General hobby/craft making stuff thread page

[Blackcatbone]

Rather than being dedicated to a specific craft I figured a general hobby thread would be a good idea for people to talk about the things they make/do, from textiles to woodworking, fixing up cars or art projects. I've found that there's some overlap in skills as well so often read about things that don't necessarily apply to my projects. For instance, I just bought some steel pieces and find myself in auto-body forums looking for tips on removing rust or fixing dents. I've been working on some live edge shelves off an on for a while, need to get back to them, and am almost done with a small chest of drawers with corian top and bottom that I refinished. And I have a steel shop table underway. I always have too many irons in the fire.

Also, if you want to show off what you've done or are working on you can do it here. I like to see other people's work. Here are a couple of posts from LJ from things I do, which is mostly hacking or rehabbing furniture. The second one is the two new pieces.

hip_domestics: The dresser that tried to kill me

hip_domestics: Metal furniture restoration

I'm also interested in concrete or possibly rammed earth, although on a smaller scale. For instance, the possibility of making rammed earth benches or planters.

[aix_sponsa]

I love how the dresser turned out! Great job! I've never heard of rammed earth though, I'll have to go look that up.

I love doing crafts, but a hobby of mine that I've been doing off and on for 7 years is bellydance. I used to be part of a troupe that performed regularly at a cool little coffee shop and a few years ago taught bellydance classes at a YMCA while in college. I stopped dancing when I got fat (I'm very self conscious). But now that the weight is coming off thanks to primal living, I'm interested in dancing again! I'm pretty excited about starting to dance again.

Here's a pic of me dancing at the coffee shop several years ago.

http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload...8-e2d18ad9a094

Jenny

[beachrat]

Very nice dresser transformation, and I like the idea for this thread. I am more of a "make it work" project person than making beautiful things, so I really admire your persistence toward just what you want.

Will have to think if I have anything worth posting...

[sbhikes]

My very first pair of homemade shoes:


A couple of shoes I'm quite proud of:

[aix_sponsa]

Wow, that's awesome sbhikes!

[Blackcatbone]

I love how the dresser turned out! Great job! I've never heard of rammed earth though, I'll have to go look that up.

I love doing crafts, but a hobby of mine that I've been doing off and on for 7 years is bellydance. I used to be part of a troupe that performed regularly at a cool little coffee shop and a few years ago taught bellydance classes at a YMCA while in college. I stopped dancing when I got fat (I'm very self conscious). But now that the weight is coming off thanks to primal living, I'm interested in dancing again! I'm pretty excited about starting to dance again.

Here's a pic of me dancing at the coffee shop several years ago.

http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload...8-e2d18ad9a094

Jenny

Thank you! I was going to say that you need to post video of this belly dancing but that's a great picture. Belly dancing always amazes me how women can move their hips independent of the rest of their bodies. I think I would be way too self conscious even not overweight but good for you starting again.

[Blackcatbone]

Very nice dresser transformation, and I like the idea for this thread. I am more of a "make it work" project person than making beautiful things, so I really admire your persistence toward just what you want.

Will have to think if I have anything worth posting...

"Make it work" is is a good thing. Whenever I fix something or learn to do something I'm always really proud of myself. It feels really good to be able to do stuff yourself. I've got (literally) tons of soil that needs to be shoveled against the garage and graded and I kinda look forward to doing it (free workout) because it means we don't have to pay anyone to do it for us.

[Blackcatbone]

My very first pair of homemade shoes:


A couple of shoes I'm quite proud of:

Those shoes are REALLY, REALLY cool. Oh gawd, maybe I shouldn't have started this thread because now I want to learn to make shoes, which is actually a pretty damned cool thing to learn. Especially because we're making plans to move to Ecuador in the next couple of years and my boyfriend has bigger feet than the average Ecuadorian man, meaning way expensive.

[kenn]

For some reason I want to build boats even though I don't have the tools nor do I live on a lake/river

[paleo-bunny]

I make beaded jewellery:

Beadminster jewellery - Beadminster - Home

Yep, there are some broken links on the site, as I've not maintained it for well over a year, and the visitor number counter has disappeared. I had to wind down the business when it got down to break-even stage. Just too much competition, in a recession, plus lousy service from event organisers.

I love making jewellery though, and some of my later designs for one-off necklaces were much more sophisticated than those in the photos on the site. Necklace/bracelet/earring sets using sea jasper and picasso jasper beads imported from Hong Kong were very popular. Those were stunning natural materials to work with.