Photo by Matthew Scott
Project: Handprinted Tree Ornament
Time: 30 minutes to 1 hour
Cost: $8-$20, Including Glazes and Firing of Pieces
It seems as if that gift list gets longer every year: co-workers, teachers, neighbors, and your ever-growing list of friends (admit it, you’re popular!). However, it seems that checking those names off the list is a lot harder than adding them. How can you still give people nice, meaningful gifts while maintaining a holiday budget?
Well, if you are willing to invest a little time, then making a gift is a good way to get exponential returns on your investment. Forget all those M&M-filled baby food jars or the decoupage ornament that always feels a little sticky. Here are three craft projects that will bring you sincere “thank yous.”
Paint your own Pottery
Where ceramics classes left off in the 1970s, paint-your-own-pottery studios have picked up and expanded.
Painting your own pottery is one of the easiest crafts out there. Can’t paint, you say? Most studios have stencils and stamps to help your project turn out great. Can’t get a block of child-free time? Painting pottery is a great activity for families to do together, and most kid-touched projects eventually become keepsakes. No time to do all that detail work? Many pottery studios will finish the project for you if you don’t have time to come back and finish. So pick up that brush and check off one of the gifts on your list.
Last year, Allison Rhoden saw a lot of little handprints captured on pottery. Her pottery studio, Kiln Time in Mount Pleasant, fired at least 650 holiday ornaments with handprints on them.
“It’s a great way to capture those little hands and feet,” she says. And what better gift for grandparents, aunts or other family members? Rhoden has even used the handprints and footprints as the basis for other designs such as reindeer or ballerinas.
For this classic globe ornament, it’s simply a matter of getting a good handprint, then writing a message. Simple is still cute, and a little embellishment will add even more whimsy to the piece. Then just hand it over to the studio for firing, and in four days, you can stop back in and pick up the finished piece.
Photo by Matthew Scott
Project: Beaded Napkin Rings
Time: 1-2 hours to complete a set of 6-8
Cost: $10-$40, depending on beads chosen
Beading
few years ago, the craze for bead shops hit a high point. People were flocking to the stores to build earrings and bracelets for themselves and friends. But after the jewelry novelty wore off, a lot of us were at a loss as to what to do with all those beads.
But the art of beading is a lot more than just jewelry, although that is certainly central to the craft. Beads are long-lasting, never lose their initial value, and with textures from bone to wood to silk to glass, there is something for every taste and budget.
“One year for Christmas, I made some napkin rings that matched a set of dinnerware my sister bought,” says Jennifer Lowe, owner of The Beaded Venus in Mount Pleasant. “It was an inexpensive way to really give my sister something nice for Christmas.” Lowe has been a bead artist for 30 years, and she says that the napkin rings she and her customers make always turn out well, no matter the maker’s skill level.
The base of the ring is a product called memory wire, and the colors and texture of the finished ring completely depend on the beads and the pattern in which you arrange them on the wire. The wire retains its shape, and it’s easy to imagine the festive glow the rings can provide to a softly lit dinner party.
An added bonus for the maker is the tactile nature of the craft itself. “Beads can be very calming,” she says. “Sometimes, I can just sit down at my table of beads and touch them, and I relax.”
Photo by Matthew Scott
Project: Scarf
Time: About a Week
Cost: $15-$40
Knitting
We know what you’re thinking.
Knitting? Well, whether you realize it or not, this craft has undergone a renaissance in the past few years, fueled by a group of young designers determined to move the craft out of the rocking chair and onto the fashion runway.
Luscious textures, hand-dyed colors and natural fibers woo the potential knitter with a wild array of possibilities. And Mollie Howey, co-owner of Knit in downtown Charleston, promises that the skill is easy to learn.
“Really, there are just two stitches in knitting – a knit stitch and a purl stitch,” she says. “And the bonus when you’re making something for someone is that if it’s not perfect, it’s still a scarf.”
In fact, Howey suggests that the scarf is the easiest knitting gift project.
For this project, the scarf is simply made up of straight knitting stitches, line after line. If you are crunched for time, Howey suggests using a yarn with more bulk to get finished faster. But don’t think this simple project can’t have some detail. Howey says that it’s as easy to do horizontal stripes as it is to knit with one color yarn. She doesn’t suggest more than two colors at a time for the beginner, though.
The best way to learn the simple stitch is to watch someone else do it. Once you get the motion down with your needles, it’s just repetition until your scarf reaches your desired length.
“Knitting a scarf is such a great gift for someone. First, it starts that it’s cost effective,” Howey says. “But you’re touching the gift; when you’re knitting you are often actually thinking about the person. It’s an almost meditative mantra, and then when you give it to the person, they are literally wrapped in your good thoughts. An iPod isn’t going to do that.”
Kitchen Conconctions
If you want to try your hand at making some gifts from your kitchen, try herbed vinegars. They’re really easy to prepare, and you can keep it simple or get as elaborate as you want.
Gather some fresh herbs from your garden, a farmer’s market, or from the produce section at the grocery store. Most herbs are suitable to make flavored vinegars, but some popular ones are dill, garlic, rosemary and tarragon.
Find a pretty, clear receptacle for your vinegar: Simple – recycled white wine bottle or mason jar. Fancy – Purchased bottle. Try Michael’s or World Market for some interesting choices.
Stuff the glass receptacle with the herbs. This is not an exact science, so if you want bold flavor put in the whole bunch; for milder flavor, use less herbs. You can even do combos of different herbs if you like (dill and garlic is a classic).
Fill the receptacle with vinegar; we suggest white vinegar, rice wine vinegar, or maybe apple cider vinegar for a little darker color. Stay away from red wine or balsamic for the best presentation.
Seal the bottle with a cork or, if using a mason jar, some wax paper then the lid and ring. Let it steep for 3 weeks unrefrigerated.
If you like the way the herbs look in the vinegar (we do), then after steeping, simply wrap and give. If not, then strain vinegar through a coffee filter and then rebottle.
Comments
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)