In the runup to Christmas and the other holidays Craftmodo is going to be running a series of projects to help you make great gifts for the festive season.

From the pictures you’ve probably guessed what this one is all about. Yes, ornamental candles will be our first running project. They make great gifts and, being hand-crafted, are appreciated by everyone.

Project 2 will be on how to make scented soaps. This is related to candlemaking in that it deals with the fashioning of a similar kind of substance. But it does require different methods and materials. Again soaps make wonderful presents.

Project 3 will expand on our earlier post about marbling paper. This is really my favourite, so we’ll be looking at how hand-marbled papers can be used in many applications, including scrapbooks and lampshades.

We’ll follow these with other projects to be announced later.

I’m on vacation this week, but don’t worry, I’m swatting up on great crafts to bring you on my return in a few days.

Stay tuned for some terrific ideas for the fall/autumn season and the runup to Christmas and all the festive holidays.

Duncan Cairncross

Whenever you open an older book in the library and find the paper on the inside of the cover has been “marbled”, have you ever wondered how it’s done? Probably some complex industrial process, you might guess.

But actually it isn’t. It’s a fairly simple procedure requiring only a bit of practice and a flair for creating the patterns. Here’s what you need to get started :

* Some marbling ink — obtainable from most craft outlets.
* A tray big enough to take your paper, whether letter-sized, A4, or bigger.
* Paper — not varnished or shiny.
* Some newspaper to lay out the wet sheets.
* A paintbrush, stylus, comb or feather to create the patterns in the ink.

The process is simple.

* Fill a flat-bottomed tray with about an inch of water.
* With a brush or eye-dropper put a splash of ink on the water. It will spread out quickly in widening circles.
* Drop in other colours and experiment twirling them around with a comb or stylus.
* When satisfied, place the paper carefully on the liquid surface. Wait for about one minute.
* Hold one end of the paper and draw it up and out of the liquid.
* Wash the paper under running water to dislodge excess ink.
* Place the paper on newspaper to dry.
* When completely dry leave it under a few heavy books overnight to iron out the wrinkles.

There are many variations on this craft as you can guess, and I found five or six excellent books on marbling in the local library.

This is a really interesting craft if you have an artistic temperament. Home-marbled paper is also a good conversation piece. Some artists even do this for a living, supplying printers with bulk quantities, or special commissions.

It’s a runaway best seller in the UK, especially to baby boomer men, who are also buying it for their sons.

It’s Conn and Hal Iggulden’s The Dangerous Book for Boys. DBB, as we’ll call it, summarizes all those activities and crafts that boys used to do before TV, computers and video games came on the market. Many of them are now effectively banned by the Health and Safety “police” who dog our lives and make them unnecessarily miserable — especially for boys.

For North Americans, I should tell you the book is very Britain-oriented, in that it contains bits from Shakespeare and poetry from Kipling and other patriotic poets and authors.

Nevertheless, it contains a lot of Boys Crafts, which is why I like it. For instance, how to make “the greatest paper plane in the world”. Now there’s something to know about.

How to construct a battery, build a treehouse (oh, the danger!), make a bow and arrow (is this a terrorist’s manual?), make water bombs (it is a terrorist’s manual), and invisible inks, marbling paper, understanding girls (very coyly done), tricks with dogs and skimming stones on lakes.

In short, my sort of book. If you want to know about “The Golden Age of Piracy”, it’s all here. From making a pinhole projector and a crystal radio to grinding an italic nib, it’s a veritable treasure trove.

So, if you’re interested in boys’ crafts, or crafts for Real Men, you know where to go.