Many people have asked when I started plarning, and I know its been a few years now. Browsing some old pictures from Alaska, I ran across this one and figured I'd share it with everyone to show the first generation of not only plarn by my hands, but also crochet. This was made from the older White/Blue Walmart bags, and a plarnball of Fred Meyer Tan/Black can be seen to the side. The first thing that jumps out to me is how the knots of the individual loops have become streamlined and almost invisible! Look closer and you'll notice where I missed a stitch or two on the ends - but as anyone who has seen me work, you all know I don't count stitches anyways :) And if I remember correctly, I ended up deconstructing this piece and it turned into a few planters. This spring I'll be looking to do some workshops with various repurposing themes with plastic including basic weaving and bottleweaving so keep an eye out for those!
A couple of the newer mixed yarn items have made their way to a new location! Over at Cowboys & Angels in Buckley, WA which is primarily a cafe but features great local handmade art in a large variety including the rustic styles. These two particular bags are made from white leftovers of plastic mixed with a chasing row of yarn done in a single crochet style and turned inside out to produce this great houndstooth effect.. They grey/white features a zipper and yarn edging on the handle; the multi-color features a magnet closure and also an adjustable strap utilizing a carbiner. Where the Purple Things are! There have been many projects in the works recently, now that bazaar season and the holidays are winding down. The first thing to feature is a batch of wallets made from some very purple bags. All of these feature small magnetic catches and a button. These are a great size for change but also any other small items you don't want to loose in the bottom of your purse. Stay tuned for more bright colors going into spring! It appears I've found a few uses for some of the not so normal plastic pieces - including newspaper sleeves. The grey material is actually rolled pieces leftover from the grey ironed sheets I used in the Capelet post. The tan is the standard Fred Meyer plarn, but with the density it produces almost a reed-like mat. Both of these were created on a basic 2"x2" square frame that is 22"x22" and nails spaced at 3/8" gives flexibility for the dense reed matting or skipping for the rolled mats.
We're bringing the awesome back to crochet! My first event was a great combined effort with Frolicking Figments showing as "Figments & Synner" which made a great combination of fluffy and utility things.
I got to talk to quite a few people about all the things I can do with a few or many bags, and even got to don my Scale Capelet and Utiliskirt. It was great to see the appreciation for the art we both create and hope to see you guys at more events soon! It's not often I get pictures while working on a project from start to finish since most things are an experiment, however this one was a bit special. While thinking about creating something wearable for my first event this weekend, I tossed around a few ideas before settling on a layered look inspired by a Project Runway "Unconventional Materials" Challenge.
This project is based around ironed plastic, or "Flastic" as we have been tossing around. It starts as a bag with the bottom seam and handles trimmed off, then for this particular project I took off the logo panel of the bag, which in total yielded approximately a 14"x24" piece of usable material. I used 4 layers for this project as it is not weight-bearing but does call for a bit of stiffness. After ironing, I used a round container to trace just over half way around to create the individual scales and the sizing worked out to about 12 scales per sheet. Now that we have a stack of scales to use, on to the next part. For the base material of this creation, I used some reusable bag/utility type of fabric. I also used an easy fitting T-shirt to loosely draw a pattern on some paper for the back piece and mirrored for the front halves and seamed along the shoulder. After laying it out on the work surface, I started attaching scales at the back center bottom using 3 strands of embroidery thread and three x-stitches to prevent tearing. Continue layering towards the top and working towards the front. On the top visible layer along the collar and front edge, the scales are folded over the material to create a flat finished edge. When its all said and done, I have a capelet with a scale/armor look that is easy-wearing, lightweight, resilient and total took about 20 bags. Its been a weekend of finishing up projects ahead of an upcoming craft faire in October where I'll be making my debut! This post features several small purse size bags that all utilize a magnetic closure concealed by some nifty reclaimed buttons. Click on the photos for individual information about each bag. There were these two wonderful bags, but really they were too small to put in bamboo for the handles like my grocery/market totes and too big for a purse design. A few weekends ago, I ran across a mixed bag of small fabric pieces at a yardsale and found a wonderful purpose for these two 70's inspired pieces. Inspired a bit by the hobo bag design, you get the comfort of a wide strap with the streng
A visit to my local source of Arrow Bamboo to get some pieces larger than what I have currently in my yard. I wish it could stay the nice green color it is now, but in a couple months it'll be the tan shade to match my tan bags and just in time to make some more grocery bags and maybe other things.
I didn't realize how big these plants had gotten until I saw a pic of when I first planted them way back in the spring. They do well in the shallow trays and are almost impossible to overwater since the woven material allows the dirt to breathe a bit.
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