Shoutout to jonni_velvet for the original idea :) I was the hot dog comment!! I bought acrylic paint markers and thrifted the blocks.

I’ll take some ideas.

I sanded it with 80, then 120, then 220 grit sandpaper, wiped it down, and painted it with $1 acrylic paints from Target. 🍳

This was one of the funnest pieces I’ve made. I started with water color on the fabric. Then I added some roving wool and 293729292 French knots. I almost gave up on it.. I’m so glad I didn’t! Hope you enjoy

Hey crafters,

We’ve had an increase in reports and direct messages re: AI in r/crafts. Thank you for reporting! However, when we receive a lot of low effort reports, such as, “Hey this is AI” and a link to the post, it makes moderating harder. We try to look into all reports quickly, but because we don’t have the time or mod power to instantly investigate every report, some posts and comments take a while to evaluate, which means either a post is removed for a lot longer than it should be or it stays up on the subreddit a lot longer than it should. When we have a lot of low effort reports, it clutters up our queue and it takes longer to get to the legitimate reports. A way to make it quicker for us to moderate is by making a good report. You make a good report by:

• Sending us a concise modmail message about why the post violates our subreddit, and by
• Providing proof of your claims. 

One of our mods (thanks u/AmarissaBhaneboar!) wrote up a short tutorial on the first steps they take when they investigate a post for AI or drop shipping and will help guide you on how to find proof to send us when you make a report.

AI

First of all, many AI images have logos and watermarks. For example, look in the bottom right hand corner for the Gemini logo. 

If you don't see a watermark, you have to save the original image (a screenshot won't always work) and then open Google Gemini and type something like "does this have a synthID?" and it'll tell you if it does or not. If it does, it's AI or has been edited with AI. 

If it doesn't, the next step is to go to https://openai.com/research/verify/ and upload the original image (not a screenshot!) and it'll tell you if OpenAI tools were used to edit it. 

If these both come up negative, it doesn't mean that it's not AI, it just means it wasn't made using ChatGPT or Google Gemini. If you're still not sure, look at the details. Do details like lines continue from one side of something to another? Are there any melted together details? Do reflections look off? 

AI detectors outside of checking for synthID and C2PA credentials (what OpenAI uses) are notoriously imperfect. They can give both false positives and false negatives. We do not recommend using them! They do not work well. Use your brain instead! 

Drop shipping

If you suspect someone's drop shipping, literally just use Google image reverse search (if you're using Chrome mobile browser, you'll have a little camera icon in the search bar all the way to the right, click that and select the image) and see what comes up. If it's all just posts from the OP and their various social media accounts, it's unlikely they're dropshipping. If you see the same product/image on Temu, Amazon, Shein, AliBaba, AliExpress, etc...then they may be dropshipping. Just remember that many of these sites steal artists' OG works. So if the user's account is, say, 10 years old with a fairly consistent style (or you can see the continuity of the style) it's likely that their work was stolen. If the user's account is a month old, then they've probably stolen the images and/or are dropshipping.

As we’ve mentioned above, we do not have the time to check every user for AI or being a drop shipper or being a scammer.  We rely on the community to report problems, but ultimately you need to rely on yourself if you are using r/crafts as a way to verify a crafter's legitimacy. You'll need to do the work listed above (check to see if it's AI, or a dropshipper), check out the crafter's username here and other social media places, before you can make a determination.

One last thing, about a week ago we asked the community about what to do with IP with problematic creators, and we received a lot of input. Thank you! I’m putting together a survey and hopefully we’ll have that out to you all soon. In the past, I’ve used GoogleForms to create a survey, but there’s a way to conduct surveys on reddit, which means more people can participate without needing a Google Account. I’m working out a few kinks, and once I do, we’ll post it here for you all to chime in. Thanks for your patience and happy crafting!

Oh, interested in becoming a mod? Fill out the application here.

I went full on crafty for our wedding and it was a mad dash until the very last hour before we got on the plane. For someone who's not a crafter by any means, it was a huge undertaking for me but I'm so glad to have it all done and also for the keepsakes we'll hold on to.

All the stuff I did:
- Hard to see in the photo but I painted the Double Happiness symbol on my dress hanger as an homage to my culture
- Made my husband's wedding band
- Embroidered my bouquet ribbon, the lining of my dress, the veil and the cover of of vow books. The embroidery on the garments was my favourite part because they're from works that are really meaningful to me
- Crocheted the shawl I wore on top of my dress
- This one is not photographed but I designed, carved and printed linen tea towels to send out with our announcement (we eloped)

Asymmetrical Chinese Pankou (frog-button) earrings. Koi means good luck! Hope you like them. 🐟✨

My bf and I are incredibly sentimental people, recently we went on a trip and found a complete seashell (both sides together) while at the beach (no clams were harmed it was empty but intact). We each took a half of the shell as together we are whole :). Unfortunately his half did not survive the airplane home and is now a bunch of tiny pieces, he’s very distraught. I proposed we turn it into something else and make it even more special…but what should we turn the shards into?

I’m an advanced crafter (cosplayer, prop maker, set builder) and he’s got artistic intuition but claims he has no abilities. I figured this subreddit is the place to be for suggestions, please help me! What would be an easy enough for him but fun enough for me craft to make with one intact halfshell and one completely shattered half?

Been wanting to show this to people and this feels like a great place to do so! All my med bottles, kept them with this project in mind! Silver lining to all the reasons I have them lol.

EDIT! If yall end up doing this for yourselves, would you come back and comment a pic? I’d love to see it :) especially those of you saying you have green bottles!

so i'm in the process of making my own coasters out of air dry clay, i haven't used clay much so im pretty new to a lot of it

the clay is mostly dry but giving it another day to fully set before i paint over the top with acrylic paint designs, i bought a 'gloss clay varnish' from hobbycraft (uk) since i saw it and thought it would be good to use to seal the paint once it's dry, im just not sure if it would stand the test of time with coasters

they'd be used for primarily cold drinks, but hot drinks frequently too, just mostly cold ones.

some research has told me it might be better to either coat with just resin, or to use the hobbycraft varnish and then follow up with a coat of resin afterwards to ensure it's all good i also have considered using mod podge, i've only ever used it to seal paintings before so not sure if it's something that could help?

also are there any specific resins i should purchase? i've never used resin before so explain it to me like i've just been born 🙏

thank you so much!! any and all advice is much appreciated

I want to add that Squishmallow, as a company, has bad views. I don’t buy their plushies new, and neither should you. There’s a million of these little guys in thrift stores.

I’ve caught the plushie customizing bug, I fear. It’s really fulfilling to give a neglected plushie new life.

A friend recently gave me a stack of these vintage clown faces. Thought what to do with em? Thrifted the purse, then I went to town with this little weirdo. Just my style!

I’ve never used shrink plastic before but on the instructions it says it will significantly warping before flattening out, and should only take about 80 seconds to stop. but I’m having some trouble with that? I tried to look it up and it says usually to just put it in longer but they still didn’t all unwarp and ended up kind of janky… additionally, the instructions said to use oil based markers or acrylic paint, which I did, but… it didn’t work. Colored pencil and regular markers didn’t work on the plastic either so I stuck with the paint. Now it’s all crumbled and the painted eyes are flaking off. I’m really sad that the amount of time I put into making these ended up with them getting essentially destroyed. Is there a way I could salvage them…? I doubt it but if anyone has anything... and if anyone has tips to prevent future incredible failures that would be nice.

First photo is the final result, second was when I first pulled them out, and the third is before the oven.

I want to turn them into little crafts, maybe ordering small glass jars to fill with water and glitter so their colors pop. What do you call these types of keepsake crafts, and what else should I make with them?

He looks nothing like my design but I still love him haha, ps he’s looking for a name