Create

Makeful DIY

It's been a while since I took on one of Makeful's weekly DIY projects.

And not because I haven't been wanting to. It's just that, I don't know about you but my 24 hours runs double time. I swear. The craft challenges usually come out on a Friday with a Sunday due date and, lets face it, that's like 2 hours according to my watch.

Fortunately, when yesterday's email came out, I was looking for a distraction. See, it's tax time. That means receipts, books and other boring, super stressful things I should be dealing with.

I don't know about you, but Friday is not a good day to do that shit.

This week's project theme is washi tape. No rules or guidelines, just washi tape.

Check out the major Scotch Brand selection I found at our local Staples. They have a wicked line called Expressions that I pretty much ruined by slobbering all over. Nobody saw though so I only paid for these three.

Hardest decision I had to make all day.

tapechoices scotchtape Anyone else have a major soft spot for confetti?

It's so celebratory!

Just me?

Now sometimes I spend way too much perusing Pinterest for inspiration, but this time, I was quick to decide. I stumbled upon this great website full of free geometric templates. I had a shop customer email me recently with a request to have us offer a workshop in which we could make "adult mobiles".

And it got me thinking about what that might look like.

Ever the sheep when it comes to trends, I've got a little thing for geometric shapes. And so, the idea for my Makeful project was born.

I tossed a sheet of cardstock into my home printer, selected what I thought looked like a basic shape pattern, and the game was on (if you read that in a Sean Connery voice it's way funnier btw).

supplies

So here's what you need:

Washi Tape (obvs)
Scissors
Cardstock
Printer
Glue or glue dots or double sided tape (I used glue)
Embroidery thread
Hoop or Dowel for hanging. Get creative! I used what I found in my craft cupboard, but I'll be the first to admit my craft cupboard is pretty impressive.

And here's what you do:

Print out the design of your choice. Again, here's the website I used. Go nuts.

I chose the dodecahedron, cuboctahedron,and pentagonal antiprism. Because I am a genius and totally knew not only what all those shapes were, but also how to spell them.

Cut your shape out and then using the blunt end of an Exacto knife, lightly score the lines.

template

I think someone more anal than I would perhaps try to score the side without the lines, but since the plan was always to cover them with washi tape, I didn't worry about that.

Gently fold along your score lines and you'll see your shape start to...er...take shape.

folds

Now I didn't photograph the next step because my hands were covered in glue and also, it's not easy to hold the shape together while gluing, so you're on your own here.

Using glue or some other adhesive of your choice, lightly cover the folded tabs and wait a few seconds until they're tacky.

Then, carefully start attaching the sides to one another.

Wait a few minutes until the glue is pretty much dried, then further strengthen (and beautify!) using washi tape.

tapingshapes

See? Lines covered!

Using a needle first, and then a bamboo skewer, I poked a small hole in the top of each of the shapes, cut a few lengths of embroidery floss, knotted them at the end and stuffed the knot into the hole.

stringing stringing2

I then found two orphaned brass rings (you really should see this craft cupboard), made them a little more interesting by attaching them together with...wait for it...washi tape!..and hung the shapes at different lengths from it.

topring