How to get crafty?

March 20, 2011 7:40 AM

Looking for great craft/DIY project resources! My wife and I (twenty-somethings) want to get involved in some creative outlets. I'm looking for blogs, book ideas, whatever, that can give us instruction and inspiration!

We don't have much in the way of extra room or tools in our apartment, but we do like making a mess from time to time.

We're not really interested in jewelry. We don't have a sewing machine (but really want one).

I've checked out Readymade Magazine, but haven't really found much in there I'm interested in.

I'll try to think of some more specific guidelines in relation to what we'd like, but I hope this is a decent starting off point...

posted by jeroum to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (14 answers total)

DudeCraft. It's more of an aggregator of cool art than a how-to site, but I definitely find it inspirational, especially as so much of it is made with common or cheap materials.

As far as I can tell, the title just indicates it isn't specifically aimed at ladies. The art runs the gamut but is rarely twee.
posted by jessicapierce at 7:47 AM on March 20, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks, Jessica.

I really like everything the Grecos do... anyone know of any instructions/patterns for re-purposing plush toys/fabrics/whatever in a similar way?
posted by jeroum at 7:53 AM on March 20, 2011

craftgawker.com might give some ideas
posted by Neekee at 8:19 AM on March 20, 2011

Instructables covers a wide, wide range of crafts and DIY ideas.
posted by flex at 8:20 AM on March 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

It sounds kind of like you want to go more "art" than "craft", so to speak...check out The Starving Artist's Way. It's got a lot of different DIY takes on everything from furniture to textiles to food. It draws its inspiration from fine art more than it does Martha Stewart. It does sometimes go a little overkill with the name-dropping (in its recipe for DIY peanut butter cups, it suggests you use an ice cube tray for the molds -- and points out that "hey, this also makes your peanut butter cups look like the pre-fab molds used by Sid FamousArtistGuy"), but it's got a decent collection of project ideas in it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:25 AM on March 20, 2011

Craftster is great. Check out the "featured projects" on the main page (updated every 2 weeks) and the "most popular projects" highlighted at the top of specific forums that interest you (the forums categorized by craft type -- sewing, papercraft, etc.) -- you'll see a wide range of projects that people have made, and posters frequently include tutorials or step-by-step photos of their crafting process.
posted by enlarged to show texture at 9:30 AM on March 20, 2011

You also might want to check out Craftivity. It's got 40 good DIY projects that cover a range of things - arts & crafts, home decor, gifts, etc. It's similar to ReadyMade, and has great photos and instructions.
posted by garnetgirl at 9:38 AM on March 20, 2011

The Craft magazine blog has a lot of good and interesting stuff, and there's quite a bit of diversity (knitting, metalwork, sewing, gardening, the occasional recipe, and more) in what they post. Most of their posts link to other blogs/sites, so you will likely find something you like by following a few links, too.

Also, I love the projects on Design*Sponge. Click the DIY link (on the left) for tutorials, or the Before and After link for inspiration.
posted by kitty teeth at 9:42 AM on March 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

This article lists a few places that have not been mentioned yet. I'm not sure how reliable, as it's from 2007,

Other sites that might be of interest to you: hhowtohistory, which has video tutorials on historic crafts, the steampunk workshop, the home sewing association, and historic crafts. Oh, and wikihow.
posted by annsunny at 10:04 AM on March 20, 2011

Have you seen orange swan's craft posts (on MF)? eg The Ugly Side of Crafting, one on Craftster, one on things to do with junk mail. These and her other posts should be a good starting point.
posted by paduasoy at 11:48 AM on March 20, 2011

Along the same lines as (the late) Craft Magazine and its (continuing) blog that were mentioned above, you should check out Make Magazine and its blog. Where Craft focuses on traditional types of crafts, Make focuses more on technology-based crafts. Both magazines have online back issues.

Also, they also have their own version of Instructables called Make: Projects which covers similar ground and includes a craft section.
posted by Joe Schlabotnik at 2:38 PM on March 21, 2011

My two daily ones are: manmadediy, and curbly. The latter is more home improvement but there are sreally is a lot of variety if you search a bit. manmadediy has everything from IKEA hacks to Christmas cards to posters to artwork to table decorations to candles, etc...
posted by penguinkeys at 9:16 PM on March 21, 2011

Ugh sorry, I know I hate it when there isn't a link.

manmadediy

curbly
posted by penguinkeys at 9:17 PM on March 21, 2011

This will be my last one I promise, but it is a biggie. Each year apartmenttherapy does it's Homies, the best design blogs of the web. Like Curbly, many are renovation oriented and not all have instructions all the time, but there are a lot of gems. As a bonus you don't have to wade through the thousands of posts and can just go here to get to the top rated ones. If you scroll down, it also lists all the nominated sites.
posted by penguinkeys at 9:22 PM on March 21, 2011