Unusual Materials

Dear users, dear authors,
Crafting with yarn, fabric, or cardstock is quite common. Are there people here who also enjoy crafting with materials that aren’t quite so common?
Let me know.

Hi Josefa,

the knitters and crocheters on this site will probably use wool, the seamstresses will use fabric, and the crafters will use photo cardstock.

The crafters are most likely to use other materials as well. I used to work with wood, plaster, natural stone, raffia, willow, paints, beads, and wire. Nothing was off-limits to me. I created lots of different things that I simply felt like making.  And even today, I still enjoy looking at beautiful, handmade DIY projects.

But since you can’t do everything equally well in life—and since you don’t have time for everything—you have to make a choice. If you do just a little bit of everything and nothing thoroughly enough, you’ll eventually become dissatisfied.

That’s why I eventually settled on needlework and wool. That’s where my heart lies. But sometimes I also make other things (like building my own doll beds), when I just feel like it. But wool is and always will be my favorite material.

Warm regards—Ina

Right now, I’m experimenting a bit with plastic packaging. I don’t want to just throw it away when I can still make something great out of it. There are so many different shapes that inspire me in all sorts of ways. Let’s see what develops enough that it might turn into a pattern...

I went through a Fimo phase once.
During that time, I used this modeling clay to make earrings.

I like experimenting with all kinds of materials that happen to come my way.

Here’s an overview of everything I keep within easy reach:

Yarn and other cords you can crochet with in every variety, such as parcel string or paper yarn

Paper + stamps + paints... I’m finding old book pages very exciting right now, and I dried a few used tea bags - you can use them to make greeting cards, for example...

Fimo, air-dry modeling clay, concrete and other moldable materials, liquid latex for making casting molds

Wood / bark and other useful materials I find while going for walks...

I also like turning old things from the flea market into collages... actually, almost nothing is safe from me.

My loved ones now also bring me all sorts of things that they bought for themselves to try out and then weren’t in the mood for after all; for my birthday they like to buy me gift certificates for craft supplies - which I think is great.

My sweetheart has caught the bug by now, too - if any packaging is unusual or something technical is broken, he asks me whether I might like to make something nice out of it.

When an acquaintance visited us for the first time, she walked around the apartment for a while and then said that her own home was downright boring... and asked which of all these things I had made myself.
That’s when I first realized how many different things in our apartment were actually made by me.

I simply like trying out new things.
A lot goes wrong and gets thrown away, some things are given as gifts, and the decor in our apartment changes regularly...

Hi Claudia,
I’d love to visit you sometime and marvel at your creative treasures.

You accumulate quite a lot over the course of a lifetime. So that I’d have a memento of them myself, I got into the habit at some point of taking a photo of every item I made.
Now I enjoy looking at them on the screen and reminiscing about them.

Yes, I do too. Especially since I started writing patterns, but I also photograph things that don’t end up becoming patterns.

Schnuckelina, I’ve collected quite a bit over the years...
Ever since I fell out of the “regular job market” a few years ago due to mental health issues, I’ve needed my creative outlets... without them, I’m not balanced!
My sweetheart agrees, by the way—but our apartment is slowly getting too small.

I also like to capture my creations in photos, by the way. 

Well, I’ve tried quite a few things in my crafting life.

There was this “artichoke” technique (folding ribbons and pinning them onto Styrofoam balls), and I’ve also worked with Keramofix—pouring the casting compound into molds, letting it dry, and then painting it. I still have a few of those figures lying around somewhere. We even made picture frames out of it. The plastic molds are still around.
Window-Color pictures for the window panes.
Back then, there was this Suralin (a modeling clay that hardens in the oven)—we used it to make rose pendants or towel hooks.
My Fimo is still there too, still in its original packaging, and all the molds are there, but I haven’t found the time yet. I tried out this shrink plastic—it’s really great.
Paint-by-numbers with oil paint.

For now, yarn remains my favorite. Back in the day, we used to make these little yarn dolls, or we’d weave coasters on wooden frames using nails.
As a kid, I had a wooden loom and a leather braiding kit (it came with pieces of faux leather—with round holes—so you could thread everything together with leather cords to make pencil holders or something like that; I don’t remember exactly what it was called).

There are just soooooo many possibilities. Paper and cardstock for greeting cards, which I’d then embroider with bead motifs, or that thread technique—I’ve done it all. I’ve also done paper pricking and embellished cards with die-cut motifs. I still have the machine and all the materials for it; I could pick it up again anytime.

My goodness, you’re all so creative! Claudia, that sounds really exciting—what else you can conjure up into something beautiful. I’d also be interested in seeing your apartment. :)

I used to love crafting with Fimo and Window Colors, too. Then I somehow ran out of time and lost interest.

When my son was still in preschool, I was part of a parents’ craft group there. That was really interesting, especially around Christmas. I still have the Christmas decorations I made back then. I especially love the little sailboats made from walnut shells as Christmas decorations. The mast was made of matchsticks and the sail was made of felt. 

I’m also not very good at throwing things away—you never know when you might need them. Since my husband thinks the same way, quite a bit of stuff piles up in the basement… until it’s time for another big clean-up.

While crocheting the Puky bag, it occurred to me that the bottom could be well padded with scraps of a soft foam mat. It works great! It’s sturdy and can be washed.

I also work a lot with yarn and construction paper, but you can also make beautiful, creative things out of beads and wire, including in combination with other materials



Here, it’s Styrofoam for a Cuba-themed decoration.

And here, picture frames, floral foam for the bases, plush fabric with acrylic paint for the grass, and of course beads and wire again *laughs* for an Africa-themed decoration







Or made from crepe paper



Why don’t you share some photos too? I so enjoy seeing other people’s creative works

@ Somethinks design:
Wow, those are great decorations! You’re really very creative!

Thank you, ruthk! I’m really glad you like it. Of course, there were still pastel-colored American cars parked in front of the Cuban houses in the display cases—just as they should be *laughs*