I know. I am horrible at updating. Very, very horrible. /o\

That said, I was intending to search for tutorials on making mini top hats and found this one from YouTube user TanyaBubzee  instead. It’s almost as if I was meant to find it, considering that it makes a reversible hat out of a panda AND a Totoro–two of my favorite things! Might be time to break out the sewing machine once again…

This lovely little pistol belongs to this guy:

This is Dr. Death Defying. He’s a character in the universe of Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. He is awesome, and I’ve decided on doing a sexswapped cosplay of him for San Japan. And what’s a Dr. D cosplay without the raygun? After a couple days of work, this is what resulted:

I cannot accurately describe how excited I was upon completion. Ideally, it still needs a clear gloss coat (because the Danger Days guns have a sheen to them which I suspect is due to the idea that they’re supposed to be metallic), and I’ve been trying to find out if the gun has a grip emblem (as the other canon rayguns do, as you’ll see when I post The Individual), but for the most part this is done. And I could not be happier on more than just a cosplayer level. Dr. Death Defying is my favorite character to come out of the universe developed in the music videos and supplementary material (like the Twitter accounts). He’s become my hero of sorts, and I could gush for hours about why, but this is Will Craft for Tuition not Will Fangirl Endlessly for a Fictional Character.

If you want to see the step-by-step process, I have pictures over in the San Japan Costume Preparations folder on Facebook. I actually need to add a few more to the mix, so be sure to keep an eye on that!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a raygun that needs another coat of Krylon Raspberry paint.

Moving on!

Radio silence of the last near-month has been due to a lack of crafting business. However, a recent baby shower put an end to that and allowed me to a)spend quality time with my mom and b)make a gift for someone special. Long story short: My dear friend Ruth is going to have a baby. Currently, she is chronicling her pregnancy over at her blog Pregnant And…, which I recommend you read whether you’re expecting or not. My mother and I are super-excited about this impending little one, and for her baby shower, we jumped at the chance to get creative.

I’d determined right away that I wanted to make her a baby blanket. (I’d wanted to make a pillow as well, but since we were a little short on time, I’ll probably sew that together a little into the future.) Since the mommy-to-be isn’t actively pursuing “traditional” baby colors (i.e., pink for girl, blue for boy), I felt much more comfortable pursuing different colors and patterns.  Originally I was going for a green/brown/cream pattern, but then I got to Hobby Lobby and…well, here is what resulted:

The above baby bassinet/gift basket was done mostly by my mother while I assisted in crinkling the tissue paper. Constructed from one giant cardboard box, tissue paper, ribbon, and poster board (for the arch), it’s something she’s done nearly any time a woman we or she knows is expecting (and apparently they double really nicely as diaper storage boxes). I only learned on this recent venture that Mom first learned how to build them from an aunt, so it almost feels like family tradition (doubly so, almost, since Ruth is practically family)!

WIP Pictures after the jump, or you can check them out on the General Works in Progress folder of the WCFT Facebook Page!

Well, I am pleased to belatedly announce that I have put it up for auction on eBay, and you have until March 20th to decide whether or not to place a bid. 100% of the proceeds from the auction will go to AmeriCares Foundation, Inc. with the hope that whatever money is made from the auction will help make earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan even just a bit easier. If you’re on Tumblr, if you could reblog this post on the subject, it would be super appreciated.

I’m also happy to announce that I’ve completed another bracelet and that it, too, is going up on auction. Rather, it’s already posted, but you won’t be able to start bidding until Wednesday, March 16th (which would be tomorrow). The bracelet looks like this–

–which turned out a lot neater than the initial sketch:

But that’s okay, because as long as the final product looks good, the sketch can look all manner of lived on and lived in, no? At least, I think so…

When the second auction goes live, I’ll post the various ways you can help spread the word. For now, check out the bracelets and leave any questions or comments in the, er, comments section!

I’m not quite sure how to introduce this next bracelet, since I’m running on six hours of sleep, lots of caffeine, and I’m still pondering how I’m going to announce what I want to do with this bracelet. So I think the best thing to do would be to just post the pictures with minimal commentary and then get back to shaking some sort of announcement loose from my sleepy brain. Yes? Yes. So let’s get to the pictures!

I had a bit of a coffee-accident partway through the beading process–which is to say, my dad accidentally knocked over my cup while delivering dinner to the table. Lucky that the actual threads (which are white) were on the elevated loom! The black iridescent beads in the bowl had to be rinsed through at least once, though.

Pink and black iridescent seed beads, thread, .45 wire, slightly larger beads, findings… Somehow, I managed to knock this out from start to finish in one general day with breaks, finishing around midnight or so? (Though even with breaks, my shoulders hated me this morning. They’re still sort of sore.) Closeups!

In the original design above, I was only going to use one bead. Then while I was actually putting the thing together at this stage, I figured that three might be better both aesthetically and functionally. It was, I think, I good decision.

All total, from clasp-to-clasp, Zero Percent measures about eight inches. Too big for me, but I’m not planning on keeping it. What am I planning to do with it? Soon, soon…

It was, of course, in a box when it was presented. But look! A bead loom! Apparently there was some kind of sale going on at Hobby Lobby, which means I won out.

Naturally, after making a few more rings, I set right to work figuring out how to use my new awesome tool. To that end, I found some good tutorials on YouTube on how to string it, including this one from user canalcraft. Threading the loom looks challenging at first, but the important things to always remember is keeping the thread tight and always do one more than your bead row. Oh, and always tie a secure knot, lest everything come loose and you have to start over. >.>

Anyway. The book I mentioned a couple posts ago, Kids Can Crafts [sic]: BEADING Bracelets, Earrings, Necklaces and More, has a two-page spread devoted to explaining how to make a pattern. So I did precisely that:

Since I’m on a Killjoys/Danger Days bender (yes, still), I figured the best way to experiment would be to do an eleven-bead wide homage to that musical universe. (Yes, my first project was an ambitious eleven beads wide. Sink or swim!) The phrase KEEP SMILING is one of the mottos for Better Living Industries, the apparent main adversary in said world. Plus, it’s just a good motto to have around, no?

My first attempt at this was…uh… It didn’t really work out. (I took some progress pictures, which I will upload to the Facebook group since they’re on my BlackBerry.) I managed to get the whole thing woven, but the problem was that some of the rows were hanging when they should all be tight. The other problem came during the tying off face at the end. Instead of just loosening the ends of the loom, I cut the warp threads (the ones that go across the loom) in the wrong place. I also didn’t know that you should weave a bit of the weft (the thread you weave through the warp threads) after you finish to hold everything in place. After declaring the project impossible to salvage, I undid the work on Prototype 1.0 and started again.

Behold, Prototype 2.0!:

I used wire for the bracelet ends because I wanted a little more strength in an area that would probably have more stress from continuous clasping and unclasping. (Plus, I was kind of wanting a break from working so much with thread. Thread is not like wire at all!) What I’ve learned from the attempt, however, is to perhaps string on an extra bead at either end for the wire to go through as opposed to directly putting the wire through the ends. That, I shall employ with the next bracelet, which I think will also be a Killjoys homage reading ZERO PERCENT.

(Other things I’ve learned: TAKE BREAKS. When I get working, I tend to zone out for hours, and each night I wound up with a sore neck and shoulders, not to mention a headache and somewhat-wonky vision from working with such small beads. They are, I think, the smallest I’ve worked with. Ah, the labors of love!)

The next one will also be a lot more colorful. I’m thinking pink for sure, though I kind of wish I had some obnoxiously hot pink to work with! XD I also kind of want to make some of the class emblems from Team Fortress 2, my other current obsession. I’ll probably start with the Medic’s since his looks the easiest. XD

As far as this one goes, I have it in mind to gift this little prototype to someone. I just hope their wrist isn’t too big; bracelet measures about 7 1/2 inches in total.

^ Vibrant Green Glass Bead Ring: $5

^ Purple Glass Bead Ring: $5

^ Sky Blue Ring: $5

Remember that you can always click the pictures to see them full-sized, and each Etsy listing (except the green one, I think) has an alternate view. So…yeah. Check ‘em out, tell your friends!

Best part? It has directions for making a bead loom! I have been wanting to learn how make beaded bracelets in the woven style for-damn-near-ever (because there’s only so much you can do with seed beads), so I’m really glad to find a tutorial on loom-building in this book. Not only that; the book also devotes a few pages to basic weaving and pattern making, which includes showing you how to do letters. I suspect some Dangerverse-themed bracelets will make their appearance soon, especially since Mom brought me some fasteners with which to build said loom.

But that’s not what this post is about! This one’s about rings, which is on page 29 of Beading. I tried to do it their instructed way, with rows of four beads across, and the prototypes wound up being bunched instead of smoothly round–likely due to the fact that I was using 45-gauged wire as opposed to one in the recommended range of 28 to 34 gauge. (Since my mom brought me some of that wire today, too, I’ll give it a shot to the four-across again.) However, I gave it a shot with a one-two-one pattern, along with a different way of holding the wire when I pulled the bead down, and it’s working great so far. Pictures and more after the jump.

(^ I didn’t realize until I was resizing the pictures that I missed a bead here. /o\ I’m on the fence as to whether or not restring the entire thing.)

They all a size 7 ring finger pretty comfortably. (I should know, because I’m a size 7. XD) I made some green ones today that also fit a size 7 finger, but a bit more snugly, but they work comfortably as a pinky ring. I’ll have pictures of those in a later post, and they’re all going to wind up for sale on Etsy just as soon as I can figure out how much they should be. (The hardest part of running the Etsy, let me tell you.) What would you guys be willing to pay for them? Leave suggestions in the comments.

In my quest to find an easy-to-follow tutorial on sewing bubble skirts for my cosplay outfit (and for general wear, since what I love about the bubble hem is that it looks well sitting down, which is great when you’re a girl in a wheelchair who wants to look cute), I came across this video from Dose.ca. I’ll admit, part of the appeal is the pun of the series title, but what’s nice about this video is that she makes it easy to follow (as opposed to when I read this tutorial on eHow, which pretty much explains the same thing). Then again, it might just be that when it comes to projects, I’m more of a visual learner by nature.

My only remaining concern is whether or not a bubble hem skirt can be made without the second elastic that will apparently rest around the thighs. Since this would be my first time attempting such a skirt, I’ll follow the instructions as the girl in the video lines them out, but my brain is already thinking that there might be other ways to do it, if only because elastic around the thighs sounds uncomfortable. (Then again, maybe I’m just confused on that part?) This other tutorial on eHow describes an alternative way, but unfortunately, there aren’t any pictures to make the description clearer. My quest continues!