Designing and Making Cloud Earrings

I'm a Senior Data Consultant who works every day with data in Microsoft Azure, commonly referred to as "the cloud". I also like making geeky things that complement what I do, so I came up with the idea of creating some cloud earrings. 

I started with a simple teardrop shape earring design which I had obtained from Make It Create. 

I chose this one because I liked the shaping and figured I could easily substitute the inner design with my own cloud icon from Power Point. To obtain the cloud icon, open Power Point, click on Insert > Icons then search for "cloud". It will be among the results, as shown below. 

Click on Insert to insert the cloud into the Powerpoint presentation. Size it up so that it nearly fills the slide. This will provide a clearer edge when it is sized down to fit earrings. 

Right-click on the enlarged cloud icon, and select copy.

Switch to Silhouette Studio and press ctrl-v to paste it into the design area. The cloud icon comes along with a white background which will have to be removed before it can be used in the design. The image will also have to be traced.

Click on the Trace icon in the right-side button bar. 

Click on Select Trace Area. 

Draw a rectangle around the cloud to select the area. Upon releasing the mouse, the cloud will turn yellow indicating that Silhouette Studio has recognized the cloud shape as what you want traced. 

Click on Trace in the lower part of the Trace Panel. 

The gray box will disappear, and the cloud icon should now have a faint red outline around it. Move the Powerpoint icon image away, leaving the cut line behind. 

The original Powerpoint icon may be deleted a this point. Select the cloud then in the main menu select Object > Simplify to remove extra points from the cloud.  Most Powerpoint icons are relatively "clean" images, but it's still a good idea to Simplify it. 

Now, the teardrop will need to be modified to remove the original inner design since all we need from it is the teardrop shape outline. Duplicate the original teardrop and select a different color for it such as red so that it will be easy to see the difference between the two copies. 

Resize the red version to fit inside of the original. Its edges should align with the inner edges of the original design as shown above. Move the red version aside. 

Right click on the original and select Release Compound Path. Repeat with Red version. Move the two designs to the side. This will leave behind some little piece which had formed the inner cut out. Delete those pieces leaving just the filled in teardrops. (if you wish to keep the pieces, select the set and move it off of the mat)

Center the red teardrop over the black one. 

The thick black line is what we want to keep and the red teardrop is now the shape we need to remove. Select both. Open the Modify panel. Click on Subtract All to remove the red shape from the black shape.

 

 Select just the red shape and delete it, leaving behind the teardrop outline. 

Click on the cloud and move it over the teardrop. Resize it to fit comfortably inside of the teardrop. 

Select both the teardrop and the cloud. Right-click and select Weld. 

The cloud will turn black to match the teardrop indicating that now both shapes have become a single shape. 

Resize the design to about 2.25" tall, which is ideal for earrings. Copy the design and paste the second copy next to the first. Right-click on one of them and choose Flip Horizontally to create a mirrored pair.

Hit Send.

If you've done everything right, it will show cut lines around the clouds, and the clouds will be attached to the teardrops. 

Load your mat and vinyl then hit SEND to have the Cameo cut out your cloud earrings. 

I cut two sets of cloud earrings. One for myself and one for a coworker.

Add jump rings and earring wires then model your geekiness for everyone!

HAPPY CRAFTING!!

Leaf Faux Leather Earrings

 

Sometimes, you just have to create a project because you have the materials sitting in front of you. 

I noticed in my stash of faux leather that I had a nice dark green piece that had not yet been touched. It seemed to be asking to become a leaf of some sort. 

I flipped through my designs for something perfect and found this leaf design I had obtained from Creative Fabrica: 

Although the creator of the original design may have expected users to cut out the open leaf design in faux leather, I decided that it would be fun to create the open leaf portion using Orcal 651 in shiny silver. 

I resized the design to make the final earring size a little over 2". I prefer smaller earrings and have found that I don't like earrings larger than 2.5" tall because they tend to hit my shoulders and catch on my clothing. 

I cut the leaf bases first. They pretty much weeded themselves because when I pulled the green faux leather off of the mat the two leaf bases remained behind on the mat. I peeled them off and laid them to the side. 

I then put the Orcal 651 on the mat and cut the veined pieces. As soon as the Silhouette Cameo finished cutting the veined leaves, I used cut a box around the design so I could stow the uncut remainder of my silver Orcal 651. 

Weeding goes quickly and easily when using a dental tool. I stuck the weeded pieces on a bit of the vinyl that was between the two designs. I probably should get one of those little weeding bins but I usually just crumple up the weeded vinyl and pile the mess on my ironing board. 

All weeded and lined up with the green bases. 

Cut the two veiny leaves apart for easier transfer and application. This probably isn't necessary if you use a small enough piece of transfer tape so that it only picks up one leaf, but I prefer to have each design separate. 

Apply the transfer tape to the leaf design and roll a brayer over it a few times to ensure it's firmly stuck to the transfer tape. I do this on top of a piece of backing from another project because the transfer tape doesn't stick to it.

Lift the transfer tape and design off of the original backing. 

Carefully place the design on top of the earring back piece. Since I didn't align the transfer tape lines to the center of the design, I ignored them during this step and focused on ensuring that the silver leaf landed where I wanted it. Rub the design again with a brayer to transfer the vinyl from the transfer tape to the faux leather backing then remove the transfer tape. 

Repeat for second earring. The same piece of transfer tape can be reused several times. I only throw it away when it has lost enough stickiness that it can't pick up my design. 

Punch holes in the tabs at the top - carefully centering them. I missed center on one for some reason, but thankfully it was far enough from the edge that it still worked. 

Attach jump rings and earring wires. I like using two jump rings per earring because it allows the earrings to have more movement. 

These earrings turn out really nice, and I recommend you try out the design some time. 

The "crafetermath" ...

HAPPY CRAFTING!!

Proxy Socks - A Pun That Had to Be Done - HTV on Socks!

 

The Ultimate GEEK Project!

I was skimming my Twitter feed one day and saw a tweet stating, "Someone please invent a pair of socks that say 'proxy' on them, thanks." This got my creative juices moving...Socks + Proxy? What does that mean? 

For non-geeks, socks (or SOCKS5, to be precise), stands for "Socket Secure" and is a networking thing that makes communication between servers more secure. Technical details are here, should you want to read about it. Suffice it to say that if you create a set of 5 socks with the word "PROXY" on them, your IT networking guru will probably laugh hysterically as soon as the pun registers. Other IT geeks that also know a bit about networking will also chuckle. 

I should have used the stretch HTV for this project instead of the Cricut patterned HTV I chose because the stretch HTV would better handle the expected stretching of the socks over the long run. However, this product was on clearance at JoAnn's with 50% off the clearance price, so it was perfect for an experiment. Also, I just happened to like the subtle pink tie dye coloring. My camera washed out the colors in my photos, but I used the middle color sheet for the words.

 

 

I selected a basic tube stocking so I would not have to worry about the lump created by the heel which would be found on socks with built-in heel shaping. I did not try on the socks prior to applying the HTV, but assumed that they would have to stretch quite a bit. This meant that I had to ensure that the words would be able to stretch.

First step was to select a font that allows stretching. That would be any stencil font because the letters usually are not totally solid. I selected a font called "DESIGNER". 

 As you can see, the letters in the font are made of shapes that are more flexible than traditional more rigid fonts like the one used in this blog. I figured that letters like this would better handle being stretched without fracturing since most letters already were cut into multiple pieces. 

If you are applying HTV to socks (for any other project), keep in mind that the socks stretch the most horizontally (left to right), so stencil style letters may work better in a situation where stretching will occur. Infusible ink could work well for socks, but white or other very light colored socks would be required because infusible ink is designed for use on light colored materials. I haven't tested infusible ink on black, but I don't think it would show up, and I don't want to waste the materials in an experiment just yet. 

To create the "PROXY" word, I typed in PROXY in all capital letters and hit ENTER between each so each letter would be on its own line. 

The first thing you notice when the letters are in place is that the "O" is wider than the other letters and looks as if it is not aligned with them. The proper resolution for that issue is to set the alignment to "centered". 

Now, although the "O" is wider, all letters are aligned along their centers and the word looks "normal". I also narrowed the Line Spacing from 100% to 80%. This pushed the letters slightly closer together. Whenever you are placing letters vertically, adjust the vertical spacing to fit them together nicely. The vertical spacing for any font usually takes into consideration the height of letters that fall well above the middle (like "d", "f", or "l") and letters that fall well below the middle (like "p", "q" and "y"). 

Notice how the letters at 80% look better than the previous view with line spacing at 100%. I also set the font size to 144 px. This made the full design about 7.5" x 1.5". Although I wear a ladies' size 9, I thought it was a little tall for me, so I shrank the whole design down to about 6.5" x 1.14". 

Since the material we are using is HTV, the next step is to mirror the design. Right-click on the design and select "Flip Horizontally". 

We need 4 copies of the design: two for the front upper section of the socks and two for the soles of the feet. Copy/paste the design to create 4 "PROXY" designs. 

If you have Business Edition of Silhouette Studio (as I do), you can add in weeding lines automatically along the vertical separation between words. If you do not have Business Edition, you can add the weeding lines by drawing vertical lines between each "PROXY" word and in a box around the whole design. 

Load the HTV onto the mat. For the Cricut patterned HTV, the proper orientation is to put the plain side up and the pattern touching the mat (the pattern side is where the clear carrier plastic is). Load the mat and hit "Send". Silhouette Studio will ask if you want the design mirrored. Since we already mirrored the design, we can tell it to cut as is. 

I found that the default settings for HTV are not quite deep enough. A setting of depth 2 did not cut the HTV. I changed it to 3 depth and it cut through the part that needed to be cut without scoring the carrier plastic. 

Once cutting finishes, cut the design items off from the remainder of the HTV. Weed out the HTV that is not part of the design. Finally, cut into 4 separate strips so that each word can be individually placed on the socks. 

Weeded "PROXY" ready for application. I flipped over the two on the left in "ready to apply" mode. It's interesting that the camera still shows them as white even thought each word is a tie dye pink. Stupid camera. 

Before applying the HTV, press the socks for about 15 seconds, then put the letters in place and cover with a teflon sheet. I don't know for certain if the teflon is required, but it protects my Cricut Easy Press to keep it clean. 

The instructions said 30 seconds at 340 F, then 15 seconds from the back side at 340. Peel when cool.  

I placed the "PROXY" on the bottoms of the socks so that it would be right-side up when the wearer is sitting down with feet up on a hassock. 

Completed "Proxy Socks" front view. 

Bottom of my foot. I'm amazed I managed to balance standing like this to take a picture that isn't blurry. The camera almost got the colors - the "Y" is showing a bit pink. 

Sitting on the floor with my feet together. I couldn't get a good photo of the bottoms of my feet. I guess I'm not bendy enough to get that just right. (Try it. I bet very few people can get a good "selfie" of the bottoms of their feet. And by good I mean something where you see the feet but you don't see hardly anything of the rest of the person so it's reasonably modest and all that).

The socks as seen "in action". OK, I'm sitting on the floor with my feet flexed. But you can see how the stencil style font called "Designer" allows the letters to be stretched horizontally without having the HTV crack apart.

HAPPY CRAFTING!

Create Fibonacci Spiral Leather Earrings

 

Fun with Mathematics and Silhouette Cameo 4 

The golden ratio is defined as 

"The ratio between a larger number 'a' and a smaller number 'b' when a+b/a = a/b. 

It is also the positive solution to the equation x^2 - x - 1 = 0"

  as seen in this screenshot from the Compendium of Mathematical Symbols.

The symbol Phi (φ) represents the Golden Ratio. 

The Fibonacci spiral approximates the golden ratio using circular arcs connecting opposite corners of each successive square. Here is a rendering of the Fibonacci Sprial found on wikepedia:

This design is recognizable in the science world as a classic illustration of the golden ratio. So a properly geeky thing to do with it would be to create a pair of earrings - and if you're feeling up to it, a pendant - from pleather (fake leather) and some permanent vinyl. 

Challenge: Make a Fibonacci Spiral Cut File

Of course, the first challenge we are faced with is the drawing itself which consists of very fine lines. If you were to attempt to cut this as is, the pieces to keep (where the lines are) would be too narrow to handle. One option would be to use the pen attachment to have the Cameo draw the spiral on paper, but the drawing wouldn't be easily recognizable from a distance. 

The solution is to pull the image into Silhouette Studio and create a version of this with thick lines that could be cut out of vinyl and applied to a pleather backing. 

Download an image of the Fibonacci Spiral or scan a photo of one from your favorite geometry book. 

When I first imported this Fibonacci Spiral SVG, I discovered that the lines were not grouped together.

As you can see in the screenshot, when I grabbed the top line to move and resize the shape to fit my mat (it had opened at a size much greater than 12"x12" and wasn't centered on the mat) only that line moved. I hit undo to restore it to its original shape.

I then zoomed in and noticed the following at the top of the screen:

Cool geeky information on the construction of the spiral but not necessary for the earrings. Hitting delete with the words selected quickly removed the text.

Select everything - ctrl+a - then, right-click to pop up the context menu. Click on "Make Compound Path". 

The drawing will convert from a bunch of separate lines into a single drawing.

Next, we need to make the lines wider so the drawing is substantial enough to cut out in vinyl. Open the Offset Panel by clicking on the star shape icon on the right side menu bar.

Select the image and click on Offset. Adjust the distance to create an offset around all the sectors. I chose distance = 0.200 for my project.  

Click upon the original image and drag it off by one of its more prominent curves.

The original image may be deleted or simply dragged off of the mat to get it out of the way.

Next, select the new offset image. Open the color palette and click on a color tile to apply it to the drawing. This will make it easier to visualize as a completed item once it has been resized to earring proportions. I chose purple, but any color will work at this stage. If you have already chosen the vinyl for the spiral, you could choose a color matching the vinyl.

Sometimes it's nice being able to independently alter the width and height of a design, however since this design's definition depends upon its proportions, the aspect ratio should not change. Click on "Lock Aspect Ratio" in the upper menu bar to ensure that the image is not distorted when resizing. 

Click on one corner of the image and resize to about 2" wide.  

The size shown above is a reasonably good size for earrings. I usually like my leather earrings about 2" tall. The design will be rotated 90 degrees for the earrings, but cutting the designs this way will allow me to use a long and narrow scrap of vinyl to cut them.

While examining the design, I decided that the cut out pieces might be a bit narrow for the fake leather to properly maintain its shape. Therefore, I chose to have a solid rectangle of fake leather as the backing and to stick Orcal 651 to both the front and the back of the rectangle. 

In addition, having made several pairs of leather earrings previously, I have found that the wider the top of the design is, the more likely it is to show its back side. These earrings will be just over 1 1/4" wide when complete, so they will catch in my hair and show their back sides often.

This means that I will need to cut 4 copies of the design from the Orcal 651 vinyl - two for the fronts of each earring and two for the backs of the earrings. 

Copy, Paste Repeat

Select the design, Copy (ctrl-c) and Paste (ctrl-v) a second copy onto the design mat. Move the second copy next to the original. Select All (crtl-A) then Copy & Paste a second pair of designs. Move them below the first set.

 You now have 4 identical Fibonacci Spirals. 

I like to have earring designs that are mirrored. This isn't mandatory, so skip the mirroring if you wish. With the bottom pair still selected, right-click and select "Flip Vertically". 

This creates two pairs of opposing designs, which when held close to each other look a little bit like a stylized heart. That's a subtle "I love math" sign if I've ever seen one.

Load a sheet of Orcal 651 vinyl or other permanent vinyl of an appropriate color onto your mat. Click Send and cut out the vinyl. 

After the Cameo finishes cutting, remove the vinyl from the mat and carefully cut the design from the remaining vinyl. I usually cut about 1/4" away from the outermost cut line so that I am assured of clean edges all around. Cutting the extra vinyl off at this stage also helps preserve the rest of the vinyl sheet for a later project.

Leave the project image open on your computer screen to help you more easily locate the quarter circle wedges that need to be weeded from the design. Weed away everything that is not part of the Fibonacci Spiral. 

Take some transfer tape and pick up the Fibonacci Spirals one at a time. You may cut the backing between designs to make it easier. Line up the transfer tape backed design on the front of a piece of smooth fake leather. For this project, I selected a piece of metallic silver pleather.

Apply the vinyl to the front of the pleather. Burnish the design (rub it with your fingers or a scraper) to ensure all of the smaller pieces have stuck to the pleather. Remove the transfer tape. 

Repeat with a second copy of the Fibonacci Spiral, ensuring that you pick one that is a mirror opposite of the one recently placed. 

Place your pleather on a rotary cutting board and carefully cut around the outside of the design as close to the applied vinyl as you can. You may also cut with scissors, but a rotary cutter can cut a bit more accurately.

Flip over the earrings and using transfer tape, align each of the other spirals onto the back side of the vinyl rectangles and burnish until they have stuck firmly to the backing. 

Decide which end is the "top" and punch a hole through the pleather just below the vinyl lines. Attach a jump ring and an earring wire to each earring. Wear your geekiness with pride!

PS: you could also consider creating a larger version of this design as a necklace pendant. 

HAPPY CRAFTING!