Our MarchMeetTheMaker Social Challenge

Our MarchMeetTheMaker social challenge - from #LRCrafts - DIY Passion: if you can think it, you can make it by Rici86.

As some of you may know, this website was born after a few years of posting content on my personal Instagram profile with the #LRCrafts hashtag.

Now I am more active on this blog than on various social profiles, but we like to share our projects there. Sometimes we enjoy the possibilities that social media give us.

That’s why we took part in the #MarchMeetTheMaker challenge. I’ve always had a lot of fun with those challenges, beginning with the Seidennater challenge by Alte Faeden about historical reenactment crafts.

But the problem with social media is that after a while you loose track of posts, in the overwhelming sea of content that’s posted every day. So I decided to keep track of my challenge here. Find the original posts, with all our answers to the challenge prompts. I also enriched them with references to in-depth posts about the daily topic.

Get to know a little more about us through this social media journey!

#MarchMeetTheMaker social challenge: the prompts for 2023

1. Brand origin

#LRCrafts stands for “Locutus and Rici Crafts“.
In our family we share the hobby of anything do-it-yourself: I’ll tell you more about it in the next post.

After sharing our projects and behind-the-scenes for a couple of years on Instagram, we decided to extend our online presence with a proper blog, LRCrafts.it.

There you’ll find tutorials, patterns, an in-depth about the making of our crafts, resources for fellow crafters and also travel tips.

Discover more about us

2. All about you

We are Locutus and Rici, alias #LRCrafts.
Together we make crafts with several techniques and materials: from string art to embroidery, from handmade lamps to sewing, from woodworking to book art, from cement crafts to resin dioramas.

When we met each other in December 2014 during an event by Gens d’Ys Irish Dance Academy, we soon discovered we had a lot in common: the same views on life, Irish dance (the one thing that made us get acquainted), an inclination for archery and historical reenactment, the passion for any kind of handcrafts.

Now you can find us and our projects on our blog.

3. Snippet

Here’s a detail of the latest creation: a rocket costume for our daughter.

We are kind of space nerds in our family, and the child is no exception! Since she enjoyed a lot the latest Spacex Super Heavy 31-engine static fire, I made herself into a rocket for Carnival!
Thank you Nasa Spaceflight for the inspiring livestream!

The project of the rocket costume

6. Start the day

When I start the day, I have to think about getting the child ready for school before going to work.

But then on my commute I can relax on the bus and think about crafts. Even, make them!

Don’t you think it’s a lovely way of beginning a new day?

7. Learn

I love every craft that requires thread. My husband knows it, so for my latest birthday he got me my first loom!

Now I have a new skill to acquire!

About weaving and related techniques

8. Finishing touches

New additions to our diorama dedicated to “Celtica Festival”.
We finished it a few months ago, but after having it on display for a while we thought it was time for some finishing touches.

Find more details soon on our blog

How we made our mountain diorama

9. Trial and error

Learning from errors is always the best way to learn!When we made our first lucet tool in 2015, we thought adding paint would help thread slip more easily. We couldn’t be more wrong!

After trying lucetting once, we removed all the paint and restored the tool to its original wooden texture. Much better!

Discover more about the lucet on our blog.

About lucet and lucetting

10. Recharge

Is there a better way of recharging than crafting on vacation?

Yes, there is. Crafting on the mountains, waiting for “Celtica Festival” to begin!

This was taken in 2022, but we already planned to be there in 2023, too!

13. Planning

If you know us a little, you know we plan carefully our projects. Often laying out a written plan, or more than one.

That’s what we did with two ambitious projects: the Montessori bookshelf we gifted to our daughter for her 1st birthday and our recent Nativity diorama in the old steamer trunk which belonged to my ancestors.

The restoration of the ancient steamer trunk

14. Big or small

Locutus made a lot of cement pumpkins as Autumn and Halloween decorations, and I made my own version with fabric.

Which ones do you like the most?
Big cement or small fabric?

How we made the cement pumpkinsPlush pumpkins tutorial and pattern

15. From idea to product

Our motto is “If you can think it, you can make it”. When we have a need, the first question is always “can we make it?”.

It began small at first: we needed a lamp for our bedroom in our first tiny home and we had old discarded books destined to destructions to use.
It grew quickly! Since then we made several lamps using everyday objects. Here are just a few examples. And more are on the making right now!

What’s your favourite?

Our lamp projects

16. Highs and lows

It happens sometimes. You doubt you could finish that project, you think it will never come out as expected. But you know also that this is just a normal phase, that if you persevere you’ll succeed.

And sometimes a project doesn’t come out as expected, and maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe the new final version is even better than you thought.

Look at our very first #stringart project. Persevering was a good idea?

Our string art projects

17. Creative space

Thank goodness, we have a table to dedicate to our DIY projects!

While working at our first epoxy resin diorama, our workspace was a real mess!

But it was worth it! Go check the final result!

Detailed photos of our “Celtica” diorama

20. Glow up

Did you see the 8th March post about our mountain diorama dedicated to “Celtica Festival”?

Well, this year we are going to improve several old projects, and this one’s the biggest!

Loads of additions: more than 30 new elements, including people, animals, tools, a bridge, a bench… can you spot them all?
Swipe to see how the diorama was before the latest improvement.

21. Favourite process

A string art project was our first craft together.

We love weaving our thread using a leather working tool that belonged to my husband’s grandfather: a hole punch.

It speeds up the process and helps a lot with the trickiest parts!

FAQs about string art

22. Decision

This year I decided to dive deeper into lucetting.

I started a long historical research on the supposed Medieval origins of the tools, that is growing and growing. On my blog but also… well, you’ll know it soon, I have big news coming on the matter this year! So it turned out my experiments and research on the lucet were for good…

23. Reality

Sometimes you find the comparison “Instagram vs Reality”.

Well, here’s just reality! Our workspace isn’t usually the kind of glamourous instagrammable place you see around, with creators being clean and working in a room where all the lights and colors and items around are perfectly balances.

Here we care more about making the project, do you think we should spend more time on the setup and make our content more “shareable”?

24. Color

We love playing with color, and the best way to do it is with acrylic pour paintings.

You decide the palette, you can plan as you wish but in the end you’ll never predict for sure what the final result will be.

Isn’t this the best part of the technique?

Our first acrylic pouring

27. Tools and machines

Locutus is usually the one handling machines, while I am more inclined to manual tools.

But… you’ll never know, sometimes it happens we switch places!

28. Adapt

Crafting is most of the time adapting.

A while ago I stitched a prototype for the buttonholes of my Medieval gown, and it came out as I wanted it to be.
The fact is, I didn’t want to put it aside and forget about it, so I found a way to readapt it to serve a new purpose.

That’s how a tiny needle case was born, with a tiny pocket for scissors and thread.

The making of my red Medieval gown

29. The best part

Yes, the best part of what we do is that we make things together.

It’s a passion we share in the family, that hopefully one day will involve also our young daughter.
In most of the cases you see photos of my husband at work just because I am the one behind the camera, and when we can’t show you a phase of a process is indeed because all out hands are needed for the task.

I hope you like us this way!

30. Nice words

Our motto is “If you can think it, you can make it“.

It always happened in the family: whenever we needed something (a home improvement, a new feature somewhere, a problem to solve…), the first thing we said was “can we make it?“.
Usually, the answer has been “yes“! I can’t remember a moment when we failed to make something we planned.

Our advice to reach your DIY goals is: plan. Always plan carefully in advance, make tests, small scale mockups, go step by step. That’s the best road towards crafting success.

31. Coming soon

As usual, we have loads of projects in mind and some in the making.

I am weaving on my lucet a lot and making tons of experiments.
Together, we are working on something I can’t show here for now… you’ll see the final project (actually, projects!) in a few months.

Curious?
Follow our current and future crafting on our blog!