Water Themed Crafts – Part 1

Welcome to Part 1 of this series on healthy water themed crafts!

There are a million crafts that encourage us to be more healthy! These range from crocheted fruits and vegies to building organic planters, from quilted exercise mats to contemplative rock gardens, and even crafted puzzles to keep our brains challenged.

Considering that humans are roughly 60% water and the the surface of the Earth is roughly 70% water, I’m going to concentrate on water themed crafts – crafts that encourage us to drink more water and that help us appreciate clean rivers, lakes, and oceans.

Water Themed Crafts in Crochet

Stainless Steel Water Bottle Sling Free crochet pattern bag cozy aluminum kleen kanteenTo encourage us to drink more water, CrochetConcupiscence has already rounded up this post with 10 free crochet patterns for water bottle holders. I think of all the patterns, I’m most partial to this stainless steel water bottle sling from Moogly, but the sock monkey one is pretty darn cute as well.

 

 

 

 

water themed crafts part 1 - ocean waves throwThere are hundreds of patterns for afghans, but these next two links seem particularly suited for representing water. First is this pretty and traditional Ocean Waves pattern from RedHeart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage Wobble Afghan :: free #crochet pattern on mooglyNext is this Vintage Wobble Afghan pattern (with a lovely story behind it) from Moogly. With these colors and an ombré stripe pattern, the vintage becomes a modern classic!

 

 

 

 

 

crochet fish and ocean bookmarkOn a smaller scale is this cute water bookmark made from a nice looking wave pattern from CrochetSpot.

 

How to crochet charming, double sided PurseI adore this crochet bag pattern from AboutGoodness. The broomstick stitch beautifully represents the sea, and you can easily see the sand and shore grasses through the rest of the pattern. Just lovely.

 

 

Crochet Coral ReefAlthough I’d like to concentrate more on water itself rather than the creatures that inhabit the water, nothing is more indicative of clean water than healthy coral reefs. The Crochet Coral Reef Project is a beautiful and colorful way to raise awareness of the plight of coral reefs. The Maine Reef blog has many of the patterns used to crochet and knit these coral creatures.

Water Themed Crafts in Quilling

There’s plenty of watery quilling inspiration! First up is this piece from ACanofCraftyCuriosities, the last of a series also including fire, air, and earth.

 

 

 

Next is this gorgeous piece by Jackie Huang for the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific. The post also shows the very interesting progress photos on this creation.

 

 

 

 

 

quilled-wavesThis post from AllThingsPaper features some pieces by Natasha Molotkova of PaperGraphic. A few of her pieces have water, but my favorite has to be this gorgeous wave that was used for a graphic in a magazine article.

 

 

For a bit of freshwater quilling action I found this waterfall project by AJourneyIntoQuilling. This page also features a link to tutorials for basic shapes and how to use them.

 

 

Canvas on Edge - Over Land and SeaFinally is this article, again from AllThingsPaper, about Stallman Studio Gallery who work not with paper but with artists canvas on edge. Their works are not strictly considered as quilling, but some of the shapes are similar and result in absolutely stunning pieces.

Water Themed Crafts in Woodworking

 Java with StyleThis post on WoodturningOnline links to four different tutorials on how to combine turned wood and stainless steel inserts into cups. What a constructive and attractive way to encourage drinking more water!

 

 

healthy water crafts handcarved kuska cupNext is this tutorial from JonsBushcraft on how to carve your own Kuska cup. Kuska are also known as Guski, and originally come from northern Scandanavia. A well made and maintained Kuska can last a lifetime.

 

 

 

 

 

AleutesqueKayakers and canoeists certainly appreciate clean water. These next three links are to sites with information, DIY instructions, kits, and plans for building watercraft. The first is KayakBuilding.com,

 

 

healthy water crafts - sea rider kayakthe second site is Yostwerks.com,

 

 

 

 

 

Nya kanotenand the third is BearMountainBoats.com. As you can see, some of these boats are gorgeous!

Water Themed Crafts in Lace and Tatting

healthy water crafts - lace with a spiral that looks like a waveThis spiral in this very old German lace pattern from YarnOver closely resembles a wave.

 

 

 

 

 

This post on Martha’sTattingBlog describes her working with patterns from a pre-1862 book. One of her experiments turned out as you see here – I think it’s very much like ripples in water.

 

 

 

Tatted Sea Shell JournalHere’s a little-bit-of-a-wave-like tatting used in combination with lace, fabric, and shells to make a pretty sea-themed journal cover.

 

 

 

Water Themed Crafts in Weaving and Tapestry

Saori Weaving ClassSimilar to quilling, there’s lots of watery weaving inspiration out there! First are photos from SaltSpringWeaving of a SAORI weaving class including this project,

 

 

 

and there’s this Weaving Waves project by MessMuddleandFun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then from FrontiersMagazine is this article about the “Between Tides” exhibition of Ros Bryant and Janet Clark’s tapestry works in Stromness, Orkney. The exhibition continues through September 14th 2013 (as of the time of this posting, there’s still time to go see these beautiful tapestries).
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Water Themed Crafts in Mosaic Tile

Here’s a quick DIY from Shelterness on making a pretty sea glass/mosaic tile serving tray.

 

 

 Cool Garden Paths That Are Off The Beaten PathAmong other great ideas on this page from BuildDirect is this stunning garden path. The pebbles on edge look reminds me of entrances to houses I’ve seen in Laguardia, Spain.

 

 

 

An idea inside the home is this powder room remodel on Houzz,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bathroom with blue mosaic tiles 12 Tropical Bathrooms With Summer Style interior design and then there’s this bathroom covered in STUNNING mosaic tile. So gorgeous! There are other great ideas for modern bathrooms in this post by IonDecorating, but this one is by far my favorite.

 

 

As for ideas on water and wave tiles you can purchase, there is this pattern from New Ravenna (via Houzz),

 

 

 

 

water themed crafts bubble tilethis fun bubble pattern (among others) on Vizimac.com,

 

 

 

healthy water crafts - oasis waveform tileand this Silk Road Oasis Mosaic also from New Ravenna. Just lovely.

 

 

 

healthy water crafts - water mosaic tile piece by lauren trueThere are some beautiful mosaic art pieces out there. This piece, entitled “Two, Water” is by Laurel True through the True Mosaics Studio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

090924_SJVCS-Mosaic-of-Mary-09-mosaic-tiles-wavesThis is a detail of a piece made for a Catholic church. I’ve looked at a lot of mosaic tile waves, but I don’t think you’ll find any others quite like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I’ll share this Pinterest page by Taina Suomalainen of Art Mosaics.healthy water crafts - pinterest collection of art mosaics

healthy water crafts - croydon fishpond mosaic tile trompe l'oeil by gary drostleIt’s a wonderful collection spanning from the Ancient Romans to modern pieces. Not all the pieces have a water or ocean theme, but many do. One of the most remarkable pins is this trompe l’oeil piece by Gary Drostle.

 

 

 

 

 

That wraps up this first post on healthy water themed crafts, covering crochet, woodworking, quilling, lace and tatting, weaving and tapestry, and mosaic tile! Is there anything in these crafty categories that you would like to add to the comments?

Stay tuned for the next installments in this series, featuring knitting, embroidery, jewelry, gardening, glass work, polymer clay, chainmaille, basket weaving and a whole lot more!

[Update: Here are Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6 in the series!]

7 thoughts on “Water Themed Crafts – Part 1”

    1. Absolutely! Thanks to you for making a great collection of patterns. When it comes to crochet, I always look at CrochetConcupiscence first!

    1. Thanks so much for the compliment – you have just made my morning! I spend quite a bit of time researching these posts, so I’m really happy to hear your appreciation.

      Just so you know, there will be five, count ’em, FIVE more of these healthy water posts, so stay tuned for more!

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