This week’s Ask CRAFT column addresses a question from Liz Allen, whose 3.5 year-old autistic son craves warm skin contact with her. To wean him from this need and help during bedtime and in the car, I show you how to make a warming pack filled with rice (to be microwaved), with a pouch inside to tuck a chemical heating pack when away from home.
Sew up this little colorful brooch using a LilyPad tri-color LED and three small potentiometers for a customizable color wardrobe embellishment. Comments are disabled; check out the project on the Craftzine blog:
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/05/craft_video_color_changing_led.html
It’s time for the first installment of Ask CRAFT! This week I cover a question from Pollie in New Jersey about adding new elements to vintage dishes, while keeping them food-safe, plus Theri from Ohio writes in with a craft fair ethics question. Don’t forget to email me your crafty conundrums at becky@craftzine.com. If I didn’t answer your question this week, it doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten you! I’ve been receiving some stellar questions and I’m saving some of the best ones for future installments. Keep ’em comin’!
I used my computerized knitting machine to make this QR code (2D barcode) scarf. You can turn any text into a QR code at qrcode.kaywa.com, and use that image as a pattern for knitting. You need neither Photoshop nor a knitting machine to make this project; they just make it significantly easier. When finished, anyone can take a picture of my scarf and get the information stored in the code as text on their screen, and it’s stylish, too! For more info visit http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/03/craft_video_machineknitted_qr.html
Red wine vinegar is really easy to make at home. All you need is some leftover red wine, some water, red wine vinegar mother, and a few tools. You can look for red wine vinegar at your local homebrewing shop, but mine was out, so I ordered it online. It’s basically “live” red wine vinegar which contains the bacteria Acetobacter, which eats alcohol and turns it into acetic acid, the tangy flavor we know as vinegar. This project appears as an article in CRAFT, Vol. 9 by Alastair Bland. Read more at http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/02/making_red_wine_vinegar_craft.html
For more info visit: blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/01/linoleum_asphalt_mosaics_video.html
Linoleum asphalt mosaics, also called Toynbee Tiles, are artworks permanently embedded in pavement. In this video I’ll show you how to construct your own from inexpensive materials. You can get real linoleum (don’t use vinyl flooring) for this project by ordering free samples online. By cutting out a mosaic design in the linoleum and sandwiching it between layers of paper, wood glue, and asphalt crack filler, you can affix the mosaic very permanently to an asphalt surface, such as your driveway. You may choose to use a heat gun to make the linoleum easier to cut, or even a laser cutter. The earliest examples of these tiles were found in the 70s and 80s on streets in Philadelphia, all bearing the same (or very similar) message: “Toynbee idea / in Kubrick’s 2001 / resurrect dead / on planet Jupiter.” They are speculated to have been created by the same person until they began to gain a following. There’s an active message board on the topic which shares sightings and other information. If you make one, please share your pictures in the CRAFT Flickr pool!
In this video I used this cc-licensed photo by Flickr user mojunk. The music is “Regurgitation Pumping Station” from the World of Goo soundtrack by Kyle Gabler; used with permission.
I made this scorpion toy with a Twitchie Robot Kit. I’m really afraid of scorpions where I live in Arizona, so I thought a friendly toy would help me get used to them. I made his plush body from some fabric I had around, aiming to make him look like an Arizona bark scorpion, which are tan/yellowish/translucent. Twitchie is Arduino powered and comes pre-programmed, so it’s an excellent kit for beginners in robotics, because no programming is required! You can download and modify the code if you want, and it’s pretty light on the soldering, too. I’d recommend Twitchie for young makers (boys & girls, too!) interested in robotics or moving plush toys. You can buy the Twitchie Robot Kit in the Maker Shed:
http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKTET2
Music is “At the Crack of Noon” by Shuutobi, http://shuutobi.com
