Posted in Arts and Crafts, Craft Supplies, Crafts, Crystals, Decorations on November 27th, 2008
Growing your own crystals is great fun and amuses the kids on hot summer days.
Whether you grow your own as decoration, jewelry, or for some other use — would you believe as a deodorant, it’s really very simple.
So let’s start with the deodorant. You may have seen “safe” forms of deodorant in healthy living shops. Often they come in the form of large crystals of Potassium Aluminium Sulphate, or Alum.
They have the advantage of being free of Aluminium Chlorohydrate, which has been implicated in ill health. Natural deodorant crystals are suitable for the most sensitive skin, are hypoallergenic and last a long time. Furthermore, they won’t stain your clothes or discolour your skin.
If you prefer the decorative side of crystal making, just add some food coloring to the mix.
You can grow these crystals quite easily with a little bit of knowledge. You will need :
* An ounce of Alum from a local store or online at Pans Pantry.
* A glass jar.
* A clean stick.
* Warm water.
* Thread.
* Small, sharp stones, cleaned well.
Method
1. Pour enough warm water into the jar to cover the stones — but don’t put the stones in yet.
2. Add the Alum and stir well until it stops dissolving. A small residue will be left.
3. Add food colouring if desired.
4. Tie a small stone to the thread and the other end to the stick. Place the stick across the top of the jar so that the stone dangles in the liquid.
5. Put the jar in a warm place to aid evaporation.
The first crystals will appear in a few days. You can add more Alum to make them bigger.
The biggest crystals can be rubbed under arms as a “safe” home-made deodorant.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Communities for Crafters, Craft Supplies, Crafts, Craftshops, Internet on June 20th, 2007
Craftlinks is a search engine for crafts of all kinds in Britain. If you’re looking for something special or specific, or seeking ideas for your own crafting, give it a try.
You can also take the “grand tour” which shows snatches of information about the many sites listed.
Craftlinks says of itself :
CraftLinks.co.uk has become one of the largest sources of information in the UK for handmade goods, crafts materials, groups and courses. The Directory currently features 47 crafts (e.g. Scrapbooking) represented in 5 categories (e.g Suppliers). There are over 2000 UK craft websites listed with new sites being listed daily.
This is a very interesting portal approach to aggregating lots of sites dedicated to crafting.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Craft Classes, Craft Supplies, Crafts, Folk Square on May 29th, 2007
Folk Square is a useful online resource for anyone interested in a wide range of crafts.
It’s described as, “An online primitive magazine released monthly. We showcase talented artists from all over while featuring dolls, patterns, folk art, primitives, raggedies, stitcheries and so much more.”
They have a Craft Fair from June 1 to June 15, so check in if you want to participate or take space for your own crafts.
Crafting is a major niche topic on the internet and this site has links to a large variety of subjects and features. Worth a browse.
Check it out.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Craft Supplies, Decorations, Easter on March 21st, 2007
PartyDelights has a decorative Easter party banner which can be personalized online to your taste :
“Our personalised banners are suitable for indoor/outdoor use, have eyelets fitted and are printed on quality 440gsm all weather vinyl. You can upload your own photograph and preview online : 6ft x 2.5ft £29.99 [$60] or 10ft x 4ft £59.99 [$120].”
Just one suggestion for crafting this Easter. More later.
