Shirt Revamping Contest: The Winner!

Last Updated on Friday, 27 August 2010 06:11 Written by Crafted Roots Friday, 27 August 2010 06:11

Hey everyone! As you know, voting for the Shirt Revamping Contest ended yesterday, and the winner is…..Larissa, of Reef Botanicals!! Congratulations!!!!

Larissa was ever so kind as to let me interview her! Read on to learn about Larissa’s winning entry, and make sure to check out her blog post (featured in one of the questions) to see her tutorial!!

An Interview with Larissa, Winner of the Handmade Artists’ Forum’s Shirt Revamping Contest

First of all, congrats! You did it!! How does it feel to be a winner?

Thanks, it really feels great!  I had so much fun on this project, and so of course I really worked hard on it.  I was really proud of the outcome, too, considering I hadn’t sewn anything more involved than stray buttons in at least 11 years.

Real quick-like, tell us about yourself:

I’m 40, married, live with my husband and our dog, 3 cats, and multitude of fish.  ”By day,” I’m a lawyer, on weekends I’m a face painter, and in all our spare time, my husband and I run Reef Botanicals, a handmade natural soap business.

So what was your inspiration? Why did you decide to create a puppet?

I just immediately thought of using a shirt as a fabric source rather than clothing, so then I tried to think what I’d want to make with that amount of fabric.  Many years ago, before I got caught up in responsibility and paying bills, I used to make lots of neat things.  I think the “puppet” idea kind of popped to the forefront of my mind, though, because I watch my 8-month-old nephew nearly once a week, and had intended to make some sock puppets to play with him and never actually got around to it.  My nephew, by the way, now owns the puppet and LOVES it.

Had you come up with any other ideas for an entry before you decided on a puppet?

No, I’m pretty decisive.  Once I got that idea, I was immediately excited about it.  It was all I could do not to tell everyone what I was planning, so Eric (that’s the husband) got to hear it all.  Endlessly.  At least he was impressed with the final product!

Did you use a pattern, or did you completely dream up the design?

No, just drew it out myself, eyeballing the whole thing.  I did initially draw it with the arms raised, but realized, as I was pinning the fabric to start sewing (I sewed the body before cutting), that it’d look funky if the arms were weighted and hung down all wrong.  I did find a video on how to do the mouthboard online, because that’s the one thing that I couldn’t figure out without seeing it done.  But I did everything by eye, even his t-shirt.  The “09″ comes from my nephew’s birth year.

I heard your puppet now has a name….

Yup, Nathaniel, after Hawthorne.  My sister suggested it.  My nephew’s two favorite stuffed animals are named after authors, so it seemed fitting that this guy should be also, since my nephew seems to love him so much.

So just whose t-shirts did you confiscate?

I was bad… I bought the green one at Michael’s [Arts and Crafts Store] and the blue one from a craft shop that was closing.  A lot of the puppet was “upcycle” or “destash,” though.  The denim was from an old pair of my jeans that was headed for the garbage.  And the hair was made from yarn I had left over many years ago from latch hook rug kits.  The stuffing was left over from my attempt to fix a lawn chair cushion that a squirrel gutted for his nest.  And the foam sheets I’ve had for a long time; I’ve used some of it for face painting signs over the past 7 or 8 years.

Are you planning on making any more puppets, or upcycling any more shirts?

Ooooooh, yes!  My sister is now demanding a girl puppet to keep Nathaniel company, and my husband was actually so sorry to see Nathaniel go that he wants me to make another for our house!  Plus, this contest actually inspired me to go get two sewing books, one on recycling t-shirts and the other on making stuffed animals, AND it inspired me to ask for a sewing machine for my birthday, which my sister and brother-in-law bought for me.  This time I’ll do it right; I’ve gathered a bunch of my old clothes–skirts, shirts, sweaters, jeans–as well as some of my mom’s, and I’ll be using all of that as my fabric.  I’ve got a lot of good stuff to work with that way: linen, corduroy, denim, and who knows what else.  I’ve started looking at everything in the context of something else. I think Eric has started hiding his clothes lest I confiscate it for toys.

Do you have any advice for anyone, whether it be upcycling, puppet-making, or sewing advice?

Hm… mostly to have fun with it! Also, be careful about doing things when you’re too tired to focus.  And don’t rush; I was so hot to get the blue t-shirt done that I accidentally sewed the first sleeve wrong-side-out, then had to tear it back out and do it again.  As for recycling, take a look around.  I’d never done anything like this, so my first instinct was to go out and buy new shirts, which was silly.  Now that I’m looking around with new eyes, I see a ton of available “fabric” right here in my house.  If anyone’s interested in how to make the puppet, I actually blogged the whole process at http://reefbotanicals.blogspot.com/2010/08/and-now-for-something-completely.html.  It’d be really fun if other people tried it, changed it up, and commented to the blog post with links back to their creations too!

And finally, if you could enter any kind of crazy, challenging contest, what kind would YOU pick?

Oooooooooh, putting me on the spot!  Let’s see… Maybe making something out of components you wouldn’t normally use?  Like a vase out of something that’s not glass, china, or clay.  Or like those Project Runway challenges where they make the contestants make dresses out of leaves and flowers or junk from the recycling center.

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Reef Botanical’s shop: http://handmadeartistsshop.com/Larissa.html

Reef Botinical’s blog: http://www.reefbotanicals.blogspot.com/

Dream Again Jewelry – Bold and Beautiful Jewelry

Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 May 2010 09:20 Written by DreamAgainJewelry Tuesday, 11 May 2010 08:38

Making jewelry has always been a passion of mine. I have been making jewelry for 17 years, since I was 20 years old. I happened into my first bead store while on vacation in Santa Cruz, CA., I immediately fell in love. The glass, clay, porcelain, metal, pearl, and shell beads overwhelmed me. I had no idea how to make any jewelry, but I bought some African trade beads, some leather, and some clasps. My first attempts were rather simple, but I was hooked. I am a completely self taught jewelry artist. I read all the books I could get my hands on, and later I searched the internet. I find great pleasure in making jewelry and I hope you find great pleasure in wearing my one of a kind treasures.

I make three different collections of jewelry; the bold and beautiful, vintage inspired, and chainmaille. All my jewelry is made by hand with pliers, wire, chain, beads, and stones. I don’t solder anything, it is all securely wrapped in wire. I sit at the work table and look over all my beads, and there are many, and just let the inspiration strike. I start dreaming up the jewelry and before you know it, I have a beautiful necklace, bracelet, or one of many other beautiful creations. I love to do custom work.
I spend my time making and selling jewelry on Etsy, writing about jewelry matters at my blog.
You can also follow me on Twitter, and my Facebook Fan Page.

The Artists Community

Last Updated on Thursday, 11 March 2010 08:18 Written by dreamriverdesigns Monday, 1 March 2010 04:03

The Handmade Artist Forum as a community

Community defined,

 a unified body of individuals:  b : the people with common interests 

 Since the advent of the Internet, the concept of Community no longer has geographical limitations, as people can now virtually gather in an online community and share common interests regardless of physical location.

Handmade artist forum http://handmadeartistsforum.com/forum/index.php is an ever growing community of individuals getting together to support, inspire, teach and learn from other handmade artist.  The community has grown and spread to include: an etsy team, facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/HAFteam/411011475367?ref=ts, artfire guild, this blog, the handmade artist shop www.handmadeartistshop.com and a few others.

The forum is a community to exchange hints,links, helps and also features a weekly chat for real time communications.  Members come from all over the world to join together in this community.  The group is open to anyone that creates handcrafted works or those that appreciate handcrafted.  Many different types of work are represented in a multitude of mediums from; textiles, glass, metal, crystals the list goes on. 

I believe Sheran Simo sums it up well,

http://www.facebook.com/smsimo#/pages/Indianapolis-IN/Sheran-M-Simo-Co/86434976361? 

“I am so impressed with the way Handmade Artists Forum members support and encourage each other! Over and over I see people going the extra step to explain something they’ve done, and encourage the use of their ideas! I often see artists trying something new, just because the person doing the original work is so willing to present it in a way that is easy to understand, or photographed in a way that it’s easy to determine how it was done, and then willing for others to “copy” it. I can say, that up to this point there seems to be an equal balance of those posting and those learning and I cannot see evidence that the forum is being abused. What a wonderful environment to be a part of!!! ”