A couple of tools i made.

I put this on the Crafts By Carolyn forum a while back, a very quick and easy way of making yourself a chalking tool for under 50p, and you can decorate it anyway you want.



Tutorial......get ready for this......it's a tricky one!

1. Get a crocodile clip from any hardware or electric shop.

2. Get some dowelling, this was about 4 or 5mm width dowelling. How long you have it is up to you, i do mine about pencil length.

3. Put some decent glue on one end of the dowelling
and slide it into the gap in the crocodile clip. I used Araldite Epoxy Rapid, sets real fast and lasts forever!

4. Decorate as you wish. I did simple petals on this one, my girls did a couple with dots all over them like aboriginal art. I put a coat of quick drying varnish over the top to save your paintwork. I used Fimo varnish on this one.

Thats it, one chalking tool.

I've got a couple of these that are double ended, (clip at either end) so if you want to have two chalking balls on the go at once without swapping over all the time, you can.

(Calv's safety tip: If using any kind of epoxy resin glue, please go carefull with it. If you want stories about accidents and glue......just grab a coffee and pull up a chair coz i'm your man!!! Epoxy is extremely hard to get off skin when you accidentally step on a blob and glue your bare foot to the kitchen floor too.....apparently!)

Small amounts of glue on your skin are usually manageable, but if like i did one day you accidentaly burst an ENTIRE tube of superglue in your hands.......and stick your hands together and the tube to your hands too.........(don't ask!).........do not try pulling your hands apart without soaking them in some kind of thinner first. It's real painfull. I got mine off by soaking my hands in a bowl of nail varnish remover with acetone in for 20 minutes.

If i remember rightly though, i was in my dressing gown, hands stuck firmly together, and my girlfriend went for her camera before the first aid box though!

How very considerate! :)


Next....an easel. It doesn't matter if you buy or make this as i did, a small easel in your craft room can be used to display finished work or a work in progress.


I won't do a tutorial for this one, as i found out places like Ikea do them for about 50p (bet mine lasts longer though!), but heres my handmade one in action.

They can fit 12 x 12's on them.......

....or as a cheap book stand whilst working from a book.....

Screw and glue, thats all i did with this.