Craft Lab

Screenprinted Clay Switch Plate

Guest Seth Savarick uses the improvisational screenprinting technique to apply beautiful designs to objects covered in polymer clay. Seth, with the help of host Jennifer Perkins, will walk through creating screenprinting stencils, preparing the polymer clay, printing on the clay and applying the printed clay onto a metal light switch plate.

Cast Resin Bobblehead

Toy and prototype designer Gretchen Martin guides a tutorial on how to work with cast resin and what is involved in making a bobblehead.

Flame Cane Bottle

Guest Anne Igou demonstrates how to revitalize found objects with polymer clay canes. Anne and host Jennifer Perkins cover a plain apple juice bottle with a base layer of black clay. They create a skinner blend cane and then transform it into a flame cane, which will be sliced, applied to the bottle, and glazed to create a flaming hot piece of art!

Polymer Clay Mosaic Tabletop

Guest Laurie Mika creates mosaic tabletops using a square piece of plywood, self-created polymer clay tiles and acrylic paints. Laurie, with host Jennifer Perkins' help, will walk us through creating, painting, assembling and gluing the polymer clay tiles to the plywood. It is then placed on a wrought iron base to create a decorative and functional table.

Polymer Clay Ocean Floor

Guest Connie Okdie creates a dimensional clay illustration with an ocean floor theme. Connie demonstrates how to prepare a Masonite board that will act as the canvas. Then, with the help of host Jennifer Perkins, Connie demonstrates how to plan the drawing, form the water background, form sand and ocean floor texture, form sea weed and sea grass, make and apply clay coral, and then create a playful textured fish. To finish, the entire piece is baked, enhanced with paint and embossing powders, heat set, and sealed with acrylic floor wax.

Collage Paper

Guest Traci Bautista shares a few mixed media paper projects that pack some punch! Traci's vibrant fusion-dyed collage technique combines paper towels, prints, and layers of glue to make a transparent paper. The playful painted papers involve scraping away acrylic paint layers and stamping textures for a bold, colorful look. Traci even has freehand lettering tips for a hip, urban-graffiti style.

Recycled Papermaking

Using recycled paper, guest Heidi Reimer-Epp demonstrates some tips and tricks on how to make decorative paper from scratch.

Origami

Guest Jeremy Shafer takes ordinary paper and turns it into something extraordinary. Jeremy teaches everyone how to make a realistic looking shark head, "exploding envelopes" that pop open, and a heart card. This is action-packed origami!

FIELD PIECE: The Beeswax Sushi Candle Challenge! Roving reporter Cat Greenleaf displays a finished beeswax sushi candle and then gives individuals various colored beeswax strips, wax paper, scissors, a ruler and a wick. Greenleaf challenges them to roll a beeswax candle that looks like a piece of sushi!

Embossing Powders

Guest Elizabeth Dunn shares several methods for using embossing powders. Creating a different paper project each act, Elizabeth uses colored powders, layered clear powders to create tiles, stamping images in the embossing powders for textured effects, and even demonstrate how to emboss an object.

Papier-mâche Mask

Guest Renée Parker and host Jennifer Perkins create mask wall hangings out of papier-mâché. Renee and Jennifer form a clay mold of the mask shape, mix the papier-mâché and apply it to the clay mold. Finally they trim edges, sand it smooth, paint a primer layer, and embellish with a painted design.

Airbrush Skateboard and Helmet

Artist Chris DeRubeis demonstrates how to create airbrush art. Chris will demonstrate to host Jennifer Perkins basic airbrush techniques, and then they will decorate a skateboard with a flame motif and a helmet with a skull.

FIELD PIECE: We gave blow filler pens to folks and let them make their own designs on paper. If you can't get your hands on an airbrush, these affordable pens operate using the same principle. You blow air into one end and ink released from the other produces an airbrush effect.

Gourds 101

Guest Melynda Lotven takes gourd crafts to a new level with a gourd lamp that adds form and function. Melynda also demonstrates how to turn a dipper gourd into a hanging mirror as well as a fun gourd shoe.

Encaustic Wax Collage

Mixed media artist Darlene Schaper introduces the ancient art of encaustic wax painting. Darlene demonstrates how to melt the beeswax properly and mix it with different pigments for assorted colors. Darlene shares techniques for painting with encaustic wax using a heat gun, and adding paper elements to our project. Darlene will also share more advanced methods for creating clouds and landscapes using a hot iron for a totally different effect, and using encaustic wax on 3D objects.

Crafting With Dad

Fabric and wallpaper designer Walter Knabe and his daughter, Gwen, demonstrate how to use some of Walter's painting techniques to create some fun and funky crafts. First, Walter and Gwen take a plain guitar and paint a ‘60s retro design on it. Then, they take printed fabric and use a silk screen to create a unique, one-of-a-kind pattern. Walter paints a wooden frame a bright color and Gwen makes polymer clay objects to glue onto the frame to complete the look. Finally, Gwen gives a cell phone some sass when she paints hot pink stripes and throws glitter onto her cell phone cover.

Soap Making

Guest Anne-Marie teaches us soap making that is a treat for your skin and your eyes. We start with a tropical theme as she demonstrates a melt-and-pour technique creating Hawaiian shirt soap with molds. Anne-Marie embellishes the soap with paints and creates transparent soap embedded with fun objects that you can see inside like loofa sponges and secret messages. It is all good, clean fun.

Fun Fabric Book

Textile artist Jan Bode Smiley takes us through the process of creating a fabric book. Jan collects the fabric from recycled clothes, stamps designs on fabric and continues through the construction process, Jan creates a fun tribute to some of her favorite things like coffee!

Worldly Mats and Frames

Guest Lisa Shepard Stewart demonstrates how to create various unique frames and mats, including a batik fabric. Lisa also creates flexible stamp material with adhesive backing attached to lint brushes to decorate a mat and a Zimbabwe-designed, carved potato stamp to create a cardboard box frame.

Cloth Dolls

Doll maker, Patti Culea, demonstrates how to create a unique 21st Century boudoir doll, which is a modern-day version of an elegant doll, draped in a skirt that fits over a pillow. Patti creates the doll's body and head out of fabric, draws the doll's facial features and dresses the doll by draping silk fabric over it.

Canvas Treasure Box

Guest Michele Charles creates a canvas treasure box. Michele creates the outside by using canvases that are painted, embellished with photo and paper-aging techniques and hinged together with buttons and wax linen string. Michele embellishes the inside using distressed papers and stamps.

Day of the Dead

Kathy Cano-Murillo explains the meaning of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and how this traditional Mexican holiday is celebrated. She explains the importance of having an altar to honor the dead and shows how to make one out of a decorated cigar box, embellished with candles, photos, and other mementos. She whips up a felt banner and some scary, but yummy white chocolate sugar skulls. Kathy folds up tissue paper into festive flowers, which are used for colorful decoration.

Wire and Bead Creations

Guest Marty Stevens-Heebner takes out her beads and wire and uses them to create some bead-azzling projects. Marty transforms a glass votive candleholder into a breezy wind chime and also demonstrates how easy it is to fasten some beads onto wire to create a picture-perfect photo frame.

Crayon Batik Mirror

Guest Hilari Ford demonstrates a project that incorporates grade school supplies, such as crayons and shrink plastic, to make a paper batik mirror.

Clay Mask

Guest Anne Igou shares her love for masks and polymer clay by combining the two. With the help of host Jennifer Perkins, they burnish the clay with iridescent foil. Anne cuts out the clay in the mask template shape, discusses firing and creates embellishments using two basic skinner blending techniques.

Cobblestone Floor

Guest Linda Merica walks us through her process of creating a faux stone floor out of paper using a papier-mâche technique. This durable and water-resistant floor looks cool and will last for years with only a nominal amount of maintenance, such as a coat of varnish every couple of years.

Foam Crafts

Who says fashionable room accessories can't be made out of foam? Guest Sonya Nimri treats viewers to some fab foam decor by demonstrating how to create a whimsical CD holder shaped like a tree house, a fun foam ball lamp and a funky cube photo mobile.

FIELD PIECE: Roving reporter Cat Greenleaf will demonstrate how to turn a CD into a top by cutting a notch into the center hole and inserting a penny. Cat has passers-by decorate the CD with a design and see how the design looks when it spins.

Wire Basket Doll

Guest Patricia Anders demonstrates how anyone can create their own wild art doll using a wire flower basket, a hanger, wire mesh, paper pulp, paper clay, polymer clay, metallic powder, ribbons and more.

FIELD PIECE: Roving reporter Cat Greenleaf gives the people of New York City a multiple choice quiz about dolls.

Floral Art

Guest Katie Killean demonstrates how to create strikingly unique and unconventional floral art. Katie creates a straw hat completely covered with flowers and a ivy topiary with lights, beads and ribbon. Finally, Katie works up a green-themed arrangement with snake grass and Star of Bethlehem blooms.

Wire Drawings

Guest CW Roelle creates cool drawings out of wire. Using a method similar to contour line drawing (drawing without lifting the pen) CW bends thin steel wire to create lively narrative scenes. CW proves that if you have pliers and a bit of imagination, you can make your own funky wall art just like he does.

Heat Tool Technique

Guest Elizabeth Dunn demonstrates a variety of cool paper techniques that use a common heat tool. Elizabeth will share how to get a faux suede look, a metallic look and even demonstrate a brush technique using caramelized condensed milk.

Hi-Tech Crafts

Guest Syuzi Pakhchyan fuses homemade wares with electrical components like custom-made speakers, an LED lamp and a light-up placemat.

3-D Cakes

Guest Elisa Strauss creates a fun, 3-D hatbox cake with fondant and gum paste. She layers and carves the cakes to form the hat and hatbox, covers them with fondant and molds decorative accents out of gum paste.

Creative Produce Displays

Guest Leonila Arboleda creates fun garnishes and food arrangements by carving fruits and vegetables. Leonila and host Jennifer Perkins will make flowers using a tomato and squash, cut and arrange slices of tomato and squash, carve spirals into a melon and carve an apple into a turtle.

Food Art

Guest Clare Crespo demonstrates some amazing edible ways to play with our food to keep everyone entertained at the dinner table. Clare will demonstrate how to display four food groups with her dinosaur dip, monster head potatoes, gelatin aquarium and festive punch.

Fruit and Veggie Carving

Guest Chef Ray creates vibrant centerpieces by carving fruit and vegetables into flowers or layered designs. Chef Ray and host Jennifer Perkins carve a simple leek ribbon flower, a turnip daisy, a papaya flower, a pinecone-like design on a cantaloupe and turn squash into a fun duck character.

Fondant Cake Art

Guest Edith Meyer will decorate cakes using fondant, which is a play-dough-like frosting, and gum paste, which is slightly sturdier. Rolling, layering and decorating are all basic techniques that Edith uses to create a tiered cake with edible flowers and butterfly cake toppers.

Altered Board Book

Textile artist Jan Bode Smiley creates an altered board book that is a perfect field guide or travelogue. Jan will take us through the entire project from background papers and paints, to adding your ephemera, keeping journal entries and binding.

Altered Book Techniques

Guest Barbara Matthiessen demonstrates a variety of altered book techniques. Host Jennifer Perkins will play along as Barbara demonstrates how to punch windows, glue book blocks, cut niches, layer pockets and decorate the pages. Barbara will also create interesting paper effects.

Canvas Wall Book

Guest Claudine Hellmuth creates a versatile, altered mini-book from unstretched canvas. After personalizing it with a portrait, pen and paint techniques, and adding a caption, Claudine mounts it on stretched canvas for a unique and tactile wall hanging.

Altered Art Journal

Guest Kelly Kilmer recycles a hardback book cover to create an altered art journal. Kelly and host Jennifer Perkins will gut the book, embellish the cover, add cardstock pages, demonstrate painting techniques using found objects and use masking fluid to create textured and distressed looks.

Resin Long-Stitch Journal

We are using plain old polymer clay to create a beautiful handmade journal. Guest Geraldine Newfry makes handmade journals with polymer clay covers and folded paper that are bound together with the long-stitch technique.

Funky Gift Wrap

Guest Bethany Mann demonstrates how to make fun, funky and fabulous gift-wrapped packages. First, Bethany demonstrates wrapping a gift in colorful origami papers with photos of the recipient, then embellishing it to create a 3-D effect. Then, Bethany makes a gift bag and a gift envelope.

Romantic Flowers

Floral designer Katie Killean demonstrates how to make unique, romantic floral arrangements. Katie creates a beautiful glass cube arrangement, a gorgeous centerpiece with fruit and flowers and a cigar box full of blooms.

Spa Gifts for Men

Guest Sabrina Collins makes soothing spa gifts for men. It is feet relief for the weary cowboy! Sabrina mixes up a foot scrub and gift wraps it in a western boot, makes and packages homemade bath salts in shot glasses with an embellished wooden box, and puts together some lemongrass massage sticks.

Artful Gift Wrap

Guest Wanda Wen demonstrates how to create elegant and one-of-a-kind wrapped gifts. Wanda demonstrates how to create a neat edge, how to hide the tape and how to create a bow. Then, Wanda wraps a gift in a leaf and decorates gift-wrapped packages by sprinkling mica flakes on wrapping paper.

Layered Cards

Guest Heidi Kinnamon brings a few card projects with layering techniques, from layers of pigment and 3-D embellishments, that all create a sense of depth.

Duct Tape Bedroom

Got duct tape? Guest Sonya Nimri uses it to create bodacious bedroom accents. Sonya creates a circus-themed duct tape headboard. Then, Sonya tapes up a table lamp and uses decoupage and beads to make a big-top tent look. Sonya also creates a striped duct tape lamp shade and matching wastebasket.

African Designs

Guest Lisa Shepard Stewart creates a headboard out of burlap and African-inspired appliques, a window screen using Kohoga, table decor out of a bamboo shade and mudcloth and demonstrates a quick and easy way to use bamboo remnants, raffia, shells and beads to embellish a plain pillar candle.

Crafting With Mom

Today's guest is none other than host Jennifer Perkins' mother, Fredda Perkins! Crafting runs in the family with a custom tissue box project and a memory table.

Latin-Inspired Crafts

Guest Kathy Cano Murillo turns a TV tray and silverware drawer into a colorful table collage featuring a splash of Latin art and culture. Next, Kathy takes an unadorned lamp and camps it up "Rumba-Girl Style" using fruit and lots of glitz and then takes brightly colored crepe paper and fashions it into a lush topiary.

Eco-Friendly Baskets

Mother Nature supplies us with a great project demonstrated by guest Mark Barnes, who demonstrates how to make baskets out of vines.

Stained Glass Panel

For stained glass artist Susanna Conaway, broken glass is not a mishap. It is an opportunity to create. Susanna and host Jennifer Perkins cut, grind, foil and solder glass. They take an urban-inspired, telephone pole design and transform it from a paper image to a 30-plus piece stained glass panel.

Decorating Glass

Guest Marty Stevens Heebner takes plain glass and gives it a colorful make-over. First, Marty creates a blazing sun plate with gold leaf and glass paints. Then, Marty adds class to glass coasters with faux etching. Finally, Marty shows off some decorative painted bottles.

Metal Lantern and Frame

Guest Barbara Matthiessen, with the help host Jennifer Perkins, will demonstrate two metal projects that incorporate embossing techniques. Barbara will make a copper lantern and demonstrate how to make a foil-framed mirror.

Garden Sphere Mosaic

Mosaic artist Laurel True demonstrates how to create a one-of-a-kind garden sphere sculpture (a colorful mosaic sphere-shaped form about 18" high and round). Roving reporter Cat Greenleaf challenges individuals to create a unique design on a 6" x 6" cardboard square, ready for hanging.

Glass Bead Making

Guest Chad Pitts joins us with a crash course of glass bead making 101. Working with glass rods and torch, Chad will complete a turtle bead that can be used for wine glass charms, drink stirrers, sun catchers and more.

3-D Collage Box

Guest Claudine Hellmuth shares her 3-D collages in cigar boxes with us. Claudine will demonstrate how to prep, paint and add texture to the box. After selecting and manipulating an image as the focal point, Claudine finishes it with a Plexiglas cover for a professional look.

Copper Etching

Guest Kelly Farrell creates two easy projects that involve photo-etching techniques. Using chemicals readily available at craft and hobby stores, Kelly will make copper charms that become stemware accessories. Then Kelly will demonstrate how to photo transfer an image onto a metal plate.

Fun With Acetate

Guest Elizabeth Dunn demonstrates exciting craft projects that use acetate in inventive ways. From stamping to glazing and even a cold-laminate technique made underwater, these ideas take acetate to a whole new level.

Printer Play

Pamela Smart, editor of Creative TECHniques magazine, has printer tricks. Pamela will manipulate an image's color hues on a computer to create cooler looks, demonstrate how overlapping layers on paper and vellum can create patterns and share printer-masking techniques with adhesive papers.

Photo Image Transfer

Guest Amy Rachlin demonstrates two photo transfer techniques using instant photo film. Amy will use the emulsion transfer technique to transfer instant photo images to copper for a decorative frame. Next, Amy transfers a photo to watercolor paper and then touch it up with pastel pencils.

Furry Foam Mask

Guest Jenny Harada demonstrates how to make great furry foam masks by taking a foam mattress and some faux fur with a little glue and creativity.

Holiday Paper Projects

Today we'll fashion a photo cube Christmas tree ornament, a quilted Hanukah card, and a "cool" cone for anyone's mantle!

Beaded Tree

Donna Dickt with the help of the Host creates a festive Christmas tree that lasts forever-using beads and wire. Then tops off the festivities by creating the perfect tree stand and little beaded ornaments to go onto the tree.

Marvelous Menorahs

Jennifer & Victoria Traig are a pair of sisters who snazz up traditional Chanukah items. These crafty ladies make a playful Mah-Jongg Tile Menorah, a clay menorah, a wearable menorah called the "Steppin' Out" Yarmulke and humorous Patron Jew Votive Candles. Mazel tov! FIELD PIECE: Cat provides people with colorful sheets of beeswax & wicks in varying sizes and has them roll their own candles.

Polymer Clay Ornament

Karen Hardy puts a spin on traditional ornaments by applying funky polymer clay canes. She and the host will create a cane, demonstrate how to prepare the ornament, cut and apply the cane slices, and manipulate the slices to fit into open spaces.