8 November 2015

DIY Galaxy Print Watch Strap

 About TIME I put up another post!!!

See that watch below? It's one of my favourites (i love watches!!!) The row of stars you see is actually the seconds hand, so it keeps going around the face of the watch! {Insert giddy-kiddy excitement here - I'm clearly a 13-year-old} And obviously I'm never gonna let go of this watch.

It's had 3 strap replacements so far. The original strap was purple, and then i chose white for the replacements. Soon came time to change the strap again,but this time i wanted something different. So with all the galaxy tutorials going around like this and by the way omghaveyouseenthis? , I was inspired to try a new DIY!
 
The supplies needed are simple. Acrylic paint and brushes of your choice. I used a sponge brush to lay out the black background. I could have used a black strap instead, but since I am lazy already had this, I decided to go with it and was pretty pleased with the final outcome.

Oh and if you can't remove the strap, make sure to mask the parts you don't want paint on!
Mise-en-place, people!

Black base
It's key to use a dry brush for the clouds and use a bouncy (?) stippling effect, check out the first video tutorial I linked to at the start of this post.
Bounce, people, bounce!
The funnest part of course is adding the stars :) spray away to your heart's content (i don't think too much is a bad thing here)!
Are we done here!? Only TIME will tell! :P

Glorioussssnesssss!!!
Show-off time!! Sidenote: GIFs are the best!!!



I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to seal with some clear varnish, Since using my watch happily the past few days I can see some wear and tear... I don't mind though, I can do a touch-up anyTIME!

Until next TIME!
:D


4 September 2014

Everybody loves Macrame bracelets. aka the Josephine knot tutorial at last!


Macrame bracelets. They've been 'having their moment' for a while now, haven't they? I love them too. There's just something about them that's so effortlessly...charming... You can wear them so many ways; they look great on their own, stacked or worn with metal jewellery, watches, etc. Since this post is clearly my most popular one, i've decided to make a tutorial for it. perhaps redundant...since there are tutorials everywhere, but i hope this helps someone somewhere (let me know!)
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot


We will be using 2 different coloured cords here for the tutorial's sake. Plus it looks cool. I picked lavender and coral (yep, used the same ones in the original post too).
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
 So now you should have 4 strands of cord to work with, 2 of each colour. Of course, a pair will be treated as a single cord and i shall name them left cord and right cord!
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Once you do a couple of them, it's easy-peasy!
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
 By the way that part makes me think of this:
image courtesy of
Oops,got a little distracted! No, let's try again...

DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
See, you've completed 1) and 2) taking the right cord under the left cord tail. From there, you are basically going to again 3) go over the top bit of the left cord
4) under the loop
5) over the right cord (over itself)
6) under the loop again.

Your right cord should travelling in a downward diagnol direction sort-of?? And you're weaving it in a sequence:
1)over
2)under
3)over
4)under
5)over
6)under

Did you get it?? This isn't easy to explain in words, so you might have to try a few times!

But honestly, it makes me think of this! yum!
pretzelllllls
 Distracted again!

DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Anyway, if you've got this sort of interchange-pretzel-heart-shape-thing going, then we're good! Slowly tighten the knot by pulling on the tail ends.
Note: Things will get fiddly.

DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
May I proudly present, the Josephine knot! Woohoo!
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Moving on, We will go through the whole thing again, but mirrored for the right cord.
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
The interchange-pretzel-heart-shape-thing stage
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Fiddle me this, fiddle me that...
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Repeat until desired length. I stopped at 5" since I'm going to finish it with a sliding knot. Trim away the excess (which if long enough can be used for the sliding knot!)
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Sliding knot time
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
One thing i found out the hard way (with the original bracelets) was that the knots would frequently tighten themselves, so although it's painstaking to do, I would recommend dotting the knots here and there with the teeniest bit of glue.
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
And there you have it!!
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot


DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot

Now go make yourselves some! And share your thoughts and pics with me! I wonder why I'm feeling hungry??
:D