Holiday Sneak Peek

As you know I have been working over time to get all my holiday goodies made. Yesterday I hunkered down and made things after a very annoying sidestep to the post office. I made 15 new zippy pouches and 9 fused pins, including these new cute flower pins.

I am obsessed with the orange fairway zippy pouches I made. They may be my new favorite.

Here is also a sneak peek at what I made for Avice (AKA my surrogate grandmother). She loves all things black and white so I stenciled her these pillowcases. They took a little more work then I expected because my paint was old. I couldn’t understand why it was so hard to do and why the paint kept running. Finally a little light went off in my brain and I realized my paint was at least three years old and that might not be such a good thing. New paint helped immensely and I finished these up yesterday. One case has a pattern repeat three times and one has it twice, which felt right at the time but now I am not so sure. In truth it doesn’t matter I am leaving tomorrow and I am not allowed to add things back to the list!

I will be away for 10 days visiting the lovely Avice and other good family. I will bring my camera and try to give you updates while away. I hope everyone has a lovely holiday season.

Fused Pins

I have been in a bit of a crafting funk. I have plenty of ideas but I seem to be lacking some motivation. I blame this silly sinus thing that seems to be lingering on and on and on…
But last night I managed to break through the haze. I had some good alone time cause my guy was out playing with an old friend. I had several strips of fused plastic left over from the MAD DIY salon. I could make a ton of bracelets but really how many does a girl need?
So instead I made these lovely pins. I cut up the strips and sewed them together and in a recycling moment of inspiration the center in from an old metro card. I think they are the bee’s knees. They make me want to wear hats or something. Or at least wish I was going to a British wedding again.

I’m Mad for MAD Museum

I am a bit delayed in telling you all what a wonderful time I had at MAD last week. Church of Craft along with MAD museum did a DIY salon that was all about recycling, repurposing and remaking things.
I had the great honor of showing folks how to make a bracelet out of fused plastic bags and buttons. I spent a couple of insane days fusing bags in preparation and was glad to be able to open some widows.
I was amazed at how creative and talented everyone was. I have been working with these materials for over a year and it blew me away how differently each person approached this project. Here are a few samples of the great work. Above is the lovely Rev. Callie showing off the a sample cuff. Unfortunately I did not manage to get the names of all these creative folk but I would love to give them credit so if you see your work or a friends please e-mail me so I can give credit where credit is do!














And last but not least the lovely Amanda showing off her cuff.


I would also like to thank my fabulous Church of Craft volunteer, Mary, without whom not nearly as many bracelets would have been made.

Plastic Bag Crafting in the Wind

This past Saturday the lovely Callie and I spent a couple hours battling the wind at Brooklyn Bridge Park. We were suppose to teach plastic bag crocheted ipod cases the weather had other ideas. Mostly we stood under a tent trying not to get too wet. Here are a couple of pictures of us trying to cut up bags in a raging wind.

Knitting a Bag of Plastic Bags: Tutorial Part I

After a nice long weekend upstate I found myself with a yet another plastic bag project. I admit it, I went to walmart. And as if that wasn’t bad enough we didn’t bring enough of our own bags so we ended up with several more plastic bags. What’s a good little human ecologist to do? Make something!

So I collected our bags + others from the folks we were visiting and started cutting. I cut the bags in one long spiral strip. I find the best way to do this is by cutting off the top handles and bottom of the bag so you are cutting the strips from a long tube. I also like to cut up a bunch before I start to knit. Cut the strips about ¾” to 1”- it doesn’t need to be perfect!

You can knit plastic bags just like anything else.

I have made a bag of plastic bags before and the best method I have found is to first knit a square for the bottom (mine is 6 ½” x 6 ½”). Keeping the bottom stitches “live” (don’t cast them off) proceed to pick up stitches along the other three sides of your square on circular needles.

You will now be knitting in the round.

Knit in the round adding a new bag when you run out “yarn” (yes you will have to weave in all those ends at the end, sorry).

It is best not to make it too loose a gauge. I am working on 10 ½ needles and getting about 4 st to the inch. The bag will stretch a lot once you put things into it!

Blue Prints Handle with Care

I just had to share my latest plastic bag fusing project with you all, cause it's so darn cute! It is made from the clear bag I was given when I bought paper during a rain storm. It says “blue prints handle with care” on it. I made it to sell on Etsy but it is so cute that I am thinking we might need to keep it for beach trips.

The Great Exchange

Have you all heard of the Green Bag Lady? She has embarked on the noblest quest of all, to rid the world of plastic bags one bag at a time. If you e-mail her she will send you a lovely fabric bag for free. All that she asks in return is that you use it instead of a plastic bag and that you send her a picture of you and the bag. I just received bag #516. Because I think she rocks, I made her a NY times zippy pouch in return.

You can go to her site by clicking here.

Plastic Bag Wallet

My guy suggested I try making a wallet out of plastic. I think he was sniffing around for a cool birthday gift, sorry Bud, tube socks for you but I tried anyway.

Now mind you it was a first attempt and it appears to be way too big. I guess pockets need to be smaller than cards are high and there is way to much room in the back. But hey it was a first try. I am not really sure about durability either; I actually think the clear plastic is most durable. Ah well next time!

Plastic Transparencies

I have been busy sewing away here and fusing lots of plastic. Plastic is fun and all but I kinda miss sewing with actual cloth. Today I am actually working on a fabric secret sewing project. But because the sewing project is super secret right now I thought I would show off some more plastic.

I have been playing around with transparencies. At night this looks like a blue block on the window but come morning these lovely doves come out to play. The best part is they are 100% reused plastic bags. I cut the doves out of 6 layers of plastic fused together then position them on plain blue plastic from out of town new paper bags.

The Proof Is In the Photo

Starting my etsy shop made me really think about the photos I have been taking of my work. My standard photos have been pretty good but not up to competing for sales. Not to give too many trade secretes away but my previous photos where taken on a spare sheet I spread out over my bed. The problem is that a: my bed needed to be made; b: the sheet always needed another ironing; c: the sheet was beige; and it needed to be light out for the photo to work out well. The other issue, which only just occurs to me, is that we have ivy that grows over our bedroom windows and was dead all winter and has now sprung to life reducing the light in the room.

So I decided to build myself a light box. This consisted of getting my guy to bring a really big box home from work; he also snagged some of that paper that goes over exam tables. I cut out three sides of the box and covered it in the paper. Now, no matter what time of day, all I have to do for a good picture is place the thing in the box and hit it with a light from the outside, the light is diffused and the piece look lovely.
Pros to the new system: I can take photo’s anytime of day or night. I don’t need to make my bed. Things don’t have to have a beige backdrop. AND I don’t have to iron as much.
Cons:
I have to store a really big box with fragile paper sides in a New York apartment.
Sadly, I think it is totally worth it, but you be the judge.

Photo of cool NY times zippy pouch old way

Photo of cool NY times zippy pouch new way

Etsy Site

I have been diligently fusing bags for the last couple of days so that I could start my very own etsy shop. You can check me out here or by searching for MahkaCrafts in the seller category or by clicking on that nice link over to the right that says "check out my etsy site". I am pretty excited about having my very own shop for all things reused plastic. I am also in the process of putting together a couple kits for those out there with craft fears.

In the mean time I thought I would share my profile photo. The photo on my shop page is pretty small but it is actually a flower made from, you guessed it, plastic bags. I did a couple different versions. I think they are pretty darn cool.

The Cutest Birthday Gift Ever!

Shh! It’s kinda a surprise. Okay it is a late birthday gift for part of the California Contingency who is in town tonight. I think I am safe to post this because she is escorting her grandmother to town and therefore will have no access to modern conveniences like computers and blogs.

I may be in love with this trio of zippy pouches. One traditional pouch made of cloth (anyone recognize that fabric?) and two re-purposed plastic bags. I particularly like the target pouch. I fused a clear bag on top make it stronger but I think it might have been happier without it. Still all in all I think it is super cute. The best part of the target bag is on the inside, I caught target’s suggestions for reusing the bag i.e. “doggy duty” and “soggy laundry” just to mention two.

Craft Neglect

The thing about writing a craft blog is you can really get away with a lot of unfinished business. First, you can present yourself as all types of impressive for finishing projects left and right. Second, most people don’t mind progress shots. What you all don’t know is the stash of half finished projects hidden around my house: behind the couch, tucked in a basket, sitting in plain sight on my craft table.

A few years ago I took part in a Church of Craft exhibit on unfinished projects. We all hung a couple never-ending projects on the wall and then wrote a little bit about why we hadn’t finished them. Well I must confess, those two projects are still hidden away.

This morning I was reading one of my favorite craft bloggers, the Blather Magather, she like many crafters has a couple of larger projects languishing. She suggested that the Department of Neglected Crafts (DNC) was going to come beat down her door. I confess this sent a shiver down my spine when I thought of all those projects I have been neglecting for newer shinier ideas.

So in the spirit of full disclosure I thought I might share my top 10 abandon projects. Maybe if I talk about them I will remember how much fun they were and maybe the DNC will go easier on me…

Here it is my top 10 recently forgotten craft projects (mind you there are more, some so forgotten I can’t remember them):

1. The Beast. Whom you have all meet. And with all those ends to sew in I say chances are slim for a fast finish.
2. Brown Sweater. This is one of the sweaters from loop-d-loop. The sad part is it is really almost done. A mere few inches left till done, but I can’t remember what needles I used and then removed for another project so I need to rip out half the sweater and start again.
3. Hyperbolic Baby Pants. See now the problem with this project was that it was really about the challenge of the knitting concept. I needed to see if the pattern making an odd tube could be turned into baby pants. Once I knit them and discovered with a little tweaking they could become baby pants I lost interest.
4. Top Secret Sewing Project #1. This is a present for a faithful reader so lets just say this: there is some carefully picked out fabric, there was some cutting even some sewing but since an initial burst of energy there is sits, and it kinda has a deadline.
5. Fused Bags. If I really showed you all the plastic bags I have around here categorized by color and weight you would ship me off to plastic bags anonymous.
6. Green Mittens. I knit them over a day and a half. All that’s left is one thumb and some end sewing. I made them over a month ago and they have not moved from their last resting place since. And hey its spring right?
7. Green Modular Crochet Sweater. This is a newer project. I started it this winter after chipping in with friends to buy this great Modular Crochet book. All the work on this sweater was done in about a week. I stopped because my wrists hurt and now it sits on top of my bookcase.
8. Placemats. I made one, started a second but alas the second sits on top of my craft corner.
9. Fingerless Gloves. I started these for a friend who lived in a really cold trailer. She no longer lives in a cold trailer-sigh.
10. I-pod Case. This might be my worst offense yet. This is a project for my guy, my very patient, not frustrated that his apartment has been taken over with plastic bags guy. I ran out of the right kind of bag and despite him buying more yummy things that come in those bags I have not finished, or even really thought about it.

Okay, I admit I feel a bit dirty with this admission of craft neglect. Perhaps the worst part of my craft neglect is all those confessed to today have been ignored in the last year. In other words this is a mere sampling of years of craft neglect. So here’s the deal, I promise to finish at least one project on the list before starting the next. And you all have to periodically remind me that there are many lovely projects already started for me to work on.

NY Times Zippy Pouch

At this point I think it is safe to say that we all know that I love to reuse plastic bags. However, cutting them up is kinda a pain. So I was really pleased when I discovered that people were fusing them into a stronger material and then using material to sew.

The folks at Etsy Labs have a great plastic bag fusing tutorial here.

I subscribe to the New York Times on the weekends and even though my building has a nice security guard (inside the building) to take the paper it still comes in a blue plastic bag. It is a very pretty color blue but it is no good to crochet or knit with, really I have tried. The material is too flimsy and stretches too much. Previous attempts to make things from these bags usually results in my cursing and kicking things. And despite all these short comings I can't bring myself to throw them out.

The Etsy tutorial suggests thinner plastic bags work betters so I thought I would give it a try, after all I seem to have an endless supply.

The fusing is pretty easy although the material is not as smooth as I thought it would be.

And yes Dad, I promise I opened all the windows in the house before taking the iron out.

After fusing it was merely a question of what to make out of this new found material. I admit I thought of cutting them up and then crocheting it into something but that seemed a bit masochistic, even for me.

So a zippy pouch seemed like the next best option. It was so much fun and so easy I think I am going to have to run out and get more zippers so I can make a ton more!

My Love of Reusing Plastic Bags

I have a love of reusing plastic bags. It started a couple summers ago when I was visiting some friends with an outrageous collection of plastic grocery store bags spilling out from under their sink. I was feeling a little bored with the knitting project that I had brought along so I decided, with great encouragement from the crowd, to knit a bag-o-bags. Before long I had help cutting up bags and what was born was a giant grocery store tote- which come to think of it I don’t have a picture of, I’ll work on that. What was also born was my love of reusing plastic bags.

I came home and immediately began experimenting with different techniques and size of plastic strips. I have discovered that I love to sit and watch bad tv while cutting plastic bags into long strips. I must advise that this can be an annoying project to someone you live with as it is a very loud and crunchy process and they might not enjoy watching bad tv with you as much while you are doing this.

My first nano case was fairly simple. It was a slip in crocheted case so when I wanted to change the song or adjust the volume I had to pull it out of the case. A few years ago I cracked an ipod screen (which is a pain to fix) so I sewed in a screen protector. Under the advisement of my number one craft advisor, AKA my friend Mary, I used that plastic cross stitching template you used for 2^nd grade craft projects.

Last Fall I decided to update the case. I used Chinatown red plastic bags. I don’t know if other Chinatown’s have red plastic bags but in NYC it is part of the fun of Chinatown. I still sewed in a screen protector which I hide under some fancy paper scraps I had around.

Recently, I have been pondering making my guy a clear case using plastic bags from Sahadi’s, a middle eastern specialty food shop in downtown Brooklyn, which has a fine quality of clear plastic bags. I think I have enough bags now but I can’t quite decide on a design. I’ll keep posted.