4 posts tagged “papercraft”
Every time I've tried to post to Vox since my last post, that Firefox 3 bug has eaten everything I've written... hence radio silence on this end.
However, I come bringing seasonal goodies!
I love the Japanese site Paper Museum. It's probably best-known for its printable room boxes, but what I wanted to bring to everyone's attention is actually a few pages of free pop-up cards that you can download and make.
- Christmas cards
- New Year's cards
- Letter sets
- Many more possible craft projects (vehicles, insects, boxes, etc.)
- If you check out the room boxes link, there are some winter and Christmas rooms there.
These are meant for A4 paper, which is a bit longer than American letter-size paper. I'd print on legal-size stock, I guess. You'll need the supplies you'd need for any other papercraft project -- craft knife, cutting mat, straight edge, gluestick or glue pen or both, etc. Skip any purple link buttons, which are just supply shopping links, but download the materials under the pink buttons (all in PDF form).
It's helpful to have the Perapera-kun (or Rikai-chan) Firefox extension for Japanese text translation installed -- hover over a word or phrase on a web page, and you'll get a popup with its meaning. To use Perapera-kun, you need to install Rikai-chan's dictionaries. This is useful for all Japanese sites, in my experience, though sometimes it can be a struggle to hash through to anything cohesive... it just depends on the site and how things are phrased there. For example, hovering over the room box links with Perapera-kun enabled will give you the name of each room.
I wrote a post here the other day, but I haven't posted it yet, because I have been working (by which I mean, "not working") on some images for it. Here is an entirely different, inappropriately long post for you. Which took hours to write.
The following is Full of Win:
It's a collection of punch-out cards, all of which have red flocking on them (that's velvety stuff). Every single one looks like it was produced at some point between about 1950 and 1965. There are envelopes in the middle, which are printed and themed to go with the cards, but you have to assemble the envelopes. At only $5, I think it's a really good addition to my ephemera collection. (My mom is in her early 50s. When she saw the book, she exclaimed that it was just like the Valentines that were given out among her classmates in elementary school in the early 1950s, so it definitely gets the retro seal of approval.)
Through a combination of circumstances that would be wearisome to describe, I have wound up thinking of buying myself some dolls. I used to collect dolls and some action figures in a casual manner. I bought a blonde 1972 Blythe before they became popular again (or, rather, at the cutting edge of that trend), but my girl needed some work and I wound up selling her to a Japanese collector a few years later because I didn't feel like doing things like rerooting her and finding a new leg for her and etc, and I figured that being paid $1200 for the pleasure of letting someone else do it would be ideal.
Anyway, when I sold my original Blythe, I also had a doll from the first issue of Rosie Red, who is very pretty. (I still have her, but a lot of my stuff is packed willy-nilly in boxes, and I have no idea where she is.) That doll is now worth upwards of $400, and I've considered selling her and buying Rosie Red Encore/Again, basically the same doll for a lot less money. However, I can't remember if I ever opened the box, and I have no idea what her condition will be when I find her. (The Rosie Red photo is taken from this Flickr page.)
I quit following Blythe for a while, because my heart was won over by a similar, slightly less-expensive doll named Pullip. I think it had something to do with a few of the earlier releases of Pullip having stars in their eyes! So, I got my first (so far only) Pullip about two years ago: Greggia. (The photo below is from this Flickr page.)
There have been a few dolls in the interim that I would have purchased (like Papin and Assa and Paja and Savon and a couple of the related Dal dolls, like Sooni and Fiori), but recently I fell hard for another Pullip that I wanted to add to my collection: Veritas. She's supposed to be "a Venetian explorer," but really she looks like Pirate Pullip Mark II, or perhaps more accurately Restoration Pullip; the first pirate Pullip was Rovam, who was more fantasy and less historical-looking.
Now, of course, since Pullip Veritas was the thing at the top of my Christmas list, with little stars and hearts around it and a note that said, "Everything else is optional but this is the thing I really want; I don't even need anything else!" -- of course, that being the case, Veritas was the one thing on my Christmas list that I didn't get. I got a promise to purchase it in January, but I'm pretty sure the person who made the promise (who was overly generous to me at Xmas anyway) can't actually afford to blow $100 on a doll right now.
The problem is that I've spent so much time plotting my purchase and sending telepathic "please arrive early" signals to my paycheck that I've had ample opportunity to look at other doll stuff, and found myself falling back in love with a few of the newest Blythes. So now I could quite easily spend my entire next paycheck on dolls (I didn't say I would, just that I could).
The specific doll that has caught my eye is Welcome Winter; she just came out very recently. I realize that she looks a lot like Pullip Greggia, actually: essentially neutral country print dress, pale jacket and head scarf, light brown hair. Her hair is ashier than Greggia's. I love that she wears a rabbit pendant, and then the same rabbit charm is at the end of the string that you pull to change her eyes (usually it's just a ring or, maybe, a tab... 72 Blythe had a ring but I think some of the newer ones might not). She has special, non-standard eye chips: two different shades of brown instead of a pink and an orangy golden brown. Before someone who has actually seen a photo of me gets around to saying it: yeah, when you display her blue eyes, she looks as much like me as a Blythe is likely to ever look. Maybe my hair isn't that dark. (The photo below is from this Flickr page.)
I have been looking around, though; I also love the following, and could be happy with any of them... in spite of their lack of a rabbit pull-string charm:
- Dainty Biscuit is very Victorian Princess (and not particularly hime-loli, I think), with long, wavy, light pink hair. To match her dress -- like you do. (Well, when I had pink hair -- darker pink than that -- I tended to have to match my clothes and lipstick to it!) She also has special eye colors, like purple! (Dainty Biscuit Flickr Pool.)
- Enchanted Petal has a dress that actually looks like it could have been decorated with candy sprinkles, and has light aqua-colored hair. She also has special eye colors. (Enchanted Petal Flickr Pool.)
- Pullip Prunella is one of the very newest Pullips; she is a special collaboration with h.Naoto, a Japanese street fashion brand (IE, very "alternative") and comes with a small human-size h.Naoto tote bag. Dal Hangry is also part of this line. These were hard-to-get in pre-order but for the moment people seem to be selling them for reasonable prices (more like a Neo-Blythe than a Pullip, but not too high).
- Pullip Blanche -- I don't like her outfit, but I do like her face paint and wig, and the wigs are interchangeable, so it seems like this might be one to buy naked on eBay at some point.
- There's a whole line of inexpensive re-releases of 1972 Blythe by Ashton-Drake, and there are several I'd like from that line (Medieval Mood, Lounging Lovely, etc).
- I could go on forever.
The worst thing is that I want a BJD really badly, have for around 5 years, probably an Elfdoll Lishe (here's a brunette Lishe and a blonde Lishe), and I was going to save up for that because it's like $600 and I really shouldn't buy it to begin with, and my plans are in ruins! I also need bookshelves! Egad!
I've left the role of Alice Cherry Blossom: Ballerina out of all of this; basically, I was going to buy her, instead of the Pullip doll, until I realized she's only five inches tall. Yeah, for $300, which was a stretch for me to begin with... when I thought she was more like 9 inches. She's cute but she's not that cute (that's like $60/inch!). Deciding not to buy her was what made me start to think about picking up Welcome Winter or one of the others.
Of course, the crafty application of all this is that I can customize them practically infinitely, and if you don't believe me, look around the Flickr groups I linked. When I had my 72 Blythe I didn't make clothes for her, but I did dress her in Skipper clothes and tote her around with me for a while. Now I've upped my game with some Re-Ment miniatures and so forth, and am working on getting or making or customizing some tiny furniture.
(The other doll thing I am super-bad at: I tend not to give them individual names. My Pullip Greggia is Greggia, which I pronounce "GREH-jee-ah", my Blythe was always Blythe, Rosie Red Blythe is Rosie Red, etc. Everyone else's dolls seem to be named things like Molly and Wren. If I ever got that BJD I'd probably just call it Lishe.)
All that aside: we are getting the sub-zero temps that have been sweeping across the Midwest this week. I just got a weather advisory in my browser that suggests that I cover any exposed skin before going outside. I tried to put the dog's sweater on her before I took her out this morning, and she was having none of it, trust me.
Finally, a few interesting (totally girly and appropriate for this post) art links:
Macoto Takahashi: Ultra-shoujo manga style, and I mean retro-shoujo. In 2001 I bought a little cardboard sliding-drawer organizer box at a NYC shop called Air Market that sold imported Japanese stuff; it had one of her illustrations printed on it. I also got some rub-on transfers of her art there at the same time (I gave one packet to a friend). I had no idea what the artist's name was until now.
Annika Wester: Sort of a cross between Jeffrey Fulvimari and Edward Gorey. Her official portfolio doesn't have a ton of stuff, so also check out this Annika Wester page and this Annika Wester interview (where they also bring up Edward Gorey; glad it's not just me).
I've written a couple of posts that aren't public yet; they're hanging around waiting for me to finish them. Mostly book reviews. Actual content! Imagine that. But I've been busy with lots of other stuff, and Vox rarely behaves completely well for me (it's slightly over-scripted for dial-up internet).
The good news is that I won't be on dial-up after Saturday. We're finally getting a high-speed connection. On the bad side, we don't have wireless internet yet, so it won't reach up to the computer I'm using at the moment for a while (I ordinarily use the one downstairs, but the one up here in my room is a better computer). I might just pick up a wifi card for it this week and see if I can piggyback on a neighbor's connection for a while. Can't do anything secure from there, but I can browse....
Anyway, I have spent a truly obscene amount of money on scrapbooking supplies in the last week or so (like, enough for the router and the wifi card, actually). I was telling my friend R. about it, and she was jealous and wanted good pictures of some of it. This is the punky/gothy edition, since it appeals most to her interests. (Me and R, we both like to listen to Nick Cave a lot.) Actually, it's a first installment. What I have here does not equal an "obscene amount of money" spent on scrapbooking - this is more like $12 or so, except for the stamps I bought.
I bought a lot of Rusty Pickle stuff at one store. This is from their Addams Family collection. I bought two sheets of the Uncle Fester paper, since I liked both sides so much: one is a purple harlequin pattern with black cats, the other is pinwheel rounds made with stylized skeletons. I like Morticia's bats a lot too. You can't see them, but the corners of the checkerboard side of the Gomez paper have spiderwebs (click for a better view).
Gomez and Wednesday
I also bought stuff from the Pirate Princess collection. These are, top to bottom, Lane de Belleville (this one is particularly pretty - see the closeup), Mary Read, Grace O'Malley (the icons are really cool) and Elizabeth Swan (sic):
They make some other Pirate Princess supplies... some papers and tags I didn't like as much, one paper called Rachel Wall that I tried really hard to buy (but every sheet they had was a mess - take a look at the larger version and see what the "flowers" actually are), and some stickers and stamps that I didn't see. These are definitely on my personal wishlist:
I don't think I'd actually use those stickers, from the center sheet, in scrapbooking, though.
I also saw the Creative Imaginations / Marah Whatsherface (Johnson?) "Caution! Girl" collection. There's something about it, to be honest, that rubs me the wrong way... the chipboard stickers are glitter-encrusted (something I'd prefer to do myself, if I want it at all), the epoxy stickers have silly slogans like "bad hair day" and stuff about messy rooms. It seems like something a mom who didn't quite "get it" would buy to make layouts about her daughter, the Avril Lavigne fan. It just feels off. (I don't even like or buy epoxy stickers: I'm always seeing ones in packages that have warped in on themselves.)
However, they have some really cool brads that I almost bought, and that wouldn't be a bad fit tucked away somewhere on a Pirate Princess page. I promised R. I'd find a picture of these for her, and here they are, only a tiny bit bigger than life-size. Yes, they have pink rhinestones for eyes:
I also bought these "Roxie Gothic" alphabet stamps from the Love, Elsie collection. There are also "Roxie Gothic Dots" stamps, which are the outlined letterforms filled with little polka dots. (Gothic is a misnomer here, though: this isn't what a "gothic" font looks like. Those are very plain and simple, check out "Franklin Gothic" for an example. This is an Old English/Blackletter/Fraktur/German style, with a twist.) There are these bright, jelly colors on the package, but the stamps themselves are clear, the kind made to cling to an acrylic block.
That's all for now. I'll try to get those reviews up soon. And maybe Supply Haul Installment #2, for anyone who's curious.
Because it's almost Talk Like A Pirate Day (19 September), here are some pirate-themed craft links for you.
Hello Yarn might be your one-stop Jolly Roger-themed free pattern shop. There are some great patterns here, with Norwegian-style pirate mittens and cap taking the cake, but don't miss the squirrel mittens, the many other skull chart items, the anime character bonnet, the great sweaters, or anything else.
Moth Heaven provides this pattern (PDF) for an "arrrgyle" sock enhanced with a skull-and-crossbones motif. (via BoingBoing.) She also has a pattern for a felted pirate hat for kids. (How much more awesome could this lady be?)
In the Arrrgyle pattern, she references this excellent pattern from Katydid Knits: Jack Sparrow's Favorite Socks, which references and sends us back to...
the We Call Them Pirates hat at Hello Yarn.
(the reinterpretation of the chart at Katydid Knits suggests that the same chart might be useful for the cuff of an otherwise plain mitten, or for a wrist-warmer. Also, the Jack Sparrow's Favorite Socks pattern looks like an excellent first project for someone wanting to do stranded knitting. Katydid Knits mentions that this pattern is now linked from Knitting Pattern Central, which is where I found Hello Yarn to begin with. It's getting to be the time of year when a girl wants some wrist warmers....)
You can try knitting this great Skull and Crossbones Lace, which could have many applications. A scarf or shawl? Edging for linens? It's up to you! Be as creative as you want to. In colors other than white, it would be perfect for some Mexicana-style crafting for Day of the Dead.
Maybe you would prefer to crochet a little skull motif?
How about a pretty little pirate dress for your Blythe or Pullip doll, courtesy of MagKnits?
This post was initially titled "Knit Like A Pirate." As it turns out, the official site for Talk Like A Pirate Day actually has a Knit Like A Pirate page, with a free downloadable pattern for a cool bag, "The Pirate Queen's Booty Bag." They link to a page by like-minded folk, KnitLikeAPirate.com. Not much there yet, but so far it looks like they're planning to put up several hat patterns and a pattern for a "yarn galleon"!
Here are a few skull charts for general purposes: basic shaded skull chart from Flickr user "notanartist", skull and crossbones chart in two sizes from supermitten.com, another skull and crossbones chart from BrainyLady, and a skull chart for many uses from domiKNITrix.
Glampyre Stefanie uses her own skull and crossbones chart in a felted fair isle bag.
Street Legal Designs offers a most excellent item for your trusty first mate: a Skull and Bones Dog Sweatshirt. There's even a glow-in-the-dark yarn for the skull motif! Removes all traces of scurvy from your dog.
Here's Rhonda K. White's skull and crossbones washcloth or dishcloth. The simple knit-and-purl pattern could be adapted to other projects. It's subtle, and you can't be too careful on the high seas.
Strange But Trewe has a Lacy Skull Shrug, and promises a pattern in the future. (The question is: is bubblegum pink a properly piratical colour?)
AndSheKnitsToo offers a fabulous skull scarf, featuring both jolly roger motifs AND black and white stripes. Possibly the most buccaneer-friendly scarf on all the internets.
Ysolda has a skull and crossbones illusion scarf. Confound your friends, perplex your enemies, and pass safely under the eye of the Royal Navy!
Yorick, a felted, skull-ended scarf by Kate Kuckro, made its debut last fall in Knitty. The suggested white yarn not only felts properly, but is also snuggly soft.
Getting away from the skull motif, there are these cute striped and ruffled armwarmers designed by Vickie Howell. I suppose if you wanted, you could intarsia-in a skull pattern, too. =/
If you don't knit or crochet, perhaps you'd like to sew yourself up an eyepatch?
Hobbyists can tackle this plastic "Jolly Roger" ship model, one of several pirate ship models that are widely available (see also Captain Kidd).
A search on "beads", "pirate", or "skull" at Century Novelty will turn up lots of crafting possibilities. Especially of the bead variety. Old Fashion Halloween sells a skull pan in both cake and cupcake sizes.
Looking for something for kids? How about a pirate ship or Spanish galleon made from a milk carton? Or a "pirate playdate" inspiration site, complete with craft ideas and fun recipes? (I stole one of their cute pics for this post!)
And all pirates should beware of the giant squid! Squid-shaped phone case by Winged Kamui, squid hat (PDF) by Strange But Trewe. Perhaps these squids are haunted by skeletal fish... they don't look upset, though, do they? However, this squiddy is, supposedly, naughty.
Edited to add:
Skully Purse and iPod/Cellphone Cozy for machine knitters.
Kpixie (formerly KnitPixie) also designed a skull chart. Nicely detailed, with cartoonishly uneven teeth. Love it!
(Stripey!) Skinny Skully Scarf from one of my Craftgrrl crewmates on Livejournal.
How could a pirate function with no place to keep their booty?
Pieced Paper Treasure Chest pattern for papercrafters.
Treasure Chest Pattern for woodworkers. This one looks more complicated than it is. (Mirror site of sorts.)
Another Treasure Chest Pattern for woodworkers. This one is more difficult than the previous one.
For kids, a Pirate Treasure Chest to make from a tissue box. Also, a pirate themed Enchanted Learning page with crafts like a treasure box and a little boat. At HearthSong, you can buy this treasure box kit for older kids who are just learning woodworking.
Kids of all ages can enjoy this Treasure Chest Cake... complete with edible booty! Here's another Treasure Chest Cake, filled with M&Ms and other candies.
Here's some booty that almost anyone can make. It's a series of jewelry photos from magazines like W, glued to cardboard, cut out carefully, and joined into a necklace with wire rings. A kid could easily do this with paper clips, cereal boxes, and a couple of magazines.
Beyond that, you might be interested to see this pirate-themed embroidered diorama.
Or you might like to sew this handsome young cartoony skull bag.
And don't forget that Sublime Stitching has a pirate-themed set of embroidery transfer patterns, for the low price of US$3. (I don't know about you, but I've paid more for a cup of coffee.)
Don't like crafts? Do like puzzles? Check out The Treasure Hunt at The Problem Site.
*
I don't think I linked the following above, but it's possible it might be a double link: Zombies Need Not Apply, a skull fair-isle wristwarmer pattern from MagKnits.
Check out Spirals Free Patterns for several cool things, including a diagonally-striped scarf (photo 1, photo 2) and lace-up skull armwarmers (chart, photo 1, photo 2).
Published since Talk Like A Pirate Day:
I may come back in the next few weeks and tidy this post up by category: skulls, sea creatures, treasure, etc. I will also be adding a parrot pattern or two, though they are thin on the ground. (As parrots often are.)
Also, thanks to Talk Like A Pirate (yes, the official site of the day!) for the link!
4 October - Edited to add some parrots! For knitters, a Painted Parrot Cloth. For beaders, a chart for a colorful parrot (along rainbow macaw lines), and another for a cockatiel amulet bag. Several free parrot designs are featured on the bird page at Dawn's Cross Stitch. Not free, but very dramatic, is this 3D Parrot necklace or kit for beaders.
And Vickie Howell's book New Knits on the Block, which features fun and funky patterns to make for kids, has a whole pirate set in it, which includes a knitted parrot. (I think. Also, a mermaid costume for little girls.)
