tutorials – AmeliasMagazine

Amelia’s Magazine | Weatherproof bunting tutorial

Greaseproof paper covering plastic bags

For someone who is supposed to be all eco and stuff, drug I have an embarrassing amount of plastic bags spewing out from underneath my sink. So I decided that my first upcycling project would involve plastic bags.

This project is super easy.
All you need is: Old plastic bags, sale An Iron, abortion Grease proof paper, A big ish needle, String/thread, Scissors, A Triangle template, Assorted bits to melt inside

1) Open your windows. Seriously. Go and do it now. I am pretty sure that I was more intoxicated during this process than I have been for a looooong time. So be careful. Unless you want to get high (in which case don’t say I never give you anything…)
2) Cut open your bags so they are roughly the same shape. Cut off any ratty, knotted or bunched bits. Lay the bags on top of each other. Between 3 and 6 layers worked best for me. Fewer layers will give a thinner end product with holes. Layering more bags will create a stiffer sheet at the end.
3) Sandwich the bags between 2 sheets of grease proof paper. This bit is really important and will protect your iron.

Iron over the paper, keeping it moving at all times. Watch the edges as the plastic shrinks and sucks inwards. Its weirdly satisfying and engrossing. Or maybe that was the effect of the fumes.

My iron was on the hottest setting but it is ancient, so maybe start cooler then turn up the heat if you need too. You will need to run the iron over the layers a few times to make sure they are bonded together properly. If the iron touches the plastic directly it will sizzle, release a plume of intoxicating fumes, and may ruin your iron. Consider yourself warned.

Allow it to cool a little then lift the grease proof paper and check that the bags have formed 1 sheet of plastic (magic!) and that it is totally smooth. Then remove the grease proof paper…

…Voila you have bonded plastic sheets! Admire your recycled craftiaicious handiwork and give yourself a pat on the back. Or a glass of wine. Although I’m not sure how healthy it is to mix wine and plastic bag fumes.

I learned by accident that you can also melt things into the plastic. Bits of other bags! Sequins! Thread! Love hearts!

You could melt allsorts of other cool stuff between the layers too- like dried flowers, bits of paper or fabric…

6) Make a triangle template then trace triangles onto your plastic sheets and cut them out.

7) Make two holes in the top of each triangle with a sharp object. A hole punch would have been very useful, but apparently I’ve lost mine. The holes need to be big enough to allow the triangle to move in the breeze.

8 ) Thread your string/ thread/ whatever you fancy through the holes.

9) Hang the bunting in your garden on a sunny day (or even a rainy one as they are weatherproof!) and sip cocktails whilst watching your colourful recycled bunting undulate in the afternoon breeze.

Watch this space for more recycling ideas soon!

Written by Hannah Bullivant on Monday April 19th, 2010 10:41 pm

Categories ,bunting, ,carrier bags, ,craft, ,diy, ,DIY culture, ,garden, ,Intoxication, ,ironing, ,Making, ,needle and thread, ,plastic bags, ,recycle, ,Robert Dyas, ,Tesco, ,tutorials, ,upcycle, ,weatherproof

Amelia’s Magazine | Weatherproof bunting tutorial

For someone who is supposed to be all eco and stuff, I have an embarrassing amount of plastic bags spewing out from underneath my sink. So I decided that my first upcycling project would involve plastic bags.

This project is super easy.
All you need is: Old plastic bags, An Iron, Grease proof paper, A big ish needle, String/thread, Scissors, A Triangle template, Assorted bits to melt inside

Iron over the paper, keeping it moving at all times. Watch the edges as the plastic shrinks and sucks inwards. Its weirdly satisfying and engrossing. Or maybe that was the effect of the fumes.

Allow it to cool a little then lift the grease proof paper and check that the bags have formed 1 sheet of plastic (magic!) and that it is totally smooth. Then remove the grease proof paper…

I learned by accident that you can also melt things into the plastic. Bits of other bags! Sequins! Thread! Love hearts!

You could melt allsorts of other cool stuff between the layers too- like dried flowers, bits of paper or fabric…

6) Make a triangle template then trace triangles onto your plastic sheets and cut them out.

8 ) Thread your string/ thread/ whatever you fancy through the holes.

9) Hang the bunting in your garden on a sunny day (or even a rainy one as they are weatherproof!) and sip cocktails whilst watching your colourful recycled bunting undulate in the afternoon breeze.

Watch this space for more recycling ideas soon!

Written by Hannah Bullivant on Monday April 19th, 2010 10:41 pm

Amelia’s Magazine | Valentine’s Day- Pas Pour Moi?

Illustration courtesy of Mari Mitsumi

Valentine’s Day is soon to creep upon us and discharge its usual bile inducing or saccharine coated brand of bland commercial overload. What is a uniquely dedicated love-fest can make or break couples… How revealing the choice of a particular date night or specific card can be! Who said Lovers’ Day had to be like everyone else’s? The following suggestions of places to take her or presents to give him are for those who enjoy a good dose of self-parody or do care to treat their special loved one to a rare gift as cute as those lovely dimples!

Photograph courtesy of Shauna Richardson.

Spine-chillingly Cuddly Valentine:

In Shauna Richardson’s Crochetdermy, the Endangered craft of crochet fashions life sized endangered species. Knitting has never looked so eerily attractive! For more information, contact the artist here.

Photograph courtesy of Handmadebymachine

Unleash the Geek in You!:

He or she is a type lover? The Just My Type gift set is a series of postcards that will delight the typography nut in your life. Get them at Handmade By Machine

Illustration courtesy of Mari Mitsumi

Lovelorn Ones Need not Be Alone!

Resist the Vitamin Love deficiency blues with Abe’s Penny: the one and only postcard magazine. Why pay for martinis at the bar to drown your sorry ass when you can shake or stir at home for (at least $2) less? And send them postcards to all those trusted friends who stuck by you through thick and thin? Subscribe here.

Vancouver Island Marmot print courtesy of Molly Schaffer and Jenny Kendler

And a Big Hug for the Furry Ones:

Warm the heart of your animal lover companion! Molly Schaffer and Jenny Kendler’s latest illustration project plans to raise awareness and funds for critically endangered species. 100% of the proceeds of The Endangered Species Print Project (ESPP)’s limited-edition art prints support the species they depict. Prints are limited to the species’ remaining population count. For example only 37 Seychelles Sheath-tailed bats remain in the wild, so for this edition only 37 prints will ever be made. These two artists desire to operate outside this white-wall system and use their artistic talents to directly support conservation efforts and biodiversity on Planet Earth. They aimed to craft a project that would use drawing (the thing they were best at and most enjoyed doing) to positively impact the natural world (the thing they cared most about and most enjoyed experiencing).

Photograph courtesy of Incredible Things

Bilmey! Your Birthday is the 14^th!

Well, those Lego Blockz birthday candles are unlike any other and fun! Get them at Incredible Things.

Image courtesy of Oriel Myrddin Gallery

Reap and Sew my Heart Stronger:

Twelve makers from a range of craft disciplines have been invited to participate in ‘Reap & Sew’, an exhibition to open on the 27^th of February. All use nature as an inspiration for their creative output. In the mid-time, a selection of beautiful craft and design objects influenced by gardens and growth are available to purchase now at the shop. And don’t forget, you and your Nature Lover are invited to join the folks at Oriel Myrddin Gallery for A Garden Party – plants, cakes, beekeeping and bunting…

Saturday 20^th March 2-4pmOriel Myrddin Gallery, Church Lane, Carmarthen SA31 1LH/ Lôn Llan, Caerfyrddin SA31 1LH

Photograph courtesy of Stylisheve

Love me Tender:

Stylish Eve is an online craft website with wonderful tutorials. Her current selection of Handmade Romantic gift ideas is perfectly suited to those wanting to transform simple and cheap ideas into matchless treats for Valentine! Learn here how to make soap yummy!

Photograph courtesy of Wrong Love

Torture me Tender:

WRONG LOVE is a naughty orgy of performances, site-specific installation, video and live music set within A Foundation, Liverpool galleries. Featuring 40 artists who will seduce a Valentine’s night crowd with explorations of romance, sexuality, and unconventional love. WRONG LOVE is the first happening produced by the new live arts event collective LAND and aims to showcase thought-provoking works from local, national and international artists. The night will include a bespoke hour filled with ‘wrong’ love poetry and short story readings from BRICKFACE press, a team of young, independent writers and self-publishers as well as performances and installations by Samantha Sweeting, Kimbal Bumstead, Shelly Nadashi, Baptiste Croze, Unit 4, Fools Proof Theatre and many more.

For a full listing of the artists involved visit the WRONG LOVE website. Tickets £10/ £6 concession on sale here.  Saturday 13 February 2010  9pm-3am

Photograph courtesy of Mossonline

Flowers are Nasty:

…When they are polluted with insecticides and other repellent things! You should know already because you’ve read the Earth article today! Well, these ones are handmade and good for your heart. Nymphenburg Treasure Box of 7 unique handmade and hand painted flowers by designer Franz Joseph Ess available here

Illustrations courtesy of The School of Life

Learn to love life:

At the The School of Life Love Week End , be guided through love’s joys and pitfalls. You will explore some essential questions: How can lovers have better conversations? How important is sex? How can love be made to last? What can science usefully tell us about love? You’ll draw on ideas from philosophy, psychoanalysis, literature and art and discover what Plato, Shakespeare, Freud and others had to say about compassion, empathy and self. How institutions of love, such as courtship and marriage, have changed over the centuries and where that legacy leaves us now?

For further details and to book your place on the Love Weekend please click here.

Price: £125.00

Illustration courtesy of Rob Ryan

I think you are Lovely:

Loveliness has never been so artily crafted! Get Rob Ryan’ s hand printed silk screens and say it with a “Leaf Kiss”.

Written by Valerie Pezeron on Tuesday February 9th, 2010 4:58 pm

Categories ,A Foundation, ,Abe’s Penny, ,art, ,Biodiversity, ,conservation, ,craft, ,design, ,ecology, ,events, ,Franz Joseph Ess, ,Hand Painted, ,handmade, ,illustration, ,knitting, ,Lego Blockz birthday candles, ,Liverpool galleries, ,magazine, ,Mari Mitsumi, ,Molly Schaffer and Jenny Kendler, ,Oriel Myrddin Gallery, ,Postcard Art, ,print, ,rob ryan, ,screen-printing, ,Stylisheve, ,Taxidermy, ,The Endangered Species Print Project, ,The School of Life, ,tutorials, ,Valentine’s Day, ,Wrong Love

Amelia’s Magazine | Valentine’s Day- Pas Pour Moi?

Illustration courtesy of Mari Mitsumi

Photograph courtesy of Shauna Richardson.

Spine-chillingly Cuddly Valentine:

In Shauna Richardson’s Crochetdermy, doctor the Endangered craft of crochet fashions life sized endangered species. Knitting has never looked so eerily attractive! For more information, no rx contact the artist here.

Photograph courtesy of Handmadebymachine

Unleash the Geek in You!:

He or she is a type lover? The Just My Type gift set is a series of postcards that will delight the typography nut in your life. Get them at Handmade By Machine

Illustration courtesy of Mari Mitsumi

Lovelorn Ones Need not Be Alone!

Vancouver Island Marmot print courtesy of Molly Schaffer and Jenny Kendler

And a Big Hug for the Furry Ones:

Warm the heart of your animal lover companion! Molly Schaffer and Jenny Kendler’s latest illustration project plans to raise awareness and funds for critically endangered species. 100% of the proceeds of The Endangered Species Print Project (ESPP)’s limited-edition art prints support the species they depict. Prints are limited to the species’ remaining population count. For example only 37 Seychelles Sheath-tailed bats remain in the wild, recipe so for this edition only 37 prints will ever be made. These two artists desire to operate outside this white-wall system and use their artistic talents to directly support conservation efforts and biodiversity on Planet Earth. They aimed to craft a project that would use drawing (the thing they were best at and most enjoyed doing) to positively impact the natural world (the thing they cared most about and most enjoyed experiencing).

Photograph courtesy of Incredible Things

Bilmey! Your Birthday is the 14^th!

Well, those Lego Blockz birthday candles are unlike any other and fun! Get them at Incredible Things.

Image courtesy of Oriel Myrddin Gallery

Reap and Sew my Heart Stronger:

Saturday 20^th March 2-4pmOriel Myrddin Gallery, Church Lane, Carmarthen SA31 1LH/ Lôn Llan, Caerfyrddin SA31 1LH

Photograph courtesy of Stylisheve

Love me Tender:

Photograph courtesy of Wrong Love

Torture me Tender:

For a full listing of the artists involved visit the WRONG LOVE website. Tickets £10/ £6 concession on sale here. ?Saturday 13 February 2010 ?9pm-3am

Photograph courtesy of Mossonline

Flowers are Nasty:

Illustrations courtesy of The School of Life

Learn to love life:

For further details and to book your place on the Love Weekend please click here.

Price: £125.00

Illustration courtesy of Rob Ryan

I think you are Lovely:

Loveliness has never been so artily crafted! Get Rob Ryan’ s hand printed silk screens and say it with a “Leaf Kiss”.

Written by Valerie Pezeron on Tuesday February 9th, 2010 4:58 pm

Amelia’s Magazine | Cut Out and Keep Customising with Cat Morley!

Brixton’s Windmill had a distinctly North American flavour to it, about it with a cold (and windy) November Monday being warmed up by the scuzzy blues of J.D. Smith and the alt-country tinged Bearhat. Then, filling all corners of the bijou stage, were tonight’s headliners, Canadian six-piece Hey Rosetta!
Part-way through a mini European tour, Hey Rosetta! have already garnered some very favourable reviews back home for their live shows, as well as their debut album, the Hawksley Workman-produced Into Your Lungs. Comparisons have been drawn with the likes of Wilco and Arcade Fire, but for me the parallels with their Canadian compatriots are the most apposite. With that indie rock twist on alt-country, fleshed out with orchestral flourishes, Hey Rosetta! go for the epic, yet manage to avoid ending up with the overblown.

Singer and main songwriter Tim Baker is an engaging front-man, swapping piano for guitar (even mid-song) and certainly doesn’t shirk his vocal duties, with a delivery worthy of the drama in his songs.
You could accuse Hey Rosetta! of being a bit formulaic, with songs tending to start off very low key, with either just a solo piano or acoustic guitar, slowly building up momentum before exploding into life, but who cares when they do it so well? Also, they tend to throw a little of the unexpected into the mix, such as the intro to the song Holy Shit (What a Relief), which tips a sizeable doff of the cap to Pink Floyd’s Breathe, from prog epic Dark Side Of The Moon.

By the time Hey Rosetta! got to the end of their set, closing with the typically rousing New Goodbye, even the most hard-bitten of Brixtonians at the Windmill were swept along by the band’s energy.
After a couple more London dates, Hey Rosetta! are due to head back across the Pond to finish off the year with more Canadian shows. Though largely unknown in these parts at the moment, I’m pretty sure that we’ll be hearing as lot more of Hey Rosetta! in the months to come.