Autistic Arts and Crafts Time - let's sperg

  • Thread starter Thread starter RI 360
  • Start date Start date
  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
I found a huge chunck of obsidian a few years back. I've been slowly practicing my knapping skills on it. Its cut through leather like butter, even my amature attempts.
 
I do a lot of sewing. Mostly costume stuff, and always on a very tight budget: I don't have a dressform or a sewing machine, so most of my work is done by hand on the living room floor while watching DVDs. Still, it's tons of fun, especially when you can whip up a new costume piece for an event just out of stuff you have in your scrap bag.

I don't know if that counts as autistic enough, but I do it for LARP, so hopefully it's allowed here. :D
 
I do a lot of sewing. Mostly costume stuff, and always on a very tight budget: I don't have a dressform or a sewing machine, so most of my work is done by hand on the living room floor while watching DVDs. Still, it's tons of fun, especially when you can whip up a new costume piece for an event just out of stuff you have in your scrap bag.

I don't know if that counts as autistic enough, but I do it for LARP, so hopefully it's allowed here. :biggrin:
As someone with an autistic hobby,(cosplay) I'd love to see your work.
 
As someone with an autistic hobby,(cosplay) I'd love to see your work.

I want to see it too! (historical re-enactor)

Seconded (or thirded) (Civil War/Old West re-enactor/world-class steampunk sperg)

Uh ... Now I feel guilty of false advertising. :< I'm not sure I can share any photos, because I also have them online with my LARP group and I don't want to risk an accidental powerlevel. And I'm entirely self-taught, so ... yeah.

I can tell you, though, that I just put together a very rough tunic. No lining or anything. But I accidentally found a new trick while I was doing it. I didn't have any chalk, so I marked out the pattern pieces with shitty white eyeliner pencil. Running the thread through those residual marks later sort of greased it, so the thread actually tangled a lot less than usual.

Actually, since it looks like there's a surprising number of fellow costume spergs here, I'd love to know if you guys have any easy tricks or tips you can share.
 
Oh, damn. Unfortunately, I guess it'd be pretty tough for anyone to share their autistic fruits of labor without majorly powerleveling (I record my progress on social media).

I guess I can share this?
This guy is amazing at anything armor-related.
 
Uh ... Now I feel guilty of false advertising. :< I'm not sure I can share any photos, because I also have them online with my LARP group and I don't want to risk an accidental powerlevel. And I'm entirely self-taught, so ... yeah.

I can tell you, though, that I just put together a very rough tunic. No lining or anything. But I accidentally found a new trick while I was doing it. I didn't have any chalk, so I marked out the pattern pieces with shitty white eyeliner pencil. Running the thread through those residual marks later sort of greased it, so the thread actually tangled a lot less than usual.

Actually, since it looks like there's a surprising number of fellow costume spergs here, I'd love to know if you guys have any easy tricks or tips you can share.

I'm actually (slight powerlevel maybe) going to school to study costume-making. I have some slight tips, but nothing major?

For dress form, I would advise against making a duct-tape dress form, unless you won't be using it for long. I would advise grabbing a buddy and following this (this is the best tutorial I've seen so far): https://sewnotwork.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/do-it-yourself-custom-dress-form/
If plaster is unavailable, you CAN do duct-tape, but you might have to re-do it in time.

As for things you'll want to stock up on, tailor's chalk is fucking nice, but you can also do it the ghetto way I did when I first started sewing and take children's chalkboard chalk in various colors and sharpen it to a point if tailor's chalk is unavailable or too expensive. I would also recommend water-soluble marker it you intend to do embroidery, or air-soluble if you plan to do it in a timely manner (just make sure the water-soluble marker washes out on your fabric first- it might not, and that would absolutely ruin some intricate work you might do).

As for embroidery, it might seem intimidating, but it's a lot easier than it seems. Just trace an outline onto your fabric, and do some basic stitching I'll link this guide on some basic embroidery stitches. All you'll need is an embroidery needle, embroidery floss, and a little tool to get the floss in the eye (which is more difficult than it sounds). You might be tempted to use just regular sewing thread, but trust me it does not look good. Embroidery floss is actually fairly inexpensive itself, so don't worry about the cost too much.
You can also make an embroidery pattern on your computer, and print it out. Tracing it on tracing paper, and I believe trace that in water-soluble marker or something, and iron it onto your fabric. So you won't have to rely on artistic skills to get your outline.

Wigs are another matter entirely, and I can sperg about that if anyone wants (I'm studying specifically to make and style theatric wigs so I got u boo)
 
Oooh, I've done embroidery! I actually stitched a complex Aboriginal-inspired design right onto some faux leather, and it turned out pretty darn nice. (Wish I could share. :()

Thanks for the dressform tutorial link, @Country Matters . I really want to do that now, when I have a little more money and time.

@Kurosaki Ichigo , that video makes me drool. Faux metal paint jobs are so much fun!
 
@Slowboat to China Everything he makes is beautiful. I wish I had the time/energy/motivation to do half the things he makes. But for now I'm trying to motivate myself to make the finishing touches on a creature costume I started back in September.
 
Not as autistic as Chris-Chan's pixellated creations but still pretty fucking autistic is my Perler ability.
 

Attachments

  • 11016108_1624707737750103_8024165358832185589_n.jpg
    11016108_1624707737750103_8024165358832185589_n.jpg
    41.6 KB · Views: 1,092
I have sewn plush toys in the past but I am not going to post any photos because they make it far to easy to identify me.
Same feel, except I still currently do it for side money. Get a lot of moms sending me pictures of their daughter's scribbled out characters to turn into plushies, but it's super endearing to me.
 
I wanted to learn how to crochet for shits n giggles and I was wondering if anyone knew any good videos for teaching the absolute basics

Also crocheted shit sells for mad dollas these days
 
I wanted to learn how to crochet for shits n giggles and I was wondering if anyone knew any good videos for teaching the absolute basics

Also crocheted shit sells for mad dollas these days
Crocheting is way easier than knitting imo, so nice choice. It's all about getting into the groove of a repetitive motion and counting. No, seriously, that's all that's needed for crochet.

But there's a huge learning curve. It's easy to crochet, but it's hard to get good at crocheting, as in making the cool shit that people want to buy (though I guess scarves and hats are always popular...). You can get the most basic of tools at Wal-Mart or something, including some kits that contain a book, DVD, and a few different sizes of crochet needles, which makes a nice dabble-size starter pack. The same section should also have little $5 booklets that give the patterns to various things you can make, which may be nice for advanced practice and ideas. Start with basic yarn, novelty materials like lace require either experience to handle without tearing, and things like thick yarn need special needle sizes. Basic is best 99% of the time.

 
I went over to my friend's place today and she's in the middle of crocheting a blanket made up of circles, and she offered to teach me so we spent a couple of hours together teaching me to crochet. I was just getting the hang of adding in new loops and flattening out the circle when the yarn ran out. I bought a hook on the way home and managed to lose it so I can't practice while it's still fresh in my mind so I'll probably forget and need her to teach me all over again.

Here is my babby's first crochet. She did the very center part to get me started, which is why it looks good.
It's a link because attachments aren't working for me and whenever I try to embed it I just get a broken image.

http://tinypic.com/r/aa8akp/9

I'll attach it once attachments work.


@Bugaboo :

This might just be me but when I was learning I found it much easier to just pick up the hook and yarn and have my friend tell me what to do rather than just watching her do it. Might just be how I learn, though. If you're watching the video it might help to slow it way down and do the hand motions along with the video, rather than just watching and then trying to replicate it. My friend broke it down well and did it slowly but it was still easier to learn by doing rather than watching.
She also gave me the advice of using chunky wool and a thick (preferably wooden) hook, a 9 or a 10. Also, using yarn with two colours can help you find loops that might blend in if the yarn is a uniform colour.
 
Crocheting is way easier than knitting imo, so nice choice. It's all about getting into the groove of a repetitive motion and counting. No, seriously, that's all that's needed for crochet.

But there's a huge learning curve. It's easy to crochet, but it's hard to get good at crocheting, as in making the cool shit that people want to buy (though I guess scarves and hats are always popular...). You can get the most basic of tools at Wal-Mart or something, including some kits that contain a book, DVD, and a few different sizes of crochet needles, which makes a nice dabble-size starter pack. The same section should also have little $5 booklets that give the patterns to various things you can make, which may be nice for advanced practice and ideas. Start with basic yarn, novelty materials like lace require either experience to handle without tearing, and things like thick yarn need special needle sizes. Basic is best 99% of the time.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=aAxGTnVNJiE
I found that video and it seems helpful, the only issue is I found a suitable crochet hook in my house but we're fresh out of wool so I gotta go to Walmart and grab some

I went over to my friend's place today and she's in the middle of crocheting a blanket made up of circles, and she offered to teach me so we spent a couple of hours together teaching me to crochet. I was just getting the hang of adding in new loops and flattening out the circle when the yarn ran out. I bought a hook on the way home and managed to lose it so I can't practice while it's still fresh in my mind so I'll probably forget and need her to teach me all over again.

Here is my babby's first crochet. She did the very center part to get me started, which is why it looks good.
It's a link because attachments aren't working for me and whenever I try to embed it I just get a broken image.

http://tinypic.com/r/aa8akp/9

I'll attach it once attachments work.


@Bugaboo :

This might just be me but when I was learning I found it much easier to just pick up the hook and yarn and have my friend tell me what to do rather than just watching her do it. Might just be how I learn, though. If you're watching the video it might help to slow it way down and do the hand motions along with the video, rather than just watching and then trying to replicate it. My friend broke it down well and did it slowly but it was still easier to learn by doing rather than watching.
She also gave me the advice of using chunky wool and a thick (preferably wooden) hook, a 9 or a 10. Also, using yarn with two colours can help you find loops that might blend in if the yarn is a uniform colour.
I usually learn best by watching people do things so I think a video would be most helpful for me. The dual colored yarn sounds like an excellent idea tho
 
I have only really been sewing plushies for year and ngl when I started using fleece my plushies looked a lot better. :lol:

For anyone who does sew here are some of my favorite free patterns, these are all sort of intermediate: Semi-realistic koi, this site has quite a few free projects, Stubby Crocodile (Page is in Spanish and the pattern is Chinese but it's not hard to figure out.) , make your fursona/teddy of any animal.

I thought this was a sewing tutorial for a fat dragon but it's actually crochet! So if you like fat dopey looking dragons here you go. (it's row by row too)
 
It's easy to crochet, but it's hard to get good at crocheting

Ugh, this so much! I tried to crochet but I eventually gave up because it was all uneven and lumpy. I do knitting now, which I find easier to make straight, but it's harder to make cuter things, like little amigurumi, so I'm probably gonna go back to crochet eventually (though I do love me some knitting- very relaxing)

I learned from the Lion Brand Yarn site, if anyone's interested- http://www.lionbrand.com/learn/how-to-knit
 
Back
Top Bottom