If you’re in or around Cologne and like to build your own bookpress come on over to Dingfabrik. Thorsten and me are giving a bookpress workshop this Sunday, January 23rd 2011. The bookpress we’ll make is based on the one Jos built me a couple of years ago and that I have been using ever since. You can find more infos on our Dingfabrik blog.

There will also be the first bookbinding workshop soon, more infos here.

Everything is wrapped, packed and ready to leave in a couple of hours. I even managed to make some cards this chistmas, thanks to Robert Sabuda.

Before I leave I wanted to thank you all so much for all the lovely comments this year. And of course I wanted wish you all a wonderful christmas time and a happy new year!

Who doesn’t love masking tapes? These days it seems like they’re everywhere and I tried to find a good way to organize my little collection. So last week I built a wooden tape dispenser to hold them and I thought you might like to build one too. This one can hold up to 7 rolls of masking tape – but you can also built a larger one…

What you need
– wood (12 x 28 cm, 12 mm thick / 5 x 11 inches, 0.5 inches thick)
– a rod with 2,5 mm (1 inch), 16 cm long (6.4 inches)
– a rod with 6 mm (0.3 inches), 16 cm long (6.4 inches)
– 6 nails
– wood glue

Tools
– saw
– hammer
– drill

Step 1: Cut the wood in 3 pieces: the bottom and the two side panels.

Step 2: Draw the side panel slots on both side panel and cut.

Step 3: Mark the position for the small rod and drill the holes.

Step 4: Mark the position for the side panels on the bottom and hammer the nails through the bottom into the side panels.

Step 5: Put some glue in the holes and insert the small rod.

Step 6: Put your masking tapes on the larger rod and put in place.

Voila! There you have your own wooden tape dispenser.
If you like, you can also paint it.

Lately I’ve been distracted with so many new crafts. I learned knitting and started making my own knitting patterns – cute little owls and a mini moustache baby sweater that I also sell on etsy and ravelry. Besides that I’ve made several stamps and tried new materials like Sugru and concrete.

So it’s rather quiet here at the moment but you can visit my personal blog for more frequent updates if you like.

On the fleamarket I recently discovered some beautifully patterned books – they all belong to a series called Insel-Bücherei (Island library). I bought a few old ones and Nicki surprised me with some lovely pink, red and purple ones that are still in excellent shape for my birthday.

Yesterday I had a visit from Manuel whose Paperbot workshop I missed and together we spent a nice afternoon turning a couple of these books into file folders.

… and finally – after many many adventures in crocheting, sewing and knitting – I’m in the mood for making file folders again. And I think I never showed you the drawer, since I cleaned it and ordered all my papers several months ago.

It’s been coming back slowly. Last week I picked up tons of cardboard I had cut at Buchbinderei Schäfer. Then Fabienne surprised me with this amazing handmarbled blue paper, when we made sushi together on sunday. And yesterday I happened to walk by Balloni to find some more beautiful paper. And tonight? My fingers are itching again…

Today I was very honored to be invited by Hans-Werner Guth to join him and some more origami enthusiasts from around Cologne to spend an afternoon in the sun, folding modular origami and eating yummie cake. I have never really done origami before and – as always – I picked one of the most difficult models to start with – the one you see on top. Isn’t it amazingly beautiful? I have to ask about the name again.

The folding of the parts was actually pretty easy, but the assembling is really quiet tricky. I got about half of it done – yay. I will try to do the rest at home – will see how that works… And I’m definitely looking forward to the next "Faltnachmittag"…

Some very good friends got married this summer. I made them a photoalbum for their wedding photos. It made me think, that I really should take some photos with an analog camera again. Or at least have some of my many digital photos printed. And maybe make an album for myself…

When did you make your last photoalbum?

(This is a copy of my original german post inviting everyone to our little etsy craft picnic /party thingy in Cologne. Looking forward to see you there!)

Nach einigem fußballbedingten Location-Hinundher haben wir (Nicki, Kathrin, Britta & ich) nun endlich einen offiziellen Plan für den Selber-Machen-Tag am Freitag (18.06.2010) in Köln:

Ab 18 Uhr treffen wir uns auf der Wiese im Stadtgarten – ihr erkennt uns an Fähnchengirlanden & Lampions. Wer Lust hat, kann Stempel basteln – wir bringen alles mit was man dazu braucht (und freuen uns über einen kleinen Unkostenbeitrag und freuen uns sehr, dass Etsy die Stempel-Aktion sponsort!). Ihr könnt aber auch gerne zum Stricken, Häkeln oder einfach nur zum Quatschen & Kennenlernen vorbei kommen!

Und wenn jeder noch eine Kleinigkeit zum Essen & Trinken mitbringt, steht einem perfekten DIY-Picknik eigentlich nichts mehr im Wege.
Wir freuen uns!

Just as R.S.V.P. is a must visit for paperlovers, Frau Tulpe is the place for fabric lovers in Berlin (and Hamburg). They have the most amazing assortment of fabrics – especially sweet pattern prints for kids and a huge selection of japanese Kokka fabrics. And then there’s this "heaven" of ribbons and tape dangling down from the ceiling. Quiet dangerous. Though I think I was so irritated by too much choice, that in the end I bought a lot less than I expected…

Frau Tulpe
Veteranenstraße 19
10119 Berlin-Mitte

Mo-Fr 10.00-20.00 Uhr
Sa 12.00-18.00 Uhr
On the Map

www.frautulpe.de