All Dried Out

First attempts

Jane brought along to the craft group all her moulds and we tried air-dried clay for the first time. The trick is not to handle the clay too much - some of us cottoned-on to the technique faster than others! The frames and large flowers are Martha Stewart moulds, the rose and sunflower are WOW moulds.

Martha Stewart Frame Mould

WOW Rose Mould

There are qualities in the clay, some more pliable than others. They were partly set by the time we finished and craftywhippet loaned me a box to carry them home. Unfortunately, putting the box on its side was not a great idea and a few got broken or bashed. They will gradually harden further over the next few days and then they should be decorated with the likes of Twinkling H2Os, Copic pens or Spray & Sparkle. We will see how they turn out! I've never been handy with clay so if they are usable it will be amazing.

Boxing Clever at Hobbycrafts

This is the box we made

As promised, here is an off-the-cuff video I took of us joining in a demo of box-making at the craft fair, now uploaded to YouTube. Charmain of Payper Box led us through the process, using flexible embossing powder and removable double-sided tape. Jeanette from our craft group was on hand to do a lot of the work, also videoing sections as I did a little bit of the crafting, while Ruth did nothing! It was a laugh for us anyway and I hope you enjoy watching.

What is Pergamano?

Following my recent Post, Rita, of SoulComfort blog, had to Google the answer, so I've done the same. The answer is:
Pergamano is a trade name for Parchment Craft supplies.  However the term Pergamano ('Perga', Spanish for parchment and 'Mano', Spanish for hands) is now used world wide to describe this fascinating craft.
The heavy parchment paper is a translucent grey colour, but when you pressure-emboss it (pressing on it with a small round-ended tool) on a soft surface, it becomes a satiny, opaque white.  In addition to pressure embossing, there are various painting and perforating techniques that can be applied to make a very elegant looking piece of art work.  Using perforating tools such as the flower tool, the four hole piercer and the diamond tool and grid make the parchment lace-like.  With these techniques, you can make cards, bookmarks, boxes, lamp shades and even three-dimensional flowers.

In process

So, now that my white pen has arrived, before the craft group meets tonight, I've finally finished mine, remembering to use tissue to keep my sweaty paws from marking the front.

Traced, Embossed and partly Perforated

When I tore the pin-pricked edge I realised that I had forgotten to go through both front and back together. Pity. However, not too bad for a first effort.

The Finished Card

All I have to do now is to make an insert for the words, which also strengthens the card to stand. I think I'll send it to Jean!

Instead of all-white colouring and embossing, the back of the flowers can be painted. Jean had lots of samples she had made and they are beautiful.

Have a try yourself. Mind you, one wee tip I know is that vellum in a folder run through the Cuttlebug or Big Shot or whatever, gives a very Pergamano-like effect! Shhh...

Pin-Pricking and Pergamano

The craft group met for a special event with our "Crafting Mama", Jean, who showed us how to do two projects. In a beautifully sun-warmed conservatory we enjoyed the lunch items we had brought then moved on to the business of the day.

Firstly pin-pricking from a pattern with decoupage in the centre.

Pin-pricking Decoupage

Secondly Pergamano. Well, my white gel pen wouldn't work. Then I didn't get on at all with pen nib and white ink, it was like being back in primary school with a scratchy nib (showing my age there!). So I left finishing tracing the pattern till I ordered a new white gel pen. The pen has arrived and I hope to finish tracing, embossing and pin-pricking/tearing to show Jean that I really did finish my card. Craftywhippet finished hers with only a teensy slip of the tearing...

Craftywhippet at work on the first project

Christmas is early this year

Well I did do some more crochet. I finished the Christmas stocking for Evan, and I made the Granny Squares a little larger than in the past. The bells on the hanging loop amused him but I wasn't convinced that he wouldn't chew them off, so the sock has been removed till December!

Santa Sock

Santa up close

Remember to visit Craft & Chat's new Facebook Page and Like us please.

Craft & Chat Facebook Page

Many people access blogs and YouTube through Facebook nowadays, so now is the time to pull together our stuff into a Facebook Page as well. We would appreciate if you would Like us there, or if you don't use Facebook just click the Like button on the right hand panel on this blog.

A new day dawns

I've just read CraftyWhippet's latest post - writing a blog at that time of night...tsk, tsk. However, she has retitled her cards, so her brain must have worked OK. LOL Now, today, I too have been busy - setting her YouTube Channel to CraftyWhippet instead of reporterwhippet (a previous alias!)

Next, the Great Normano and I headed off to Prestwick on the Clyde coast, as it was a beautiful day.  There I visited the Creative Art craft shop run by John Byars.  He is a well-known artist and sculptor, and I was interested to learn he has designed Nostalgia for docrafts decoupage and rubber stamps.  When the July issue number 22 of Creativity magazine comes out we will learn more. 

The mobile phone photo shows looking towards Troon and we had a nice wee walk on the shore before lunch. 
You can Follow us on Twitter and Facebook using craftyaem and craftywhippet…