When we were at the NEC Birmingham for the ICHF (International Craft & Hobby Fair last week there were hundreds of stands with new products to the market. One of the more unusual but never the less interesting was a rubber stamp making booth. I had been interested in stamp making as i had been thinking about a custom rubber stamp making service.
There had been a rubber stamp making business last year, but they wanted hundreds of pounds to buy the machine and they then wanted to rent the rights to use the machine per month . It was very expensive and tied you into a long contract….Something I wasn’t willing to do.
The one here this year was amazing and very affordable. It uses a light sensative gel that hardens in light. The procedure is very simple.
1. Print design onto clear acetate (bubble jet works fine or you can us a magic marker, laser copier Etc. The main thing is light must be blocked by the ink)
2. Place gel and acetate in special clamp.
3. Expose to light fro a few minutes. Where the light hits the gel it hardens, where it doesn’t reach the gel it remains liquid.
4. Wash the gel. The unexposed gel washes away under water and your left with the stamp.
It’ is easier to do do face painting than you might expect. When i helped out at a local school most adults picked it up quite naturally, and produced good work. As you progress it becomes easier, faster and more difficult designs can be attempted.
Here are some videos to get you on your way. the first two are quite simple so good to start on and the third more complex.
Puppy
Pandora and Troll beads are very popular but also very expensive for the real items. We have a range of quality style beads which sell well and will be getting in the new range soon. They expect delivery in the next few week and will increase their range from 160 different items to approximately 300. These will include full cut glass beads, beads that allow charms to be added to them and Diamante studded beads
Our Snazaroo range is now in and consist of 12 normal colours and 12 sparkle colours. Snazeroo is the only choice worth considering for people who will be painting faces (or body-parts). It is made to stringent standards and is the no1 choice for people in the trade. The basic range will be £3.50 and the sparkle £4.25.
We have continually grown our range of Impex beads and findings. We now stock half of their major range and hope to increase it further over the next year.
Impex has been in the beading craft business for years and was recently acquired by Goodwear as they wanted to expand there range of haberdashery into beading. Impex was the perfect choich, large, well know for good products at good prices.
This article is about their range of Pandora and Troll Style beads. These are excellent quality beads at very affordable prices. You’ll be amazed at the quality of the beads when you consider the prices start at 90p and finish at £3.50. Pictures cannot do these beads justice but here they are anyway. These can be found for sale by following the “Go Shopping” link on the left side.
It looks like we will be discontinuing our paper cellar range of craft items. It is a shame as they were quite different to the normal items we have. There are possibilities that we might keep them but I would say 20% keep 80% get rid of to make way for new items. This decision is made due to the ordering problems we have with this range. Most of our suppliers have an extensive range of lines. For example our RIT dye people sell buttons, beads and jewelery findings as well, so when we have to order an item because it is out of stock we can always find other items which are running low in order to put a order through that meet the suppliers size. We stopped doing snazaroo a few years back because all they did was face paints and it was a constant battle ordering £100 worth of goods when all we were low on was black for example. They are now owned by Reeves a larger company that sell other art orientated items like acrylic paints, painting by numbers, easels Etc. so getting an order together should be fine. Paper Cellar apart from the stand we had didn’t do enough other stuff we wanted (they are mainly card making orientated) to make ordering feasible. Grab it while its there , it could go at any time.
We stock Gutermann thread which is the UK’s number seller. We also have Madeira threads for embroidery threads. To this we will be adding Coats Moon thread. This is a 1000m thread useful for overlocking and bobbin fill. Some people use it for normal stitching although we would still recommend the use of Gutermann to guarantee a good quality strong seam. We hope to have them within a couple of weeks. Price will be £1.50 with discounts for quantities.
Looking for the strange but nice I saw a enameling technique that anyone can use. It is a powder that is sprinkled onto an item which can then be placed into a oven at 150 degrees. It then melts and hardens when cooled. It can be used on metal, glass, wood, porcelain, ceramic, stone and other materials.
When we went to the trade show I wanted to expand the types of items we stock.
Looking around I saw the Fimo stand.
I’m sure most of us know Fimo and have may be even used it. In case you don’t know what it is it’s a clay that comes in lots of colours which can be shaped into items. The list is endless as to what but some examples of what it can make are dolls house parts, jewelery beads, animals, aliens Etc.
It looks likely that we will be stocking “Snazaroo” face paints very soon.
From their website…
“Quality & Safety
Here at Snazaroo, we are passionate about face painting and the quality & safety of our products. That’s why Snazaroo is the first choice of many parents, children, and professional face painters and is “The world’s favourite face and body paint”.
Snazaroo face paints are specially formulated to be gentle on the skin and are fragrance free.
All our face paints have been reviewed by an independent professor of dermatology and professional toxicologists. However, we recommend that before you start, you try a small test area on the inside of the arm.
At Snazaroo we believe in making our products completely safe, therefore you can rest assured that all Snazaroo face paints are manufactured using only approved ingredients fully compliant with EU & FDA toy and cosmetic regulation and are non-toxic.
Washable
Snazaroo face paints are all water based. This makes them as easy to get off as they are to put on. Simply remove with soap and warm water; there is no need for scrubbing or harsh removers. Please remember that due to the high pigment contents some colours may stain fabric.
Great Colours
Face painting is all about looking good and having fun.
Our face paints offer a great variety of vibrant colours. They go on easily and dry quickly so you can easily complete a design in less than 5 minutes!”
I have always used them when helping out local schools to raise money or have fun days. If you are looking for a paint that is made to the highest standards then there is no other option that comes near to the quality of Snazaroo.
At first we will just be stocking the 18ml tubs in basic and metallic colours.
I use Graze. Every Thursday I get my packet trough the door at work and nibble at it throughout the day.
I also have an offer code which will give you one free packet. The second one you receive will be at half price. You can cancel at any time so there is no reason not to try.
In my packet today were sultanas that had been infused with lemon juice, olives in a basil sauce, roasted pumpkin seed and a selection of nuts.
There is lots of choice and you can either select what you want or the site will suggest items you might like to try and based on feedback alter the packet so the food never gets dull or contain food you dislike.
The offer code is QJDJXF2N and The website is http://www.graze.com/ this offer is time limited and could end any time.
My iPhone is one piece of equipment that if I lost there is nothing else that would replace it.
I am writing this using the wordpress app whilst in bed wondering what I’m going to do today. In a minute I’ll search for an appropriate image to go with it and upload it direct to the website.
Well I went online and found a image using google (where would we be without it). Adding a image is easy.
There is more this app does but this is the thing I’ll be using most when there’s a few minutes spare like on a journey, having breakfast in bed (I wish) or waiting for the kettle to boil.
For some reason this week was especially good for us. Don’t know why!
May be it was payday for most of them and they decided to go on a spending spree (we’re apparently out of recession now), or they’re worried about the snow predicted for this week so are buying stuff for home and school projects when their stuck in their house, or the fact we’ve tried to get as much exposure possible from the internet using various methods. I know a lot of our new customers are from word of mouth from other customers, teachers, guide groups Etc and I would like thank you all very much for doing that.
We do have a saying in the shop though that If you have a good week you always pay for it the next week. Everything usually balances out.
I cant see why anyone would want to be using Internet explorer. If you are using it and have the latest version with the tabbed browsing and you think how cool it is just take into account that Firefox had it ages before. Internet explorer so far has been doing the catchup game and I’ll explain why Mozilla Firefox is better.
I have been using Firefox for a few year now and it has grown to be the perfect browser. It has plugins which extend it’s functionality and has been shown to beat IE in speed tests.
If you are using IE please consider moving onto Firefox. here are a few plug-ins I use to aid me when I’m working with FF. (there are hundreds more to try)
1. Google search but that’s also available in IE.
2.Lastpass. This is a password manager that holds the information on the internet. when i go to work all my passwords are available there as well, along with my laptop.
3.xmarks. The same sort of thing as Lastpass but does it with bookmarks. Wherever i bookmark/add to favorites these site are then available on all the other computers. No messing with trying to remember when you get home that forgettable website name.
4. Ebay sidebar. List all my sales, watching, sold and out bid auction. Easy.
5. Fire gesture. Allow you to use the mouse to controll Firefox. for example right clickhold and drag left and you browse back a page. Left up=top of page. Easier than clicking here and there for the same efect.
6.Split browser.Have 2 widows open at the same time in the same browser. Great for when you want to look at one side and enter information in the other. It can be done other ways but this is quick and neat.
7. Ftp. opens up a ftp interface for when you have to transfer files.
I would strongly suggest everyone update now if your on IE.
Use this technique for maximum convenience and especially for large items.
Fill machine with enough hot water for fabric to move freely. Refer to the chart below for the right amount of dye to add. Pre-dissolve powder in 2 cups of hot water. Add pre-dissolved powder or liquid to hot dye bath.
Wet fabric in hot water. Uncrumple and add to dye bath.
Set machine for extended wash cycle. Fabric should be in dye bath for at least 30 minutes before rinse begins. (You can reset your washing machine before the rinse cycle begins for extended wash cycle.)
Rinse in cold water until water runs clear. Wash deep shades in warm water with mild detergent and rinse thoroughly in cool water.
Dry item in dryer or hang to dry.
Clean washing machine using highest water level with hot water, detergent and 1 cup chlorine bleach using complete wash cycle. Clean lint traps. Plastic or rubber machine parts may be tinted but will not stain laundry.
I’ve used Rit dye to dye plastic buttons and we sell a lot to people using it to dye roller skates and bmx wheels. I’ve even sold it to someone who was dyeing wigs (don’t know if they were fake or real hair).
Please note we cannot guarantee it will work with all types of plastics that you may have.
Here is a video of how to dye plastic parts using RIT dye.
I myself put my buttons in a stainless steel saucepan and kept it on simmer for half an hour
A. RIT will dye most washable fabrics, including 100% cotton, linen, rayon, wool, and silk. It will also dye synthetics such as rayon, nylon, and acetate as well as fiber blends with at least 60% cotton or other dyeable fiber. (Blends will tint evenly but will not achieve full color.) There are fabrics, however, that will not accept dye, such as fabrics with 50% or more polyester, 100% acrylic, fiberglass, metallic fibers, fabrics with rubber backing or special finishes such as water-repellent fabrics with bleach damage or extensive staining, and fabrics that are washable only in cold water or labeled “dry clean only.”
Q. What other types of materials can I dye with RIT Dye?
A. RIT can be used to dye many different types of materials including wood, paper, plastic, feathers, and even canvas shoes! For specific instructions on how to dye any of these craft materials, click here.
Q. Can colored or printed fabrics be dyed?
A. Yes, colored and printed fabrics can be dyed. It’s a technique called overdyeing and the existing fabric color will greatly affect the finished color results. For instance, dyeing an item that is pink with royal blue can produce purple.
Q. Do all fabrics dye to the same degree or in the same amount of time?
A. When it comes to dyeing, not all fabrics are created equal. Some dye much more quickly and will appear darker sooner than others. Most cotton, silk and nylon fabrics absorb dye very quickly. Other natural and synthetic fabrics usually take longer to reach the fullest, richest color. Old, well-washed fabrics may dye faster than new fabric.
This part of our website is iPhone friendly so you can always bookmark us on your iPhone or iPod touch and get the latest information direct to your phone.
Hopefully Fimo will be with us by the end of next week.
Pandora and Troll beads are very popular but also very expensive for the real items. We have a range of quality style beads which sell well and will be getting in the new range soon. They expect delivery in the next few week and will increase their range from 160 different items to approximately 300. These will include full cut glass beads, beads that allow charms to be added to them and Diamante studded beads
Our Snazaroo range is now in and consist of 12 normal colours and 12 sparkle colours. Snazeroo is the only choice worth considering for people who will be painting faces (or body-parts). It is made to stringent standards and is the no1 choice for people in the trade. The basic range will be £3.50 and the sparkle £4.25.
We have continually grown our range of Impex beads and findings. We now stock half of their major range and hope to increase it further over the next year.
It looks like we will be discontinuing our paper cellar range of craft items. It is a shame as they were quite different to the normal items we have. There are possibilities that we might keep them but I would say 20% keep 80% get rid of to make way for new items. This decision is made due to the ordering problems we have with this range. Most of our suppliers have an extensive range of lines. For example our RIT dye people sell buttons, beads and jewelery findings as well, so when we have to order an item because it is out of stock we can always find other items which are running low in order to put a order through that meet the suppliers size. We stopped doing snazaroo a few years back because all they did was face paints and it was a constant battle ordering £100 worth of goods when all we were low on was black for example. They are now owned by Reeves a larger company that sell other art orientated items like acrylic paints, painting by numbers, easels Etc. so getting an order together should be fine. Paper Cellar apart from the stand we had didn’t do enough other stuff we wanted (they are mainly card making orientated) to make ordering feasible. Grab it while its there , it could go at any time.
We stock Gutermann thread which is the UK’s number seller. We also have Madeira threads for embroidery threads. To this we will be adding Coats Moon thread. This is a 1000m thread useful for overlocking and bobbin fill. Some people use it for normal stitching although we would still recommend the use of Gutermann to guarantee a good quality strong seam. We hope to have them within a couple of weeks. Price will be £1.50 with discounts for quantities.
Looking for the strange but nice I saw a enameling technique that anyone can use. It is a powder that is sprinkled onto an item which can then be placed into a oven at 150 degrees. It then melts and hardens when cooled. It can be used on metal, glass, wood, porcelain, ceramic, stone and other materials.
When we went to the trade show I wanted to expand the types of items we stock.
It looks likely that we will be stocking “Snazaroo” face paints very soon.
For some reason this week was especially good for us. Don’t know why!
I have been using Firefox for a few year now and it has grown to be the perfect browser. It has plugins which extend it’s functionality and has been shown to beat IE in speed tests.
WASHING MACHINE
Q. What types of fabrics can I dye with RIT Dye?
We have some items on eBay which can be viewed 
This part of our website is iPhone friendly so you can always bookmark us on your iPhone or iPod touch and get the latest information direct to your phone.
