These cute little Fourth of July fans described on Martha Stewart's website will make a great addition to any patriotic display.
Wave away the heat, and proclaim your allegiance, with these red, white, and blue decorations. With wooden garden markers as handles, our fans make great party favors.
Arrange a cluster of them in a cup for a festive centerpiece, or turn them into place cards by affixing printed name labels to the sticks.
All you have to is print out the template on a color printer and then follow the folding and stapling instructions. You can find both the template and instructions here (PDF file). Martha Stewart has several other July 4th craft ideas here.
Saponaceo.us a new soapmaking wiki. The Wiki says it was launched to help organize the web's soapmaking information.
There is a lot of really great information on soapmaking on the web. Compared to more popular pastimes, it is one subject matter that seems to have a lot more information available on it than one would expect. The only drawback is that all of the good information is spread out thinly over cyberspace, sometimes found in awkward-looking web pages from the mid 90's or mixed-in with opportunities to buy lavender-scented bath-bombs or buy viagra from flashing banners.
This wiki's mission is the same as all wikimedia projects: it hopes to concentrate soap-related information into tutorials and guides. Further, it hopes to build a cohesive network of like-minded, knowledgeable peers and mentors.
The motivation behind this comes from a casual survey of currently available soapmaking resources. Although there is a wikibook on this subject, it is not by far comprehensive. The wikibook is orphaned among other half-finished books, not having enough participation to be effective. Saponaceo.us postulates that a entire wiki devoted to the subject of soapmaking might gain more community involvement.
Another motivation came from having lots of soapmaking books, and none of them were comprehensive. The subject of soapmaking it seems is simply too vast and interdisciplinary. Books about soapmaking are typically composed of half basic technique and half basic recipes. Other books might go into some specific detail such as 'transparent soapmaking', vegetable oil based or goats-milk soaps, etc. None cover the very necessary, ancillary skills just beyond the scope of soapmaking (scenting and coloring (shared somewhat with candlemaking), moldmaking, cutter making, business, fairs, product presentation, branding, packaging, preservatives). And almost none of these books go into more than rudimentary detail regarding crucial aspects of soapmaking such as mold-making, mold-making materials, advanced swirling and building soap cutting devices.
As with any wiki site it is only as good as its contributors. There are already some great resource links available on the soap wiki. Soap making beginners to soap making might want to check out links here and here. (via Craftophile)
Corinne Bradd demonstrates the ancient Japanese art of kumihimo braiding in this video from TheCraftsChannel, a YouTube channel from Crafts Beautiful. In the video Corinne Bradd is using a mobidai braiding wheel. The video shows how you can use the wheel to weave coloured cords into bracelets and necklaces. Bradd says you can get fast at the wheel with practice. The May 2007 issue of Crafts Beautiful has additional instructions.
These cute little Fourth of July fans described on Martha Stewart's website will make a great addition to any patriotic display.
