More Thrifty buys

I’m always on the lookout for Haberdashery; buttons for instance, so I was really pleased to find this tin full of buttons some of them quite old, for £2 at a car boot fair.

more thrifty buys
flower press

Don’t you just love a bargain? I do, let me show you what I have found recently, more thrifty buys. A few months ago I came across a lady teaching paper making. I’ve always wanted to have a go at that so when she offered to sell me a kit I could not resist it. To make paper with pretty little organic inclusions in it you need organic matter, flower petals for instance.There were some in the kit, but I thought I could make some of my own from the flowers in my own garden. If you just collect petals they will dry up and discolour, they need to be pressed to preserve shape and colour. My dearest suggested I buy a flower press but I reckoned I could find one in a charity shop, and a few weeks later… presto £1 in my local charity shop. It even came with pressed flowers in it. I have a good collection of flower petals in the press waiting till I have time to get out that paper making kit, cold wet winter weekends are just around the corner.

more thrifty buys
button tin

I’m always on the lookout for Haberdashery; buttons for instance, so I was really pleased to find this tin full of buttons some of them quite old, for £2 at a car boot fair. I guess there must be easily £20 worth of old buttons which I can sell, and the tin is vintage, in really good condition it’s a 1960’s Quality street tin. A similar one on Etsy is selling for £4.99. Maybe I should open my own Etsy shop.

more thrifty buys
button jars

A few days later I found a plastic bag full of buttons also £2, some of which are also quite old, together with the ones in the tin there was enough to fill all of these jars. I might sell the old ones, the Victorian and Art Deco ones, and use the others for embellishments on patchwork or fabric pictures. I’m really pleased with my thrifty buys. It doesn’t take much to please me when it comes to craft materials, my thrift shop bargains.

Beanbag camera kit

no little beads clinging to every surface, my hands, my clothes… if you’ve ever had dealings with polystyrene beads you’ll know what I mean.

beanbag camera kit
freebie fabric

In the middle of developing an idea about making a beanbag support for my camera I visited my sister and whilst telling her all about it she showed me her new make. She had been to the wonderful factory shop we have locally which sells designer furnishing and dress weight fabrics, and bought a small amount of Ralph Lauren Home fabric. She had  made cushions and a table cloth to spruce up her porch, to make it into somewhere she could sit when the sun is shining but not quite warmly enough to be outside. She had a small amount left which she gave to me, because it was just the size I needed for my project. I’m such a lucky sister.

beanbag camera kit
Inside/outside sitting area

So I made a beanbag, by turning the fabric into a tube and then stitching the end seams at 180 degrees to one another to create a little humbug shaped beanbag cushion,  leaving a gap at one end for the filling.

beanbag camera kit
make a humbug beanbag

I turned the beanbag right sides out, and made a paper funnel out of some scrap paper to fill the bag with.

beanbag camera kit
paper funnel

The beanbag is filled with polystyrene beads, which I have recycled from an old beanbag seat that was bought for the 15 year old to sit on when he has a little lad, and which has lain forlorn and unused in my studio for  longer than I care to admit (my excuse is I always knew it would come in handy one day).  l could have used rice or beans but I wanted it to be as light as possible, because my camera kit is already heavy enough.

beanbag camera kit
polystyrene beads

I scooped a glassful of beads from the old beanbag seat, then holding the funnel inside the bag with one hand it was really easy to pour the polystyrene beads into the bag, encountering very little problem with static cling. There were a few beads left in the bottom of the glass, probably because I didn’t dry it properly, but no little beads clinging to every surface, my hands, my clothes… if you’ve ever had dealings with polystyrene beads you’ll know what I mean.

beanbag camera kit
filling the beanbag

It just needed a machine stitched closure, to make sure it won’t bleed little beads all over the place and it’s done.

beanbag camera kit
beanbag

and what’s the point of all this I hear you wondering?  It’s my own take on beanbag camera kit. At the time I had just bought a telephoto lens for my camera, and at 300mm you can’t really hand hold without getting camera shake. I have a tripod but don’t really want to hump it about with me, it’s rather heavy and my hips and knees are getting arthritic so the weight is a problem. This light as air little cushion allows me to set up my camera on a wall or fence post and take pictures without camera shake… if there is a handy wall at the right height.

beanbag camera kit
camera on a wall

Subsequently I bought myself to a monopod but I still carry the beanbag, it weighs nothing at all and cost me nothing but a little time and ingenuity. My sister is also a keen photographer, I wonder if she might like one…and then my niece… but then I have an idea for a slight design adaptation… watch this space.