A little bit crafty by frankie magazine

a little bit crafty

Have you ever glued your fingers together, sneezed glitter or splattered paint all over your best clothes? You might be a little bit crafty – in which case, this book is for you. The projects here come from 39 creative types across Australia and New Zealand. Designers, makers, musicians and illustrators who also like to stitch, hammer, paint, weave, snip, print and sew. Most of these crafts can be done in an afternoon in front of the telly. Most use secondhand materials, or stuff you can buy on the cheap. All inv olve getting your hands dirty, in the nicest possible way. And creating something beautiful – or wonky, or silly, or odd – that you can be proud of.…

spotty stripy crazy planter

HOW TO This project is best carried out over a couple of weekends to give the plaster enough time to dry, so you’ll need to be a little patient. The first task is to raid the pantry, supermarket, hardware store and $2 shops for a variety of plastic containers, looking for interesting textures and architectural forms. Don’t use anything too precious, and avoid shapes that may make it difficult to remove the plaster later. Lightly grease the inside of each container with petroleum jelly, avoiding any lumps or streaks. Then lay out some newspaper on the ground and arrange the containers on top. Mix your plaster according to the instructions on the packaging and stir well. When the plaster looks like thick cream, carefully pour into each of the containers. Gently agitate each…

just saying hi hanging

HOW TO On pieces of A4 scrap paper, draw some block letters to spell H-E-L-L-O. Use the entire length and width of the paper as a size guide. The letters don’t need to be perfect, but do use a ruler to ensure the edges are straight. Carefully snip around these letters, then use them as templates: place them on the coloured card and trace each one. Neatly cut out the cardboard letters and set aside. Cut out long strips of coloured cardboard, measuring about 6cm x 60cm. You’ll need two or three in each colour. Measure and mark out a line along one long edge of each strip, 1cm in from the edge. Use a ruler and the blade of the scissors to gently score along this line. Fold along the score line.…

a handy stubbie sling

HOW TO This stubbie sling is easy to customise so it’s exactly the right size for the wearer. Start by measuring out your length of rope. Hang it over your shoulder so both ends are touching the ground (get a friend to help if you can). Cut this piece, then cut five other lengths that are exactly the same, so you have six altogether. Next, to get the plaited shoulder strap, hang all six lengths evenly over your shoulder. Mark where the rope touches your hips at each end. Tightly wrap coloured string at one of these points (to join the ropes together), then gather the ropes into three bunches of two and plait them all together until you reach the second marked point. Bind this tightly with more coloured string. Now you…

how to cheat at screenprinting

HOW TO Start off by creating a 2cm border around the screen with packing tape. This creates an inkwell when you are printing. Next, tear up little pieces of the masking tape and stick them all over the front of the screen in any kind of pattern you fancy. Don’t put anything on the inside as that needs to be a nice, smooth printing surface. Give the fabric a quick iron, then lay it out flat and tape it down at the corners. Carefully place the screen face down onto the fabric, then dab a line of ink along the top inkwell (making sure it doesn‘t seep through the open mesh). Grab the squeegee and do three hard pulls across the screen – if it’s a big one, get a friend to keep the…

perfect pear pincushion

HOW TO Begin by cutting out your pattern pieces – the stem, leaf, pear body and pear base. (Trace or photocopy so you’re not destroying this nice book!) Next, pin each pattern piece to the corresponding fabrics. Remember you need two pear shapes, so pin two pieces of fabric, right sides together, to the paper pattern. Cut out all fabric pieces by cutting directly around the paper pattern (the pear body and base include a 5mm seam allowance). Remove the paper patterns and pins, then separate the two pear pieces and turn one of them right side up. On this piece, using a fabric marker or pencil, lightly draw a face on the lower area of the pear body. If you’re not comfortable drawing a face, you can trace the one provided…