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Posts Tagged ‘Crafts’

A great deal of folk get a real thrill out of making dolls’ dresses and other clothes whether they be for their own dolls, a relative’s or for sale. However, as with each hobby or craft there are a few ground rules, a few dos and don’ts which will help you enjoy your new hobby straight from the start until you gain enough experience to create your own judgments. In this piece we will explain the basics of how to create dolls’ dresses.

The first thing to do to make making dolls’ dresses easier is to think that you are manufacturing a new outfit for yourself. This is easier for you because you already know yourself and have improved from making gaffs in the past, but how well do you know the doll for whom you are going to be manufacturing clothes?

If you are making clothes for your own doll or for retail, this is not a problem but if you are making dresses for a friend’s doll, it would be a good idea to see her, hold her and get a feel for her before you purchase any textiles.

You may want to get a pattern for a doll’s dress if this is your first one, but you can probably make it up as you go along, or be really professional and make a couple of sketches with notes first.

This is really quite useful, because you can transform the pattern in light of experience and make notes about problem regions. Who knows, once you have twenty of them you might be able to publish them.

The apparatus that you will require to facilitate manufacturing dolls’ dresses is basically the same as any tailor or seamstress would require. That is: a sewing machine, pins, needles, shears or a rotary cutter, glue, pinking scissors, thread, tracing paper, pencils and a marking chalk or pen.

You will almost certainly require other items too depending on what you intend manufacturing, but they could include: ribbons, elastic, sequins and lace. Then you are ready to make your sewing machine for use. If you have not used it for a time, give it a quick service as described in the handbook that came with the sewing machine.

See your handbook if you do not know how to set up your machine to pin tuck otherwise look it up on the Net. It is a good idea with some textiles to spray the fabric with starch before you start this stage.

When you have finished your doll’s dress or even before that point, you should take into account whether the style calls for any lace, ribbons, embroidery or sequins. You can create or purchase tassels if they are required.

You can get a great deal of fun out of manufacturing dolls’ dresses for yourself or a niece and the look on their face while they comprehend that you have taken the time to make something so special and unique just for them and their doll is reward enough.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with Silver Cross Dolls Prams. If you would like to know more, please go over to our web site at Doll Prams.

In all probability the first name that springs to mind when thinking of the history of cartoons is that of Punch.

It was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire published between 1841 and 1992. It was started in July 1841 by Henry Mayhew who, with Mark Lemon, was accountable for the editing, and engraver Ebenezer Landells who took care of the illustrations.

Its initial sub-title was The London Charivari, after a French satirical humour publication known as Le Charivari. Revealing their satiric and humorous intent, the two editors took the name of the anarchic glove puppet, Mr. Punch, of Punch and Judy fame as the title of the new publication.

On the other hand the name is also a play on words regarding the name of the co-editor Mark Lemon, in that “punch is nothing without lemon”. Mayhew did not stick with the publication for long. He ceased being joint editor in 1842 and became “suggestor in chief” until he departed in 1845.

Punch was responsible for the word “cartoon” in the sense of a comic drawing. In fact one of its most famous cartoons, drawn by George Du Maurier, the grandfather of the novelist Dame Daphne Du Maurier , gave rise to the phrase ?it is good in parts, like the curate?s egg?. The phrase derives from a cartoon entitled “True Humility”.

It pictured a timid-looking curate taking breakfast in his bishop’s house.The bishop says, “I’m afraid you’ve got a bad egg, Mr Jones.” The curate replies, “Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!”

Yet probably its most well-known cartoon is entitled ? Dropping the Pilot? . This was a political cartoon by Sir John Tenniel, first published in March 1890. It depicts the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, as a shipping pilot, stepping off a ship watched by the German Emperor Wilhelm II. Bismarck had recently resigned as Chancellor at Wilhelm’s insistence.

After a very difficult start with much financial trouble and lack of market success, Punch became a necessity for British middle class drawing rooms because it not just displayed a sophisticated sense of humour and but did not contain the rude material so ubiquitous in much of the alternative satirical press of the time.

The Times utilized small parts from Punch as column fillers, giving the magazine free publicity and indirectly granting a degree of respectability, However respectability was truly achieved when it was learned that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were to be found amongst it readership.

The circulation of Punch peaked during the 1940s at 175,000 but thereafter fell into deterioration, until in 1992 ,after 150 years the publication was compelled to close.

In 1996, the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed became tired of the many criticisms he had to put up with from the publication Private Eye and purchased the rights to the Punch name with a view to using it to combat his antagonist. He relaunched it later that year, but it never achieved any degree of circulation or profitability and in May 2002 it was announced that Punch would at long last close for ever

If you want one of our unique, hand-painted, custom cartoons or caricatures from photos suppled by you please click on this link History of Cricket. If you would like to know more, please go to web site at Custom Cartoons.

What do you do when you get a bit of extra time on your hands? If you are an outdoor person, that could be when the winter comes and the nights draw in or otherwise it could be in the summer when the days are longer, depending on the kind of person you are. In either instance, do you look for a project to fill your time? A lot of wood workers do. They look for a long term wood working project.

Working out your next long term wood working project is not at all difficult if you have a garden. There is always something to be added or replaced in a garden. Maintenance is never over.

If you are looking for a long term wood working project for indoors, then I recommend a dining table with eight matching chairs or, if you are very skilled and painstaking, an ornate display cabinet.

However, to return to our medium level, long term wood working project of wooden garden furniture. Hardwood garden furniture is the best because it will last longer than softwoods such as pine, if it is well maintained.

However, timber such as Red Wood, Mahogany, Maple, Oak and particularly Teak are very costly, because their source is restricted in many areas of the world.

Therefore, the first thing to do when searching for a long term wood working project, is to decide what sort of wood you can afford to use. Then, when you have the finances ready and know of a supply of the timber you would like, you can get a good set of wood working plans for that task. You can obtain these plans from a hobbyist or craft shop, a DIY store or online at a specialist Internet web site.

The wood working plans will most likely give you an indication of how much timber you will need, but if it does not, then you will need to work it out from the exploded diagram and the dimensions on the plans. This is not hard, just a little time-consuming.

The plans might also suggest which nails, screws, glues and tools you will have to have to have at your disposal before you begin. I believe that it is best to have everything in one place, before you begin, with the exception of any glass you may require.

It is also a good idea to make sure that you have all the tools necessary for the task and that your tools are in good working order. The saws must be set well and sharp; chisels should be of the right size and sharp as should be the planer and the router.

Put a new blade in your knife as well and check your supply of sandpaper in the various grades. You should also have preservative on hand to treat those cut ends and seal the backs of everything.

It is a real gift that most people would like to have: the ability to select a long term wood working project, stay with it and produce a beautiful, unique set of fine wooden garden furniture that will last your family for decades.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with a favourite subject, bench woodworking plans. If you are interested in Desk Woodworking Plans, please click through to our site, where we have 14,000 wood working plans.

An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn (or made with computers to look similar to something hand-drawn) film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some sort of story or plot (even if it is a very short one).

Animation itself can be described as the rapid showing of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of methods.

It is hard to believe but the very earliest examples of attempts to capture the impression of motion by drawing can be discovered in Paleolithic cave paintings. Here animals are shown with multiple legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to express the perception of motion.

Further examples can be seen on an earthenware bowl over 5,000 years old from Iran and an Egyptian mural of wrestlers in action, which is about 4,000 years old.

However these examples cannot really be described as animation as there was no means of making the characters actually move.

The first mechanical devices designed to provide the illusion of movement were developed for children?s amusement or as entertainment at private parties. These included the zoetrope, magic lantern, praxinoscope, thaumatrope, phenakistoscope, and flip book.

Charles-Emile Reynaud created the first animated film in 1892 while he exhibited an animated film consisting of loops of around 500 frames. This film is also outstanding as the first known instance of film perforations being used. His films were not recorded, but drawn directly onto the transparent strip.

But the first film which can truly be designated as an animated cartoon was ‘Humorous Phases of Funny Faces’ created by J. Stuart Blackton in 1906. It features a cartoonist drawing faces on a chalkboard, and the faces apparently coming to life.

One of the very first successful animated cartoons was “Gertie the Dinosaur” (1914) by Winsor McCay. It is considered the first example of true character animation.

All the main movie studios used animated cartoons of 5 to 10 minute lengths as ?fillers? before the main film was shown during the period of the 1930s to the 1960s.Theatrical cartoons were produced in colossal numbers and MGM, Disney, Paramount and Warner Brothers were the greatest studios producing these 5 to 10-minute “shorts”.

However the ever blossomingh popularity of TV and the subsequent waning in cinema going has meant that today most animated cartoons are produced for television.

The most well-known animated cartoon character of all is no doubt Mickey Mouse who was introduced to the world by Walt Disney in May 1928 in Plane Crazy but also starred some six months later in the first animated cartoon with sound – ‘Steamboat Willie’.

By the way, Mickey was originally christened Mortimer Mouse until Walt Disney?s wife persuaded him to make the change.

Mickey Mouse, predated by another cartoon animal called Felix The Cat, made his first appearance in 1919. However another all time favourite cartoon series Tom and Jerry had to wait until 1931 to put in an appearance.

All these characters and numerous more have long since made the transition from movies to television where, no doubt, they will be seen for many years to come.

If you want one of our unique, hand-made, custom cartoons or caricatures from photos suppled by you please click on one of these links History of Football. If you would like to know more, please go to website at Custom Cartoons.

If you are going to create a stick of furniture, especially if it is fairly complicated or you have never made anything like it before, it is a good idea to get a set of wood working plans. These furniture plans are not dear and free woodworking plans can be found too.

However, it is prudent to be wary of free wood working plans as they may not be accurate and you will have little recourse to complain if they were free or even pirated. Free wood working plans could be fine, but you do not want to find out that they are not half way through the job.

A good set of wood working plans, free or not, will give a clear exploded view of the item to be made and a narrative explaining the various steps and procedures. The plans may also make suggestions about the timber and tools to use, the length of time it could take to make in man hours and the complexity level.

If you want a large collection of wood working plans, there are CD’s around which have 14,000 on them for $30-40. They are a good bargain. Other places you could look are online forums, the library and craft or DIY shops. Shops are almost certainly the dearest alternative.

Once you have chosen an object to make, you should think about which design you would like. A kitchen cupboard could be hardwood or softwood. It could be a Welsh dresser or a Scandinavian design. It could be modern, traditional, Georgian or Victorian, to name but a few.

Once you have answered these questions you can go searching for your wood working plans. You might be lucky or you may have to find the middle ground if you cannot find exactly what you fancy. This is why I think that it is better to buy a CD of plans that have been sorted into a database, so that you can easily find out what is available in your collection.

You could look for ‘kitchen cupboard’ and 100 woodworking plans might recommend themselves to you. Or you could type in ‘Victorian Welsh Dresser’ and only get two recommendations. The issue is that you will not be wasting your time chasing a pipe dream, when there are no plans available for the exact item you are looking for.

When you have a set of appropriate plans, I think that it is best to get them blown up, or maybe that is just because of my eyesight. However, it is a nuisance to have to take off your safety goggles to put on your spectacles every time you need to check a measurement. This is easy from a CD because many printers have a capability to print poster size. If yours does not, take the CD to a printer’s, an architect’s or a technical office. They will be able to print A1 straight from the CC.

Then you can attach this enlarged wood working plan to the wall or an easel and you are all set to start making your furniture in style.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with a favourite subject, wood furniture plans. If you are interested in Desk Woodworking Plans, please click through to our website, where we have 14,000 wood working plans.