Crocheted treasures - part one

I finally learnt to do Crochet...Oh did I say that before..heee..yes I did learn the basic during my Abhushan workshop from a very talented  Mother and daughter in law duo from Gaya, in Bihar, India. But when I came back all i could do was a basic circle. You tube videos didn't help me but one of my students did. During one of my classes she taught me how to do a basic granny square (talk about role reversal ;). Still I kept making some random stuff ( I am a visual learner and cant decipher the crochet patterns) but slowly I am learning to make some stuff and here are a few of the finished pieces. In the process of learning how to make a flower (after loads of failed attempts and creating my own patterns, I found this video from Little birdie secrets which was very helpful.

Video URL :

 Here are some of my works - the ones that did turn out right

Banyan leaf crochet pendant

Gold Crochet earrings

Ruffled Crochet flower

A Layered Hair clip - the first layer is a gold thread crochet (I was just learning so I was just experimenting patterns on the same thread). Also don't ask me for a pattern - I have no clue.

Find below another layered crochet flower (bigger than the previous ones and hence good enough for a hair clip or to be placed on a hairband (haven't decided as yet)

The white one is ruffled because of too many stitches but I did that wantingly - talk about the curiosity to try stuff that people tell you not to do ;)

Layered hair clip

So I made a smaller flower this time added a button and placed it on top of the big one...I kinda like it now

I have done so many experiments with crochet after this and will post easy to do accessories for Crochet newbies like me in the coming weeks...so do look out for them

And before I forget...All these beauties are for Sale.....Want them...Mail me as usual..BTW I am not limiting my sale to India alone anymore...You can buy from wherever you are

Cheers

In bloom - Fabric Corsage tutorial

People seem to like my fabric corsages so here is another one of them. This project is ideal if you have loads of little scraps or Chindis of fabrics and some time in your hands.It might not be as grand as required for prom but it would definitely make a quick and quirky gift for your girls.

Materials Required

- Fabric scraps ( I have used 4 different fabrics in blue and green)

- A center bead or pearl

- 2 silver end beads and 2 daisy or triangular spacers

- Satin ribbon - two 6" pieces

- Scissors, matching thread and needle

Procedure:

Choose the fabrics you want and cut 8 shaped pieces or circles (about 1- 1.5" diameter). The number of cirlces depends on your fabric thickness and the coverage you want.( I cut about 120 circles - 60 for each sides). Divide in half and separate to two piles (mix and match to your interest) Save time but cutting through multiple layers with a die cutter or hand cut with scissors. They don't have to be exact.

Singe all the ribbon ends. Take one piece, fold half and inch and repeat. Hand stitch and secure. without removing the thread, add a silver bead and a spacer to the thread.Continue with one half pile of your cut fabric circles.

When you come to the center add the center bead or pearl or focal piece and Continue with the other half pile of your cut fabric circles.

Add in the spacer and the bead as shown in the beginning. Attach the ribbon. Do no knot.

Bring the thread back through the bead and spacers back through couple of layers of the fabric. Pull tight enough (without breaking of the thread) so that the corsage gets a floral appearance.Now knot in place.

 Fluff it up so that it looks bushy. Its done. To wear it simply tie the ribbon at the back. You can use a fabric cord or a piece of suede instead of a ribbon.

Hope you had fun making it. It could even make a great group activity for one lazy Saturday afternoon.

Cheers

Zipper Jewelry tutorials

Making jewelry using unusual items is not a new thing and the last few years have seen a rise in Recycled and reused materials jewelry. Out of them Zipper or Zip is a highly favoured material. This simple fastener lends itself into many shapes thereby making accessories out of it a pleasure. Inspired by the works of Reborn jewelry and Amalia Versaci (both on etsy) I made a few  zipper jewelry pieces in varying levels of difficulty.

One is a ring - rosette ring to be specific.

Here's How to make it: I just removed the clip and used one side of a jacket zip. I then gathered on the plain side and twisted the strip keeping the teeth at the open end to get a rosette. the plastic bit will be at the centreI stitched it through the layers and it was done. I then made a small loop to fit my finger with a remaining piece of zipper and attached it to the back of the rosette. Now my ring (fully made of Zippers) is ready.

The next one is side focal bracelet, which is little more work than the ring

 Here's How to make it:  

Materials :You'll need a metal jacket zip, an extra puller, some beads and a clasp with some jump rings.

Procedure: Measure your wrist and cut the same amount from one side of the zip from the end. The puller will come of by now. you'll need to insert it on the strap. Dab some clear glue and press the puller into the zip. Let it dry and hammer it slightly.Trim the other side to about half inch till the metal portion and singe it with fire so that it does not fray.Keep it aside.

Once the puller is dry (we will use this as an end piece to connect the clasp), stick or stitch the other side on to the main piece so that it will look as in the pic. I cut an extra piece and did 2 layers on top of the main one to get a 3 tier effect.I then added another puller to these two layers using the same method as above.

Now with the remaining zip (again one side only) make a rosette (technique refer to the above - rosette ring). I added some random beads on top to just decorate it. Now stitch or stick (clear glue) the rosette to the zipper body at the side so that onepuller comes out through the rosette. Now comes the hardest part....waiting for all of it to dry completely- atleast a day ;) Now for the clasp add a s clip or a hook to one of the pullers and some jump rings to the other (side) puller...Viola its done...!!

I am sorry if my instructions are a little confusing (didn't think of making it into a tutorial when I made it ) but trust me, this piece is not difficult to do...just requires a little patience.

Now if you fell all this is too much of hard work...here is the simplest of them all - a straightforward zipper bracelet from CutoutandKeep 

And here are more simple necklaces from

Infarrantly Creative

I hope the zipper journey was fun...will explore it again whenever possible

Cheers

Safety pin dangler earrings tutorial

Love dangler/chandelier earrings but find it too difficult/expensive to make them?. Either you need to buy frames which are costed by piece and hence costly or you need to be a pro at wire work to get individual piece work as a pair. Either way I see too much work. But what if we could make a pair in 5 minutes without spending anything?

Here's what you need to do.Gather these materials (they are already in your stash) :

- 2 safety pins (same size )

- extension chain (as required - I used 5 loops on each side)

- 3 pairs of beads (I used fuzz beads in green and blue)

- 6 headpins (in the same metal as the safety pin)

- 2 earring hooks

- Pliers (chain/nose or round)

- Cutters

Procedure :

- Cut the heads off from the pins. Trim the edges to make sure they are equal.

- Open the pin out to 2'O clock

- Using your pliers now make a small loop on either hand facing outside

(my loops are not great this time, but you can make them better)

- Repeat the steps for the other pin

- Using pliers, add the earring hooks to the top loop of the safety pins

 - Measure and cut the extension chain into 2 pieces of required length

- Add the chain to the top loop of the safety pins as show in the picture by open and closing one of the loops of the chain

- Add Fuzz beads (or nay other bead/pearl of your choice) to the head pins

- Loop and cut the wire close to the beads (you can wrap around if you want. I kept it simple as it is a beginner project)

- I Added the beads to the base before closing the loops to avoid doing it twice

- So here you go...its done in less than 5 minutes

Wear them and enjoy them. You can make then with gold safety pins and pearls and make them classy or steel pins and fuzz balls like these for a grassy summery effect. Try them in girly florals colours too.

Have fun

Cheers

Abhushan- metal work -part 3 - Lotus ring

Using the same technique of cold connections for Bezel setting that I did in my last post. I made a copper sheet metal Lotus ring. The collaboration in the last project gave me a lot of ideas so I tried this own on my own. Well I did take professional help for sawing prongs(shortage of saws :() and soldering. Here is the ring.

The final Finished ring

                                                Shape of the ring before curling the edges

Looks beautiful right but it got tarnished within a day in Chennai :( So now I let it rest in peace in my draw while I remind myself to be content with these pics. If you would like a tutorial, do say so in the comments.

Cheers

cold connections Necklace - Abhushan metal work part 2

Welcome to the Part two of my Abhushan experiences. This post is basically about the first piece I made after I learnt how to saw brass sheet metal and develop something out of it. To do this I collaborated with a group mate of mine, Mr.Chander Kant Bondwal, a national award winning wood work and ivory carving artist from Haryana. The best part was that we were both new to brass. He had never worked with metal before and I had not worked with sheet metal other than aluminium(for a strange college project) We were both novices but we did find our way through it. Cutting a strip of metal to set a bezel is history. Cold connections and prongs sets are for the present - they are hep and they sure are in. Here is the tutorial for the design

# Bound Together Necklace

Materials : Brass sheet, Fabric strip, chain, jump rings and focal bead along with other tools (saw, blades, driller, drill bit, grinder, sandpaper and pliers)

Concept: An experiment with bezel setting or Prong setting where we work with the negative space to achieve the positive design

Procedure:

To make the pendant 

Step 1 & 2 : Prepare the sheet metal but cutting a piece and flattening it. Sand and draw the required design on it. on a bench with a clamped board, saw through to get the shape. Sand and smooth.

Step 3: Choose a cabochon to be set. Usually people set gemstone, cut stones, pearls, crystals or even glass but since I wanted to make something unique, I decided to set mud. Yes MUD!!. Mud in the form of Teracotta as we had loads of terracotta artists working with us. It took me time to convince my teammate as nobody wants to go through all this work to set mud. But me being me, I was adamant and painted the piece in bright colours and varnished it to get a glaze look.

Step 4: Trace the design of the cabochon in the center or wherever you want to set it and draw outward triangular petals as in picture.

Step 5: Using the driller, drill holes all around to create the design. Also drill at the triangles so that you can put your saw through. 

Step 6: Saw and and smoothen all rough edges. Texturize if required with a grinder. 

Step 7: Set the bezel and fold the prongs in gently without damaging the focal. The pendant is done.

Step 8:Add jump rings to the top hole to make a bail. If you make two of these pieces and add hooks they can become earrings.

Making the necklace

Step 1: Twist together a strip of 1" fabric (singed on both edges) with a long strip of metal (gold) chain. I added 2 lengths of chain to make this piece.

Step 2: String in the pendant and Knot as required at intervals to keep the pendant in palce

Step 3: Clasp: As I didnt want an additional clasp in this piece, I knotted an open compressed gold bead at open end and made a loop for it to pass through on the other end.

Its done!! If you want you can embellish it with a few jump rings like we did.

 Please do not copy this design or this technique to make a similar product  for sale because now apart from the two of us (collaborating artists) it belongs to the Govt. of India and is to be used for Artisan welfare only.

I hope you all found this technique interesting. In the next post I shall show you how I used a similar technique to come up with a blooming lotus ring.

Cheers

Hina Masturi Inspirations

I always think that Japanese culture very interesting and intriguing. Maybe because like Indian Culture, Japanese culture is not just strong and evident but also full of flavours. The fact that I use a Japanese word "Sayuri" as my brand and label should be enough proof of my admiration.

So as Hina Masturi or the display of dolls to celebrate Women's day is tomorrow, here are a few pictures of dolls, their kimonos and jewelry to get inspired by. The pictures of dolls were taken by me at a Japanese Dolls exhibit held in Anna Centenary Library, Chennai from Feb 8th to 19th. I hope we can all use this inspiration to come up with something new and interesting this week. Cheers to Girl Power

Hope you would all enjoy the pics

Cheers