Naomi Spier shows off her handmade bottle cap magnets. (Frank Espich for The Star)

Rachel Hedges and her hand-made spiders from recycled sweaters at her downtown apartment. (Matt Kryger for The Star)

Brandy Hahn of Indianapolis poses for a portrait with a wire-cased pendant that she made in Indianapolis.

Kristin Kohn, owner of Silver in the City on Mass Ave downtown, knitted belly warmers when she was pregnant. (Matt Kryger for The Star)

Derek Walker is an artist that paints designs on chairs, making each one unique and original. (Matt Kryger for The Star)

One would be hard-pressed to pin down when it happened, or if it ever even went away -- but crafting has a firm chokehold on the Circle City. Here in Indianapolis, crafting is a chance to be both secluded in creation or social in your manufacturing -- currently Indy is being held in a clutch of creativity as craft fairs are planned and craft mafias are started, all with the idea of spreading the knowledge and beda--ling the city experience. These local folks are just a few of the people who are crafting Indy.

The reclaimer

Naomi Spier's crafting experience began when her neighbor in Japan gave her drawing lessons for her sixth birthday. Since then, she has made cartoon books, created batik prints, decoupaged wooden bracelets and made small robots to entertain herself and her friends.

"I'm always looking for something new to play with," said Spier, 29. "(Crafting) is something that just takes my mind off of everything else. It's just like playing. There aren't that many things that I can feel like I'm really playing and exploring something new. I lose track of time easily."

Spier usually gives her creations as random gifts to friends, but she'll be setting up her table at the Indieana Handicraft Exchange in October (see sidebar).

Bottle Cap Art Magnets

This project, Spier says, is about turning trash into treasure, "if you find magnets to be little treasures."

Tools

• Bottle caps

• Sculpey clay

• Spray paint

• Sharpie markers

• Spray varnish or clear coat

• Magnet/glue gun

Steps

1. Find/save bottle caps. (Twist-offs are good, because the edges don't get warped from prying off the cap with an opener.)

2. Fill the back of the cap with Sculpey clay or some other type of oven-bake clay -- so the back of the cap is filled completely without it bulging over.

3. Put a bunch of filled caps on foil (clay-filled side up) and bake according to instructions on the Sculpey package. This hardens the clay. (Sometimes the clay will crack a little during baking. "Don't worry -- you're gonna put a magnet over it and nobody will notice," Spier said.)

4. When cooled, spray paint bottle caps whatever color you'd like. Let dry, turn over, spray other side. Make sure to pay attention to the ridged edges so the color is covering the entire cap.

5. Paint / draw with marker ("Sharpies are good for everything, it seems," Spier said.) or decoupage (glue) any image you want on the front side of the bottle cap, not the side filled with clay.

6. Spray paint varnish or some kind of clear topcoat over your design and the rest of the cap. Again, make sure the whole thing is coated. It should be nice and shiny.

7. With a glue gun, glue small magnets to the back of the bottle cap. These should be strong enough to hold up your mini work of art!

Tight wire act

Brandy Hahn, 24, has her fingers in plenty of craft baskets. She does metalsmithing and is in the middle of becoming an independent jeweler. Hahn knits, crochets, sews and paints. She works at a bead shop (Bead Angels) and is surrounded with the craft every day. Hahn's jewelry is also shown at Monroe Gallery in Peoria, Ill.

"When I'm doing my craft, it's nice that it takes away from everything else," she said. "There's some excitement in there. There's some anticipation of how it's going to turn out."

Although sewing is Hahn's favorite craft medium right now, she also loves beading and she revels in the many colors.

Minerals encaged with sterling silver

Tools

• 26-gauge wire

• 18-gauge wire

• Mallet, hammer

• Stones -- 15mm at least

• Round-nose pliers

• Flat-nose pliers

Steps

1. Cut five 8-inch pieces of 18-gauge wire and one 10-inch piece of 18-gauge wire.

2. Pound all wire pieces until flat.

3. Gather all pieces in bundle. All the pieces should be even at one end and the other end the 10-inch piece should stick out.

4. Cut 6 feet of 26-gauge wire.

5. Hold the center of the bundle tightly together. Find the middle of 26-gauge wire and start wrapping it around the bundle. Make sure both sides of the 26-gauge wire meet on one side to start next step.

6. With your fingers or flat-nose pliers, spread apart evenly the 18-gauge wires, bend 18-gauge wires upward to form a basket or cage shape.

7. Take the two pieces of 26-gauge wire closest to the 18-gauge wire and place one underneath and one over top, then twist together. Continue twisting until you reach the next 18-gauge wire rib. Repeat in a spiral fashion until you reach half way up the cage.

8. Drop stones inside the cage and continue to twist 26-gauge wire until you have 1½ inches of the 18-gauge wire left up top.

9. With the left over 26-gauge wire wrap the top of the cage together closing it up.

10. Take the round-nose pliers and spiral the ends of the shorter 18-gauge wire.

11. With the remaining piece of wire, make a loop with the round-nose pliers. This makes the bail.

Warmth of needles

Kristin Kohn, 34, owner of Silver in the City, doesn't make crafts to sell.

"I almost enjoy the process more than the end result," she said. But she is thinking about the social elements of crafting. Her mom taught her how to knit when Kohn was little; she picked it up again four or five years ago, with the aid of some books.

But Kohn knows that having a group around can alleviate some problems. "Sometimes it's frustrating to learn from your mistakes."

With that in mind, she's facilitating a Yahoo crafts group -- Naptown Crafters -- for folks to meet up and link up.

"This could eventually become a 'craft mafia,' but that takes time and an application," Kohn said. For more information on the group, visit groups.yahoo.com/group/naptowncrafters.

Knitted belly warmer

"During my fall/winter pregnancies, I was frustrated by the chilly breeze that would shoot up my tentlike maternity shirts," Kohn said. "That plus the general lack of truly funky maternity fashions. I loved wearing this (belly warmer) with my regular (nonmaternity) tees and jeans -- it spanned the perpetually widening gap between shirt and jeans and kept my belly (and aching back) warm."

The pattern is for a medium build, 5'6" woman in her third trimester.

Tools

• 3 to 4 100 gram balls of Rowan Yarns "Big Wool" (you can find this at the Mass Ave. Knit Shop)

• Size 12mm/US #17 24" Circular Needle (also at Mass Ave Knit Shop)

• Stitch marker (this can be as simple as a 3-inch piece of yarn)

Steps

1. Cast on 68 stitches (approx 34 inches; 54 inches when stretched), mark the starting point with your stitch marker (if it's just yarn, simply tie it around the needle after your 68th stitch).

2. Now pull your first stitch around and begin your second row, connecting the last stitch of the first row to the first stitch of the second row). Make sure you are working in the proper direction and on the proper side (right side out).

3. K2, P2 to the desired length then bind off. Kohn's is 60 rows for a finished length of 21" (top of bust to low hip).

4. Try to change balls of yarn at the stitch marker or halfway through the row -- these will be the "sides" of your belly warmer and tie offs will be less noticeable.

Instead of increasing and decreasing stitches at the top and bottom, Kohn uses the 2 x 2 rib, which is nice and stretchy to fit a growing belly. "As I came to the end of the piece," she sai,"I tightened up my knitting to create a tighter top."

Steps for intermediate knitters

Intermediate knitters, familiar with decreasing stitches, can follow this pattern:

1. Cast on 68 stitches. Mark your place with the stitch marker and begin. K2, P2 for 56 rows.

2. Row 57: K2TOG, P2, *K2, P2 repeat from * for 26 stitches, then repeat from the beginning of the row. When you finish this row, you should have 66 stitches. The decreases will be on the sides and under your arms, so barely noticeable, but enough to help keep your warmer in place!

3. Row 58-60: K1, P2, *K2, P2 repeat from * for 26 stitches then repeat from beginning of row.

4. Bind off your stitches slightly tighter than normal, loose enough to be able to slip over your head and shoulders, but tight enough to help keep it in place.

Embellishing the story

Derek Walker, 25, got his start in his graffiti-style embellishments when he lived in Louisville, Ky., with a group of taggers. "I do draw most of my images; it's a nice mixture between art and craft, but the way I make my final piece, there's a lot of craft that goes into it," he said. "Spray painting is definitely crafty."

Usually, Walker embellishes suitcases or furniture; sometimes he turns his eye to recycled clothing. In any case, creating and embellishing are two things that Walker turns to in his free time.

"That's what I feel the most comfortable doing," he said. "The best thing in the world (is) knowing that I made something that's definitely cool."

Walker, who lives in the Wheeler Arts Community, can be found either at the building's monthly shows or at myspace.com/yourfaceisawreck.

Simple steps and tips for making a custom stencil

1. Take any image you drew or designed and map out the different areas and lines that are colored in or "solid." A lot of the times, a picture will need to be modified to make it into an actual stencil when it comes time to cut it out.

2. Take a sheet of semi-durable plastic (e.g., stencil sheets from craft stores, or transfer paper etc.) and carefully cut out the solid areas and lines that you want the colors to show through. An X-Acto knife or sharp razor blade works best.

3. For multiple colors, you will need to make multiple stencil layers, using separate sheets of plastic. Be sure that the layers will match up later when it's time to paint. Be careful not to cut out the negative spaces! This can be tricky.

4. When applying to a surface, be sure the stencil will lay flat and that the surface is clean and dry.

Some good tips for making a stencil work

1. Use a light coat of spray adhesive to adhere stencil to surface to avoid seeping and overspray. Be sure spray adhesive is not permanent, as you will be removing the stencil.

2. When using spray paint, be sure to use several light coats.

3. Protect surrounding areas from overspray, with paper and tape.

4. Don't rush it! Ensure proper drying time for the best results.

5. When using multiple layers, cut notches, or "registration marks" to make sure layers line up correctly.

6. Not all surfaces are ready to paint. Some priming of the surface may be required.

A stuffed menagerie

Rachel Hedges, 27, got started sewing when a friend gave her a used sewing machine.

"I just kind of started doing it," she said. "(Sewing) was a good creative outlet. I was always a tactile person."

Hedges, who went to the University of Indianapolis as a music major, liked that she didn't have to perform -- she was creating.

"It's kind of a meditation," she said. "I think other people who do crafts feel the same way. They get into this weird Zen. It's really a great feeling."

Now, working under the name youandyourkidbrother, Hedges creates little creatures using reclaimed fabric from thrift stores or given to her by friends. Hedges shows up for every local craft fair, and will be showing at the Indieana Handicraft Exchange. To see more of her work online, visit myspace.com/superraquel.

Sweater spiders

Some of Hedge's creatures come from suggestions; some come from weird dreams. These spiders come just in time for Halloween.

Tools

• Small swatches of a medium-weight fabric for the spider body (for example, remnants of a lightweight sweater or knit sock).

• Small swatches of colorful light-weight fabric for the spider legs (for example, jersey cotton from a recycled T-shirt).

• Felt in various colors or vintage buttons for facial detail.

• Polyester polyfill stuffing.

• Needle and thread.

• Optional: transparent nylon thread.

Steps:

1. Draw or trace two identical circles (about 3 or 4 inches in diameter) on the medium-weight fabric and cut them out. The circles do not have to be perfectly round; in fact a slightly oblong shape seems to work best for the spider body.

2. Fold the fabric you intend to use for the spider legs in half and cut out eight strips of the doubled material. The strips should be about ½-inch wide and two inches long. "I like to cut some of the spider legs in a hooked shape for a more interesting design," Hedges said.

3. Design a face for the spider. Sew vintage buttons (they don't have to match!) on one of the body circles and embroider a mouth with a needle and thread. Or cut round circles from yellow felt and sew them on for glowing spider eyes. Add a red mouth and white triangle teeth for a menacing grin.

4. Using a machine or needle and thread, sew up the edges of each of the eight legs like a tube that is open on one end. Carefully turn them inside out. A fat knitting needle or the blunt end of a pair of scissors can help to push the fabric through the opening. This step can be very frustrating, patience is a must! Be careful not to tear the fabric or seams.

5. Place the circle with the spider face up and position four of the spider legs on one side of the spider body. The tips of the legs should be facing the inside of the spider body, and the open ends should be aligned with the outer edge of the circle. Place the other circle on top like a sandwich with the legs inside. Using a machine or needle and thread, sew up one side of the spider, taking care that the legs are secured in place. Repeat this step for the other side, leaving a small hole (about one inch) open so that you can turn the spider inside out.

6. Pull the legs out from the inside of the spider, "and look at how cute he is!" Hedges said. Use a knitting needle or tip of a pair of scissors to poke around in the inside seam to give it shape. Then stuff the spider, using small bits of polyfill at a time. When the spider looks as fat as you want him, sew up the hole with a needle and thread. You can also attach a loop of nylon thread for hanging.