The Sparkling World of Sequin Arts

Introducing the Sparkling World of Sequin Art !!!

Sequin Art consists of brightly coloured sequins, pins, flocked board and a polystyrene frame.
Initially Sequin Art was considered more suitable for children. However, adults became interested in the product thus creating a new market within the craft industry.

 Produce exciting sequin pictures by simply placing the velvet design on the frame and attaching the sequins to complete this vibrant product.

 

A new variation has now been launched! Sequin Art Style is an original product following in the Sequin Art range and sold each year in increasing number.

  

Thousands of Sequin Art are sold each year in the UK and overseas with sales rising strongly year on year! It's great, it's fun and most of all a sense of achievement is had by all.

Plus with birthdays and Christmas approaching fast, they are amongst the most cheerful, colourful gifts around. 

Our Tattoo Art kits are amongst some of the newest and most popular Sequin Art Picture Kits.

Many new ideas and innovations have been further developed within the Sequin Art range in recent years. These include Sequin Art Junior for the younger generation with easy to follow printed layouts and with even more choice in designs for the Sequin Bead Art which are being developed all the time.

Over the years Sequin Art has developed and has it's own unique image with an increasingly strong following. 

Innovative designs have been added, with the Sequin Art Strictly series being particularly well received by fans of a certain TV dance programme.

Other designs include great city icons such as Big Ben of London, and the Eiffel Tower of Paris.

   

 Whatever your tastes there's a Sequin Art just for you !

Hobbyzone Narrow 20cm Modules New Additions To The Range

The range of Hobbyzone workshop modules has become a firm favourite with Hobbies customers over the past few years. Model makers and craft makers alike enjoy having all their paints and tools laid out neatly, where they can be seen easily and accessed quickly. The finished workspace is always a thing of beauty.

Now the range is being extended to include narrower 20cm wide modules.
This allows you to be even more precise with the overall size of your workstation.

 

The new 20cm wide module units that have been introduced include a 2 drawer module, a 4 drawer module, a bottles module, and a brushes & tools module.

Both the 2 drawer module and 4 drawer module have windows made of acrylic glass which allow you to see the contents at a glance.

The Bottles Module has three shelves for paints, bottles or other containers of different sizes.

 The Brushes and Tools Module has a lot of holes in different sizes for any tools or brushes etc.

Use the supplied magnets to connect with other modules. You can always change the configuration of modules according to your workshop needs.
Here are some great ideas for your new workspace. See the full range of Hobbyzone modules here
 

A NEW BREED OF HOBBIES

In recent years many people who have never previously attempted to create or make anything have started to 'have a go' at various crafts and hobbies. 

Spurred on by TV series such as Great British Bake Off and Kirstie's Handmade Britain, men and women have been making bread and cupcakes, trying their hand at embroidery, making things for the home and garden and much more. 

Also, people are discovering websites such as Pinterest which show literally thousands of pictures of hobbies & crafts with inspirational ideas and new things to try.

Colouring In

Next we have adult colouring books (which sounds rude but they're not) with pages graced by exotic images of jungles, cities or mythical creatures for you to colour in with colouring pencils or sharpies, creating the most beautiful pictures, but, more importantly, they are scientifically proven to relax and de-stress you.

     

Drawing and Cutting

Just recently, papercutting seems to have caught a lot of peoples imagination. You might use a template that you design, copy or buy, and, quite literally cut a pattern using a sharp knife on paper or card.
The list of  things you can make go from basic birthday cards or bookmarks,  to incredibly detailed artwork.
People have claimed this craft to be addictive, as well as mentally stimulating and relaxing.
Again, a search on Google or Pinterest reveals a plethora of ideas for you to try.

Drawing, Cutting and Crafting

Taking this simple idea just one step further, many people are now rediscovering the forgotten art of scrollsawing.
Modern scrollsaws are relatively inexpensive, some excellent machines are in the £100 -£200 bracket.
They allow you to take a piece of wood, attach a drawing or template, and simply 'cut out' the design. There is very little effort involved - the scrollsaw blade does all the cutting and you just guide the wood following the lines on the template. Once again, a relaxing and mentally stimulating pastime. Once you get started you realise its actually not all that difficult, and skills can be built up quickly with practise.

Hobbies have a Pinterest page of Projects for the Scrollsaw, which is designed to inspire you to create your own projects. You can easily trace patterns and ideas onto wood and cut them out to make things as diverse as childrens toys, jewellery stands, home and garden ornaments, Christmas decorations etc.
Here's just a few ideas of what various people have made with their scrollsaw.
The limit, as they say, is your own imagination.

 

Once you have cut the shapes out of the wood, the edges can be sanded smooth and the piece can be stained, painted and finished off with a lacquer or finishing oil.

 

There are some great ideas for things you can make as gifts or even Christmas presents. A present that has been handmade is much more impressive and appreciated than anything mass produced or shop bought !

  

And if you enjoy quirky or alternative things such as zombies for example, why not create a piece to enjoy yourself ?

 

Some childrens toys are great fun for any age of child, even the grown-up ones.

 

Create wall art for your home, get ideas from magazines or the internet.
Above all, be creative and enjoy trying new things !

The Hobbyzone Modular Workshop - Create Your Perfect Workspace !

The Hobbyzone Modular Workshop System allows organization of the workplace tailored to your own individual requirements. 
Simply measure the area of your desk or workbench, and then work out which modules will be of most use to you, whether it be stacks of drawer units, paint holders, work-in-progress display modules, paper towel holders or a combination of all of these.

To connect the modules simply use the magnets that are included. This allows you to rearrange the layout of modules as required.
The system has practically unlimited upgradeability, and you can add new modules easily to your workplace.

Your time is valuable, and is better spent doing your crafts and models.
So no more hunting for missing tools or brushes, because everything has a home. 
And no more knocking over paint or losing parts, because they won't be cluttering up your desk or falling off the table. 

The Hobbyzone Modular Workshop is ideal for Crafters, Modelmakers,  Artists, Warhammer Gamers, DIY, and anyone who needs a tidy, efficient, and visually amazing workspace.
Be the envy of friends, family, colleagues and fellow modellers.

Cake Decorating is taking off at Hobbies

Cake Craft at Hobbies

With the increased popularity of cooking and baking shows on TV, cake craft is slowly becoming more popular than ever, and at Hobbies we are adding more products to our range to help cater for this.

One of our current best sellers is the:

Cassie Brown Cake Decorating Airbrush and Compressor Kit + Free DVD 

There are many ways to decorate your cake and the Cassie Brown airbrush set is a great place to start and the free instructional DVD is a very helpful too, giving you ideas and tips to make your first adventure into cake decorating hopefully an enjoyable experience. 

Tips For Cake Success 

Sponge

The main ingredient to a successful cake is the sponge underneath, no matter how fancy the decoration is the cake needs to be right.

All these cake use a simple Victoria Sponge recipe with a Jam and Butter Icing filling, this light sponge makes a great tasting cake that pleases all crowds whether its for a retirement party (left) or just fancy birthday cakes (above and below).

Icing

Secondly ready-to-roll icing is one of the best coverings to create a smooth base to work from, especially if you are airbrushing on a design of your own. 

For the smoothest results, cover the sponge with 2 layers of butter icing, setting each layer in the fridge for 30 mins to an hour, before covering with ready to roll icing.

Get the colours right as they go a long way to giving your cake a wow factor. This can be seen in the cakes shown in this blog.

Be Creative

The best way to make any cake look stylish and amazing is just simply be creative. Take inspiration from the internet or books. Pinterest has become very popular lately and is very useful to get amazing ideas from. 

Cake Support

Now making multiple layer cakes does require some minor engineering skills as they get heavy with all the icing on them.

Every cake will need a baseboard too which can be easily hidden with icing and ribbons, all the cake used here so far have baseboards between the individual cakes that make the finished product.

To support these cakes you will need to run plastic rods through the cake to support each layer, otherwise the top cake will sink into the cake below ruining the final product.

You can also choose to use a Madeira sponge as it is a stronger sponge to build with but  it doesn't taste as good as a Victoria Sponge. It will still need support if using many layers.

Finally

Enjoy the cake creating process and all the compliments that people will give you. Everyone likes cake! Make your cakes for any occasion, no need to go over the top with too many layers or different colours.  Try to practice your skills in certain areas and soon you will be able to make show-stopping cakes that will be the talk of your friends and family for weeks to come.

The Climber Cake 

The following cake was made for my birthday and depicted a typical climbing scene and terrain. With many layers of cake under the weight of all the icing. It tasted amazing and provided a challenge to cutting the cake in order to serve it.

Many hours of work went into making this awesome cake, there are eight layers covered with a ready-to-roll icing that was marbled to give it the rock colour of the mountain. 

The sponge was a Victoria sponge and this was held together by many long plastic rods and cocktail sticks to keep the structure standing and the people on the rock face.






The figures were made from icing too, and stuck together with sugar glue and cocktail sticks. and crafted to give the basic hair detail. See cake craft tools 

All in all there are many different skills used making this cake above and also many other ways this can be achieved especially using the Cassie Brown airbrush set to create the rock face colours and detail. Also using sugarcraft to create the figures and additional details.

Cake craft is a fun and growing hobby that allows for individuals to be as creative as they want to be. It is great for all the family to get involved and should not just be for special occasions. There is a world of designs and ideas out there, so get creative and make something tasty.

If you can think it, then you might just be able to create it, the only way to be certain is to try and if it all goes wrong never mind as you'll still be left with a cake at the end of the day.

However if you do make it work then you will have a fantastic cake like the ones above to admire and then share with your friends, family or work colleagues. 

What are you waiting for ? Get in the kitchen and start creating!