Ripple poll: vote for your favourite Ripple

I've set up a new online poll - you can see it in the sidebar on the right of this blog, just below the introductory bit. Please vote in the poll to let me know which of the three Ripple pieces you like the best! There are full size pictures of each of the pieces in this post. The poll will be open until 11 August 2008, but please cast your vote soon. I take great delight in seeing the votes come in!

Pissenlit: a dandelion close-up

Dandelion, Leeds, 29 May 2008


This link will take you to an article that appeared recently (and once before, in 2002) in the Independent newspaper. Enjoy!
Miles Kington Remembered: Consider the lilies ... and the dandelions and nettles

Christmas jewellery gift boxes

These little boxes are made from old Christmas cards. The middle-sized one is about 55 mm x 55 mm x 25 mm. There are many online tutorials for making boxes like these. The one I used is here.

I made a few minor adjustments:

• I used old cards instead of paper. These are thicker than paper and you need a folding tool to help you make reasonably sharp creases. I used the case of an old pen.


• For the box base, I found that a square with a side length 1 cm less than the square used for the box top worked well (except for very, very high quality card)


• To avoid having folds across the top of the box, I ensured that my card was square by measuring instead of folding.


• For the same reason, I also marked the centre of the square on the back in pencil, instead of the folding done in steps 3, 4 and 5. This means that one of the folds expected at step 12 is missing, but I found that it formed naturally at that point, so this wasn't a problem.


• I used a little bit of sticky tape to hold the edges of the card together inside the box. This should help make it less likely that the recipient will unfold the box to discover who sent you the card! A felt, cotton wool or similar lining also neatens up the inside.

Instant collage

Thank you to How about orange for introducing me to this wonderful time waster! You upload a single picture to the Hockneyizer, and it makes a collage. There's a choice of styles, and you can shuffle the component pictures repeatedly until you get an arrangement you like. Quite addictive ...

A familiar ring?

How to make a ring. A Pictorial. A How-To by Nicole Isaacs. This is definitely worth a look, especially if you make jewellery and things don't always turn out quite the way you'd planned. There's a twist in the tail, so make sure you view all the steps right through to the end!