Rational Insanity
Crafty and classy
Many of us are very crafty. However, we don't usually possess the pizazz needed to jazz up our crafts and make them a step classier than they would normally be in the hands of a commercial craft maker. I often find it nice to throw in a little bit more something into the crafts that I make because what other people think about your craft will usually reflect the amount of effort you put into your work. Minute, sometimes, unnoticeable details often make the biggest differences. Here are ten general tips for craft-makers, so that your little keepsakes would not only be crafty, but classy as well.
1. Colors count – picking the right colors for your crafts depends on the kind of concept you are working on. Usually, baroque concepts call for loud and metallic colors, nature concepts work well in pastels, earth tones, and a splash of bright, sharp colors. Avant garde concepts on the other hand skimp on colors – the best ones to use here are black and white or the more primitive hues like browns and navy blues and ocre.
2. Experiment with seemingly useless materials – a ribbon made out of trimmed glossy magazine pages can look as good as expensive, ready made bows. Recycled paper can look more 'elite' than pre-prepared craft paper. Let your imagination run wild! There are a million possibilities out there. Did you even know that brown paper bags can actually look good when jazzed up with water color or poster paints? Use cut out corrugated board from old boxes for your gift tags. There is a trove of material just waiting for you in your attic or storage room!
3. Find other uses for the 'already used' – create cool paper twine from old newspapers, flower petals from printed fabric right off that old duster! Create impressive decoupage from old CD or DVD sleeves.
4. Skimp on consumables – using too much of, say, glue, can not only ruin the neatness of your projects, but can also work against you. Most of the time, the more glue we use on something, the less sturdy the bond becomes. Poster color can actually be diluted with water, and will have a classier watercolor effect when diluted instead of using it pure.
5. Know your paints and dyes – do not make the common mistake of using one type of paint thinner to thin another kind of pain. To each paint or dye, its own thinner. This mistake can coagulate your perfectly usable paint or dye, prevent it from drying, or totally spoil your good batch of paint or dye.
6. Let water be your best friend – having water on hand can save a lot of goofed up projects. You never know when pain might spill, or when glue would go to places where it isn't supposed to be.
7. Mind your words – very often, because of our intense focus on the finer details of the crafts we are making, we tend to overlook the words that we put into the labels or the text part of invitations and stuff. These are the most important, go over the words until they are well edited, or better yet get a good grammarian or proofreader.
8. Plan – a good craft item is well planned. Conceptualize, draw your item first. Then make a sample out of scratch so that you would have an idea of how much effort will go into making your project. Don't go out to buy your materials with only a concept in your head, otherwise you will end up buying things that you might not be able to use in the end.
9. Skimp on glittery stuff – most of the time, glittery what-nots can tire the eye, hence making your project look like something most people would not want to look at for too long. The light reflected by the colors in your items is enough as eye candy. Glitters reflect white light, not just part of the spectrum; this can often hurt the eyes of the viewer.
10. Save the scraps – well, obviously, the reason for this is that you might find use for your scraps in your future crafts. Oh, and by the way, always keep a sample of your project after you have delivered the finished products to your clients – for posterity's sake.
There you go guys! Go craft up! Good luck!
Be rational; be insane…every once in a while! TTFN!
I love you all! Byers!