Starting up

At first I wanted to get myself organised with whole ranges of stuff I wanted to make. "Stef's Stuff" was originally a frontrunner for my business name. But I had to rethink (with lots of help from UKCraftsforum). But I did come up with some range names that mean a lot to me. I looked up the meanings of my mother and grandmothers' names and thought about their personalities:

Lucy - could be flighty and bright (she always thought it was a tart's name). Patchworky stuff, anything multi-coloured, probably the felted stuff too!
Mabel - (which she used instead) I imagine as sepia tinted, vintage, retro stuff. I think this one would be good for the obviously recycled stuff.
Jenny means white wave... I don't think I could use that for my mixed bag of junk! But you never know! She did have a white streak in her otherwise jet black hair... I definitely need to think that through!
Patricia - blue and white, maybe jewellery from broken pottery, easy to do!
Winifred - celtic and complex would be the natural name for any wirework

So that was my original thought. As you can see there was no actual making of anything involved!



My first attempt to make something (yes, I have dabbled a little) was fusing plastic. It was supposed to be a brooch, but is too big - hey presto! a bag charm

I found all sorts of information, the best was Sara Bella based in Canada link

That's what sent me to the books on plastic fusing and looking at youtube, where I found Meilris link a simple demo of how to!

Craftzine link also has a fusing section, but some of that is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to much for me!

Other ideas for plastic bags include:
Plaiting into dog leads.
Baby bibs
Coasters
Plant pot cover ups
Pen pots
Sandwich bags
Bow brooches
Jewellery

I could make bigger things but, having tried fusing lots of bags, I prefer smaller sections as big sheets look quite rumpled and iffy! But I may get better at it as I collect more bags and try out more options.

So that's my thoughts on plastics.... for the moment anyway.