Draw a Manga Character 1

Printable Bookmark

Draw a Manga Character 2

Chie Kutsuwada Colouring Sheet

Inko Ai Takita Colouring Sheet

Junko Mizuno Colouring Sheet

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Watch the video or follow the instructions below to make a beautiful and easy homemade vase from a recycled tin and an old book!

You will need:

• A clean tin can
• A damaged or unwanted book
• A pen or pencil
• Scissors or a guillotine
• PVA Glue
• Tape or double-sided sticky tape (optional)
• Ribbon or string

How To Make An Easy Homemade Vase

Carefully tear out the pages. Consider the size of the book compared to the can – an A4 book will need less pages than a paperback!

Wrap the pages around the can and draw a line to mark the height of the can. The inside rim of the can may be sharp so be careful!

Cut the pages to the correct height – check they fit!

Place the pages together lengthways and trim the page that will be on the outside to remove any blank areas.

Attach pages together with glue or tape.

Place the wide blank edge of the pages against the top of the tin and make sure it fits.

Glue or tape the pages to the tin.

Take the ribbon or string and wrap around the tin to measure, cutting where it overlaps itself.

Lay the ribbon or string flat and spread glue over it.

Carefully place ribbon along top of pages, against the lip of the tin, smoothing the ribbon to the tin to spread the glue.

Wipe off any excess glue – PVA dries clear so it won’t show. Leave to dry.

Place pebbles in the bottom of the tin to weigh it down and pop some plastic, paper or crafted flowers inside!

The post Make An Easy Homemade Vase appeared first on BaNES Virtual Library.

Scroll down to see the pattern or download as a PDF.

Information:

Pattern is in UK Crochet terms

Yarn: small amounts of DK in red (approx. 18g) and white (approx. 5g)

Crochet Hook: 4.5mm

Abbreviations and special stitches

DC – Double Crochet (UK)/Single Crochet (US)

TR – Treble Crochet (UK)/Double Crochet (US)

HTR – Half Treble Crochet (UK)/ Half Double Crochet (US)

SLST – Slip Stitch

Ch – Chain

DCINC – Work 2 DC into stitch

around – repeat that stitch for all stitches in row. Eg ‘DCINC around’ means DCINC in every stitch of row

‘numberstitch’, eg 2DC, means the next 2 stitches should be DC

(…)xnumber indicates a pattern should be repeated a number of times, eg ‘(DCINC, 2DC)x3’ means the next nine stitches should be: DCINC, DC, DC, DCINC, DC, DC, DCINC, DC, DC.

[number] is total number of stitches in row

BOBBLE – (yarn over hook, insert hook through next stitch, yarn over hook, pull loop through stitch, yarn over hook, pull through 2 loops only)x4, yarn over hook, pull through all 5 loops left on hook. Ensure final pull through is tight.

Notes:

Ch1 and Ch3 count as the first stitch in the row except in Short Rows

Be careful not to treat slip stitch as a stitch – always skip

Pattern is worked in the round, except Short Rows

Short Rows are worked adding one DC before and one DC after the previous rows stitches, Ch do not count as a stitch

Pattern:

In white yarn:

Round 1: 6 DC in a Magic Ring, SLST to top of first DC, Ch1. [6]

R2: DC in same Ch, DCINC around, SLST to Ch1, Ch1. [12]

R3: DC around, SLST to Ch1, Ch1. [12] 

R4: DC in same Ch, DC, (DCINC, DC)x5, SLST to Ch1, Ch1. [18]

R5: DC around, SLST to Ch1, Ch1. [18]

R6: DC in same Ch, 2DC, (DCINC, 2DC)x5, SLST to Ch1, Ch1. [24]

R7: DC around, SLST to Ch, Ch1. [24]

R8: DC in same Ch, 3DC, (DCINC, 3DC)x5. SLST to Ch1, Ch3 in Red yarn. [30]

Fasten off white and continue in red:

R9-11: TR around, SLST to top of Ch3, Ch3. [30]

R12: TR around, SLST to top of Ch3, Ch1. [30]

R13: DC around, SLST to Ch. [30] 

Short Rows:

Ch1 at the beginning do not count as stitches, skip over them.

R14: Ch1, 2DC, turn work [2]

R15: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 14, 3DC. Turn. [4]

R16: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 15, 5DC. Turn. [6]

R17: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 16, 7DC. Turn. [8]

R18: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 17, 9DC. Turn. [10]

R19: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 18, 11DC. Turn. [12]

R20: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 19, 13DC. Turn. [14]

R21: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 20, 15DC. Turn. [16]

R22: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 21, 17DC. Turn. [18]

R23: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 22, 19DC. Turn. [20]

R24: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 23, 21DC. Turn. [22]

R25: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 24, 23DC. Turn. [24]

R26: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 25, 25DC. Turn. [26]

R27: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 26, 27DC. Turn. [28]

R28: Ch1, DC in stitch before row 27, 29DC, SLST to first DC, Ch3. Do not turn [30]

Continuing rounds:

R29-32: TR around, SLST to top of Ch3, Ch3. [30]

R33: TR around, SLST to top of Ch3, Ch2. [30]

R34: HTR around, SLST to top of Ch2, Ch1 in white yarn. [30]

Fasten off red leaving 30cm tail, continue in white:

R35: DC around, SLST to Ch, Ch1. [30]

Bobbles:

R36: (BOBBLE, DC)x14, BOBBLE, SLST to top of Ch. [15 Bobbles, 15 DC]

Pop the bobbles outwards, fasten off and weave in all ends except long red tail.

Hanging loop:

Attach white yarn between the two bobbles at the back (opposite SLST)

Ch16 and SLST between the bobbles to create loop. Fasten off securely and weave in ends.

Adding the Item:

Use red tail to attach the item inside the stocking, leave the tail long enough that the item can be easily pulled out and put back in.

Emily Parker, 2022

The post Crochet a Christmas Stocking appeared first on BaNES Virtual Library.

Learn how to make a pinwheel with this simple tutorial. Watch the video or read the instructions below.

You Will Need:

• Straw or wooden dowel
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Pencil
• A square of paper or card in any colour
• Drawing pin or similar

How to Make a Pinwheel

Using your ruler, draw two diagonal lines between the corners.

Find the middle point where the lines cross over, and put a mark on the 4 lines 2/3cm from the centre.

Cut along the lines from each corner up to the marks you have made.

Take a corner and fold to the middle point, skip a corner and repeat the process. Repeat this process until all corners are folded into the middle.

If you’re using thicker card you may need to put pressure on the folds to help them stay in place.

Use your pin to make a hole in the middle of the paper/card and each of the corners you’ve folded in. Use a chopping board to protect your surfaces and don’t get your fingers in the way!

Carefully feed your pin through each of the corners then the centre hole so he point sticks out the back of the card.

Turn the card over and push the pin through the straw/dowel until it’s secure.

Check the wheel spins and adjust as necessary.

It may be useful to glue the folded corners of the card into place in the middle, but make sure it still spins!

Enjoy!

The post Make A Pinwheel appeared first on BaNES Virtual Library.

Collect

• Newspaper
• Long ruler or scissors
• Assorted jars or child’s stacking cups (with straight sides)
• Flour and water paste for glue
• Plastic seed tray or lunch box
• Seedlings or seeds
• Compost

Tear or cut newspaper

Measure size of strip by aligning pot against edge, plus 2-4cm allowance for folding over pot bottom.

Tear against ruler, or cut. If tearing, tear top to bottom in direction of paper fibres.

Tip: use different colours for different seeds/seedlings.

Wrap

Open out torn strips, so it is single ply.

Wrap around jar or cup, not too tightly.

Turn upside down and fold over bottom allowance

Tip: use a spot of flour glue to fix down edges

Potting Up

Use next smallest cup to squash firmly against the bottom folds, or use fingers.

Fill with compost.
Pot up seedlings firmly.
Pack into tray to secure.
Water.

The post Make Your Own Seed Pots appeared first on BaNES Virtual Library.

Follow our video guide or read the instructions to make a candle in a jar!

You Will Need:

• A jar
• A wick
• Double-sided sticky tape
• Soy wax (or any type of candle wax) – enough to fill your jar
• Candle dye
• Fragrance (essential oils or candle fragrance)
• A saucepan
• Heatproof bowl
• Funnel
• Something to centre your wick (see below)

How To Make A Candle in a Jar

Clean out your jar and allow to dry.

Attach the sticky tape to the base of the wick, then gently press to the inside base of the jar to stick it down.

Fill your saucepan with two inches of water and heat on a medium temperature until simmering.

Place the wax, in the heatproof bowl, over the simmering water.

Gently stir the wax as it begins to melt.

Add your candle dye and stir in until it is fully mixed in.

Keep stirring to make sure it’s smooth!

When it’s almost melted, lower the temperature and when it’s fully melted remove from the water – keep stirring!

Allow the wax to cool a little then add a few drops of your fragrance and stir in.

Carefully pour the wax into the jar using the funnel. The bowl, wax and jar will be very hot so use oven gloves!

Make sure your wick is held centrally using a lolly stick with a hole in it, or 2 chopsticks tied together, balanced on top of the jar.

Wait a few hours for the candle to set fully before lighting it.

Enjoy!

The post Make a Candle in a Jar appeared first on BaNES Virtual Library.

Learn how to crochet a rainbow with our video!

Pattern is in UK crochet terms, remember to cut and tie off ends as you go!

We used a 4mm hook and DK weight yarn.

There are written instructions in the the video and below.

Materials

Small amounts of DK yarn in violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow orange and red.

A 4mm crochet hook

Video

Pattern

Round 1: In violet, make a magic ring, 2Ch, then 18 HTR into ring Sl St into 1st stitch, changing to indigo. Fasten off violet.

R2: Ch 2, (HTR, 2HTR) around. Sl St into 1st stitch, changing to blue. Fasten off indigo.

R3: Ch 2, (HTR x 2, 2HTR in next) around. Sl St into 1st stitch, changing to green. Fasten off blue.

R4: Ch 2, (HTR x 3, 2HTR in next) around. Sl St into 1st stitch, changing to yellow. Fasten off green.

R5: Ch 2, (HTR x 4, 2HTR in next) around. Sl St into 1st stitch, changing to orange. Fasten off yellow.

R6: Ch 2, (HTR x 5, 2HTR in next) around. Sl St into 1st stitch, changing to red. Fasten off orange.

R7: Ch 2, (HTR x 6, 2HTR in next) around. Sl St to close. Do not fasten off.

R8: Ch 1, fold in half, DC 18 in both sides at same time. Ch 20 to make loop, DC remaining 18 in both sides.

Weave away ends and hang up!

Learn More

If you want to learn to crochet, Simply Crochet magazine has brilliant guides in every issue, get the digital magazine for free with your Library membership from libbyapp.com

Knit 2, Share 1

Did you know we have a fibre arts group in Bath Central Library Find out more!

The post Crochet a Rainbow appeared first on BaNES Virtual Library.

Crafts for the Community!

Sandy Hathaway, a member of Bath Central Library’s Fibre Arts group Bath Stitch Social, has shared with us her latest community minded make – Twiddle Muffs!

They are sleeves that are worn over a wrist that have lots of different textures and added things to feel and play with. Designed for people with dementia, they are a brilliant way to occupy minds and hands, and they each have an extra pocket with a knitted figure inside. They are also a great way to try new stitches and patterns!

Sandy is donating these to a local care home to help the residents, which is fantastic, and if you want to donate some too we can organise for them to be passed on.

If you want to learn how to make them or find out more, come along to Bath Stitch Social in Bath Central Library or email Library_Events@bathnes.gov.uk.

Little Knitted Figures

Sandy has kindly shared with us her pattern for the knitted figures, so you can have a go!

Sizes:

My 4-ply figure, knitted on 2mm needles measures 11 cm tall. The DK version on 3mm needles is 16cm tall and the Aran figure on 4 mm needles is 20 cm tall. My tension is quite loose so use a size larger needles or whatever is more comfortable for you. The tail lengths below are for the 4-ply version. If using a thicker wool (and producing a larger figure) make your tails slightly longer.

Tips:

Leaving long tails at the start and end of your knitting to sew the pieces together with reduces the number of beginnings and ends of threads to fasten off.

Slipping the first stitch of each row (except the first row after a cast on or the beginning of a cast off) gives an easier edge for gathering up – this is useful for the head, the ends of the arms and the ends of the legs.

To gather securely (for head, hands, feet) run the thread around the row ends twice.

The Pattern

Arms: Cast on 22 sts. Garter stitch 12 rows. Cast off leaving a tail of approx. 25 cm.

Use the tail to gather the row ends at the end of the arm. Sew the cast on edge to the cast off edge then gather the row ends at the second end of the arm and fasten off and hide the end of the tail in the arm.

Head: Cast on 8 sts. Garter stitch 20 rows. Cast off leaving a tail of approx. 20cm.

Gather the nearest row ends (this is the top of the head). Sew the cast on edge to the cast off edge, gather the remaining row ends. Stuff lightly then pull up and fasten the stitches (but don’t cut the thread) to form the bottom of the head. Use the remaining tail to sew the head to the centre top of the arms.

Body: Leaving a starting tail of 20 cm, cast on 22 sts. You have cast on at the centre back with the tail at the right foot. Garter stitch 6 rows.

Next row: cast off 4 sts for 1^st armhole, knit to end of row.

Next row: knit to end then turn and cast on 4 sts.

Garter stitch 5 rows.

Next row: cast off 11 sts for 1^st leg, knit to end (11 sts).

Next row: knit 11 sts, turn and cast on 11 sts for 2^nd leg.

Garter stitch 5 rows.

Next row: cast off 4 sts for 2^nd armhole, knit to end of row.

Next row: knit to end then turn and cast on 4 sts.

Garter stitch 6 rows. Cast off leaving a tail of at least 30 cm (12”).

Use the starting tail to gather for the first foot and sew up the leg to the crotch. Use the finishing tail to gather for the second foot, sew up the second leg and up the back to the neck (do not fasten off). Place the arms, with head attached, in the armhole slots. Continuing with the tail from the back thread across the row ends of the right half of the back at the top, then across the front, then across the left half of the back. Pull the thread to slightly gather the shoulders. Take several stitches through the body and arms to ensure that the figure can’t be dismembered by little fingers. Fasten off and hide the end of the thread in the body.

Written by Sandy Hathaway, 2022

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