Rawles - How to make Ye Olde Toy Corner and card designs

How to make Ye Olde Toy Corner

and card designs

By

Deborah Rawles

Thanks

To God.

To Louis, for telling me I can do it

To Mum, for encouraging my early attempts

To Alan, for throwing away some great salvage

And finally to Mr (Rodney) Tate who was the best art teacher in the world. He once told me sometimes the bits left over from a project are more interesting than the project which is where it all began.

Introduction

Th ere is something special about a hand-made item . Hav ing recently moved house I found my most important items were gifts from loved ones and a hand-made gift from a relation for my birthday over years ago is particularly important to me . I dont know why a handmade gift is so much more personal . Maybe it's because of the time and care that has gone into creating such a unique gift, especially for you. Or perhaps it's that something you make holds a part of your personality . No matter what, a hand-made gift eclipses all others . It's something you cherish for years . It make s you smile and think of the person each time you see it . My favourite part of making something by hand is no matter how accurately you repeat your actions , no two pieces are identical . Each piece has its own characteristics , even its own personality . I find when I make my own items I connect to them and feel a sense of achievement . Also when I make more than one item and give them as gifts they seem to be really appreciated .

Making dolls house miniatures is a lovely hobby . I love the way you can create a room exactly as you would wish it , without needing a team of decorators and hundreds of pounds to do it for real . I like that you are in complete control and your imagination can fly . It's relaxing and peaceful . It's exciting to experiment with possibilities and I like that I have created it myself .

A greater sense of achievement comes from making a miniature from items you would usually throw away. I use matchsticks , lolly stick s, a used Biro, the list is endless. I think I am one of the few people who actually enjoys getting junk mail . I found the card faces for the pack of cards from a free scratch card in a magazine. To create that myself it would take extreme patience , a single bristled paint brush and a miracle . O r a real pack of cards , high-quality scanner and extremely high quality printer . A ll of this work for something less than a centimetre in size . I also love searching magazines for miniature paintings . These are easy to frame . I have enclosed within this book my seasonal search list . This is a list of things that are easier to find at certain times of the year or on certain holidays. Christmas is an incredible time to stock up for the year . You know you are a Crafter when you have lots of little boxes labelled : metal , plastic , sweet wrappers ( which I have found a use for but thats for another time) and I discovered you cannot shrink them in the oven . I a dore the clear boxes with a little sections in . I fill them up with anything I find like: beads, feathers , matchsticks with the burned part removed . I have the nickname magpie , as I am drawn to any scrap item and e specially if it s shiny . Things start to get up a bit strange when you are buying a notepad and checking for the wire spiral binding and thick card backing for when you have used it and can salvage the parts . There is also a certain satisfaction that comes from recycling to help the environment in a small way . Its the hunting for the objects, the peace that comes from creating and the joy it brings others to receive your handmade work of art, that I enjoy the most. I hope you enjoy these projects as much as I and that it brings you a feeling of achievement. I wish you happy crafting and continued delight in creating your own dolls house miniatures and cards. And lastly I hope after reading this book:

• You will see a broken object not as a loss but as an opportunity
• Really hope to win the Christmas cracker, not only for the prize but for the coloured tissue paper hat
• Look carefully before throwing things away
• And lastly that it gives you inspiration and continued enthusiasm for the world of dolls house miniatures.

The Best Seasonal Salvage Hunt List.

Daily:

• Mail = little pictures of paintings, stamps for mini envelopes, book covers, brown paper from envelopes
• Broken jewellery = beads, lengths of chain, single earrings make great card decorations
• Used biros
• Used spiral bound note pads = wire and thick card
• Lengths of cotton thread
• Old buttons
• Magazines = pictures, mini pictures of books and magazines, small photos of people make nice dolls house photo albums,
• Catalogues = pictures, mini sweet bar wrappers, drink bottles and can labels, pictures of board games
• Cereal boxes = sometimes have miniature pictures of there other cereals these make perfect miniature cereal boxes
• Match sticks with ends cut off
• Split pins
• Paper clips = bendable wire
• Powder or make-up compact = small mirror in the lid

Birthdays:

• Birthday card envelopes = lovely shades of paper
• Birthday cards = tiny pictures, ribbon, any decorations
• Wrapping paper and parcel decorations
• Sweet containers = gift boxes
• Biscuit tins = storage for bits and bobs
• Cocktail sticks
• Barbeque skewers
• Lolly sticks wood and paper

Easter:

• Clear Easter egg packaging
• Coloured card boxes = coloured card you can not buy anywhere else

Christmas:

• Christmas crackers = tissue paper hats, mini gift
• Glittery paper
• Cards and envelopes
• Sweet boxes
• Gift packaging
• Ribbon

Here are a few of the items I have collected.

Plastics:

These are very useful. Usually you just need a part of the item. I always return the spare pieces to my collection. I can guarantee that when you throw it away, you will need it.

Fabrics:

Any tiny piece of fabric is useful. From a scrap length of wool, to a larger piece of patterned fabric, you never know what you will need.

Clear plastic:

Christmas and Easter are the best time to find this packaging. This is one of those finds that is impossible to make yourself. The best items to keep are the boxes with lids and the large flat sheets.

The only problem you may experience is what to do with the bags of salvage once you have found it. Organisation is the key to productive creativity. If you can put your hand on what you need straight away it is more enjoyable than spending precious craft time trying to find something that you know you have somewhere. Labelled stackable boxes save space and time, and they do not have to cost a lot either. Ice-cream tubs stack nicely and are water tight. Keep your eyes open at Christmas for biscuit tins too. Tubs with small divided section are a worthwhile investment. You can vary the size of the section by removing a plastic divider that slots in and out. Attach a label to the front of the box and fill each one with similar items. This first box contains plastic beads.