Wednesday 22 January 2014

Belly Dance in Blue&Brown - Bra Flowers

I drew a pattern on the right cup. Then I transferred it to the left one - I chose several points. At each point, I measured its distance from two other points (the center of the bra and the upper edge).
Boring work but efficient.
I spent a long time deciding about what the steams will be from. I didn't want spangles (which are the most comfortable to sew for me)...
I used something most jewelery crafters would probably tear my head off. I bought caps for covering pearls. I just liked that their gold shines like metal, unlike all of the plastic beads painted with some kind of goldish color...
I love gems, I just didn't get the color right. I should rip them off and start again with something blue or green or I don't know. I've chosen fabric colors that are quite difficult to match decorations to, it just drives me mad...

Monday 20 January 2014

Wire Loops Necklace

I like this technique which shamely I don't know the name of in English, just in my language :-) It's used to make rosaries, maybe wire wrapping beads or something like this.
For the beginning, this is how I make the basic loop.
I make a loop, then a sharp break at the end and then I repair the loop to be symmetrical. This way I prepared stones with loops at both ends.
 Another component is a plain wire one.
 I make a small loop with the end of the pliers, then I add bigger loops made at the middle of the pliers. No templates, no need for them at all, just use the same parts of pliers every time.
Alternating the components, I added a red ball to the middle. I love it, but it's not very practical, this component is an eye candy and if it shifts from the middle of my neck, it doesn't look so good.

Saturday 11 January 2014

Nephew Portrait

I decided to share something new to this blog. I like charcoal drawing :-)
This is my little nephew after having a bath.
At the drawing lessons at the university, we used to have vertical stands. It's a lot more comfortable to draw like this! That's why I picked this table :-)
Unfortunately, I realized I could take a picture after I drew the whole face...
I use a soft plastic rubber. It's useless for normal pencils but it takes the charcoal very well (when it's not a huge layer) and doesn't damage the paper.
But here you can see the progress - how the bathrobe fur looks like before and after blurring.
The finished portrait. I know he has got manga-like eyes :-D
But I didn't have enough strength to wipe them out and start over.

Thursday 9 January 2014

Squash Racket - Finished

Today I was making the other half of the squash racket case.
I prepared a synthetic ribbon to cover the edge. I ironed it in half. At the side that should go to the upper half of the rocket, I didn't iron it straight but bend it instead.
It's a strange feeling to sew with right sides of the fabric out...
The ironing trick made my life a lot easier, especially at the curved sections :-)
 This is it. Maybe I'll add a bootstrap once.
I'm looking forward like a child to play with my new racket for the first time!

Squash Racket Case - First Half

I like making things with writings that are close to me :-)
My first job's company logo came to this squash racket case.
As at all panels made from several pieces, I made them a bit bigger. I cut out the final shape after sewing them together - this way the little inaccuracies that always happen (and accumulate with every seam) don't matter.
I sewed a band with a zipper at one side. By the way, the material is just brilliant. At one side it's sturdy synthetic canvas, at the other one it's covered with rubber.
It can't be ironed - the seams between black and orange must be flattened by two lines of stitches.
I started sewing from the corner because there I wanted the seams to match exactly.
I joined the other sides of the zipper and band just before I ended up sewing the edges.
 So far for one half. The case has some extra space to be comfortable and even the ball fits in! :-)