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Crafting can be great. But beware:
crafting can also go spectacularly wrong. Fortunately for the benefit of those of us who might become so proud of having made something, anything,
all by ourselves, that we are oblivious that the result is an aesthetic travesty, there are websites making a valiant attempt to document the legion of ways in which crafting can get totally out of hand. Before you pick up those needles or scissors or fire up the kiln or soldering iron, check out:
Glitter Gone Bad;
Handmade Gone Wrong;
What Not To Craft,
Homemade Hilarity; and
Kraftomatic. The sturdy souls at
CraftFail (previously) deserve special credit for documenting their own crafting mishaps, and
Regretsy (also previously) and
Etsy WTF will help you choose wisely from among Etsy’s hand-crafted wares.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 10:13 AM on November 22, 2009
(65 comments)
If you’re into crafting, you’ve probably stumbled upon
Craftster, a crafting community web log within which members can post pictures and documentation of their own crafts and processes, share information and tutorials, and get feedback. The crafts tend to be off-beat and original and many involve upcycling – this is not a site where one would proudly post pictures of a completed paint-by-numbers or rug hooking kit project. The Craftster
esprit de corps is nicely expressed by its slogans, which include, “No tea cosies without irony”, “Knit fast. Die Warm”, “Measure twice, cut once. Meh. Just start cutting”, and “Cheaper than therapy”. Craftster was launched in 2003, has 700,000 visitors a month, and, besides posting and discussion boards for every possible subset of crafting, its features include a
calendar of forthcoming crafting events,
member-created city guides to craft resources in your area, and
staff-written articles. But I especially wanted to draw your attention to the
Craftster Craft Challenges, the first one of which was announced on April 28, 2005. If you’re competitive and crafty, you have just enough time to whip up something for the 41st crafting challenge, which is to
create an “edible craft” (the entry posting window is August 1st to August 5th). For inspiration, check out the 40 previous Craft Challenges.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 2:16 PM on July 29, 2009
(21 comments)
Crafters may look like a close-knit group, but the reality is that there are armed camps within crafting. Knitters and crocheters brandish their respective tools and claim their craft is easier to learn or more versatile, while those who are bistitchual remain determinedly on the fence.
For the uninitiated/uncrafty, here’s an explanation of the difference between the two. “Wooly Bullies” [sic], a documentary, explores the animus between the Needles and the Hooks. When Sandi Wiseheart of
Knitting Daily dares to mention the “c” word, she gets many comments from knitting readers who, while stressing that they have nothing against crochet, just don’t want to see it in their
backyard magazine. When Kim Werker, editor of
Interweave Crochet,
tries to talk to the Knitting Daily crowd about crocheting she gets even more negative feedback. Part of the problem seems to be that while knitters contend with the “old lady’s pastime” stereotype,
crocheters are up against the much more negative “granny square and toilet paper cosy” stigma. [shakes head in sorrow] Crafters, can’t we all just get along? and make stuff?
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 9:26 AM on July 13, 2009
(111 comments)
If you’ve got extra kitchenware about is never used to cook or contains food anymore, here are some (low calorie!) ways to use it again. If you’ve kicked your caffeine habit, your metal coffeepots can
become lamps, or your teapot can morph into a
camel. Other items of kitchenware can become
recycled toys.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 10:26 AM on April 5, 2009
(7 comments)
For St. Patrick's Day, rather than show you how to knit your own
leprechaun or make a
hat out of a ice cream container (because who the hell wants to do that), I'm going to help you with your after party cleanup. You'll have lots of bottle caps and wine corks lying about afterwards, so here are some ideas on what to do with them.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 4:04 PM on March 17, 2009
(15 comments)
If you have too much mismatched cutlery to fit in your kitchen drawers, take a stab at crafting with it! Make a
wind chime,
fork key ring,
fork cup rings or coat hooks,
make cutlery clocks, or
light fixtures such as these by designer Ali Siahvoshi. Or you can make jewelry:
fork bracelets, a
fork necklace pendant, or collaged spoon necklace pendants like those made by
SpoonFedArt. Forks and spoons make
groovy rings. Here’s
how to make spoon rings. For more inspiration, check out this
cutlery chair sculpture by Osian Batyka-Williams, this
cutlery table by Toni Grilo, some
sculpture by
Matthew Bartik, Vince Pompei’s whimsical silverware
flowers,
clocks and
sculptures, or the items at
Forkometry.
Just don’t get so carried away with your new craft that you find yourself having to eat with your fingers.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 8:29 PM on March 8, 2009
(9 comments)
Does your linen closet runneth over? Yes, you say, you have a stack of towels you regularly use in the bathroom and for
swan origami, but you have others that are getting worn. You have tablecloths and aprons you never use, your dish towels seem to breed in their drawer, and you have pillowcases which have outlasted their matching sheets, king-sized bed sheets for the bed your ex took when you split, and your linen closet contains a selection of linens that are faded or torn or leftover from former decorating colour schemes. What are you to do with them?
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 7:17 PM on March 4, 2009
(23 comments)
You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs, and you can’t buy eggs without winding up with egg cartons. What will you do with the empty cartons? Well, you could make a string of
flower lights,
lamps, or a
pendant light. If you refrained from drinking too much egg nog over the holidays, you might be lightweight enough to make use of a
egg carton seat. This company makes
footstools out of egg cartons.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 9:11 PM on February 23, 2009
(15 comments)
What can be done with worn, outgrown or single socks? Well, if you want to wear those favourite socks awhile longer, you can
darn them. If your baby’s feet are no longer so tiny, make a
baby sock purse or
sachet,
baby sock reindeer, or
baby sock corsage or
bouquet decorations for a friend’s baby shower. You can
make a hat out of your child’s outgrown socks, or your kids can make
Barbie clothes. You can use single socks to make a
foot massager,
potholders,
slippers, a
dog rug, a
snowman,
sock puppets or
cute critters. Or
sock art installations.
See these articles for more pedestrian ways to use socks.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 10:51 AM on January 15, 2009
(18 comments)
As 2009 approaches, you’re taking down your old calendars and wondering what to do with them. You still enjoy those Monet/Jeff Foxworthy/rose garden/Playmate images so much you hate to throw them in the recycling bin. Don’t worry, there are ways to reinvent that calendar so you can enjoy those images for years to come. For starters, you could
make envelopes and notecards out the calendar.
Though perhaps you won’t want to use your new Playmate stationery to write to Grandma.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 10:21 AM on December 28, 2008
(7 comments)
Audio visual technology changes so fast that if you’re of a certain age you’ve been left holding the bag of cassettes, VHS tapes and vinyl records. What will you do with these AV artifacts if you no longer want to play them? Have no fear; you can have lots of crafty fun with your real audio. You can make a cassette tape
mini journal, a
cassette wallet or
cassette coin purse, or a
mini cassette lamp. If you’re into melting stuff, you can make a sculpture, such as this
skeleton, from the plastic. The tape can be crocheted or knitted into items like
totes,
evening bags,
Barbie halter dresses, or
baby booties.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 5:17 PM on December 21, 2008
(11 comments)
Christmas is coming, but while the goose may be getting fat, your wallet is not. And you’re dreaming of a green Christmas. How, you ask, can one decorate a home economically and with consideration for the environment? This depends on what you’ve got sitting around the house already. Do you have lots of old Christmas cards that always seemed too pretty to throw away? Use them to make a
star or two,
tree ornaments,
angels,
gift boxes, a
basket, a
wreath or a
small tree.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 10:59 AM on December 10, 2008
(15 comments)
If people who have a lot of time on their hands and inner demons to exorcise turn to art as an outlet, the results can be startling, even if they have had no prior art instruction and have to make a paint brush out of their own hair and
use coffee as paint, or weave things out of hoarded chip or
Ramen bags. Drawing elaborately on handkerchiefs became so common in the mid 20th century it's become known as
panos. Welcome to the world of prison art.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 12:16 PM on November 26, 2008
(12 comments)
If you've quit smoking and you're trying to get through the early withdrawal symptoms without gaining 20 pounds, one coping strategy is to get busy crafting. Sure, you say, you've made
naughty figurines out of your cigarette packages in bored moments before, but now if you're going to craft you want to make something that celebrates your fantastic self-discipline and can serve as a worthy memorial to your renounced habit. If that's how you feel, check out these links.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 9:37 AM on November 23, 2008
(8 comments)
Got some old leather articles lying around that have become dated, worn, or too small? Well,
happy days are here again for your old leather goods, because here are some ideas on how to make old leather items into new items you can use.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 8:37 AM on November 16, 2008
(4 comments)
While you may not be the shoe hoarder
some people are, you have shoes in your closet you never wear and you'd like to know what to do with them. Are they just boring? In that case you could just experiment with
new ways to lace them, or find a way to
make them light up when you walk into a room. Or you could draw on the shoes with
markers or
sharpies. You could also
paint them, going with the theme of your choice:
Art Nouveau,
Picasso,
Day of the Dead, or
any of the ideas here. You could cut
motifs from fabric and glue them on to your lace-ups,
cover your flats with new fabric,
bling up a pair of strappy shoes with glitter, or
embellish your flip-flops with some yarn. Is the old upper worn out?
Knit or
crochet a new one. Want to get where you're going faster? Make
custom roller skates, or
modify your bicycle. Do your shoes hurt your feet? Put them on your face instead as
a wrestling mask, or turn them into an
iPod case. Your shoes could also become a
birdhouse, a
planter, a
centrepiece, or an integral part of a
coat rack,
bookends or
leg lamp. If you're really not up to crafting, here are
11 non-crafty ways to recycle old shoes.
But what fun is that?!?
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 2:41 PM on October 29, 2008
(22 comments)
Got a stack of bras you don't know what to do with? Charities will accept secondhand bras in good condition, but if you're in the mood to be creative there are bra crafting ideas on the net. You could make a
bra wristlet, and then make a
sleep mask out of the rest of the bra fabric,
earrings out of the hardware, and a
toy out of inserts. You could make a lavender
sachet out of a bra and use it to perfume your lingerie drawer. One seemingly popular idea is to make a
cute and
feminine evening bag or, as one woman who wears a 36F quipped in a comment, luggage. If you're an especially sassy member of the Red Hat Society, you could make a
purse that matches your hat. Some people even make
hats out of the bras, though perhaps not every woman would care to
so obviously wear a
bra on her head. If you're a breast cancer survivor and want to avoid buying expensive and uncomfortably heavy prosthetics, you could
knit yourself a pair of tits and go right on wearing your favourite bras. You could also make an art installation:
a 5' bra ball. Here's
a list of 28 things to do with old bras.
And yes, I realize this post will make many of the men of MeFi want to get a lot of puns/juvenile comments off their chests, but titter away. You're probably just jealous you can't make such cool crafts out of your jock straps.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 8:38 AM on October 28, 2008
(49 comments)
Halloween is lurking ever nearer, and you need costumes and home decorations. Even if you're not as crafty as a witch, Halloween is a good time to start because the results are
supposed to look deformed and grotesque. And you're dreaming of a green Halloween. Fortunately I just happen to have a few links to get you started. This
garlic wreath could help you keep the vampires away, and this
eyeball wreath may work on everyone else. For a geek-style Halloween, make a
Mac-o-lantern. You could also decorate the house with a
vinyl record cat clock,
tin can candle lanterns, a
ghost mobile,
CD cat coasters, or a
skeleton doll made out of old socks. For outdoor decorations,
lawn tombstones can be made out pizza boxes and old newspapers, a
skeleton out of old plastic containers, and there could be a
ghost or two hanging about. You could adorn yourself with
a skeleton brooch made out of tin cans, and if you've got old clothes or linens lying about the children in your life might like a
few cute monsters to
cuddle. If your kids (or you) have finally outgrown dolls, give the dolls a
zombie makeover. For costume ideas, check out the
Daily Green's list of the best recycled costumes on the Web, then send the kids trick or treating with
pumpkin or
black cat canisters.
Just please be careful with those shears and x-acto knives or the blood and gore on your costume may be a little too organic.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 7:32 PM on October 24, 2008
(28 comments)
As the U.S. election approaches, you're getting fidgety. You've donated, you've volunteered for your candidate's campaign, but you've still got time on your hands for election-themed activities. What to do? Well, you could make some snazzy
Obama or
McCain earrings to wear to the polls on decision day. You could make presidential candidate finger puppets out of
yarn,
paper, or
felt and re-enact the debates. You could knit a
party animal so as to have something to snuggle up to at night when you wake from nightmares of stolen elections. You could
decorate some oranges.
Slate has a slideshow of political craft ideas, my favourite of which is probably the
Homeland Security Quilt. For more ideas, check out the
Obama Craft Project, where crafters are crafting for change and fundraising. There you'll find everything from
Obamaware to a cool
Yes We Can scarf, to a
cross-stitch portrait, to a
cozy Obama cap.
Lest you think I'm being too partisan here, I'll say I did search for Republican-oriented crafts and there just didn't seem to be many. It seems Obama's got the crafting demographic, um, all sewn up.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 7:37 AM on October 22, 2008
(18 comments)
You've been getting your sweaters out for the cold season, and finding that moths have been picknicking on them all summer. Or your significant other did the laundry and threw your favourite handwash-only sweaters into a hot water wash and/or the dryer. Or your children have outgrown the sweaters Grandma made them. However your sweaters became unwearable, it's time to make like a surgeon and do some cosmetic reconstruction. (If the old sweaters are at least 50% wool, you may be able to
felt the material first.) You can make
extra long gloves from sweater sleeves,
mittens, a
scarf, or
slippers,
legwarmers, a
tote bag, a
few handbags, or a
coin purse. If the kids don't want to let go of their favourite sweaters, they can be pacified with
building blocks, a
bunny,
snail, or
seahorse, or
diaper-coverup pants. If the cat feels left out, make it a
pet bed. Or you can make things the whole family can enjoy:
throw pillows, a
quilt, or
felted bowls. Since Christmas is approaching,
Christmas stockings or a
wreath might come in handy. If you want to
get into needle felting and start sculpting with the felted fabric, you could make virtually anything, including, oh, say, a
robin in a nest,
Anne of Green Gables, a
zebra, or
art for the wall. And best of all, by the time you're done you no longer want to throttle your laundry-challenged significant other!
As much.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 10:02 AM on October 19, 2008
(11 comments)
Perhaps in your non-Metafilter time or during the occasional power outtage you indulge in that charmingly antiquated past-time of reading a newspaper made out of actual paper. But, once you've read it, you're left with blackened hands and the necessity for putting that fragment of a dead tree somewhere or other. Aside from putting it in the recycling bin, which is responsible but kind of obvious
(and therefore would not necessitate a MeFi FPP) what can you do? One option is to make
handmade paper. If you're an outdoors type, you could make
organic flower pots,
some kites, or a
dory. If you're more of a fashionista or home decorator, you could make a
purse or a
bead necklace, weave a
basket or
placemats, or make a
bird. If you're a spinster, you could make some newspaper yarn as
student Greetje van Tiem did for her Design Academy Eindhoven graduation show. The yarn can be woven into carpets, curtains and upholstery.
Here's a tutorial on how to make the yarn. Then there's always papier maché.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 11:21 AM on October 13, 2008
(27 comments)
Maybe you've left the corporate world and
its dress code behind, you've decided you're not the
Avril Lavigne type after all, or you're
soon to be unemployed. Whatever the reason, you've got a lot of neckties you no longer wear. What can you do with them? Well, if you still want to wear them in some form, you can make
daisy pins, a
wrist cuff, a
belt or
two, a
shoulder bag, a
wallet or cellphone pouch, a skirt (
long or
short), a
dress, or
thong underwear. If you want to have the best dressed dog in your suburb, you can make a
dog collar or
leash. If you have kids, you can make a
snake or
cravat cats for them, or teach them
how to use old silk ties to dye eggs. If you'd rather decorate the house, you can make
baskets, a
photo frame, a
lampshade, a
new chair seat, a
floor mat,
some throw pillows or
some cool quilts. If you want to start getting ready for Christmas, you could make a
Christmas stocking, a
tree skirt, or an
angel. In fact, there are so many ways to make things out of old neckties
there's a blog devoted to the topic. Whatever your choice, your days as a corporate peon will be memorialized.
As will the peanut butter and jam sandwiches you used to have for lunch.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 5:43 PM on October 5, 2008
(23 comments)
Your favourite jeans are giving out on you, but you don't want to let them go. These are the jeans you were wearing when you met your partner/got your all-time best score on Frogger/performed at your garage band's only ever paying gig/whenever you move out of, then back into, your mother's basement. They're not just jeans — they're your history. But since you can't wear them anymore, you think you could reincarnate them. You have many options, especially if you've got more than one pair due for retirement. You could make
journal or photo album covers so your jeans can truly be part of your historical record. You could make a
quilt or
two or
three, or a
wall hanging, or some
woven rugs. Or a
Christmas tree. You could make
a slipcover for a chair,
pillows or
placemats, or
an apron or
two.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 7:55 PM on October 2, 2008
(14 comments)
As most women know, nylon stockings don't last. They run, they snag, they rip, and they can't be mended. And they take 40 to 50 years to decompose in a landfill. I was sure as I began researching this post that there must be some great pantyhose crafting and art ideas out there. But the results were, um, mixed. If you are into
weaving, you can make some wall hangings or rugs from nylons. If you're a
Klondike Kate type who sews, you can make a skirt. If you work in a corporate environment but want to keep your edge, you can abide by your company's dress code AND sport
temporary tattoos. If you're a crafty bride-to-be,
you can make flowers or
dragonflies for wedding decorations. If you're into the less practical kind of art, you can create
semi-wearable pantyhose art, or construct
pantyhose art installations like artist Mary Nicollet. You can even make
pantyhose dolls, and
stick them in a jar if you want to.
Just be prepared for the fact that most people will never understand why you'd want to. But beware, because pantyhose arts and crafts are either underexplored or instrinsically strange, and can go from “interesting” or “kind of cute” to “bizarre” and “kind of disturbing” faster than a run can make its way from your thigh to your toes.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 5:23 PM on October 1, 2008
(38 comments)
So, as a fashionista or
due to your upbringing, you don't want to use wire coat hangers. Yet they keep accumulating in your closet. And perhaps you don't have a thrift shop or dry cleaner in your vicinity that will accept them. You can only use so many weenie roasters and dowsing rods, and your old talent for unlocking car doors is useless on modern locks. What to do? Well, some people
improve/camouflage their hangers by covering them with braided strips of plastic bags, fabric, or yarn. But there are other, non-clothes hanging, uses for wire hangers. At the simplest end of the spectrum, you could make a
toilet paper holder, or
wool sock blockers. You could use the wire as a frame for
decorative wreaths (or
a wreath for your stitch and bitch party), or
little Christmas trees or a
Christmas card display rack. You could make a
light fixture, or a
chandelier.
If you have a surplus of plastic hangers, they can become a light fixture too. Or you could
make a chair. If you're feeling especially artistic, or just want something to fill in a blank space on the wall, you might follow the lead of artist
Lawrence L'Hote, or of artist
Philippa King, and make, say, a
portrait of Queen Elizabeth, or a
sculpture based on a Picasso sketch. And if you're really enthusiastic about the possibilities of wire hangers, try your hand at making a
gorilla, a
spaceman, or a
hooker like artist
David Mach.
Just please be particularly careful not to put an eye out, since that's not an improvement on mashed clothing.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 10:59 PM on September 24, 2008
(34 comments)
Uh oh, you smashed a dish while you were washing up. But you don't get upset, because you know what to do with the pieces. Being both cultured and crafty, you not only know about the
long and illustrious history of mosaic art but also that you can make mosaics from china and ceramic shards as well as
pebbles,
beads (new or removed from old jewelery),
shells,
marbles, or even
lego or
Scrabble tiles. So you take those pieces of your broken plate (and others that klutzy you has broken in the past) and,
following some basic instructions, make
numbers for your house, a
fireplace surround, a
birdbath, a
flowerpot, a
table or
two or four, a
tray,
picture or
mirror frames, a
wall mural/homage to Hitchcock, or even
a floor. By now you're wishing you had a spare
basilica or
Roman villa so you could really go nuts.
And, besides planning on picking up some thrift shop china, you're eyeing that 48-piece reindeer-and-elves Christmas dinnerware set your mother-in-law gave you a few years back and thinking it's really too bad you're so clumsy and likely to break it in the very near future.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 1:27 PM on September 16, 2008
(20 comments)
Like so many other people, you have a stack of old t-shirts you never wear. Perhaps you've gotten beyond wearing obscene slogans or Strawberry Shortcake logos. Or you feel it's time to retire that “Team Hillary” shirt. Or your favourite old shirt no longer fits over the impressive pecs/food hump you've acquired since high school. Or you've had it with MeFi and you want a way to repurpose/savage your MeFi blue t-shirt. No need to be at a loss! You might just settle for making a
different style of
t-shirt, but you can also use those t-shirts to make
diapers for your baby,
clothes for your
toddler, or adult-sized
undies,
skirts or
dresses. Or a
bikini. Just beware of saggage.
I mean, of the bikini, after it gets water-logged. You also might make tote bags or pillows, car seat covers, baby wipes, or dusters. If you get really ambitious, you can
make a t-shirt quilt, taking inspiration from the
many examples on the net. If I haven't given you enough ideas, you can turn to the ever
authoritative and
exhaustive AskMe, or you can do some
further reading on the
topic. Just don't get so carried away that you wind up having to go to work topless tomorrow.
Unless, of course, your career path requires that anyway.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 4:52 PM on September 1, 2008
(25 comments)
Bag Ladies and Gentlemen....
Yes, you conscientiously refuse plastic shopping bags and use enviro bags as often as you can, but still the plastic bags manage to breed like roaches. How many plastic bags do you have stuffed in (naturally!) a large plastic bag somewhere in your home? And do you despair of ever using them up? Fear not! If you have more bags than home furnishings and décor items, you could make a
chair, a
few throw rugs,
cushions, a
chandelier, or a
Christmas wreath. If you’d like a stylish yet waterproof wardrobe, you could make a
cape, a
raincoat, or a
bra. It would be less utilitarian but equally cool to make your own menagerie:
chickens, a
zebra,
more chickens,
sea creatures, and
still more chickens.
[more inside]
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 8:47 PM on June 11, 2007
(35 comments)
The Top 10 Geekiest Yarn Creations
If you've ever felt knitting was in danger of getting
too sexy these days, the people at
Threadbanger have provided an antidote. They've compiled a list of the ten geekiest projects on the net, which include an Atari 2600 system
(on which you will never max your Pac-Man score), a knitted Hogwarts
(though it appears to actually be crocheted and needlepointed), and a scrollbar scarf. And if anyone wants a crocheted yoda hat and matching light sabre, I am not taking orders.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 5:29 PM on June 3, 2007
(41 comments)
Your real name and all ten of your aliases are on the AOL mailing list.
Or you’re an extreme computer geek and your mother is getting quite irate about the hundreds of used CDs cluttering up her basement.
(And your non-payment of rent. And the smell…) Or your alternative-punk-Celtic-rap band’s release was tragically unappreciated by the public. Whatever, you have piles of CDs sitting around. You’ve followed
this advice on how to minimize CD use and know that recycling CDs is not as easy as it should be, and maybe isn’t even possible in your country. What options do you have? Well, these people are
collecting a million AOL CDs and intend to dump them off at AOL’s corporate headquarters. These people
make clocks from them, and
you could too. Or you could use them to make an ambient
floor or
table lamp, a
throne, a
photo frame, a really huge
mobile, a
disco ball,
shingles for your tree house, or
quite a
few other
things, ranging from postcards to bowls to spinning tops. Or you could play a
quick game of disk hockey with a friend
(that is, if you have time before your mum gets home).
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 6:57 PM on November 18, 2006
(11 comments)
What to do once your beer is all gone
All right, so you’ve finished your beverage. You’ve discreetly released the gas from your digestive tract via your mouth. And now you want to dispose of the empty can. You consider your options. Public-spirited as you are, you are too savvy to believe that you can
redeem the pull tab for a wheelchair or a dialysis machine, or that an
aluminum beanie will protect your brain from alien forces, and you are far too civilized to smash the can against your forehead. As a responsible, ecologically minded person you could recycle, but you’re also creative, and recycling would leave that artistic urge unsatisfied. So, perhaps you whip up a
morning glory wreath for the front door. Or an
airplane. Or a
honeybee. Or the
Starship Enterprise, a
shark, a
knight in shining aluminum armour, a
piano, a
hot rod, a
Christmas tree,
roses for your beloved, or
Easter lilies for your mother. Or
whatever else strikes your fancy. Then you have twin epiphanies: that you’ve entered the wonderful world of aluminum crafting, and that after emptying all those cans you urgently need to pee.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 6:39 AM on November 6, 2006
(22 comments)
Conversing with the matchless Judith Martin
I know you are all familiar with the
work of the inimitable (if syndicated)
Judith Martin,
alias Miss Manners, but I dared to presume that you have not come across this 2005 interview with her. In it she discusses the process of becoming Miss Manners, the cyclical nature of etiquette, her historical predecessors, sumptuary laws in Renaissance-era Venice, and the respective natures of aristocratic and democratic etiquette. Fascinating read.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 3:24 PM on October 24, 2006
(41 comments)
Advice for the Chap at heart....
"The web site you are about to enter contains words and images that may induce excessive languidity and an increase in levels of panache, leading to an overall rise in self-esteem. So sink into your deepest armchair, pour yourself a gin and tonic, light a cigarillo, and prepare to join the sophisticated world of The Chap."
Being a Chap is, apparently, much
more than just an excuse to wear a fedora and spats. The proper Chap has a
Manifesto and a
valet, shops at the
Chap Emporium, and possibly practices the
gentle art of househusbandry.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 6:24 AM on July 12, 2006
(41 comments)
From Muddy York to the Toronto of today....
My search to discover the exact age of the house I recently bought led me to the fabulous
Toronto Archives. Even if you don't have the good fortune to live in Toronto and so have the ability to visit the Archives to take a free tour and check out their
massive holdings, they have a whack of stuff on line. Of their million photographs dating back to 1856, over 21,000 are online. Check out some of their
virtual exhibits. I couldn't begin to give you an overview of the site or even the best of its many gems, but check out
Chinatown's VE day victory parade,
Bay and Wellington as it was after a huge fire in 1904,
old advertisements,
letters and
postcards (including
some from the disenchanted), snapshots of a, er,
less politically sensitive time (
thanks, Capn!), and — inevitably! —
hockey artifacts. A friend of mine makes a hobby of Toronto's history, and after this search of mine, I better understand her interest. It’s fascinating to see what lies beneath the
layers of time on a surface so
familiar and
loved.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 7:57 AM on July 4, 2006
(23 comments)
Macramé: the craft that spawned a million eyesores
As every family has its black sheep, so must the world of crafting have its irredeemable craft. Meet
macramé, the
ugly stepsister of crafting. In my recent search for a basic pattern I could use to redo a couple of old lawn chairs, every click revealed some
fresh new horror. I searched on, thinking surely there must be at least one or two examples of attractive macramé products somewhere on the world wide web, but
apparently not. There was nothing but
bad jewellery,
bad home décor items,
bad chairs and
really bloody awful owls. I tried approaching the technique with a designer’s mindset, seeing ugly things not as an end in themselves but as a design challenge. How could the patterns be improved? How could the technique and medium be used to produce something beautiful? Perhaps it was just the macramé cord and not the technique that doomed each project to aesthetic hell? But in the end, the craft defeated me. I declared it
hopeless, decided to do my two lawn chairs in a plain cream and then retreat from the field before some disaster (
possibly one involving a flaming owl) struck. However, that is just my opinion. Perhaps I just don’t appreciate that some people really need that
homemade Christmas tree, or the perfect belt to wear
while impersonating Elvis.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 7:49 AM on January 31, 2006
(62 comments)
Ultimate Recycling
Rug hooking must be one of the simplest and cost-effective of crafts (
basically, cut old clothes into strips, use burlap, insert hook, pull up loop of fabric), and so it’s all the more amazing that it can be used to achieve such
cool,
painterly and
stunning results. If you click on just one link in this FPP, make it
this one, made by a Japanese woman out of her grandmother’s old silk kimonos. I’ve selected just one excellent,
comprehensive rug hooking web site,
but there’s a lot of resources and information available on the web for this craft if you’re interested.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 7:25 AM on January 17, 2005
(12 comments)
Forbidden Love: The Romance That Masqueraded as a Bio
In early 2003, a Jordanian woman named Norma Khouri published a book entitled
Forbidden Love (or
Honor Lost in North America). This book was a memoir about how Norma Khouri's best friend, Dalia, was killed by her own father after she fell in love with a Christian military officer, and Norma's subsequent escape from Jordan.
Forbidden Love was a bio that read like a sensational romance, and it sold 250,000 copies around the world and made Norma Khouri a celebrity in her adoptive country of Australia. However, it turns out that the book really was just a romance. Dalia never existed. Norma Khouri left Jordan at the age of 3 and grew to adulthood living in Chicago. So, one
very disturbed woman has
exploited Western prejudices about Arab cultures,
fooled the general public, plunged her publisher into an enormous legal and financial embarrassment, and impugned the very real and serious problem of honour killings. And she got away with it for a full year and a half.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 7:08 AM on August 5, 2004
(14 comments)
The Harbin Snow and Ice Festival
The temperature in Harbin, China reaches forty below zero, both Fahrenheit and centigrade, and stays below freezing nearly half the year. The city is actually further north than notoriously cold Vladivostok, Russia, just 300 miles away. Rather than suffer the cold, the residents of Harbin celebrate it, with an annual festival of snow and ice sculptures and competitions. The main link actually shows the 2003 sculptures; here are some from
this year.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 6:11 AM on March 30, 2004
(5 comments)
Babes Against Bush
"It's no secret that a lot of Americans, and particularly American men, don't pay much attention to politics, and don't seem to notice when their leaders are ruining the country they live in. We wanted to find an interesting and attention-getting way to spur at least some people to sit up and take notice of a some basic facts.....
Bush got into office by virtue of a complacent supreme court-and only 537 votes in the state of Florida.
We think we can convince 538 people to vote against him." And if not, they can at least have make some money for some good causes with
their calendar and have a good laugh at some of their hate mail.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 9:18 AM on March 26, 2004
(21 comments)
