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“Cool Craft” by Bridget Bodoano – Vivays Publishing

by Guest Author

September 17th, 2011

Cool Craft

Vivays Publishing is a new player in the world of illustrated books. It was co-founded by veterans from Laurence King Publishing and Taschen in October 2010, has published 12 titles so far, with 4 more coming this autumn and 20 planned for 2012.

Vivays Publishing will release “Cool Craft” by Bridget Bodoano, at the end of September 2011. With lots of simple projects, advice on material and tips on basic techniques, the book will encourage beginners, while experienced crafters will discover new possibilities and ideas. Please find more details about the title on our web site: Vivays Publishing

Please feel free to contact sales director, Pierre Toromanoff with any questions you might have about the Cool Craft Book. Pierre is also interested in having readers review the book so if that is something that interests you, please let him know right away.

Vivays Publishing Ltd.
Hamilton House, Suite 310/321
Mabledon Place
London WC1H 9BB
United Kingdom

e-mail: p.toromanoff@vivays-publishing.com
Phone: +44 207 554 87 39
Mobile: +44 7786 030 464
Skype: vivays.publishing.pierre
Internet: www.vivays-publishing.com
Follow our tweets @vivaysbooks

Visit our stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair (October 12-16, 2011): 8.0.E 935

Categories Other Crafts

Reasons Why Learn To Make Soap Yourself – How To Make Bar Soap

by Bradley Edwards

October 24th, 2010

If you\’ve never read anything about making soap before, it may seem like an unsurmountable task. Don\’t be discouraged, though – once you learn the basics, you will see how easy it all is. There are many benefits to learning how to make bar soap and this article will give you an overview of the process.

This is what the basic idea is when you\’re making soap – you are combining an alkaline with fats or oils. In our case, this alkaline is a chemical called sodium hydroxide, or more simply, lye. These fats can be anything from olive oil to animal fat.

The great thing about oils is that there are so many options available. Not all oils are suitable for making soap with, but of the ones that are, you have a great variety. You can make soap to suit any need that you have.

For example, coconut oil is known for its lathering properties. If you like a soap with a lot of lather, you then increase the proportion of coconut oil in your recipe. Other examples are shea, coconut butter and hemp oil for a moisturizing soap.

There is one obstacle which you need to conquer though – handling lye. This is the hardest part about learning to make soap. Specifically, lye is a strong caustic and can actually damage your skin if you spill it on yourself.

To protect your hands, you should be wearing full sleeves and rubber gloves. In addition, you need to wear plastic goggles to protect your eyes. Other precautions include keeping vinegar handy since this neutralizes the lye if you spill it. Make sure you mark any lye containers with very visible marking saying danger\”.

You need to take the time to learn about lye and how to be safe. If you take all the necessary precautions, then there is nothing that can stop you from achieving your goal of making your own soap. Acquire this skill and you will go a long way.

If you have learned all these basics, you are free to start! Once you see how subtle changes can make for some really surprising differences between soaps and how healthy they feel on your skin, you won\’t want to go back! You will be addicted to using only natural soaps and enjoying the fragrances that you can put in.

Once you\’ve gotten an understanding regarding how to make bar soap, then you should begin trying it out for yourself. To discover how I quite easily learned the basic steps using an instructional video, then go to this site: How to Make Bar Soap.

Categories Soap Making

Fixing Photos

by KayCee

July 13th, 2010

So what do you do when the photos that you want to highlight are not quite the right shape or size? Or what if the photo or image is not centered?

Placing these photos or images onto a page “as is” makes your page look unprofessional.

To get a professional looking scrapbook page, you may need to make some adjustments to carefully crop, resize or center your images or photos. Doing so will enhance both the look and feel of your scrapbook pages.

One option that crafters may choose to use to crop, resize or center images and photos is to simply use a cutting tool , like an Exacto knife or even a pair of scissors. They do this manually with these tools and straight edges.

Measure twice and cut once.

If you choose manually crop and cut pictures and images, make sure that you mark the outline you want with chalk or a light pencil mark before you cut.

Try using eyeshadow if you don’t have chalk.

Using the manual method you can also completely remove a distracting or cluttered background by cutting out the background and replace it with a with a new paper or fabric background. This allows the eye to focus on the people instead of the clutter behind them.

Now, there is also an electronic method of adjusting your photos and images. There are many computer programs that can not only crop, size and center your photo and image, it can manipulate color, brightness, hue and add special effects like changing the backgrounds. And the benefit is that you do not have to delete, ruin or alter the original photo or image!

Categories Other Crafts, Paper Crafts, Tuesday's Tips

Cross Stitch Patterns – How To Choose a Design

by H Al-Ubaidi

July 5th, 2010

Thank you for reading our information. We’ll be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the different sizes of cross stitch patterns – small vs. large. Even if you haven’t been cross stitching long, you have probably already discovered that design sizes can vary tremendously. A small design such as a bookmark can sometimes be completed in a matter of hours. Conversely, there are cross stitch patterns out there that are so large they may take several months or even years to finish. Despite the vast differences in sizes, you, the stitcher should be happy stitching whatever you decide.

A Guide for Beginner and Intermediate Stitchers. Stitch it Right the First Time - Every Time!

There are several things that determine the difficulty of a design, but the most obvious is size. The advantages of stitching a small design are numerous. Because they can be stitched up quickly, stitchers can move on to the next project sooner. Some people love to have a finished project right away, so projects that are small such as holiday ornaments or bookmarks can give some almost-instant gratification. Smaller projects are also easier to handle, giving them another advantage. With smaller projects, you won’t find yourself with lots of extra fabric outside of the hoop, which some people find difficult to handle. The disadvantage of stitching small projects can be continued cost. How can this be? If you are stitching small projects and finish a project every few days, when you start on a new one, there’s additional cost for more fabric, floss and another pattern. Of course, to cut costs, you can find free cross stitch patterns on the web. One great resource for finding free patterns - Free Cross Stitch Patterns. Another great source for free and inexpensive cross stitch patterns on the web is a site called Xstitchpatterns.com (click for xstitch patterns), which always has at least one free pattern available. You can also use the coupon code *promoLV* (without the astericks) to get another free one of your choice.

Now, we’ll talk about the advantages and disadvantages of large patterns. With the small project, we talked about the costs associated with having to buy supplies every few days for a new project. With a large design, quite the opposite is true. You may have a larger outlay of costs upfront (because of larger fabric, more flosses), but after that, you won’t have any new costs for quite a while, depending on how long it takes to stitch your project. Another thing that some stitchers feel is a great advantage to a large pattern is that there is much less floss color changing. Some stitchers prefer to load up a few needles at a time and not have to change colors for quite a while. Of course, large projects mean large pieces of fabric and lots of floss. This extra fabric can be quite difficult to manage for some stitchers, as it can get in the way of your hands when stitching. Another common disadvantage to large projects, regarding the time it takes to complete it, some stitchers get bored with a project, or just tired of looking at it! Then they will put it away, and often not come back to it. However, once a large design is finished, they usually represent quite a masterpiece.

Although there are other factors to consider when deciding on a particular cross stitch design in addition to things such as types of stitches, specialty stitches, etc. you should have a basic knowledge about what to expect for both large and small cross stitch patterns, so our hope is that this will make your design choice easier. Of course, the main thing to keep in mind, is that it’s your hobby and the end goal is to have fun with it, so be sure to pick a pattern you will enjoy.

Categories Cross Stitch, Needle Crafts, Other Crafts

Three Must Have Features In Any Bead Jewelry Software Package

by Kay Laurens

June 24th, 2010

If you have a handcrafted beaded jewelry business of any sort then you’ve probably learned that running a business is not always as easy as it could be. You probably have lots inventory, lots of customers, plenty of invoices to print and some crazy methods for keeping track of all your materials including your wires, clasps and even beads. You probably enjoy making custom jewelry, but you have probably had a challenging time figuring out how much to offer your jewelry for and what price level gives you a decent profit margin.

There are actually many of different options you can use when it comes to picking software to operate your jewelry business, from homemade spreadsheets and pre-made databases to complex jewelry store and software programs. This is where a well-balanced beaded jewelry software package can be helpful. Here are three basic features you’ll definitely want to have in any software package you purchase for your bead jewelry business:

Inventory Control: Keeping track of your beads will also allow you to calculate material costs and labor and help you set the correct price level for each bead jewelry piece you make. One of the most challenging parts of running a bead jewelry business is handling inventory. Being able to keep track of what jewelry creations and even what beads, wires and other items you have in stock is an essential component of any jewelry business software package.

Invoice Creation and Customer Tracking: Repeat communication with your previous customers is a good way to inform them about sales and new jewelry creations you have made. Tracking clients is just as important as being able to give your customers a professional-looking receipt for their jewelry. You don’t want to hand someone a little scrap of carbon paper with some scribbles on it after they spend $50 for an elegant bead necklace and earring set. Being able to print professional and easy-to-read receipts helps make your handmade jewelry business look more established.

Low Cost: If you are just starting your jewelry business, then you should probably budget between $90 to $140 for your initial jewelry program. You do not want to pay too much and get bloated features that you will never use, but you also don’t want to buy the cheapest jewelry software package available and find yourself wanting more quickly.

Of course that the program you buy should help you run your handmade jewelry business, increase your profits and actually give you more energy to do what you love the most: making and selling wonderful handcrafted jewelry! Any beaded software package you purchase should definitely include the features above as well as plenty of others.

Ready to learn more? Check out some jewelry inventory software reviews and previews to see what sort of software is available!

Categories Jewelry Making

A Few Suggestions On Marketing Handmade Arts And Crafts

by Catherine Stabler

June 23rd, 2010

If you are a talented artisan or crafter, your art may be an expression of your creativity that you do just for fun. But you may also be interested in turning your handmade arts and crafts into a way of making money. If you are looking for a way to turn your handmade crafts into a business or you just want to make some extra money to help pay for your supplies and give you some pocketmoney there are a few things you will want to consider.

To start you will have to evaluate precisely what you have to offer customers. Your handmade items should have something unique, something totally different from the designs presented by numerous other crafters. It doesn’t have to be a totally new item, merely something that sets the one you have apart. An example might be, many crafters may paint a ceramic cat or dog in a monochrome color. The most impressive craft items and the ones that will be selling are the ones that are painted in a realistic way, making use of various colors as well as shading.

Consider who would purchase what you will be selling. Hand embroidered hand towels are not likely to sell to children and young men like they would to ladies. Elaborately tooled leather covers for hunting knives will not sell to female buyers. Discovering your potential prospects will help you choose a venue for marketing your products.

You will need to work out the cost of making your handcrafted product. Add up the cost of making your handmade item, materials and a realistic estimate of the time you have spent making the item. Ask yourself at this point if you were the buyer would you pay that amount for the item you are making. If the answer is no then choose something else. If the answer is yes then add a profit margin and ask yourself the same question. If you still believe that you would be comfortable paying for this item then most likely your customers are going to feel the same way. Repeat for the next product.

You will have to decide on how much you can afford to spend on a craft booth rental or on a website. Figure out how long it will take you to make each of your handcrafted items. This will give you a good idea of the number of items you will be able to make in a week. Assuming that everything you make will sell, this will give you a good idea of the maximum you will earn. You can now use this information to decide on what you will be able to pay for your craft booth, website or both.

Some people are going to request customized items, you will have to make a decision on if this is something you are willing to do. Remember that these types of request are going to involve additional production time. However, it may be exactly what you need to make your craft items stand out from similar items. When setting your price think about the extra charge for customization, you may consider including it in the regular price of the item if all items are going to be personalized, or you may simply make it an extra charge.

Start selling your handmade crafts. At the GLC Arts and Crafts Online Mall. Get started now, open your handmade craft shop and what it can do for you.

Categories Other Crafts

Soap Making: A Hobby Suited For Children And Adults

by Jen Hopkins

June 22nd, 2010

Arts and crafts don’t always have to be the usual painting and drawing. There are a lot of other hobbies that you and your child can try which is much more fun but will also stimulate the hands and mind. One hobby that you can try is soap making. This is a good hobby to try as it involves the use of one’s hands in making the soap, as well as thinking of creative designs that you can do with soap. It is also very practical as the final product can be used not only for decoration, but for cleaning purposes as well.

Although there is a longer way of creating soap, the recommended way for children to make soap is by using glycerin soap. This kind of soap just needs to be melted and this can be designed in any way that they like. Using glycerin soap is much safer than the conventional method as it will not require the handling of lye, which is a corrosive substance which also releases dangerous fumes when mixed with water.

After the soap has melted, the first thing that you should do is decide what shape you want to give your soap. This can be achieved by using molds that come in different shapes and sizes. You need not be confined to just simple shapes as you can be more creative and try other designs like food-shaped soaps.

Using dyes to give color to your soap is also a good idea to increase is appeal. Since glycerin soap is transparent, you can use any color of dye and the color won’t be altered due to the original color of the glycerin soap. Using different colors for a single soap will be great as you can come up with a lot more designs if you are able to perfect this technique.

Other ingredients that can be added to soap are fragrant oils and lotions. Fragrant oils will add to the appeal of your soap as it will be very nice to smell and use. Lotions on the other hand, can help moisturize your skin so you won’t have that dry feeling after taking a shower with your soap.

With all of the possible combinations of designs that your child can do, soap making will surely keep him occupied for a very long time. And doing this hobby will not be a waste of time as his brain is stimulated by thinking of creative new ideas to do with soap. The final product even has some practical uses so the original materials used for making the soap will not go to waste.

For adults who also want to try out soap making, it might be better if you try out the conventional method first. This will pose a bigger challenge for you as you will be starting from scratch. The good thing about this is that you will be able to give your soap the exact properties that you want, which includes hardness, mildness and lathering capabilities.

Soap making is a hobby that can be suited for children and adults alike. A lot of time will be spent on perfecting your technique and coming up with different designs that you will be proud to show to your friends and relatives. The final product can be used for decorating purposes but it can also be used for cleaning and showering which makes it a very practical hobby.

Jen Hopkins has worked in the skin care industry for years. She maintains websites about soap making process, and how to make a soap. If you want to contact her, you can use the contact form at one of her sites.

Categories Soap Making

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