Just to remember my sewing days...

Lately I'm working a lot with my paper boxes, but I have no idea on how I'll finish them... LOL

Then I started to look around the net to find some techniques and ideas, so I got a bit more excited about doing craftwork again... XD

Today I made myself a new pincushion... I really was in need to have one, but I just got delaying making one, even loosing my needles and pins every time I was sewing for not having a place to leave them... LOL

So, like 2 days ago I made little triangular paper boxes, thinking about making the pincushions. I just finished one and I'm happy on the way it's looking, and will work on the other tomorrow... or not... XP

There they are... XD. I made a chocolate one, and I have no idea on what I'll make with the other.

Isn't lovely? I'm just thinking about making less decorations on the top, as the needles need to be there... LOL. So probably I'll use this one to pins and the other for needles, because I always have needles with embroidery threads.

I always wanted to make some felt sweets, like cakes and cupcakes, but never have really made one, and now I'm in love... XD

Well, that's all for today's post... I'm in need to post my last B.A.P. wallie, but I'm just too lazy to post it now... LOL... will do it tomorrow, I swear... XP

EDIT:

I couldn't resist to make the other pincushion!

Here it is:

As I didn't want something with lots of things topping it, I  made a pie slice, pretty plain and simple.

Maybe I'll add something more later, like at the sides, but I'm still not sure... for now, that's all and I'm happy... XD

How I painted... (Papier Collé - last part)

To paint the box, the next day, after letting it dry, I used the paint left from my bedroom walls, as said in the previous post.

I applied it twice, using a dish-wash sponge.

The first layer of paint with the soft side, and the second using the soft side first and then making some texture using the other side.

If you don't want the paper markings you can make a layer of "putty".

Found it at the same website I found the paint explanation:

"putty"

So you can have an idea of what I'm talking about *total lack of vocabulary*.

Here it is when done, with other 2 "experiments", a round/cylindric box and a square one.

I can use it two ways,  to organize my DVDs and CDs:

Or as a storage box:

My original idea was making more boxes, like modules, and place them somewhere with my CDs. But I liked the way it turned out at the end, and made the other 2, just to test. They are entirely made with cardboard. I'll show how I made it with other tutorial, when I kick out my lazyness to post... LOL.

The square is pretty much the same as the rectangle, but the round one is a bit more tricky to make.

Hope my posts can help someone... XD

That's all for today. EDIT - Links to the other parts:

Part 01
Part 02
Part 03
Part 04
Part 05

Just like wrapping a gift... (Papier Collé - pt. 05)

The technique itself is all about layering paper to make the structure stronger. You can work with messy torn hand cut pieces, or, as I made, with rectangles. Working with messy pieces is great if you have leftover paper, or if you want to leave a texture. As I'm lazy and wanted to make it faster, I worked with rectangles... LOL

There's no secret to work with the sides, the "trick" is how to work with the bottom. This is my last layer, and  as you see, it's the entire page, and part of it is placed at each side.

Basically what I made was just fold it like wrapping a gift and spreading glue all over the paper to make it all well fixed. The glue helps it to be harder when dry.

Then finished with a big patch to cover all the paper borders.

Now, the borders. Turning it "upside up", you can see my messy layers. I just had it all loose and then placed in with glue.

The "trick" is that when you work with the joint corners, you have to pay attention to the "extra" piece and fold it carefully. Don't forget to spread the glue inside the folded paper and in the back of the folded part to have it all well fixed.

The next layer I made the folding to the other side, and you have to alternate it along the layers you decide to make. If you don't want it to be "larger" than the other parts, as the folded paper are just like "extra" layers, just cut the piece you don't need. I assembled it all together.

There's a lot of ways to make "finish". You can do anything, paint it, wrap with cloth or gift paper, or use any other craft/painting technique. I just painted it with wall paint/ink, just a leftover from my bedroom wall painting. There's like half of bucket left and, as I wanted to make the box match the "decoration". It's a water-based product, and there's no need to apply any varnish, as it has a smooth texture and its a "washable" kind of paint.

Looking at the brand website in English it says: "A satin finish acrylic paint, high durability and hiding power with sophisticated finish."

You can take a look here:

Tintas Suvinil

I made it with a bit of texture, and I'll show it at the next post... XD. EDIT - Links to the other parts:

Part 01
Part 02
Part 03
Part 04
Last Part

Now, I have a box! (Papier Collé - pt.04)

Now, to my experience look like what I want, I needed to assemble the last part.

Placed it and started to work with the sides first. Left one first and then the right side.

With both sides fixed, it's easier to work with the bottom, as it's the longest corner. Then I fixed the middle first, and then worked along the remaining parts, left and right, and the joint corners.

Made it all well fixed with the large pieces of paper and worked with the box border and with the inside corners.

After fixing the inside corners with crossed tapes and the large pieces, I had my box done!

After placing 2 other layers of paper all over, outside and inside, it looks like that.

I'll show how to place some layers in the next post, so don't worry... LOL

EDIT - Links to the other parts:

Part 01
Part 02
Part 03
Part 05
Last Part

Making the box borders (Papier Collé - pt. 03)

To cover the open part borders I placed the paper outside first. Layering the stripes.

As you see, I decided to work with little pieces/stripes instead of one larger that would cover all the side. Why? It makes easier to glue them inside, as you work in sections and don't mess it all over, ripping, or having to worry if the paper is aligned.

Turned upside down and started to work with the first piece, that was at the bottom of the layers.

After placing all them, looks like this:

Next step, closing the last part and having my box entirely assembled. LOL.


EDIT - Links to the other parts:


Part 01
Part 02
Part 04
Part 05
Last Part

First try to work with joint corners - (Papier Collé - pt. 02)

To fix the joint corners, I first tried to use the crossed tapes, but, this isn't "that" simple.

 When you place it at the side of the box looks like that. And when you "bend" it a little piece will stick together and "out of place".

Like that. Then just pick a scissor and cut that off. Make the same, but let the piece you will cut in a different corner.

Next, the joint that will be on the open part of the box.

 I placed the tape inside, and then turned/moved it to the outside, but again, you will have the little piece that needs to be cut off.

Crossing the tapes, I had one cut at each side border.

And this is how it looks inside:

If you saw the previous post, you can see that I made it BEFORE  putting the crossed tapes at the inside corners. But I think that there's no difference, if you do it before or after, as it's just to make it well fixed.

End of part. 02.


EDIT - Links to the other parts:

Part 01
Part 03
Part 04
Part 05
Last Part

Want to learn with me? (Papier Collé - pt. 01)

After some friends always tell me about how I should make tutorials about my craft works, I decided to share my journey through discovering how to work with Papier Collé.

I don't have any experience with this technique and all I know is what I saw on TV and some magazines.

After trying to clean the clutter at our closet, I took a look to a pile of very old books (they're from 1973, and it's even older than me, I'm from '75). They are about psychology, and completely out of date. A lot changed since then, and no one will want it. So, instead of just throw them away I decided to make something to recycle. First, I thought about making some baskets, using a "basket weaving" technique I'm used to make, using paper tubes.

But short little pages would make it a nightmare. Usually, making the tubes are the worst part of the job, if you're using newspaper and make long ones, or use magazines and short ones, but making it with a hand book size of sheet would be really time consuming in two ways, to make enough tubes, and after this, to weave them all and make the basket.

Then I was sitting at the sofa, watching TV and there's some craftworks tv shows, some of them are "latin" made (don't know in where), and other are made here in my country (Brazil), and there were a teacher showing how to work with carton sheets and torn pieces of paper.

After some thinking and some research about it, I found a recipe for a homemake glue, and decided to try it. Homemade glue has like almost no cost and the old books are here just cluttering.


This is where I started:

One book, and 3 pieces of cardboard box. "Professional"  people use cardboard/carton paper you can buy at stores, with different weight/sizes/grams, but as I'm making a test and just trying to see how things works, I'm just making use of what I have on hand.

I measured the book cover, it's a hard cover one, and I'm taking advantage of them to make the base of my box. Took measure of a CD cover, as I decided to make a box to put them inside, and cut the cardboard.

Next, I made the homemade glue with this recipe:

1  cup of water
1 tablespoon of all purpose flour

Cook until thick. Let it cool a bit. Whisk in one tablespoon of common glue (this is optional) and don't forget to pour some kind of chemical thing (like bleach, or as I did, toilet cleaning product, without bleach, with flower scent... LOL, but if it kills germs in your toilet, may keep bugs away). Not much of that, just like a teaspoon. It looks like "gruel", and don't work as well as glue, put keeps things together... LOL.

At TV they work with masking tape, but, as I don't have it, and all I have is double-sided tape, I'm working with it and pieces/strips of paper.

All the time, the teacher was talking about making sure you need to cross the tapes, so that's why they are placed that way.

Like these. And, you can see that the pieces aren't really together, it has like a 2 millimeter space in between, so when I bend the tapes it will not rip away.

I placed the tapes with the corners on and took the first pic to show how the tapes should look. And this second pic is to show it "assembled". Thing is, I put the back/bottom of the box first, and then the sides, because it helps to make it easier to let assembled and work with the other side.

To fix the side corners I worked with both sides the at same time, like this:

Just to let everything placed, and after that I crossed the tapes like I made with the other corners.

Next step was to place large pieces of paper to help fix the corners.

With a brush, spread the glue and place everything. 

But you should be thinking: "Wait, it's just like half of the box!"

Yes, it's just "half" of the box and you'll understand it in a moment.

Having just 3 sides and the bottom assembled allow me to work with the corners inside and show them better... XD

Closing the other side will make it harder to work and darker to take the pics.

Like you can see, I crossed the tapes inside the box, just like I made outside, and, again, used the glue to place large pieces of paper.

To don't make a giant post, I'll continue it in another one... XD

The next, I'll show how I worked with the "joint" corners.

EDIT - Links to the other parts:

Part 02
Part 03
Part 04
Part 05
Last Part