25 February 2012

The Beginnings of One, The Continuance of Another

Hello People!
Thanks for stopping by!

I started another project day before yesterday. Like I needed to start another project....but that's a whole other story I'm not willing to share today! (I have so many projects started it ain't even funny!)
This project is nowhere done! 
I wish I had taken picture of the process but I always remember I wanted to take pictures after the fact and by then it's a bit late! 
This is a paper bag book made with plain old brown paper bags you get at the store!
The cover is a piece of plain brown chipboard that came from packaging of some sort. It's about the same weight as cereal box chipboard, but it has no graphics at all on it. Pristine brown is what we got! 
It's all held together with runner tape. Elmer's Tape Runner is what it says on the dispenser.
That is some expensive adhesive! I don't recommend it if you're bent on making a very big paper bag book.
Mine has only 8 paper bags in it. I used a roll and a half of runner tape on it!

All of the drawings in the book will be done on orchard paper and then glue sticked in.
Black sharpie will be the drawing instrument of choice!
I may add a bit of color to the inserts going into the pockets in the book,
but the drawings will all be just black like these two are.

The book is constructed so the paper bags are taped/glued together back to back after you've folded them in half from top to bottom. 

Here's another pc of that chipboard the covers are made from with a beetle drawn on it. I'll add some danglies to it to make it a bookmark. It will get some color...maybe some sequins! ...not sure yet.
Each paper bag in the book gives you one pocket to house whatever you fancy to put in it.
I'm leaning towards at least a couple of bookmarks, some colored drawings on chipboard like the covers, and I don't know what all....
This is a work in progress!

I was surfing the web the other day and came across a fabric bowl made from denim. 
It was a very cool bowl! 
I didn't however, have any denim in my fabric stash.

So, I made mine out of orange sweater material and an orange t-shirt with a cool weave.

The two rounds of fabric are sewn together with dark blue crewel embroidery thread then put over a form after being saturated with fabric stiffener. I used something called Doily Fast for stiffening crochet work. 
My bowl is about 5 inches across and 3 inches deep. I used a salad plate for a round template and sour cream container for a form to put the bowl over as it dried.
This bowl isn't overly stiff though and I really need to give it a coat of plain old Elmer's School Glue to give it a bit more stiffness.

And as the title of this post suggests:
Polish Stars are still being made.
I cut out quite a few more circles yesterday so expect to see a few Polish Stars in posts often!

I was running out of room in the storage box for these things so I made them their own box. 
And now that I've made MORE of them, I'll be having to make them another box!
This one is 8.5 inches square. Chipboard from packaging of one sort or another simply scotched tape together. I will make a lid for this box soon. It won't hold anymore Polish Stars!
There are 27 of them in the box and 6 more already made! 
Another box is imminent!

This is a pile of stars I made yesterday. (along with the mess I call the sewing table.)

I couldn't get a good picture of this one to save my soul.
My camera hates certain colors and it did not like the color of this one at all!
It's kind of a flesh color but not really....The paper came from an ad in a fashion magazine for some kind of perfume. In reality, it's a soft, shimmery sepia tone with strong hints of pink in it.

Recycling Today, Country Living and Bride's Guide magazines provided the greens in this one.
Mixing magazine papers does not affect the way the star turns out. But those made with all one kind of paper are usually sturdier. Magazines are comprised of all different weights of paper, not all have the same thing in them.

Shades of Orange
Recycling Today, Brides Guide and Interiors Today Magazines.

Shades of Purple
Recycling Today and Bride's Guide Magazines.
This one cracks me up cause the two magazines used for the paper couldn't be any different from one another! The Recycling Today Magazine is geared toward the business of garbage and Bride's Magazine is geared towards women who have anything but garbage on their minds!

I've shown you the shades of purple one again in this pic to show you how differently the spanish learning text paper polish star is shaped. All the other Polish Stars I've made have 10 rounds of points forming the ball. The white one in this picture has 12. 
You'll be seeing more spanish learning text polish balls. The paper those lessons are printed on is quite sturdy! I'm going to drag out my watercolor paints the next nice day we have and having a painting frenzy of those papers. Has to be a nice day though, cause I'll need room to spread out and lord knows there is no spreading out room in the house! 

A few years ago my Mom gave me a stack of bright orange envelopes designed for greeting cards. I didn't get the greeting cards that went with the orange envelopes. I cut out 20 rounds from 3, might of been 4 envelopes and then stamped a rose in black ink along the edge of each of the rounds before forming the spikes.

These stars are SUPER STURDY!
I have two shades of orange envelopes. I'll probably make a few more of these without the black as well as a few of the other shade of orange envelope.

That's about all I've been up to for the last few days. 
I'm bored stiff with the computer!
I'm bored with that boring book I'm reading.
Guess I'll just have to unbore myself and make something!

I don't know if I've already shared this, but here's a video tutorial to make the Polish Stars.


A few hints:
I use jewelry wire instead of thread to tie them together.
A sequin works wonderfully but if you use jewelry wire, make sure you only put one strand of wire through the sequin hole in the last sequin before you tie it all together or your knot may slip through the hole in the sequin and you'll have to retie the star again with a new piece of wire.
A bead or a small button would work as well as a sequin.
ANY paper will work! The sturdier the paper, the sturdier your finished star!
Any size will work! The smaller the circle, the harder to form the points.
She puts a dab of glue on before forming the point. I smear glue along that top edge after I've formed the point.
To get sharp points without a hole in the end of them, position your pencil a tiny ways under the edge of the center of the segment.
The sharper the pencil, the better your point looks. 

Let me know if you give it a try! I'd love to see your finished Stars!


I found this cool picture on the smart card when I downloaded the pictures of the polish stars.
Lola looks like she's in a whirlwind! 
Happy Bad Photo!!!!

That's all from me today! :)
Be good to one another!
It matters!
Peace, friends!
831

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