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@buildingthemagic
May Drawing Challenge: Maps!
May Drawing Challenge: Maps!
30-day drawing challenges are a fun way to practice your craft while trying new subjects you may not have tried drawing before. Well, we here at Building the Magic humbly offer for May a 30-day Map Drawing Challenge. And since May has 31 days, we’ve got a bonus day 31 idea as well. Just in case you can’t read the image, the list is just below.
(more…)
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Is Theft the Highest Form of Flattery?
Is Theft the Highest Form of Flattery?
Greetings, travelers. I want to talk to you today about something that has me steamed.
Chances are, you know of our blog because of the Alchemy Chart. It’s been a huge success and I see it all over Pinterest, which is a little surreal I must admit. I’m just this elf, ya know? I put days and days of work into that chart, researching each and every symbol and archaic vs. modern names for chemicals.…
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This is How I Make Garb (Part 1: Measurements)
This is How I Make Garb (Part 1: Measurements)
There comes a point in every garb-wearer’s lifetime when they ask themselves, “Could I ever possibly make my own?” and the answer to that is “HELL YES and I’m going to show you how!” This is going to be a multi-part series. I don’t know how many parts just now; as many as it takes, I figure. There are a lot of steps; have patience and take your time and I know you’ll do great. Some of you have…
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Hello and happy summer, fellow Builders of Magic! The other day we were asked for a budget-friendly way to help dress up a canvas tent, and we think we have just the thing for you. For about $15 or so, and a bit of creativity (that’s what we’re here for!) you too can add something uniquely your own to that canvas. Follow along and see how!
Materials you’ll need for this project:
An X-Acto Knife (around 2 dollars)
A piece of craft foam (99 cents)
Pencil and paper
Transparent tape
Brush-tip fabric markers ($1.99 apiece. I ended up using 5 for about 11 feet of design: 2 in color A, 2 in color B, and one for color C (which was accents)
A cutting surface, such as a mat or heavy pizza-box cardboard
Begin by drawing your design on paper in the size you want. Remember that you’re drawing for a stencil, and so you don’t want any middle pieces to get “lost”. Also bear in mind that the less distance between open holes in the stencil, the more flimsy the stencil will be.
Here is a link to an app that will make a stencil design out of text. (It doesn’t leave the centers of letters, like the middle’s of “O”s, attached… you’ll have to do that manually). Here, however, is a stencil-friendly font for text.
Here is a link to a bunch of free and royalty-free to use as a stencil.
Or you might use one of these dingbat fonts as a template for a stencil.
I also found this site, with printable stencil templates of all sorts.
Remember, though, not to get TOO complicated with your stencil design. You will have to cut it all out!
Once you’ve decided on your design, attach the paper to the craft foam sheet. In the photo I used binder clips; you can use those, or the transparent tape.
Using the tip of the X-Acto knife, score your design onto the craft foam. You’re not cutting the whole thing out at this point; you’re simply impressing it into the foam so that you’ll know where to cut later on. In the photos above, the left picture shows scoring the design onto the craft foam; the one on the right shows the craft foam after the design is scored into place.
Next, use the X-Acto knife and your cutting surface, and carefully cut the pieces out of your stencil. I found that the pieces especially liked to hang on at corners, so gently cut them away. Do not hurry with this step! You want nice, exact openings in your stencil.
A completed stencil!
Be sure and test your dye pens out before committing to a design with them! I made simple slash marks on an unseen corner, then waited 24 hours, and completed “X”es. The color remained true and stayed in place. On we go!
Lay your stencil out on your fabric. After a few repetitions, I figured out that it’s much easier to trace the outlines of your design with the stencil in place, then remove the stencil and color in the design. This keeps excess dye/ink from staying on the stencil and smudging on your work surface. Make sure your hands are kept clean as well, for this reason. Stenciling 11 feet of canvas took a few hours total (I ended up doing a few repetitions after work each night while dinner was cooking).
Let the dyed surface dry for 24 hours. Then, I folded a towel over the design and used a hot iron with maximum steam to set the dye in place. I ironed the towel slowly to get plenty of heat and water vapor. This sets the dye in place and makes it permanent.
Now, I used this method for a forester’s canvas tent, but it could also be used for anything from canvas bags and shoes to hats or drawstring bags.
Some ideas for variations:
Use heraldic designs for a noble or royal tent that can be spotted easily (they make metallic fabric pens too!)
Use swirls and leafy motifs for something elven
Use runes or skulls for a more barbarian look
Outline your design with black on a darker background, but fill the design in with glow-in-the-dark fabric paint to make moons, stars, astrological symbols, or alchemy symbols for a mage’s or fortune-teller’s tent
One more caution: be sure to not put dye from pens on damp canvas. My test showed that it smudged and didn’t set properly, and even rubbed off on other parts of the canvas.
Show us what you made here in the comments, or offer your other ideas! As always, thank you for building the magic with us.
Dress up a tent with an inexpensive and easy stencil Hello and happy summer, fellow Builders of Magic! The other day we were asked for a budget-friendly way to help dress up a canvas tent, and we think we have just the thing for you.
I have a wonderful pair of handmade felted wool slippers, but I was saddened, after about a year of wear, to find a hole in my left one.
Once upon a time, I would have “darned” this slipper the way my Mom used to “darn” socks that got a hole in them: Say, “oh, darn!” and throw it away! But, I made these slippers. I love these slippers. And making things last as long as possible is a good thing. So I decided instead to make this a teachable moment, and show you lovely Builders of Magic at home how to darn a wool slipper. Of course, this will work for mittens, socks, and wool hats too.
Besides the worn wool object to be repaired, you’ll want some worsted weight yarn (I went with 100% wool, which I had left over from a pair of socks), scissors, and a yarn needle with a big enough eye for your yarn.
Clean your work area of excess dirt, dust, cat hair, etc. before stitching.
Stitch around the hole with a simple running stitch. I gently worked the needle into spaces between crochet stitches on the slipper. I also did not knot the yarn thread that I’m using, but instead left a tail of 2-3 inches in length inside the slipper. Leave plenty of space between your stitching and the hole (in this case it was between 1/2 and 3/4 inches).
Once you’ve stitched around, make long back-and-forth stitches to cover the hole, within your stitched area. They should be tight enough to cover the hole, but loose enough that they move with the fabric and don’t pull the hole tightly shut.
WORK GENTLY. You don’t want to make the hole bigger! Take your time and don’t force stitches.
Once you have finished these vertical stitches, next you will make horizontal stitches. Your horizontal stitches will be woven among your vertical stitches, alternating over and under.
I made the vertical stitches back-and-forth, but for my horizontal stitches, I worked right to left for every stitch. This creates a bit of reinforcement on the other side of the hole (on the inside of the slipper), and it enables you to make your horizontal stitches closer together.
For easier weaving, weave with your needle, then pull the stitch through.
If your needle has a sharp tip, put the needle through eye-first and weave as shown. This prevents the tip of the needle from snagging on your stitches.
The finished darning (outside).
The inside of the slipper. Rather than tying a knot, I ran the needle through the final stitch a few times before clipping. The heat and friction of my feet will cause this wool to felt into place.
And there you have it, a good darn job. I’ve also used this technique to repair small tears in fabric (and in once instance, when I accidentally punched a grommet hole in the wrong spot in a bag).
Oh Darn! How to repair worn wool socks, slippers, and hats, from Building the Magic I have a wonderful pair of handmade felted wool slippers, but I was saddened, after about a year of wear, to find a hole in my left one.
How do I hide... my cooler?
How do I hide… my cooler?
It’s as much a part of camping as a tent or sleeping bag, and it’s one of those glaringly modern items that can pull you out of your moment of immersion as soon as you lay eyes on it. Read on for some ways to make that necessary cooler less likely to distract. (more…)
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Wednesday Poll: What race/species do you play?
Wednesday Poll: What race/species do you play?
Happy Wednesday, fellow Builders of Magic, we hope you had a fantastic holiday weekend! Time for our weekly poll! Take Our Poll (Most if not all of these pictures come from the Dungeons & Dragons Monsters’ Manual.)
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A More Medieval Meal-Time
A More Medieval Meal-Time
(Photo credit: Veitsen via DeviantArt) One of the most effective ways to transport your senses to another time and place is through food. But even if you don’t have amazing cooking skills or your own copy of Forme of Cury, you can make your next picnic lunch a touch more authentic with these simple steps. (more…)
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Wednesday Poll: What Gets You Inspired? Happy Wednesday, fellow builders of magic! This week we want to know, where do you get your ideas from? Choose the THREE biggest sources of inspiration for you.
Majestic Midnight the Dragon
Majestic Midnight the Dragon
Here’s a little something I made last night and today, for my roommate’s daughter. She picked out the felt and the embroidery floss for the stitching, and I followed this wonderful pattern, and… Dragon! (more…)
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If you’re on Pinterest, chances are you’ve seen the image: a cardboard box, some cording, and (I quote) “some patience”, and you can make that cardboard box look like a fancy basket! We here at Building the Magic are all about making modern things look like not-modern things, especially if it’s cheap, or free, and/or easy, so we had to try this. Only… well, you be the judge.
We’ve got tons of these cardboard boxes of cat food lying around, so I decided that this would be the perfect project to try and do something about it! I got the box, a spool of twine, scissors, a clothespin, a sharpie, and (as Sir Not-Appearing-in-this-Film) scotch tape and a ruler.
Cut off the flaps…
…marked off even intervals where I’m going to cut…
…and cut, leaving the bottom intact.
I used a clothespin, and later tape, to hold the start of the twine in place.
As I went around, weaving alternately over and under, with the twine, I began to realize: the ink on the box was going to show through and look silly. So…
I taped the bottom so that it stayed, and flipped the whole to-do inside-out. Gosh I’m smart, I thought. This is going to look so cool, I thought.
As I continued around, I tried to force the cording down to fit as tightly as possible. Stuff it down. Just like my feelings.
By this point I had used about 6 yards of cording from the spool. It wasn’t fitting very tightly at all, despite all my best efforts, and in my opinion was looking an awful lot like… a cardboard box with twine wrapped around it.
For all this labor, I could weave a real basket and it would look like a basket.
Final Verdict
I wrapped the twine back onto the spool and put the box in the recycling. If you want to make a cardboard box look like something else, maybe wrap it in felt, or fabric, or faux leather, or paper, or paint, or literally anything else besides this method. It doesn’t hide a blatantly modern thing, it doesn’t save time or money… it’s just not worth the “some patience” the pin claims. Also, the pin doesn’t offer any instruction other than the photo, so I wouldn’t know how to finish off the top.
What’s something you did to hide a cardboard box? Share in the comments below, and as always, thanks for bringing your friends and sharing the magic!
We Tried That Pin: What Happened When We Made an “Upcycled” Cord Basket/Box If you're on Pinterest, chances are you've seen the image: a cardboard box, some cording, and (I quote) "some patience", and you can make that cardboard box look like a fancy basket!
A Banner Day (Continued)
A Banner Day (Continued)
Hi friends! A couple days ago I showed you a project I was working on, making a banner and pole. I’ve made some more progress and I’d like to show you how I did it. Come on! (more…)
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Friday Links Round-Up: Tricksy Hobbitses!
Friday Links Round-Up: Tricksy Hobbitses!
Happy Friday and welcome to another weekly round-up of links! This week, seeing how the new Hobbit/LOTR box set is in the news, this week’s round-up is dedicated to living a life full of good food and good cheer over hoarded gold. In short (ba dum bum TSS!), Hobbits! (more…)
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Finished Project: Peg Dolls!
Finished Project: Peg Dolls!
If you’re in a LARP that’s all-ages-friendly, as I am, or if you’re in the SCA, or you’ve got little Renn-lings, you may be pondering plausibly medievalish ways of keeping them entertained. Today, my roommate’s 8-year-old daughter and I got together and painted some peg dolls of ourselves and our in-game family. Juliana Beaumont (left), and her mom, Veyatie Beaumont. Beau Beaumont, Juliana’s…
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Wednesday Poll: The new LOTR Box Set!
Wednesday Poll: The new LOTR Box Set!
So, unless you’ve been living in Fangorn Forest, you’ve probably already heard that New Line is releasing a new 30-disc box set, combining the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies, for a whopping $800 US (though knocked down to a “thrifty” $600 if you pre-order). So this week, we at Building the Magic are curious to know… you gettin’ it? Take Our Poll (Photo credit: Me, Laura Foster, via…
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A blast from the past!
A blast from the past!
Last week when I was searching up images for my tutorial article on tabards, I stumbled upon the above image and was shocked by what I saw. You see, this humble image was made by none other than Yours Truly, using Microsoft Paint, approximately 15 years ago. I clicked the link and– what do you know– a handful of garb tutorials I made ‘way back in the Iron Age when I was single! I know more than I…
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Work in Progress: A Banner Day
Work in Progress: A Banner Day
It’s a busy week! No matter where you may adventure, a good banner lets everyone know that you have arrived… or, in my case, where you should arrive! I’m going to start hosting a craft night for our local LARP group, and I want them to see where the house is, so I thought a portable banner would be just the thing. Read on to see how I’m making one– and you can too! (more…)
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