Monday, January 23, 2012

Organizating Fabric

This is one of the corners of my room, specifically the corner where I store all of my fur, fleece and felt for plush-making purposes. In the time I've spent making plushies and related crafts, I've amassed fabric. A lot of fabric. Different colors and lengths of fur, different shades of fleece and felt, in big chunks or small scraps, and everything in-between. How do I keep it all organized? Like this.

These are thirteen banker's boxes. You can find them at any office supply store or at Wal-Mart/Target/K-Mart/etc. I bought big packs of them and got them for a nice low price. :3 You have to assemble them yourself, but once you get the hang of it they aren't all that bad at all. (Though if you're anything like me you'll feel really dumb after realizing how easy it actually is).

After assembling the boxes I just sorted out my fabrics by color, cut a little swatch of each fabric that was in a box and hot-glued it to the outside of the box, so I'd know what was in each box. I can also make notes beside the swatches, such as what I'm using a fabric for, if I'm low on it, etc. I also have each box clearly marked, ie "Orange furs" "Pink, Red and Orange fleece", etc.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Helpful Links

Even though I am just a fifteen minute drive away from two different craft stores and a fabric store, I still like to order online for a lot of my projects. So here are some helpful links!

Eyes:
I used to use shank buttons as eyes (mostly for my plushie tempura), but now that I've discovered safety eyes, there is no turning back. Ever.
http://www.suncatchereyes.net
http://www.clothdollsupply.com/CategoryProductList.jsp?cat=Doll+Eyes+And+Joints
http://www.harveyshobbyhut.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=2

Shrinkable Plastic and the Like:
http://www.dickblick.com/products/grafix-shrink-films/
http://www.consumercrafts.com/store/details/catalog/kids-craft-basics/3-2000d : cheaper than above
http://www.planetjune.com/blog/shrink-plastic-ring-tutorial/ : how to make rings with this stuff. Awesome.
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/01/07/how-to-make-shrinky-dinks-with-recycled-6-plastic/ : okay, so this is really cool. I didn't know you could color and bake salad containers like you can with shrinkydinks. 

Cell Phone Straps;
http://www.brightlingsbeads.com/cell-phone-straps.html

Candlemaking:
http://www.peakcandle.com/category/Waxes/Paraffin-Wax.aspx : so far the only website that sells wax less than 50lbs at a time oO