Crocheting a netted bag

Lately I have been looking for a way to improve on the old netted crocheted bag that I made years ago when I first started etsy. The first time I made a netted bag I used chains and slip stitches. This was fast enough but I think I have found a faster and nicer stitch to make a bag like this out of.


Crocheted netted bag

This is a picture of the old version from years ago that sold on my etsy account. I actually put a lot of work into it but I didn't sell it for much.
This new way for me to make it is using the solomons knot and the slip stitch. I don't even have to crochet a base like I did for the one above.
You would start it with as many solomens knots as you think there should be. Lets say five of them then you make one more knot and slip stitch into the second knot from the hook. Make sure to crochet into the knot part of the stitch. You should have a loop now. Just keep going down the row like these then put one extra stitch at each end of the row.
When you get to the second row just slip stitch into each loop from the last row.

With this stitch I could make one of those crocheted grocery bags that I've seen around. Making it with the Solomon's knot makes the bag a lot fluffier then if you were to make it with just chains but if doesn't lose any of its strength.

Fabric Origami Cranes

These are some of my origami cranes that I folded with cotton fabric. I bought this really cool looking fabric from an Etsy store that sold Japanese patterned fabrics.

 Fancy Origami Crane
I had been looking around at people selling folded cranes for a while and I thought why not make cranes out of fabric? Wouldn't it last longer? So I did some experimenting in my room with this fabric. I had heard of a way of stiffening fabric with sugar water so I tried ironing the fabric with sugar water and it worked.

 Fancy Origami Crane
Mom was probably really worried about her iron and for good reason. Making the cranes is not only a bit annoying, it also makes a mess of the iron. After a while you get this over cooked brown sugar water dripping from the holes in the bottom of the iron. On top of that to make the cranes you have to iron the fabric every time you make a fold in your crane and sometime it seems like the crane just doesn't want to stiffen. This usually happens to the tail and the head of the crane.

 Fancy Origami Crane
After working on the cranes in my room for a while my room starts to get the humid sweet smell. I'm not sure if I hate the smell, it's just different.

Mini Origami Cranes
Anyways I made a bunch of these and I thought they are really pretty. I was trying to sell them on my Etsy shop but while they get a bit of attention they haven't sold much. Is it just because they don't have a practical function or is there something else wrong with them? I'm not really sure but for now I'll just leave them up since people do like the looks of them. I'm also selling mini paper cranes in lots of 25.