diy

Do it Yourself; Tips and ideas for DIY projects to give a gift that your significant other won't return.

Elemental Dreams
My name is Craig Commanda. I’m an Anishinaabe bead-weaver and artist from Kitigan Zibi, in Quebec, Canada. I’d love to tell you the story of what beadwork means to me. I first got into beading back in 2019 when I chose to participate in an Instagram challenge called #beadthisinyourstylechallenge. Little did I know that it was going to be a rabbit hole that I would be sucked into deeply.
By Craig Commanda3 years ago in Humans
Leather Baby
Why do I do this? Why do I spend the very miniscule income I have and dump it all on LEATHER as fast as possible? Leaving me eating crackers for the rest of the week. Obsession? Possibly, I can be obsessive about a lot of things and lose my steam soon after. This feels sooooo good though. It feels soooooo RIGHHHTTT. You’re on the top of a mountain at the literal apex except this is a symbolic apex of where almost everything I enjoy comes together in a brain stew (maybe even a brain jail)! LEATHER. It’s cowhide, that’s pretty intense because it’s *gasp* skin—but that’s why it ages. It ages like all natural materials do. They gain patina over time, folds, creases, and wrinkles just like we do. Character! I just thought, “Maybe I’ll try to make a bag; my grandma designed leather goods; I can figure it out…” At the start I had a bundle of low-grade aka DULL assortment of leather working tools and brown leather stripped from my partners old sofa. I had a general pattern but had to adjust to the size I wanted, easy enough, etc. BUT the HOLES…punching those holes for me to stitch were painstaking. My mallet was chipped away at from all the pressure laid down on these dull pricking irons. I sincerely thought, “this is my life now; I will grow one giant bicep and be the Queen of aggressive hammering.” All that scrupulous work was worth it though because I made that bag and then I made another bag for my mom. **Venmo notification: Morgan has sent you $200 “Pursue your leather crafting dreams!** The moment when everything changed for me; I had jokingly posted on Instagram asking for sponsorship to purchase high quality pricking irons and I got what I asked for. I was in shock that my friend would send me money simply to support my interests. ME! Someone who couldn’t be trusted with money because of years of substance abuse but moreover someone who was depressed and passionless for years. This ignited me, and SAVED me from all that laborious hammering! I made more bags, I made my first wallet, and I started receiving commissions from people wanting to support me. “I’m not an artist, I’m just creative.” – Me, anytime someone says I’m an artist For years I tried to figure out my medium. I studied music, art history, worked freelance fabrication, learned photography, calligraphy, did random styling but nothing felt Goldilocks ‘just right’. So I get a MSW and think feelings are my medium—this notion quickly devolved as someone with emotional regulation issues. Luckily, the combination of a year spent inside depressed, mostly isolated, living through a global pandemic (no big deal), some stimulus money, no job, lots of time, and nothing to lose this Leather Baby found her home and “NOBODY PUTS BABY IN THE CORNER!” Working with my hands; learning about tools; sourcing raw material; designing/pattern making has lead me to achieve my lifelong dream of creating. It feels limitless and freeing. I want to have fun with design. It lets me use parts of my brain that don’t get utilized in my chosen profession. I get to be an architect and draft designs and create patterns using skills of construction, and even geometry. My social work skills get employed as well when communicating with clients to help them create their visions and open them up to more possibilities. I often start with an online image search of vintage handbags and haute couture. I consume these messages as if they are nourishing me. I dote over geometric shapes and get stirred to imagine subverting vintage designs by using bold prints and colors. I wormhole into the ‘history of handbags’ and learn the evolution of the Hermes ‘Kelly’ bag. Fun fact it was renamed the ‘Kelly’ as it became synonymous with the actress Grace Kelly following a widely circulated photo of her using the bag to shield and cover her pregnancy from paparazzi. Or learning that Louis Vuitton started as a box maker who then created bespoke travel trunks, which are now a LV staple. I want to learn as much as I can from multiple angles. Inspiration for me can best be described as an interdisciplinary practice. Generational Leather is the name I use for my goods. One of my intentions when I embarked on leatherworking was to replicate a calfskin leather tote bag that my Grandmother had designed and produced 50 years earlier. This bag travelled to America from Seoul with my Mother. Having few possessions this ‘luxury’ item was functionally used as my diaper bag. As an adult, I inherited the bag and it conjures up sentimentality and I value it as precious. Now, I get to follow in a family tradition. Now, I get to feel connected to my Gran who raised me. Now, I get to be a legacy. Now, I get to share it with others. Now, I’m closer to figuring out how to be happy.
By Sarah Lee3 years ago in Humans
Pieces of Life Stitched Together
I believe that quilting is a fitting representation for the human experience. Each piece, as with each experience, is fit together to form a whole. The stitches are carefully measured, each sewn while experiencing life events around the particular piece it represents. When a part of the quilt is torn, such as when a loved one dies, or we're torn apart by illness or neglect, that piece of our heart and life is patched up and sewn into the new fabric that makes up our existence. I've had this theory about quilting and life since I was in my teens, though I never formally learned how to quilt.
By Stacey Klinger3 years ago in Humans
Embrace your inner Hippie
Start writing.... - The Hippie Festival I attended last year asked for some Yarn Bombing Volounteers for the Campgrounds Bowl Stage area and so it bagan...
By Katie Colon3 years ago in Humans
Happiness in Destruction
I’ve always loved to read. When I was in the second grade, my favorite teacher lent me my very first chapter book. But when she saw me using a piece of paper as a bookmark she told me to just fold the corner of the book when I found a part I really liked. This confused me. The first rule we learn about books in the library is how we leave it better than when we had first borrowed it. She laughed and told me that the book was mine to keep. She said that the best part about reading books is interacting with it.
By M.A.L.3 years ago in Humans
Crafting Magic
Measure the canvas. Chart the space. Choose the colors. Cut the fabric. And then, fall into creating the image. I am three years old, standing on the patio behind the house, looking into the woods. It’s dusk, the magic hour. Mist seems to come into form, trees speak to me. Time does not exist. There is only now, and the magic.
By Natanya Lara3 years ago in Humans
Sewing in the Time of COVID
I’m gonna go ahead and blame my deranged decision to hand sew a swimsuit on COVID. Being cooped up for an entire year while this pandemic plays itself out has thrown me into a loony state of creative madness.
By Nikki Bennett3 years ago in Humans
Knitting For the Needy
Like everyone else in the world, when the Coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020, I suddenly found myself stuck at home with a lot of time on my hands. Realizing I needed a new hobby I considered my options.
By Jennifer Marie Libertini3 years ago in Humans
Acid-Free Intimacy
The chances of having entered this world as this particular set of atoms, expressed in human form, as opposed to any other set of atoms, makes me a very lucky set. This fact should bring all endless electric joy! It also makes me realize I'm not separate from any other set of atoms. Separation is an illusion. Einstein and Buddhism both call and called reality an illusion. Today some call reality a simulation. If we are a simulation, we come from the same substrate. If someone once thought to make a simulated reality this real, and succeeded, then thoughts become things. We are creators. We create to show ourselves parts of the human experience that aren't commonly seen or easily conveyed through everyday language. And if in our heads we wield so much power, we should live to feel joyous, loving and compassionate. And we should make it our goal to create these emotions in others too, for those who are willing to accept them.
By Javier Almanza Monge3 years ago in Humans
Cut From a Different Cloth
For as long as I can remember I have been a loner. I did not intend for it to be that way, or want it, really. I mean, what kid doesn't want friends, after all? A tribe. A community.
By April Jayne3 years ago in Humans
Life Exponentially Tie-Dyed
With math, one of the first rules we learn is 2+2 equals 4; with ideas, adding is so much more, exponential even. I am a data scientist by day and a tie-dye artist by night, and the intersection of where science meets creativity is my jam. Adding math to science to creativity equals exponential results. Any idea can build on the next, and it is mind-blowing how many things in life share the same pattern or fold. My tie-dye designs organically contain sacred geometry, stemming from Fibonacci series, binary or ternary systems. From simple spirals to mandala folds, it is all about how a modest, small thing, once repeated, adds up to so much more. The most beautiful fractal design starts with a simple pattern - a lotus flower with one petal, a journey of a thousand miles with one step… or snip! But most importantly, the journey matters more than the destination.
By Nicole de Vries3 years ago in Humans
Golden Goddess
Creating is my happy place so I choose to be there all the time. Using scissors, shears or snips runs in my family’s heritage (we are cut from the same cloth) and it is a daily romance with my Fiskars, cutting a new creation. I come from a legacy of creative artists, performers and designers. Using scissors is vital to my craft and creativity, to create joy and inspiration within others and yourself. Using a pair of shears or scissors is like having a weapon or ammunition for creativity and creating happiness within. The joy one gets from making something with you own hands is priceless. You can easily do it with a clip, snip, or flick of your fingers. Just like snapping your fingers in magic, creating art just happens… I like to use my scissors in many different facets as a fashion designer, makeup artist, creator and fabricator. I like to create things from scratch completely out of my imagination. I enjoy handcrafting using Fiskars scissors as the tools to the various techniques I have mastered. I allowed myself the freedom to cut anything or any type of material ranging from leather, vinyl, fabric, paper, foils, feathers, hair, plants, and flowers. I like to utilize many types of techniques.
By Jenn3 years ago in Humans