A while back I blogged about getting a box of goodies from Kreinik and since getting it, I’ve been SO BUSY that I haven’t had a chance to pull any of these yummies out of their wrappers and put them through their paces!
But I was determined to shut out the world and play with this box of goodies and make something I’ve had bouncing around in my head for a while now… Covered crochet hooks!
What you need to make your own:
- Polymer clay. One block in any color. Make sure you pick up more if you are planning on covering thousands of hooks!! Also, if you already own some clay and happen to have some scrap lying around, this is the project you want to use it on!
- A crochet hook (any size)
- Kreinik thread in your favorite color. DO NOT use acrylic yarn for this project as it will melt and possibly catch fire and burn down your neighborhood…
- An oven (I use a toaster oven for all of my polymer clay projects but you can use your regular oven as well).
- A tray, aluminum foil, heavy cardstock or really thick paper you can bend, and a small amount of fiberfil.
- A bowl of icy water.
- Optional: e6000 glue and a few wooden toothpicks.
How to make your hook!
Begin by rolling some clay into a sausage shape:
Press your thread down the center of the log:
CAREFULLY place your hook over the top of the thread and press down evenly until your hook is in the center of the log:
Pinch the clay together and roll until the hook is covered and the seam is smooth:
Take your time wrapping the yarn around the hook making sure you keep it even and don’t overlap or leave gaps where the clay is poking out.
When you are done, use a small amount of clay to hold the ends in place by pushing into place where the thread both begins and ends. Make sure you have left some of the clay surrounding the hook visible on both the top and the bottom because clay will only stick to clay and not to thread!
Take your time and make this neat because you will see this part when the hook is done baking and you don’t want anything that will distract the eye from your gorgeous thread!
Bake according to package instructions but BEFORE you bake, line your tray with aluminum foil and bend your cardstock into an M shape. Place a small amount of fiberfil in the center of the cardstock M and place your hook on top; then bake. Paper and fiberfil will not ignite in your oven unless introduced to a flame so take care that nothing is touching the heating elements in your oven!!
As soon as your hook is done baking, take it out and plunge it into a bowl of icy water. It will make your finished piece stronger.
After a few minutes, take out your hook and let it dry. If you’ve wrapped it correctly there shouldn’t be any gaps, loose thread, or anything moving on you at all and you’re ready to crochet! If you didn’t manage to wrap your hook correctly and you have some loose threads, you can still save all of your hard work!
Grab your e6000 and, starting at the top of your hook, dab on some glue. You have some wiggle room here but it’s best to work in small sections so that the glue doesn’t dry before you can arrange your thread.
Using a toothpick, stick down your thread, swirling as you go. Take care not to touch the glue so that it will dry clear and not get cloudy.
Alternate spreading glue and winding yarn all the way down the length of the polymer clay (going right over the first layer of thread) until you reach the bottom. Place some glue around the bottom of your hook, snip the thread, and make sure that you have a good bond so that nothing unravels. Place upright to dry!
I’d love to see your finished hooks and if you’d like to share, head on over to the HodgePodge Crochet page on facebook to drop me a pic! You can also tweet me @TheHodgeCrochet (or use the twitter box to the right) and instagram me @hodgepodgecrochet!
Don’t forget to click that button to FOLLOW HODGEPODGE before you leave so you don’t miss out on anything that’s coming up!
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Once they were dry, I covered them one more time with Mod Podge and then sprayed the cork backing with some aerosol rubber. This step is optional but I find that it helps protect the cork from drying out and also gives your coasters a little grip so they don’t move around too much on you.
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