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Okay, so after that last textbook-y CHA post, let’s cleanse our palates with a little eye candy. Then I’ll get into some more heavy stuff tomorrow.
Here are some bits of crazy-wonderful craftiness I spied on the show floor.
The incredibly-talented, incredibly-nice Sarah Hodson‘s booth was a wonder, constructed entirely from corrugated cardboard. It was so beautiful – and she deservedly won an award for Best Booth Design at the show.
Sarah’s cardboard gown was a big favorite. It’s trimmed with flowers punched from kraft paper. Swoon.
(Note: a lot of the things I’ll be sharing from from this point on are not on the market quite yet, so don’t be alarmed if you follow my links and can’t find them. Just keep checking.)
I loved this crazy hoodie at the Duncan Crafts booth. It’s demonstrating their new glitter fabric paint, one of a ton of new products due out this summer. Duncan had taken lots of basic clothes from Target and transformed them in all kinds of ways with paint and dye techniques. (More about this is coming in podcast form.)
An awesome new craft knife from Xacto, modeled by the lovely Jennifer Worick. Xacto is calling this a “Women’s Knife,” which may be a little odd, but it sure is comfortable in the hand. And that blade is something I hadn’t seen before – so teeny tiny.
Oh, my stars… a paper-cutter with a laser sight? Yes, please.
One of the loveliest experiences of the whole show was watching Magdalena of MercArt show us how she embosses metal. The pewter foil from this company is absolutely amazing – it’s heavier than any other tooling foil I’ve ever seen, and yet has a wonderful “stretch” to it, so you can get a really deep, detailed emboss.
And look at that extreme set of embossing tools! Visit that link and see them in more detail. Then join me in coveting.
Then there was this: Oshibana Art demonstrated this wonderful flower-printing system. Essentially, you place a fresh flower between several layers of material, rub the whole thing with a wooden tool, and the flower’s pigments get crushed into the paper, leaving a perfect image of the flower. This nearly brought me to tears.
You can see even more cool crafty in Kayte’s post on Craft Stylish.
See you tomorrow to talk about how the indie, online craft community fit into all this.
I am LOVING this series… thank you so much for sharing. The stuff you’ve showcased here – wowza! Love the laser-sight paper cutter! That is so handy!
I am LOVING this series… thank you so much for sharing. The stuff you’ve showcased here – wowza! Love the laser-sight paper cutter! That is so handy!
I want a “Woman’s Knife”! I have to agree with Heather, the laser-sight paper cutter…awesome! And very handy!
I want a “Woman’s Knife”! I have to agree with Heather, the laser-sight paper cutter…awesome! And very handy!
To say I’m a tad envious is putting it mildly… I’ve been drooling over the CHA show for almost a decade, when I first heard about it on HGTV. Although you probably deserve to go a lot more than I do, and you are being utterly amazing with these posts. Thanks so much, I *almost* feel as if I were there. My feet probably hurt a lot less! :0)
To say I’m a tad envious is putting it mildly… I’ve been drooling over the CHA show for almost a decade, when I first heard about it on HGTV. Although you probably deserve to go a lot more than I do, and you are being utterly amazing with these posts. Thanks so much, I *almost* feel as if I were there. My feet probably hurt a lot less! :0)
I am having a full on craftgasm over the xacto and the paper cutter her!!!
her = here!!
I am having a full on craftgasm over the xacto and the paper cutter her!!!
her = here!!
oh, don’t you love things made with cardboard! i love it. If you work with it long enough, your hands get so dry you just might clip them off and add them to the sculpture if you’re not careful! We have one of those paper cutters at work! I should bring all my papers over and cut them when I’m supposed to be working. it’s only right.
if anyone is not going to craftstylish on a regular basis to see what’s going on there, shame shame. yes! i say: shame! oh, I know it’s not exactly very supportive of me, but seriously! what are you people doing? Now, go to craftstylish and LOOK AT EVERYTHING! click every one of the million links they have on there. at least half of them are by Diane, so it’s only right. you won’t have to wonder what to do all year, you’ll have a notepad filled with lists! better yet, get a notepad with pockets, to house the printouts from the site.
okay
i guess i got carried away.
oh, don’t you love things made with cardboard! i love it. If you work with it long enough, your hands get so dry you just might clip them off and add them to the sculpture if you’re not careful! We have one of those paper cutters at work! I should bring all my papers over and cut them when I’m supposed to be working. it’s only right.
if anyone is not going to craftstylish on a regular basis to see what’s going on there, shame shame. yes! i say: shame! oh, I know it’s not exactly very supportive of me, but seriously! what are you people doing? Now, go to craftstylish and LOOK AT EVERYTHING! click every one of the million links they have on there. at least half of them are by Diane, so it’s only right. you won’t have to wonder what to do all year, you’ll have a notepad filled with lists! better yet, get a notepad with pockets, to house the printouts from the site.
okay
i guess i got carried away.
Those flower prints are so precious! I’m in awe by the possibilities such a technique can bring.. xoxo
Those flower prints are so precious! I’m in awe by the possibilities such a technique can bring.. xoxo
Man! I bought one of those paper cutters with the laser [that's by Xacto as well, right?] just *yesterday* and I am so disappointed! The laser part actually works pretty well once you get the hang of it, but I think that the grid that for lining up the paper is actually *off kilter* on mine. So if I just use the laser to line up the cut, I’m okay, but if I try to line it up traditionally, I get screwed.
Also, the laser automatically turns off after 50 seconds. I was cutting out 350 rectangles (so 4 cuts each) and that got irritating *really* quickly. The only way to turn it back on is to lower the arm again. So if I had just lined up my paper… almost… perfect… and then bloop! Laser off! then I had to remove my paper, lower the arm, and then start over.
Aaand… I would expect a blade on a brand new paper cutter to last at least through the first session, but it was already randomly chewing paper after about the first 100 cuts. So annoying! Then sometimes it would work great and sometimes: chomp! Oh, and I never had any success cutting more than one sheet of paper. Major fail there.
Sorry this is the longest comment in the world. Just funny that you mentioned it in your blog on the same day I bought one. And tomorrow, I’m taking it back. :(
Man! I bought one of those paper cutters with the laser [that's by Xacto as well, right?] just *yesterday* and I am so disappointed! The laser part actually works pretty well once you get the hang of it, but I think that the grid that for lining up the paper is actually *off kilter* on mine. So if I just use the laser to line up the cut, I’m okay, but if I try to line it up traditionally, I get screwed.
Also, the laser automatically turns off after 50 seconds. I was cutting out 350 rectangles (so 4 cuts each) and that got irritating *really* quickly. The only way to turn it back on is to lower the arm again. So if I had just lined up my paper… almost… perfect… and then bloop! Laser off! then I had to remove my paper, lower the arm, and then start over.
Aaand… I would expect a blade on a brand new paper cutter to last at least through the first session, but it was already randomly chewing paper after about the first 100 cuts. So annoying! Then sometimes it would work great and sometimes: chomp! Oh, and I never had any success cutting more than one sheet of paper. Major fail there.
Sorry this is the longest comment in the world. Just funny that you mentioned it in your blog on the same day I bought one. And tomorrow, I’m taking it back. :(
oh, god! why don’t i have a paper cutter with a laser sight? WHY?
also, i totally forgot about that petal-printing technique. must… revive it…
oh, god! why don’t i have a paper cutter with a laser sight? WHY?
also, i totally forgot about that petal-printing technique. must… revive it…
I’m upset about Xacto calling it the “woman’s knife”, why couldn’t they collaborate with the design team to come up with a less-offensive name under which they can market their new knife. It looks cool, though. I’m just offended by the association with women.
I’m upset about Xacto calling it the “woman’s knife”, why couldn’t they collaborate with the design team to come up with a less-offensive name under which they can market their new knife. It looks cool, though. I’m just offended by the association with women.
Oooh, those flower prints are great. What an interesting idea and process, I don’t think it had ever even occurred to me that flowers contained pigments but of course they must. I love the idea of collecting colour from natural objects in that way – my head is spinning with ways that could be used in an art project. It reminds me of Chris Drury’s prints made from mushrooms. If you didn’t see it, I blogged about his work a while back: http://kirstyhall.co.uk/blog/2008/10/fungi/
Oooh, those flower prints are great. What an interesting idea and process, I don’t think it had ever even occurred to me that flowers contained pigments but of course they must. I love the idea of collecting colour from natural objects in that way – my head is spinning with ways that could be used in an art project. It reminds me of Chris Drury’s prints made from mushrooms. If you didn’t see it, I blogged about his work a while back: http://kirstyhall.co.uk/blog/2008/10/fungi/