corresponding partners or in other words a thick line is never opposite a thin line or arrow.
Once the design was created and drawn in pencil I could then begin to pyrograph it. The effect is that of a flower. If you look there is one anomaly which is a line with no corresponding opposite. This is marked with little leaves imitating a stalk. This is the possible 13th slot highlighted if ever required.
All that was left was to give a good sanding especially in the grooves so the yarns did not snag. When satisfied it was as good as it was going to get I gave it several coats of varnish.
Finished Braid Wheel
And that is another selection of my Blue Peter Craftmanship : )
