Make guide

Since I started my blog a year ago, I have been amazed at how many guys have emailed me to say that they have enjoyed doing crafts for years but thought they were probably alone in the world. Me, I’ve been doing crafts since I was a kid. Both my parents are artists and my mom worked in the craft industry so I always had a brush or a hook or a needle and thread in my hand. My craft-type interests are all over the map and, because of that, so is this guide. It’s mostly centered on things I own, know, love, and use for the majority of the crafting work that I do, and since crafting is such a wide category, prepare yourself to travel a considerable distance in the next few paragraphs. Also, while there are some relatively inexpensive items on the list, I’ll ask you to bear in mind that “cheap tools aren’t good and good tools aren’t cheap”. The same holds true for tattoos, by the way. Let's get started...

If you have someone interested in sewing in your house, and you’re on the verge of your first machine purchase, I would definitely consider the Janome TB12 Threadbanger (named for those adorable kids over at threadbanger.com). This is a no-frills, 12 stitch machine that is a real workhorse. While it won’t do leatherwork or industrial-type sewing, it’ll do most anything else. The motor is super quiet, the light is good, and there’s not a lot of reading the manual that needs to happen before you start laying down some stitches.

Staying with fabric for the moment, I cannot overstate the importance of a good pair of scissors (or several). My favorites are the Gingher 8” Knife Edge Dressmaker’s Shears. With the exception of the word “dressmaker”, they sound pretty bad ass, don’t they? Well, they are, as long as you can keep your grade-schoolers from cutting construction paper with them. I’ve had my pair for three years and they’re as good as new.

Printing is the new black. For those who are itching to make their own band t-shirts, greeting cards, or tea towels, screenprinting is the obvious choice. There are some really cool machines on the market now that take all of the guesswork (and most of the fun) out of printing your own stuff, but for me, I’ll stick with the traditional. This Jaquard screenprinting kit from Dick Blick has everything you need to get started.

For those who want to do some printing on a smaller scale and don’t want to deal with emulsions, transparencies, and the learning curve associated with screenprinting, there is Gocco, the brilliant little Japanese machine that just keeps going. Gocco is a little pricey to get into, but it’s both an easy and fun way to print your own stuff.

What does a pirate knit with? Yarrrrrn! These awesome Vietnamese knitting needles, made from hardwoods by Lantern Moon, are the sweetest bit of knitting gear I’ve ever owned. I bought a couple pairs of these babies in Upstate New York and, I gotta say, they are all they’re cracked up to be. Not only do they feel great to knit with, they can also be explained away as weapons if your dude friends spot you with them. Uh, unless they see you knitting.

Once your knitter is rocking those sweet needles, he's going to need some other pieces of kit to get started. You can buy them one by one, or you can just get The Knit Kit right from the Maker Shed. This from the description: "The front contains a durable locking row counter and a smooth retracting 5ft. tape measure. The left side has a fully removable crochet hook for picking up that dropped stitch or weaving in an end, and the right side has a folding in-and-out thread cutter in the event your scissors are not available. The back compartment of The Knit Kit nicely houses sturdy, TSA Compliant, collapsible scissors as well as point protectors and three different sized stitch markers." See? Like I said...everything you need.

If you’re going to cut paper (and many other things), you’re going to need an X-Acto knife. I used to cut all my stuff with the cheapest hobby knife available. It worked fine, but my fingers paid the price. Then I discovered the X-Acto X2000, the most comfortable blade holder ever invented. I can work for hours with this thing and my fingers never get tired.

And speaking of working with paper, life is certainly a lot easier if you’ve got a bone folder to crease and burnish with. I prefer the Lineco 4 7/8" bone folder made from real bone. Let me know when you stop laughing at the words “bone folder”.

I once spent six months folding origami shrimp (long story), and in those six months I developed a real appreciation for good paper. This place has it, in spades.

Anybody who's ever made art with a spray can knows: there’s spray paint and then there’s Montana. This stuff has amazing coverage and comes in the coolest colors on the planet. Your little tagger will thank you from the bottom of his criminal heart if some cans of this stuff end up under the tree, especially if you stick some fat caps in his stocking to go along with them.

Now, into the shop! Certainly, the piece of equipment that gets the most use in the shop and at home is the cordless drill. I've owned a few cordless drills in my life and, for me,  the DeWalt 18v drill/driver is the best out there. It's easy to handle, it can bore and screw like there’s no tomorrow (stop laughing), and it has great battery life.

I hate to play favorites here, but the DeWalt DW716 Heavy Duty 12" (305mm) Double-Bevel Compound Miter Saw is good enough to warrant a second entry for the company with the big, yellow tools. It’s accurate, ergonomic, and rugged. This is the saw I put in the High School I worked in and if it can stand up to teenagers, it’s pretty much unbreakable. On the pricey side at $350+, but definitely worth the green.

Wrenches! I’d be lost without my Craftsman 154 pc. Mechanics Tool Set. It’s got everything. Sockets, nut drivers, hex keys, and box wrenches are all here, not to mention the lifetime warranty, which you will never need because these things are awesome!

Is there anything you can’t do with a Dremel tool? Well, yes, but it ain’t much. We use ours for carving, sanding, drilling, buffing, and even filing down the dog’s nails. I prefer the corded variety and for my money the Dremel 4000 series does everything I need it to. This model comes in a bunch of kits with varying accessories and for varying prices. Shop around.

This guide is, of course, just a jumping off point for the crafty dudes on your list. Something important I missed? Please speak up in the comments. Happy Holidays!

This is the second in a series of posts by guest blogger, Joe Vax. The series is meant to shed light on design principles that readers can use whether they are crafting, arranging a room, or just looking at their world. Joe's first post can be found here. Enjoy.


Space, it may not be the final frontier, but in the arts it may be the most important one. Think about it, in every art form from music to choreography to film, artists concern themselves with the division of space. A comedian has to have great timing, a chef using the space of the plate to present your meal, a director and cinematographer framing a shot, it’s all about space division.

The great Miles Davis once said that the notes you don’t play are more important than the notes you do play. That‘s because the notes you don’t play create the SPACE around the notes you play, and that space defines the nature and importance of the notes we hear.

Now translate that idea to visual forms and you can understand that the space surrounding an object defines the object. If the object itself is positive space, than the space around the object is negative space. Like the notes we don’t play, that negative space can be far more important than the positive shapes they surround. You are experiencing this phenomenon right now. When we read we don’t read the letters, we read the space around the letters (and in letters like a, e, o, b, g, the space inside the letters as well).

Readability is, of course, a utilitarian function, but negative spaces have aesthetic and communicative functions as well. Negative space also creates forms or shapes which can be even more beautiful than the subjects they surround. Also, negative shapes can be crafted to actually deliver information that isn’t in the positive forms.


In this trademark that we designed for the California Pistachio Commission, we used negative space to create the rays of California sunshine. A negative shape is also used for the highlight on the lip of the bottom half of the shell.

Below: The letter mark we designed for Anthony Mar Advisors uses negative space to create the A in AM.



Negative shapes communicate emotions powerfully. The way we divide space can create tension or serenity, trust or fear and it can make the viewer feel large or uncomfortably small. Think about your subject matter and how you want your audience to feel about it.



Same word, same type face, same colors — entirely different messages.



Being a graphic designer, I’m usually working in two dimensions, but people who work in 3D have additional challenges in negative space. Next time you view a large sculpture take a walk around it, the negative space changes from every viewing angle.

In the hands of masters the use of negative space can be a wonder. Negative shapes that are so beautiful they draw you into them, shapes that actually help communicate the meaning of the piece. This is why I love Abstract Expressionism, there is no figurative imagery to get hung up on, only form, line, color, texture and most importantly, the exquisite use of space to communicate the artists message.

Next time we’ll talk a little about color. Once again, may your form always follow your function.