Posted by Athos on 2005-08-19 19:42:04
Post Subject: SF Bay Area - do you need candlemaking supplies?
hey, anyone want to make candles? i live in berkeley, and i have two bags of candle making stuff. new wax and recycled wax to be melted, wicks, etc. i've been holding onto it for two years, thinking 'oh, i'll make time for it soon' but i'm starting grad school and i'm just not going to have time. i think i even have some fragrances. PM me if you can come pick the stuff up!
Posted by CraftinFool on 2004-11-28 11:00:39
Post Subject: Have you made sushi candles, or other specialty candles?
I've been seeing those awfully cute sushi candles online and wondering if anyone has tried their hand at making sushi candles? Like, either molded ones that look like whole pieces of sashimi, or the handrolled beeswax ones that look like cut sushi rolls? Or how about other novelty candles?
I have candle-making stuff but I'm realizing I'm only motivated to use it if it's for less traditional candle-making.
Posted by Camp Starlight on 2007-04-16 15:09:53
Post Subject: Summer Job for Crafty People!
Camp Starlight is looking for arts and crafts specialists to come and work for the summer! First and foremost, this is a seasonal position that would run from June 14 to August 12, 2007.
To tell you a little bit about Camp Starlight…
We are a 7 week, co-ed, residential camp located in Northeast Pennsylvania (about 2˝ hours from New York City). We will have close to 450 campers, ages 7-15. Consequently, we hire over 200 people from all over the world to work as part of our staff. Currently, we are looking for experienced, enthusiastic and qualified individuals to help out in this extremely active and popular program. We offer a great salary room and board included. Plus, it’s a lot of fun and this would no doubt be a summer position unlike any other!
Our program features: ceramics, woodworking, jewelry making, scrapbooking, macrame, tie-dye, candle making, soap making and much more!!!
For a full overview of Camp Starlight, please visit the \"Work @ Camp\" link on our website at www.campstarlight.com. You can also find an on-line application as well as plenty of pictures and videos.
If you have any questions or if you would like to hear more about this position, do not hesitate to call me toll-free at 877-875-3971 or e-mail usat info@campstarlight.com . I would be happy to go into further detail about our program and this position.
Hope to hear from you soon. Or, if you know someone else that might be interested in this position, I would appreciate it if you could forward this to them.
Posted by xEvilXashleYx on 2004-11-28 18:11:15
Post Subject: holiday gift ideas..help me out please!
This year, I'm poorer than poor, but that doesn't prevent me from having a list of people 10 miles long that I have to get things for...
My list covers mostly guys (but a few girls as well) from ages 16-22, so I'm needing some generic type gifts. If it helps, most of them are into the punker/rocker/emo stuff, and of course...cars. I've already made some cuffs, but I'd like something more than that...
I know a lot of techies, so something technology related would be great. I've got some computer hardware pieces that I ripped off of my old computer - cables, wires, chips and boards, etc. Any ideas as to what I could do with them?
Along with this, there are a handfull of pagan types who I'd love to make gift baskets for. I tried my hand at candle making and so far they're coming out alright...any ideas as to what else I can put in?
Posted by KateR on 2004-12-07 16:45:26
Post Subject: Soy Wax Candles, Anyone?
Hey - my first post to getcrafty...yay me!
Anyway, I'm looking for yet another thing to keep my hands busy. A friend gave me an interestingly scented soy wax candle from iriestar.com ("Lime and basil with just a hint of geranium help to cheer, uplift, and equalize.") Interesting in that you don't even have to light it in order to be cheered, uplifted, and equalized - all it takes is removing the lid. Whoo-whee!
Okay - so, I think I want to try my hand at candle making. Does anyone have a good place for me to start?
Posted by shakin*it*makin*it on 2005-08-23 18:38:57
Post Subject: chicago crafternoons anyone?
hello
a couple friends of mine and i were doing crafternoons a while back but due to full time jobs and schoolwork it sort of fizzled out. i'd like to start this up again- get more people interested (i've only been in chicago for a year and with only three of us, it was less likely to happen), and sort of change the approach. previously we would all just bring our own projects to work on- some school art work, some knitting, some collage, what have you- anything we were currently working on. i would like to suggest this approach instead- perhaps once a month plan a specific craft for everyone to explore. maybe someone has prior experience in the craft or they just pick up a book and we all learn together. things i'm interested in doing: paper making (going out to buy a paper shredder today!) book arts, screenprinting (could be tricky), candle making, sewing, embroidering, knitting, collage, any fun project in readymade mag, i'm open to learning anything...
we pick a project, bring our own supplies (or reimburse the planner), and pick someone's house to do it in. drink tea, meet new people, learn a new craft, have a blast.
interested? thoughts, suggestions? post or email me.
Posted by stella on 2005-07-24 00:19:58
Post Subject:
the thing about wax is that it doesn't just get too hot and turn black or something, it gets to a certain temperature and bursts into flames.
this is a quote from a candle-making supply site:
Most paraffin waxes have a flash point around 395° F. When it reaches its flash point it may not smoke or bubble, it will usually just explode, splattering flaming wax in all directions. To avoid this catastrophe, always use the double boiling method to melt your wax. Water boils at 212° F, which is well below the flash point of any paraffin wax.
Posted by lizzymahoney on 2006-03-27 20:23:41
Post Subject:
Crafting in the forties was done out of necessity. In part because of WWII, but also because that's what people did. There were a lot of middleclass women who quilted from old clothes, or made new childrens clothes out of colorful feedsacks, or made paper valentines and christmas cards because that's all they could get. You didn't have the malls or evening shopping hours and entertainment so you stayed home and tatted or crocheted or baked. My dad's mother would cut down worn sheets into pillowcases, then into handkerchiefs, then rags.
In the fifties, the impetus was to get women out of the workplace and back into the homes so that all the men coming back from WWII would be able to find jobs that the women had been doing just fine up until then. Think Rosie the Riveter. Women had learned to enjoy earning money and making decisions but now it was a man's world again. So women took up more bizarre crafting in the fifties. This is just my view. I was born in '57. They still had the reuse/recycle wartime mentality, so if you look at craft books from back then there were a lot of things made out of tin cans and used magazines. One of my aunts made a fully upholstered with piping and padding ottoman or footstool out of juice cans fastened into a flower shape. Geez I wish i had that still. My mother's youngest sister had dotted swiss on her wedding gown, so she could cut it off and make a baby bassinet skirt from it. one thing that entranced me was cutting up tin cans to make "flowers" or decorative but razor sharp dust collectors. this is also when tires were inverted to make planters everywhere.
Sixties continued that bizarre slant, with macaroni encrusted boxes sprayed with gold paint, and cutting wine bottles into wind chimes or drinking glasses. sand candles and other candle making, the beginnings of tie-dyeing. Everything could be macramed.
i think I was the only person in the world who embroidered in the seventies. just kidding, but not. I knew no one who wasn't more than twice my age who embroidered then. lots of cross stitch, but not fine embroidery oh, rug hooking was popular.
Eighties were sort of anti-craft. I did a lot of the stuff I still do, but it just wasn't seen around. I worked on my natural materials as art phase. Lots of wreaths, topiary, bonsai, and continued using shells as jewelry as much as i ever did. My friends who crafted did things like make Care Bear or Cabbage Patch type dolls, or floral arranging for weddings. that sort of thing. I saw lots of pottery and ceramics back then. i knew more people who were taking up calligraphy and watercolors then.
The present, because of my age and cousins and coworkers all at the end of the Baby Boom, is full of people who want to remember how they did that thing they did in third grade, whether it was making a pinata or macrame guitar strap or doing bead weaving. No one ever wanted to learn how to braid palm sunday palm into fancy things back when i learned. But now, everyone remembers that a few people did that, and it looked cool.
Now people don't think I am weird because I made my own earrings or brooch or because I use a shell for a paperweight or a soapdish.
Posted by Athos on 2007-10-23 14:06:48
Post Subject: Project Monogamy - one crafty project at a time
So I wrote this whole post about only working on one project at once, and then realized I was ranting so I posted it to my blog instead.
http://paperdollygirl.wordpress.com/2007/10/23/project-monogamy/
For this space, I'll just ask - how many of you only work on one sewing/knitting/craft project at one time and finish it before moving on to something else? How does it affect your craft perspective? Any thoughts on the acquisition of fabric-yarn-patterns beyond one’s capacity to complete the objects?
I'm struggling with decluttering. I'm longing to simplify. I have been working all summer on reducing the stuff I don't want and making space for what I do want. I got rid of all of my candle making supplies, canning supplies, and two boxes of fabric. I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that I also need to get rid of my HUGE (and expensive!!) supply of craft paper and collage materials. I don't make cards anymore. I'm really only interested in textile work (yarn or fabric). I'm going to hopefully donate it all to a boys and girls club in Oakland. I cringe at the amount of money I spent on these items. To be fair, I did use a lot - but buying a whole big piece of decorative paper when I only needed a small amount has just left me with a ton of stuff.
How does decluttering fit in with a crafty life? And what responsibility do I have to my family to keep my hobbies from taking over our living space?
Posted by punkinpie_prod on 2005-06-12 19:40:47
Post Subject:
oh yeah the candy 'lickmsticks is what I thought this topic was going to be about. I don't remember but my mom might. She still had a candle making kit from her childhood.
You've got me thinking. Remember that colored goo you could roll into a ball put it at the end of a small straw and blow bubbles that just reeked off toxic nature. Those sure were fun.
Good Luck on your search.
Posted by Tomico Revilak on 2005-11-14 13:06:40
Post Subject:
I like old books that tell you how to do things for your self.
I bought some books on papermaking, sopapmaking and candle making. I just picked up "The Family Creative Workshop" series c. 1974. I don't have every book in the series yet because I bought them at the thrift store. I have 3, 7, 13, 14, 20, 21, and 22, but god are they full of information.
I've been looking for books on alternate energy and how to make things that are energy efficient. The only books I find that are modern tell where to buy producs and how to install prefab items such as wind turbines and solar products. Things written in the 60's and 70's tell you how to make a solar grill or oven and a variety of other less thought of items. It frustrates me to only be able to go to the library to get my info. I guess I'll have to break down and buy some of these books on line.
Posted by lilymaid on 2006-04-06 01:13:06
Post Subject:
I "helped" my mum with sewing projects at a very early age, stitching on buttons and such. I made weird little dolls out of fabric scraps and stuff, and Barbie doll dresses out of paper. When I was about 8 I decided embroidery was deathly cool, but I couldn't stand to do the cross stitching my older sister did, so I learned a few stitches for doing more freestyle stuff. When I was about 11 I fell madly in love with candle-making after my older sister took it up. In junior high, I started beading and my mother found it interesting and took it up, too. In a lot of ways our family used crafting as a way to spend time together. I still sew drive across town to sew with my mother about every other week.
I usually take something up out of sheer curiosity, and sometimes I fall madly in love with it. On the other hand, sometimes I stink at it. :)
Posted by lizzymahoney on 2004-06-30 14:47:26
Post Subject:
I don't know when, but definitely very early in life. I was embroidering at under five years for certain, although it was the child's kit with the plastic needle and holes in cardboard kind of thing. Fine embroidery in first grade or so. Paint by numbers kits and making doll clothes around then, too.
My mom was a Camp Fire Girls troop leader and didn't know any better. She thought that all the suggested crafts were things my older sister and her friends should be doing. So we did them. Only at their age, their mothers probably did more of it. And I tagged along. Candle making, macrame, applique, collage, decoupage, wreath making, corn husk dolls, face painting, papier mache, etc. Whatever people did in the early '60s. Yeah, I've made those angels out of folded Readers Digests spraypainted gold, and suet stuffed pine cones and bracelets out of oatmeal boxes.
Key was I didn't know other kids didn't do this sort of stuff. I had friends, but never seemed to notice that they didn't have fake fur coats and slinky knee sock nightgowns for their Barbies.
Then when my brothers went into Boy Scouts, I learned a hole bunch more crafty stuff including the use of power tools.
Posted by keeeen on 2005-02-18 16:56:28
Post Subject:
Name: Autumn
Location: Twin Cities
Age: 27
Married, 3 kidlets Iryche 8, Zadye 4, and Aiko 2
Pets: 6 yo orangey cat Osiris and brand new 2 mo shih tzu Odin
I collect: too much, dad was/is an antique dealer and I started at an early age, I've got Bakelite jewelry and am working on a collection of Bakelite handled kitchen utensils to hang on my kitchen walls once I get that ugly country heart wallpaper off it, anything thats glass and cobalt blue (amazing how much a color can touch your soul), craft supplies, especially fabric, have gobs that I buy at thrift stores, estate sales, loving the "ugly vintage" patterns lately...old plastic purses..rag rugs I find for 50 cents at garage sales...antiques christmas decorations, all things asian...
I have more neat ideas to try crafting than I actually do...one of the reasons I like this board, I live vicariously...my kids love to sew with me tho I don't do anything with a pattern or a machine, and sewing everything by hand takes a long time, I'm afraid of sewing machines tho, when I was five i was using my moms and sewed thru my finger...I do enjoy crosstitching, jewelry and ornament making, candle making, coloring with crayons and building with legos, recently discovered solder and glue guns and am thrilled at the possiblilties
I try to read every book that comes into my house, have a tough time with non-fiction tho unless its anthropological case studies, usually only get thru a couple pages otherwise. I have recently been into James Clavell, Shel Silverstein, Sandra Boynton, and getcrafty forums
I go thru huge phases with my music, listen to something from every genre, definately not a snob, I get too many pop and hip hop songs seared into my head for that. All time favs are Eartha Kitt, Billie Holiday, Beastie Boys, Beatles, Vivaldi, I like zydeco, old bluegrass, Bollywood, early nineties rap, late nineties techno, anything that makes me feel something
I like typing in run-on sentences...
I like to cook even tho my family is beyond picky...I can get the man and the youngest to eat a lot of Indian food right now which is good, its on the top of my list...I am definately a carnivore, altho I feel I should actually go hunt once to make me not take for granted the animals that I eat
I'm an awful housekeeper, I think there are too many other things that are more important to be doing then cleaning undermy refrigerator...I am also definately less stressed when my house IS clean...quandries galore...I don't make my kids get out of the mud puddles, or leave the bathtub when they've realized with their clothes still on, the water never got drained from the night before, we have flour and powdered sugar fights when making rosettes, there is glitter and playdoh on the floor behind me from half an hour ago when I started this post and the culprits I believe are downstairs watching one of daddy's kung fu movies
Posted by kindarana on 2005-04-04 00:55:05
Post Subject:
I dragged my boy down to Michaels yesterday to get some Fiber Friday materials (though I'm not terribly optimistic it will get done, sadly) and he found the candles... boy has a thing for candles. Anyway, I refused to buy him candles and made him get a candle making kit instead! So now we're burning our own candle, it's so damned romantic!
I also made him do watercolors the other night. (Yes, made him. He didn't fight, but I didn't ask him if he wanted to either. The boy is pure inertia.) If you had told me a month ago he would create the most beautiful painting of Spongebob I've ever seen, I would have sent you to the funny farm. I think that the childhood crafts are a great way to gateway into other ones.
