Origami Mommy

Tutorial: A doll's bike seat

I commute everywhere here with the girls on a bike with me, the way many moms do in Japan. The commuting bikes used here are called "mamachari" and they have child seats on the front and the back, so that you can put a baby or toddler in the front basket while your older child rides in back. There's a steep learning curve when you are commuting with two kids, as the bike is pretty heavy (I'll have to take a photo one day), but it's a lot easier to navigate the narrow streets here on that than in a car. 

Anyway, M really wanted to put a bike seat on the back of her own bike so she could pretend to do what I do, so we whipped one up pretty quickly. Here are basic instructions. We made it plain, because there just wasn't a lot of time to decorate, but you or your child can do whatever you want to spiff it up!

All you need are two pieces of rectangular cardboard, around 11 x 14 inches or so.

Fold one near the middle (I think I folded mine about 2/5s of the way down), and then use scissors to cut about two inches in on either side.

Fold up the sides

Fold it over as shown in the photo, and use staples or tape to secure. 

To attach it to your child's bike, take the other piece of cardboard, fold it into thirds and tape it so that it's firm,  and then attach this piece to the bottom of the seat you just made. Then tape the other end to the bottom of the bike's real seat. (I had to tape around the seat a few times for it to stay on there. I also cut a little notch in it so that it would fit snugly around the pole underneath the seat, but you can do what works for you.)

You can add on a seat belt, a bar, or whatever you want. We made a crude makeshift helmet out of leftover cardboard, as you can see on the bunny.

Let me know if you try this project! And don't forget to check out this giveaway (until Nov. 5) if you want a chance to win some Japanese stamps.

Stamping and a fall giveaway

A few weeks ago I found myself totally riveted by Filth Wizardry's blog post on stamping, using plasticine to make amazing prints. I used to love stamping as a child. And who didn't? Ink, paper, and magic. I loved that breathless anticipation as I waited to see what would emerge when I lifted my hand. 

As far as crafts go, printing and stamping have that blend of stillness (as you press down and wait for the ink to set) and instantaneousness that just appeals to little kids. We spent a whole happy afternoon making many different kinds of stamps while little A. cooperatively napped. 

Do check out the link above, as well as this one from Floating Ink - I love her handcarved stamps! Have any of you carved your own stamps? I'd love to carve stamps like these someday.

Here are photos of our session. There was stamping with erasers and plasticine and wiki stix, using toothpicks, cutters, sharp pencils, and so forth to carve our designs. 

 

 (Hmm....I seem to have a thing for birds right now, don't I?! I tried them in every way - molded as well as in low and high relief.)

In the end I think that it was beeswax, (which we collect stray bits of in a jar on our windowsill) which made for the most durable stamps. 

My kids have also made prints with potatoes and lotus root at school. Lotus root was particularly beautiful. What else can you think of to stamp and print with? 

Now the fun part: a little giveaway to celebrate autumn, since it seems to finally be cooling down in Japan. 

These sweet little stamps are not handcrafted, though they do look like it. There's a little autumn-themed stationery set too. Comment below and tell me one craft you'd love to learn, to enter the giveaway. For an extra entry, join Origami Mommy on Facebook, so I can start putting blog updates on there. You can also tweet about this giveaway - just be sure to let me know. I'll pick a winner at random two weeks from now, on Friday November 5th at 8 PM EST!

Paper dolls

Part 3 of my Creative Toy Play series is actually about paper, but this hectic week - just barely started - tells me I am not going to get to a full post until later in the week. Here's a little teaser. I saw these adorable illustrations on Flickr by Second Sister, who has a delightful blog, Suaviloquy, and saw a blog post by Valorie of Chocolate Covered Polka Dots, who made her paper dolls on magnet paper. Amazingly simple! 

Just print them out on magnet paper and then color them in. Provide a cookie sheet so the magnets will stick. Oh, such fun. After M had played with them for awhile I started doodling and made her a couple of extra dresses, just to her specifications. (The color she requested? Pink, of course). 

I've been doing a lot of sketching and having so much fun with it. We have a few Japanese illustration books, which I love and am using as a guide to help refresh my rusty doodling skills. I used to draw and sketch all the time when I was younger - I'd forgotten how meditative it is. I'm excited to make more paper dolls, as well as other things. I have a million projects I want to do now, and not enough time!

Do you have any childhood hobbies that you've rediscovered as an adult? 

Creative toy play, part 2: Fabric

With so much fabric in our house, it's only natural our children gravitate towards using it in their play. Here are a couple of ways they especially love to use it:

Play silks. I love play silks. 

These are among my favorite birthday gifts for young children because they are so open-ended and versatile.  A piece of floaty, silky cloth easily becomes a cape, a picnic blanket, a canopy for a little house, a sea on which to float paper boats, or a doll blanket or sling. Our boys lived in playsilk capes nonstop when they were little and I still smile when I remember all their adventures. You can buy these online, but it would also be special to get some plain white silk and dye your own - I remember once dyeing a silk cape with onion skins, which turned it into an ethereal gold. Here's a lovely little tutorial on how to dye your own playsilks.

Aside from silk, my favorite fabric to have lying around the house is felt. Sometimes the kids cut it up and glue it on their own, but since I sew, the kids know they can come to me to help them turn the designs they dream up into a reality. 

These little sleeping bags for instance are so easy to whip up, even if you don't consider yourself a sewer. 

 

This makes a good beginning handsewing project, and your child can glue on embellishments as desired. Just cut out a long rectangle, fold it over lengthwise, and sew, leaving a bit of excess room on one end for the doll's head to rest on.

Felt also makes a sweet crown for your child to wear. Have your child pick out the color of the felt and choose where to place buttons or other decorations. You don't even have to edge it in a blanket stitch if you have felt that's sturdy enough. 

 

Or you can make clothing for a favorite stuffed animal. Again, I think it's nice for your child to feel part of the design process by choosing all the colors. D went through a phase where he adored Corduroy, so I made this for him while he made the sword out of a craft stick, some foil, and some tape.

  

And I just love Zakka Life's tutorial on making capes for Lego figures - this is something D has requested many times. I'd tried to make capes with cotton, but felt would be much sturdier.

Photo: Zakka Life

 Photo: Zakka Life

Fleece is another material that comes in handy because it doesn't fray - it makes a perfect sleeping bag for a stuffed animal or doll. 

Here are a few other ways to use felt, fleece, and cotton cloth.

Plain old little pieces of fabric, simply hemmed (but they don't have to be!), have also inspired many tea parties in our house. 

 

Finally, I love wool. I have a collection of wool scraps from old sweaters, and though I'm saving most of them for crafts of my own, the kids love to dig through them as well. Wool, like felt and fleece, doesn't fray, so it's very child-friendly and is used for all sorts of things - it becomes pretend food, tiny blankets, little animals (when knotted up), and so forth. I think some red wool even became fire on a pretend camping trip once. 

I love seeing what children can do with a simple little piece of cloth. Try collecting some fabric in a basket, give it to your own kids, and see what happens. 

Creative toy play, part 1: building blocks

  

I have such a love-hate relationship with toys. I love watching children deeply engrossed in play  - play is, after all, the work of childhood. But I have a hard time with clutter, anguish over missing pieces, dislike toys that are meant to be played only in one specific way, and most of all, loathe the commercialization that seems to pervade modern childhood. I also think that when there's too much going on - too many toys, too much stuff - children play less well, and less creatively, with what they do have.

To try to avoid this, over the years, we've worked on building a small collection of good toys.  Most of what the kids are drawn to over and over again are simple open-ended classics such as wooden blocks and toys for pretend play - dolls, animals, kitchen items, vehicles, and little Lego or Playmobil figures. 

Kapla blocks are quite pricey, but they have lasted us nearly a decade so far and have been used in so many different ways. B, age 10, made this pretty cool maze with kaplas and a couple of other smaller colored blocks. I like how he wrote "Start" at the entrance of the maze.

Kaplas also become castles, like the one in the photo at the top of this post. The photo doesn't show this but the boys also cut up a bunch of felt to use in the castle as carpets and runners. Flags and banners are easy to make as well with a stick and a bit of glue and cloth.

Children love setting up scenes. In addition to building blocks, recyclables are useful too - this was made from a paper bag, paint, and milk cartons, plus origami for the boat. 

I try to get the children to put their own creative stamp on their play by showing them how to make or design their own props to stretch their play with store-bought toys. A milk carton ship to take Lego figures on adventures far and wide. Clothing designed for a beloved bear. A cape for a little boy made of a simple scarf. An impressive sword made of cardboard and foil. Pretty paper flowers for a flower shop or garden. I think it's nice for children to learn that you can always make what you need rather than buying it! 

Getting your children started on a more creative path to play can be as simple as collecting a small fabric stash just for the children and their projects, collecting buttons, stones, sticks, and shells as well as empty baskets and boxes, having yarn and ribbon, elastic and tape on hand, and keeping a bunch of recyclables for your children to use. By doing this, you will find yourself, and your children, cultivating an ability to spot potential in the most mundane things. Treasures from trash!

In the next two posts of this three-part series I'll be showing you a few things you and your children can do with these raw materials. In the meantime, I'd love to know what your children's favorite playthings are.

Gather, pleat, smock, and sew

I've been spending many happy hours engrossed in sewing lately.

I didn't grow up sewing and I don't know where the love of sewing comes from, or the determination to master it even though I am such a novice. 

I know that I had one moment of sheer bliss while I watched a thin, perfectly cut bias strip I'd made from the fabric for this dress smoothly gliding under the sewing machine needle. Perhaps the addiction is fed from the lovely feeling of hearing my girl gasp, "Oh! Mama!" as I unveil a new dress made just for her, or watching my little boy silently, immediately change into the shorts I've made him while he ever so politely ignores the scratchy, unfinished seams, just because he is so happy I made him something. Maybe it's this combination of love, embodied in handwork, and the tactile pleasure of working with fabric, colors, texture. Whatever - I know I just feel very happy and satisfied when I can sew and knit and ever so cranky and irritable when I can't get enough handwork in.

Anyway, from poring over Japanese craft books and discovering some amazing online resources I've learned four basic techniques which I think are really important if you want to create your own designs. Just as with cooking, I love basic formulas because I love the way they become a springboard for so much else and give you flexibility. There are now so many dresses and clothes and projects swimming around in my head that I've started a project journal to at least help me gather my thoughts together.

These four techniques are gathering (to make billowy skirts and ruffles), which I learned last summer here,

 

pleating, which I learned by reading this fabulous tutorial, 

smocking, or shirring (there are many tutorials on the web but the one that made it clearest for me was this one), and oh wow I just saw she has a post about hand-sewn smocking, too! 

and making my own bias tape, which is a basic requisite for just about every Japanese pattern I've seen. And sometimes, a combination of techniques, like gathering and then encasing in a strip of bias tape to make a sweet pocket, just like this:

 

It's been a bit obsessive; I'm making several projects a day, including for myself (bias cut skirts) and shorts for the boys, too. The kids fend for themselves, dinner gets burned or is late, laundry piles up and up and up, when I'm in this kind of mode. But it's kind of like a fever and I know I just have to let it work its way out of my system!

Have you taught yourself a hobby or technique? What did you find most helpful? Classes, books, or online tutorials?

Tutorial: Water Fountain

I've been wanting to post this since last summer, when I learned it in a parent-child class, but then time went by and it didn't seem a very wintery sort of craft to post about. Now a year has passed and it's summer again. Where does the time go?!

 

 
All you need is a plastic water bottle and tape or markers to decorate it. The plastic bottle must have a cap. Oh and the grown up uses some sort of awl, nail/hammer, or something else to punch holes in the bottle. 

 

(Note: about plastic bottles, we try to avoid buying them, but if you do have any lying around or find any as trash, it feels better to give them a second life as a craft project before recycling them.)

Have your child decorate the bottle as s/he sees fit.

Then you, grown up, use an awl, or nail and hammer, to punch holes in it either at random or in a pattern. 

After that, fill the bottle with water and put the cap on. Take it outside. When your child starts to unscrew the cap, the water will flow out of the holes. This makes a great science experiment too for the little ones: what happens if you unscrew it part way? all the way? 

Such a simple quick project, but it provides a lot of fun on a summer day.

Drawing inspiration from crafty tutorials

We had our last round of summer visitors, and the boys are now back in school, so I hope to be able to be more productive for the few weeks remaining in my pregnancy, but in the meantime, here are a few fun things I've made recently. Most of these were inspired by tutorials on the web and so they required very little brainpower from me (big plus). My only criteria when scouring blogland for tutorials were that they be fast, easy, and teach me a new crafting skill. I'm really in awe of all the crafty bloggers out there - so much talent and so much generosity! 

First of all, I made a tiny hairpin out of traditional Japanese fabric, chirimen.

The lovely tutorial for this can be found here at Miscellany of Me. It's very simple, really similar to the pincushion I made a few weeks ago, and could be made with just about any fabric and literally takes just a few minutes. Satisfying!

Next, I decided to tackle purses again, because I was disappointed by my last attempt at making bags without interfacing (way too floppy).  It took me this long to figure out how to find interfacing in Japan but I finally succeeded! I decided to try this tutorial for a pleated purse and it was really wonderful. I feel like I learned a lot about bagmaking from making this.

So, once I got past my fear of fusible interfacing, I decided I could apply it to other bags, and so I made a tote bag, 

and then two little pouches which stand up nicely on their own thanks to fusible interfacing on the lining.

These bags could all use a nice pressing to look polished enough for photos. I don't have time to do it right now, but I did find a nice link which tells you how to press small, fiddly pouches and bags on Nicole Millelieu's (highly addictive) bagmaking blog. I see more bagmaking in my future!

I've also tried making a few tiny toys. I tried this Calico Kitty pattern and made a small cat, along with a bag to go along with it. I didn't do a great job but it was fun to design the clothing and my daughter liked it a lot. I hope to move on to other stuffed animals after this.

And for this kitty or any of my children's dolls, I made a small pillow

which was super simple to make and based on this sweet tutorial at p.s. i quilt.

I've also been rediscovering knitting. I used to knit all the time, but stopped after I had children who kept getting tangled in all my yarn. I'm loving it again. I like the rhythm of having a knitting project handy - actually not just one, but several. One or two small ones, easily and quickly completed, another more ambitious or complicated one, all in separate bags or baskets around the house, and I can pick each one up depending on the circumstance (for instance, a simple, mindless one is perfect to work on while helping my son with his homework). This is perhaps not the most efficient way to knit (or to do any sort of crafting) but I get bored if I have only one project on my needles and then it never gets finished at all!

I completed the baby knitted slippers I was working on and also made a tiny newborn hat, which I'll also embellish with a flower if baby turns out to be a girl.

I posted the link to these slippers in my last post. There are a few nice tutorials out there for crocheting flowers to use as embellishment. Here's a particularly helpful one, at The Handmade Dress. I was making mine smaller so I used fewer triple stitches - once you learn how to make one it's easy to modify.

The hat is just a basic hat I memorized a long time ago. I kind of winged it with the measurement - I totally forget how big a newborn head is. At least knit is somewhat stretchy! I'm embarking on a few teeny sweaters next. I usually knit baby sweaters big so they'll fit for awhile, but I think there's something precious about a sweater that just fits a newborn and I think that's all I'll have time to knit, anyway.

Speaking of tiny and small, I had bits of felting yarn leftover from previous projects so I decided to try making a tiny tester bag to see what kind of gauge I'd get after felting. I might use the rest of this yarn to make more slippers, or to make more bags to carry little figures around. My children love having small bags to slip just one or two little toys in and I love encouraging them to combine handmade things with their store-bought toy play. The handle is i-cord which is amazingly simple to do.  This was fun and so fast!

I actually made one of these small bunnies, which are not only darling but also incredibly speedy, but, again, I wasn't happy with how mine turned out (hence no picture). Clearly, stuffed animals aren't my forte. But if they appeal to you, definitely check out the link on Little Cotton Rabbit!

Finally, we had a few scrapes and mishaps last week, so I made an ice pack holder as well as a lavender rice bag for aching muscles. I think these would make a nice gift for a child, or for a parent along with this beautiful little first aid kit bag I spotted at Maya Made  (and hope to make someday). I made mine very small - the rice bag is about 3 inches by 3 inches, perfect size for a child. It would be easy to make several of these in different fabric patterns and keep them handy in a basket.

I hope you enjoy checking out some of these links - I know these projects were a lot of fun for me to do. If you know of any other tutorials for fast, quick, whimsical and fun projects, do let me know!

Finding the time to craft

How do you all find the time to craft or indulge in other personal pursuits? That's been my challenge for the last few weeks since summer vacation started. The children are pretty used to doing their own crafts alongside me, but of course I am much more distracted than usual. I'm trying to keep my projects to small, manageable and simple things right now - dreams of dresses and other such things are put off till the fall. 

I started getting really excited about beading because I finally got a small kit of tools. I'd never realized before how accessible and easy professional-looking bead projects are to make if you just have a wire cutter, pliers, and the right little components. It is very quick, too. While I was doing it the boys were digging through all the beads themselves and looking for all sorts of treasure - they've always loved beads and beading but I never expected them to get excited about beads for "real" jewelry. 

This is one that I got started on - since it's a "floating" style necklace it is very fast; the only tricky part is making sure the beads are spaced equally apart.

While I worked on that, the boys were making their own things. B loves anything with gold in it. Daniel is into crystals.

Then I moved on to tiny sewing projects. I loved these tissue holders because they take 10 minutes, max, to make. 

They're both made of Japanese fabric. I want to get more of the polka dotted one by Lecien - I realize I don't have enough plainer fabric to use as lining when I make bags and pouches.

Speaking of which this is a bag I made yesterday. I made it very quickly because I just had to try a tote bag to see how it's done. You know? I wanted to get it out of my system. I was excited to try out the french seams mentioned on this tutorial at Sew, Mama, Sew. However, I learned that if the material I use is too heavy, it won't work well. Both the fabric and the lining were fairly thick and it was hard to make the corners as sharp as I'd like, plus I now have to handsew the top sides down because they wouldn't go through my machine.

Here's a closeup of the strap and lining. The strap is described in the Sew, Mama, Sew tutorial and I really like it. 

While I made that, the boys were seriously busy making a fleet of paper airplanes, because B had discovered a trick to make them fly far and fast. So I was sewing while paper airplanes were flying around my head! Kind of a typical moment in my life actually.

I finally finished my first needlework, about a week ago, using a Wee Wonderfuls pattern, and was waiting for some inspiring idea to come to mind about what to do with it. Frame it? put it in a hoop on the wall? Finally I decided to make a pillow out of it. Here it is and the blue is what I think I'll use for the back of the pillow. I am going to wait to finish it until I get a pillow form so I know how big to make it.

If you do needlework, what's your favorite way of showcasing it when you're done? I will add embroidery to little baby items (once I get or make little baby items!) but what do you do with larger projects? 

I also made a few baskets lately - again, to figure out how they're made. I am really happy with how this basket turned out. It's quite small and I think I will make a couple of these as gifts.

It gave me a chance to practice boxing the corners in. I also tried this basket, but it was larger, and ended up a little floppy, and handles this thin were hard. Mia loves carrying it around though. I also made the baby blocks inside but wasn't as pleased with them - it's hard to get them right with just batting, not foam blocks, which I'd rather not use. So I think I'm done making baby blocks!

One last basket photo - this one turned out okay. It was the first one I made. These handles were better, though too thick. One of these days I'll get them right! Though it shaves a lot of time off this project not to put any handles on at all.

If you want to make a basket of your own, the tutorial I used for basic reference is here.

Finally, the boys have been playing around with paper lately. We have a tiny little paper maker - just postcard sized - which Daniel really likes. I wish there were a way to make the pulp without using a blender - if anyone knows, please tell me! The original kit came with some pieces of dried pulp that kids could shake in a bottle with some water and marbles (to help agitate them). Maybe I could make a big batch in the blender and then divide it up and dry it. I think Daniel would make paper more often if it didn't involve having to ask an adult to blend the pulp first.

And a final paper project - both boys enjoyed this - just watercolor paints and salt. Here's a beautiful blog, Kleas, with a link. It's a very easy project - you should give it a try!

Adorn your walls with fabric

I recently learned how to stretch fabric over a canvas frame to make a beautiful and inexpensive wall hanging. I needed some splashes of color in one of our rooms. I think the hardest part was figuring out how to say "staple gun" in Japanese!

What a fabulous way to satisfy the urge to see beautiful fabric around you. This took only a half yard each of fabric from the Far Far Away collection by Heather Ross. I got the remnants on sale at a fabric shop.

I'm loving pink and green these days. 

I was first inspired by seeing a photo on this post in Sasikirana Handmade - I love looking at the colors in this blog! And then I found a great tutorial here, not that you really need a tutorial. You just need to know how to use a staple gun.

Here's another lovely post on using fabric in an embroidery hoop - I'll have to try that for some of my smaller remnants.

It just makes me so happy to see splashes of color here and there in my home!