Cerise Magazine

For the thirteenth Craft Check column, I thought it would be fun to go back and revisit all of the crafts featured in Cerise this year and share some ideas for elaborations and variations. So if you’ve tried some of the crafts and want more, or if you’ve been holding off and waiting for more inspiration, be sure to check out all the ideas in this column!

May 2007: Make Your Own Miniatures

This Craft Check focuses on making miniatures out of hard-baking polymer clay, but what if you were to take these techniques and apply them to other molding materials? Other types of clay make obvious choices, but what about edible miniatures?

Try out the Make Your Own Miniatures craft with moldable candy and/or chocolate, marzipan, or even cookie dough. You could serve up miniatures as a fun novelty treat for a special occasion, or perhaps let your PCs devour their enemies! Mmmm, victory…

June 2007: Easy Felt Dice Bags

The appeal of the Easy Felt Dice Bags craft is that it’s, well, easy. But if you’re ready for more of a challenge, try using the same basic pattern to craft dice bags out of other fabrics. Cotton, silk, linen… The possibilities are endless. Turning the bag inside out once it’s finished will keep raw fabric edges hidden, but you can make a tidier and more durable bag by hemming your fabrics.

July 2007: Sunpaint T-Shirts

It’s not difficult to come up with designs for potential t-shirts, but if you’re anything like me, you’ve got plenty of shirts in your dresser already. How about using the techniques you learned in the Sunpaint T-Shirts craft to make aprons, hats, tote bags or even pillowcases?

August 2007: Custom Game Master’s Screens

I’ve been using one of these Custom Game Master’s Screens for my current game for a few months, now. I’ve got a hand-drawn map showing the route my players are taking on their current adventure and a list of NPCs they’re friendly with and can call upon for help on the outside of the screen. On the inside, I keep my latest GM schemes clipped up within easy reference reach with some bright, shiny binder clips I found.

Never underestimate the power and visual appeal of bright, shiny things!

September 2007: Petal-Point Dice Bags

I was inspired by Rachel’s dice bag pattern to create my own Petal-Point Dice Bags as gifts for some of my friends this December. I varied the pattern for one bag by using two fabrics paired together, and a drawstring made of soft yarn:

For another bag, I used a bright cotton fabric that I edged with black grosgrain ribbon.

This pattern is great for people who like to experiment with color and texture combinations.

October 2007: Etched Glass Candle Holders

Now that you’ve cut a reusable dragon (or whatever) stencil and made a candle holder or two… What next? Why not apply the techniques you used to make an Etched Glass Candle Holder to other objects, such as drinking glasses? Just think how much fun it would be to sip Mountain Dew out of a custom dragon-decked glass.

Well, I think it would be fun, anyway.

November 2007: Gamer Soap

When you’re embedding things in soap, as in the Gamer Soap craft, you have a perfect opportunity to play with color. After all, you have to wait for one layer of soap to cool before you can pour the rest of the bar. And there’s no reason why you can’t change colors in between:

December 2007: Gamer Cake

In the Gamer Cake craft, I went over using stencils and spray-on food coloring to decorate cakes and cupcakes. But it’s possible to decorate other foods this way, too. Triforce sandwiches, anyone?

January 2008: Gaming Gloves

The many different color combination possibilities for Gaming Gloves are pretty self-evident, but have you considered using novelty yarns? Chenille yarn can be easily substituted in, and you can even use exotic novelty yarns like eyelash yarn if you pair it with a sturdier, more mundane yarn. Just hold the two yarns together as one strand, and crochet away!

February 2008: Make Your Own Tiara

If you’ve got enough tiaras for yourself, you can use some of the same principles that Rachel taught in her Make Your Own Tiara craft to bedeck your action figures and generally decorate your space. Instead of a crown, you can use Rachel’s twisted wire technique to make garlands to wrap around almost anything.

March 2008: Make Your Own (Easier) Miniatures

For the Make Your Own (Easier) Miniatures craft, I designed miniatures with painted symbols on them that were meant to represent the professions of each of my players (a key for the rogue, a sword for the paladin, and so on). But you can get a lot more creative and abstract than that, particularly if you’re making lots of miniatures and need some variety:

April 2008: Friendship Bracelets for Gamers

The knotting technique I showed you in the Friendship Bracelets for Gamers can also be used to make hair wraps. Start with a skinny braid of hair, knot the embroidery floss on near the scalp, and knot on down. It’s a little harder to add beads than it is in a bracelet, but a little creativity makes it possible. When you get tired of the wrap, it can be picked out with the help of a pin and tweezers, or, if you don’t mind losing a little hair, cut free.

Any Other Ideas?

Hopefully some of these ideas will make old crafts new again, or appealing for the first time. Next month, I’ll be back with a brand new project – but in the meantime, do you have any ideas for enhancing these crafts?