Thirteen: Hand Carved Rubber Stamps

Howdy folks!
Been a long time. I’ve seen my way back across the ocean, then around the US by car, and now I’m settled down in Maryland and ready to start up on all my long-missed crafts. Today I’m going to show you how to make your own rubber stamp. This little trick will save you a great deal of money when you realize how many stamps you can make all by yourself.

If you like the idea of handmade stamps that are one of a kind and you don’t feel like making them, stop by my talented friend’s Etsy site: Metronome Circus.

Step One:

Here are the materials you needs-
Stamp Ink
Graphite Pencil
Scrap Paper
Exacto-knife (Fine blade for detailing)
White Rubber Eraser

As for the eraser- I’ve used just about everything from dollar store to Staedler, and they all work. Some last longer than others. The best material for a long-lasting stamp is a brick of white rubber actually meant for carving stamps. Mine were bought in Japan, so I’m not sure where you can buy them here.

Step Two:

Draw out your design. As you draw, press hard with a graphite pencil to give it more transfer capabilities.

Step Three:

Lay your design face-down on the white rubber eraser. Take out your pencil and rub it over the back of the paper, transferring the design to the eraser.

Step Four:

Begin by cutting away the outside areas of the design. You will be cutting away everything you don’t want to show up in your final stamp- all white areas.
**Always cut at a diagonal away from the design. You want to leave the remaining rubber in the shape of a sloping mountain to allow for a steady base, otherwise you will cut into the integrity of the base.

Step Five:
You can chose to cut the stamp itself into the shape of your design for efficiency, and so that the corners of the stamp don’t ink the page by accident.

Step Six:

Cut out all remaining interior design elements. Remember to cut at diagonals. I tend to work in small sections to remove the rubber one piece at a time in triangular shapes.

Step Seven:
Check your work. Ink your design and try it out on some scrap paper. Sometimes you’ll find a snag or a part you forgot to cut. Go back and clean up your mistakes with your knife.

Step Eight:

Decorate! Stamping can spice up anything, but I love it for making ordinary lined paper into whatever the season demands. I like simple shapes for repetition, and I especially like how this one petal stamp can either be a chrysanthemum or a cherry blossom depending on how I chose to stamp it. If I change inks I could make dandelions!

When you practice enough you’ll start to find you can do extremely fine work. Try printing out your name on the computer, go over the ink with graphite, transfer it to rubber, and start carving! You can personalize things and get good practice following lines.

Good luck!

Etsy Shoppe Opened!

Well, I finally opened my own Etsy Shoppe thanks to someone’s lovely comment on my pincushion. Thanks for your support, guys! ^_^

Twelve: Shell and Stick Odds’n'Ends Holder

People collect a lot of shells- and one never knows quite what to do with them.  This is a quick project for just that, assuming your shells have some bowl-like characteristics.

This idea came to me as I was kneeling in a store in Oakland, California called “The Bone Shoppe.”  I found small abalone shells and was so taken that I bought 7 of them!  Later, hiking in Yosemite, I found a stick I liked.  Somehow the two got together.

The construction is simple.  Go to your local hardware store and buy a mortar like liquid nails- clear if possible.  You want something that is thick so that it can hold your shells while it dries. Just figure out where you want your shells on your stick- apply glue liberally, and set aside for the curing time.  8 hours tends to do it.

Wa-la.   You now have a small rack to put scrap-booking embellishments like grommets and brads, or push-pins, or earrings or… or anything!  Good luck!

Eleven: Trifle

Ah, Trifle.   The word came to me in a dinner conversation with friends one night.  One of them had studied in England and came away with handfuls of stories to share with the rest of us.  One such story was Trifle.  At first, I assumed I’d heard wrong.  Wasn’t it truffle?  No.   Not at all.

Being an American-born child, I had never heard of this Brittish treat, and upon learning of its gooey layers and rich ingredients that I had never enjoyed individually, let alone mixed, I decided it would be best to leave it be.  But that decicion was not to last.  Soon, the curiosity overhwelmed me and I was forced to try my hand at this new, exciting dish.  Here is the tale of our adventures with Trifle:

Melinda had been making Chili.  It was good.  We thought Trifle would follow it up nicely.   Our ingredients were simple: Devil’s Chocolate cake mix, Chocolate fudge pudding, Peanut Butter Puffs Cereal, Raspberry Jam, and Whipped Cream.  I’m told that in real Trifle you use Jello instead of jam.  Thank goodness we weren’t aiming for cultural accuracy on this one.

Step One:  Mix, make, and bake your cake.  Cut it into the shape of the bottom of your bowl.  Put in bottom.

Step Two: Spread a layer of raspberry jam down.  Our fearless leader Brian had a suave technique, but I can’t say I learned it well.  I just mocked him instead.

Step Three:  More cake.

Step Four: Make pudding.  Pour half of it on top of the cake layer.

Step Five:  We were told that you need a crunchy texture atop the pudding- so we chose peanut butter puffs.  We smashed them with mortar and pestle before layering.  True devotion.

Step Six: We crumbled up the remaining cake and put down a layer.

Step Seven:  More jam!

Step Eight: MUA HA HA HA, PUDDING!

Step Nine:  More peanut butter crunchiness.

Step Ten: WHIPPED CREAM TIME!  Good luck with this one, it takes a true expert to get the 2 inch height on your top.

Step Eleven:  Decorate with sprinkles or candy or… or more peanut butter puffs!

Try not to laugh as you eat this thing.  It’s really awful, but so much fun that you won’t be able to stop.  It was even good the next day!  And the next!   … that’s how long it takes to eat a whole bowl of this.

Try telling your friends about it and have a cook-off.  The ingredients are so cheap that they should be able to rumage them up and bring their own flavorful creations to your door for a Trifle party!  By the way- I am not responsibile for any fatalities this post may have caused.

Ten: Cloth Laptop Case

The beauty of the laptop is that is can go anywhere, right? But the hazards of going anywhere are a bit hard on the good ole laptop, and I’m constantly fretting over the scratches and dangers my laptop might meet in my backpack. So I finally decided to make a laptop sleeve. Problem was, I didn’t like anything I saw online. It was all… too little, or too complicated, or too ugly. So I made my own how-to. So, here’s how to make a cloth laptop sleeve.

Step one:

Gather materials. That will be: A sewing machine, thread, scissors, a ruler, a marking pen, quilt batting, buttons, and any little extras you want to embellish with. Figure out what fabric you want to use- it’s your chance to express yourself!

Step two:

Measure your laptop. These are the measurements you’ll need for a 13″ MacBook. Side A: 39×28cm. Side B: 39×37.5cm

If you have another kind of computer-

Side A: Length + height (from the table up, how thick it is) + 3cm for seam allowance. That’s your length. Now take the width + the height +3 cm = that’s your width.

Side B: Same Width as A. Length is the same as A, but add however long you want the flap of your sleeve to be.

Step three:

Measure and cut your fabric. This will be the lining.

Cut another set of Side A and B for the outside of the sleeve- but make this one 1cm longer on width and length.

Step four:

Cut out some batting that is 3cm shorter in width and length than your original measurements. This will make the seams less thick.

Step five:

Place the batting in the middle of the wrong side of the corresponding lining piece. Sew around the square of batting to applique it to the lining. You may want to put tissue paper between the batting and your quilting foot on your machine because the batting tends to get caught in the foot. Sew batting to front and back pieces.

Step six:

Sew your front and back lining pieces together (right sides facing) with 1.5cm seam allowance. Do not sew the top where the flap is. See if your laptop fits inside it at this stage. If not, you’ve got some wonky measurements and you need to correct those before continuing any further.

Step seven:

Sew a bottom into your bag by flattening the bottom seam and sewing it to the side seam as pictured.

Step eight:

Repeat steps 6 and 7 with the outside pieces of fabric that do not have batting sewed to them. I pieced a top for mine because I couldn’t decide on one fabric. Be sure to iron your cloth before sewing together.

Step nine:

Turn the outside casing right-side out and put the lining casing inside of it so that the batting is sandwiched between the two layers. Now fold down the hem of the shorter front side of the bag and turn it to the inside, pin, and sew straight across.

Step ten:

Next, do the same with the cover flap of the bag, bringing the top edge down and folding it under to avoid any raw edges. It works a bit like bias tape at this point and frames the lining nicely. You’ll have to finagle the corners, maybe rip out a few stitched to make things lie flat.

Step eleven:

Decide your button placement and make some button holes. Velcro works too, but I’m not fond of the noise as I’m opening my laptop in a quiet cafe, so I went with buttons. Sew a zig-zag stitch in a rectangle a little bigger than your button, then cut a slit in the middle.

Step twelve:

Sew on your buttons, and you’re good to go! It’ll surely put a smile on your face every time you take your laptop out with you in the world. Don’t forget to add your name for supreme personalification. (That’s not a word, is it?) I carved a rubber stamp from an eraser to stamp the fabric- maybe that’ll be the next tutorial?

Good luck!

Nine: Repurposing An Old Sweatshirt

I made this video for Threadbangers but I figure you guys could get some use out of it as well. It’s not hard to sew, and learning to sew starts with simply changing what you already have. To modify clothing, just take something you don’t like out of your closet and make it into something you love! Threadbanger does a lot of tutorials on that, so check out their site. And if you want to make a cute Japanese-inspired jacket, check this movie out:

Eight: Cloth-Covered Ring-Bound Book

Sometimes you just a need a scrapbook that is yea-tall and yea-wide. For such occasions, I make my own instead of trying to find a boring one at the store. It’s really easy, fairly fast, and super cheap!

What you’ll need:

Fabric, cardboard, double-sided tape, white glue, a ruler, an exact-o-knife, scissors, a paint brush for glue, a sharpie, hingey-clippy-ring things, grommets and a hammer (not pictured).

1.) Measure how big of a book you want. Remember to leave about 1.5-3cm for where the book will be “bound.”

2.) Measure some fabric so that when the fabric is folded in, it will cover all of your cardboard.

3.) Cut out two pieces of fabric. Iron if necessary.

4.) Use double-sided tape on the front of each of your covers. You could use glue, but it tends to make the fabric pucker and pull, so I use the tape to keep it in place while I glue the back.

5.) Once the front is adhered to the fabric, coat the back of your cover in glue. Use a paint brush to spread it out. evenly.

6.) Fold the bottom and top snugly onto the back. Check the front to make sure it’s even.

7.) Coat the folded upper and bottom fabric flaps with glue and fold in one of the sides. Smooth it out well!

8.) “Hem” your final edge with glue before folding it over.

9.) Using ample glue, secure the last flap on your book.

10.) Let it dry under something heavy- like your laptop, or a dictionary.

11.) Decide how many rings you want to hold your book together. Three is bare minimum. Decide some even spacing using your ruler and mark where you will put your holes 1.5cm in from the edge with a sharpie.

12.) Make a hole by any means possible. I twist my scissors back and forth like a drill until I have a hole big enough to fit the grommet through.

13.) Following the directions on the grommet box, hammer your grommets into your book.

14.) Wa-la! You’re done! Use a hole punch to insert memorabilia or scrapbook pages and you’re set!

Good luck with your projects! If you try it, share advice or upload your work! I’d love to see it.

Seven: Easter Egg Dye

What? There are no Easter Egg, PAAS dye-kits in Japan? Denied!

Quick, call mom for a recipe! Here’s what she says:

Put 1/2 cup of boiled water in a coffee cup. Mix in 1 teaspoon white vinegar (sushi vinegar works, too!) now add your desired amount of food coloring (in Japan this is powder, and it’s very strong, so add a little at a time). Wait for the dye to cool to room-temperature before dunking in your eggs.

Who could have known it was so easy? What exactly are those Paas guys selling, anyway?

I always empty-out my eggs by piercing holes in both ends of the egg and blowing the innards out so I can keep them longer, but it really makes them too fragile for children.

Here’s a quick tip on boiling eggs: Put one layer of eggs down in a pan and fill with water until it’s an inch above the eggs. Set on your burner and heat until boiled. Now turn off the heat and cover your eggs. Leave for 15 minutes. Run the pot under cold water, exchanging cold for hot, let sit in cold water until cool, then towel-dry and set to dry.

How about: “How did you get those rings of color on your eggs?” That’s an old textiles trick. Anyone who does batik already has a good idea. Start with yellow- dip the whole egg, but keep it light. Let dry. Now, using a wire shaped like an O with a projecting handle, dip the egg, crest-first, only 1/3 of the way into green. Let dry. Then dip the remaining about 1/4 into blue. On the other side, dip 1/3 into orange, then 1/4 into red. (purple might turn brown) You must keep colors going from light to dark- and mixing colors of the same warm/cool family otherwise you’ll get mud! Don’t forget to let them dry between dyes!

Good-luck! Happy Easter!

 

Six: Paper Valentine

Back in American elementary school, I remember choosing Valentines for classmates was a horrifying affair. Should I go with my heart’s instinct to get My Little Ponies, or try to be cool and get Barbie? It was just so difficult. Looking back on those times, I wish I would have had the heart to make my own. Now that I live in Japan, where they celebrate V-day, but don’t give cards, I need something to state my heart’s affairs! So I’ve made my own with supplies at school.

Five: Curtains

Curtains usually aren’t fun to make, but these are!

Walking past my open window in my towel was not my idea of privacy. I needed a curtain! Thankfully, I had seen some trendy-chic curtains in the boutiques in downtown Takamatsu recently, and whipped up this super-quick curtain to hide myself from the world!

Just measure your window and add a few inches before cutting out a rectangle of fabric. If you want to make a casing at the top to thread the dowel rod through, you can, but I like the look of shower-curtain rings, and they are easier to move.

You can throw another strip of fabric in to offset your work. I suggest one plain fabric and one high-pattern for ultimate juxtaposition. Add ribbons, embroidery, iron-ons, lace,or whatever, and you’re set! Add clip-on shower rings, a dowel, hardware, hang and VIOLA! Trendy curtain finished!

If you make a half-curtain like I did, it lets lots more light in, and it leaves room for flower vases ala old salad dressing and spice containers! Fabulous! Try it!