The other day when I was talking about bookbinding and incorporating my weaving, I realized that I completely forgot to post about my loom, well actually my new looms.
I have been interested in inkle weaving for a while. When I went with my friends to Red Alder (a fiber arts retreat) I planned on checking out the inkle demonstrations. The demonstrator was great. I mentioned I had been thinking about getting one for a while. She told me if I was looking for somebody to talk me out of it, she was the wrong person. I ended up buying a smaller version of the small inkle loom.
It sat in the box for a while. My artistic goal for April was to assemble it, finish it, and learn how to use it. I did and I loved what I could make with it. I also quickly realized that I wanted one with wider pegs, so I started shopping.
I found this company that made gorgeous ones the size I wanted, with beautiful designs. https://www.etsy.com/shop/Toplyfiberarts I saw that she had dragonfly ones in her sold listings, so I reached out to see if she had any more. She had just made one that morning and sold it to me. It is perfect. It comes built and finished and is so much easier to use. I’ll still use the small one for smaller bands and to travel, but this one will be used the most.
I’m still experimenting and figuring out everything I can do with this loom, but so far I love it and love the things I have made with it.
About 20 years ago, I wanted to bind books. This was before youtube, so I couldn’t just find an expert there. I taught myself out of a book. Then I took every bookbinding class I could find. I loved it and I loved learning new styles and techniques.
Then people started wanting to trade with me and I was asked to sell them and I opened an Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/beckyspapercreations At that point I was a busy homeschooling mother with a hobby business. So I mostly just did a basic binding style and stopped learning and even using the other styles I had learned.
Then I took up knitting, then weaving, then my Cricut, then making bath and body products, you get the picture. I forgot how much I loved some of the creative binding styles.
I joined the class and have thoroughly loved binding books this week. I have also enjoyed mixing my weaving with it. I wove three of the closures.
I have plans to make many more books. Some will end up on my Etsy. I also plan on trying many more new binding styles. I need this particular creative outlet back in my life.
My son loves music and especially old rock. I had promised to make him a new shirt. He wanted something from the Eagles and chose this image. I’m surprising him with the tie.
Since my Dad is on hospice I have been doing a lot of traveling to see him. I decided to make myself new luggage tags to make my luggage stand out and make me smile.
I got to play some more with infusible ink and some new blanks.
They have such pretty colors.
First I made some neoprene car coasters. Next time I will use a bigger circle so as not to get any white showing on the edges.
Then I played around with some mostly polyester socks. These are a fun way to use up scraps.
A couple more shirts for me.
Then I used the sasquatch that was left from weeding the shirts to make a tie.
I got some earring blanks so I had to make earrings and keychains. I’m really excited about how the earrings came out. It was a fun day. I love this infusible ink.
I love them. They come in sheets so they are easy to store and add to the mat. They are my favorites to cut and weed. I love that the carrier sheet is nice and sticky. They are smaller than the other sheets. They are 10 X 12 instead of 12 X 12. Although most projects need just under 10″ in width they are still a great size. The only even kind of con is that sometimes there is a little too much white or beige in the pattern. Since you really need to use white blanks, light colors in the design sometimes blend into the blank..
These are by far my favorite ones to use. They are gorgeous and versatile. I bought myself a set of Colorful on the same listing as the ones I was given.
I love the colors. I love that each color is labeled. When you get the sheets the colors are muted and it is hard to tell what color they are. They don’t become dark and vibrant until heat is added and you press them into the design. The carrier sheet is a nice degree of stickiness. There are two problems with this brand neither one will keep me from purchasing it. One it is thinner so you need to adjust your cutting thickness. For all of the other brands, I use infusible ink setting with more pressure. With this one, I use infusible ink set with less pressure. The other is the carrier sheet often changes the color of the item. I have solved this by doing one of two things. If it is a more complicated design I make sure and cut around it in a way that it looks like the marks are a border. If it is a simple design I transfer the images to another carrier sheet. The infusible ink is similar to a lightweight cardstock so it is easy enough to pick it up and move it. This is what I used and it didn’t leave any marks or residue. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z4LP271/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Well since I mentioned these in the last post I figured I better take time to talk about them. I love Cricut’s infusible ink markers. I tried an off-brand and while they worked, I prefer the tip of Cricut’s. I also love that they fit in the Cricut.
Essentially what you do, is color on a sheet of laser copy paper and then heat press it to your product. It will go on as a mirror image, so keep that in mind.
For the image I had the Cricut draw the image. I forgot to mirror it. So I drew “words” on the front cover. Then I colored in the image and pressed it to my shirt. I bought the image on etsy and love it. https://www.etsy.com/listing/756999174/girl-reading-books-svg-book-lover-svg?ref=yr_purchases The wording was an infusible ink sheet.Maren and Stiles did the front of this for me. They did all of it by just drawing it. Maren is really good at writing words in mirror image.This is the same tumbler that Maren and Stiles made for me for Mother’s Day. They had all my grandkids’ color on the paper. Maren helped with the words.
This was a fun project for a friend. I had the Cricut write the word Mommy, then her two girls colored it in and drew the hearts.
This tumbler was my first tumbler project and one of my favorites. I had the Cricut draw the images. Each one represents my husband, my three kids, and myself. Then I colored them in. I love the beautiful vibrant colors.
The knitter’s mug was also made with these markers. My Cricut drew the outlines and I colored it in.
These markers are such a great way to make fun personalized gifts. I love using them with children’s artwork.
So after playing with infusible ink sheets I decided that I needed a mug press and that I wanted to try other brands of sheets. I also wanted to play around with the infusible ink markers.
I loved that it came in sheets. They were so much easier to store and add to the mat. The one problem I have with this set is that the carrier sheet is not as sticky as I would like. Small cuts pop off and get lost. I wouldn’t use it for something really detailed. I do still really like them. They cut well. I haven’t had the adhesive leave marks on my products. The colors are gorgeous. Just be careful to not lose pieces. I don’t use it for really detailed work.
The first, fourth, and fifth were made from this set. The others from markers.
This shows the problem I had with it not being sticky enough. The middle of the e and s popped out without me realizing it. I had to try and cut out another one and add it. The colors are gorgeous.
I really like these. I especially like the gorgeous, vibrant dark colors that pop. I just with the transfer sheet was a little stickier. Now that I know it is a problem I am careful and able to make sure and not loose pieces.
Infusible ink is so cool. The ink actually becomes part of the item, so there is no decal to wash off.
The downsides are that it only works with polyester products or products coated with polyester and it doesn’t work with dark fabrics.
The first infusible ink I used was the Cricut brand. I do like it. I love that the shirt still feels the same. It washes well. It was relatively easy to use. It cuts well, weeds well, and presses well. The colors are bright and beautiful. My biggest complaint with it is it comes rolled. The only time I had the adhesive leave a mark was when I used a light blue shirt. It makes it a lot harder to store and adhere to the mat. It is a little more expensive than other brands.
It has been a while since I used this one so I forgot how sticky the back was on this one.
I did really like it, but wanted to see what else was out there.
It has been a long time since I have posted here. Since the last time, I have added many hobbies to the ones I already had and have continued my old ones. My kids are all adults and I am now a grandma.
I have taken up weaving and making lots of different items with my cricut
My most recent hobby is making shirts, mugs, and tumblers using infusible. When I first started using infusible ink the information on the non-Cricut brands was hard to find. So I started experimenting. I figured I would post about what I had found out.
Here are just a few of the things I have been up to. I will post about the different brands I have tried in different posts.
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