How to lubricate toothpicks for model building? I'm trying to assemble a model chronograph. At several steps, the instructions say to insert wooden cocktail sticks (toothpicks) through narrow holes in wheels. Unfortunately, the supplied toothpicks refuse to go through. They go part way in, then get stuck.

Following the manufacturer's instructions I've tried lubricating the cocktail sticks with candle wax (unburnt candle).

I've also tried lubricating the sticks with sewing machine oil.

I've even tried a different batch of toothpicks from the supermarket.

Still the sticks get stuck part way through the wheel. If I push any harder, they just break.

Any suggestions?

Try bar soap or silicone spray. Soap is definitely slipperier than wax and you likely have some on hand.

Silicone spray is super slick and useful in lots of situations. It will stay slippery longer than the soap which may be a problem if the pin is supposed to stay put once its in.

Maybe a bit of sanding with fine grit sandpaper would help as well, corrects oversized pin and smooths the surface for less friction.


What glass-like material to use for a weapon prop? A week ago, I wanted to try to create a prop for a cosplay. The weapon I choose was the Gehaburn from Neptunia:

I was able to find how to do most of the prop, apart from the blade. I searched online for some inspiration and was able to find someone who managed to create a very good looking one, created by Alucard:

My question is: What material could be used to create this kind of glass-like effect, or what material did Alucard use?

The material would need to be :

Inexpensive (creating it on a budget)
Easy to work with
Durable and water-proof

Does anyone know a material which fits these criteria?

It looks like it's meant to be translucent, even illuminated inside. So I'd be tempted to look into casting silicone for the blade, with a hollow core of the right colour, illuminated. Hollow saves weight as well as giving you somewhere to put the LEDs. To do that you'd make a positive master out of softwood and then a mould from that.  Making that blade shape from a single piece of softwood is the work of an hour or two with jigsaw, plane and sander. I'm half way through making a toy sword from softwood:

Another option to try would be working plastic (acrylic or polycarbonate) directly but it's hard to shape with a plane and you won't achieve the 3d shape of the blade with just a saw.

I'm not saying it couldn't be done with thermoplastic, but not by melting - you can't achieve the temperature control to avoid burning unless you've got very fancy kit. And it's the wrong shape to vacuum form. What you probably could do is make a a blade from several sheets solvent bonded together to give a stepped cross-section then sand out the steps. Lots of plastic dust means you'd need good dust extraction.  I've just been sanding some plastic sheet (probably acrylic) to clean up cut edges and make a frosted surface, and it doesn't sand very quickly.

The simple and cheap option is just make it out of softwood and rely on an impressive paint job to get all the colour effects.


Alternatives to sewing machine bobbin felt pads I saw a sewing machine tutorial where the repairman said some problems can be prevented by using sewing machine bobbin felt pads.

Two felt pads came with my Singer Start 1304.

Now, one is missing.

Amazon lists a crazy price of $6.99 for a pack of 10.

Are those felt pads really necessary?
And do they really have to be that expensive - is there a cheaper alternative to using Bobbin Felt pads so that it protects the sewing machine from any damage?

Bobbin pad? Or spool pad? I use spool pads to protect the surface of my antique sewing machine (1940's Singer Featherweight). Different shaped spools can sometimes rub on the surface around the spool area. I didn't use pads when I had a modern machine.

Sometimes your thread might come on a different sized spool or a different size of hole in the middle, and a felt pad can help a spool with a larger hole sit better on the machine, and keep a constant tension instead of jumping around a lot. A friend's machine is very touchy about how it is threaded, and for shorter height spools a pad helps align the thread more with what the machine likes.

I bought my spool pads on Etsy and they are 100% wool and 5mm thick in a variety of colors. But you could likely use any felt.


How to know if brush contains hog/pig hair or not? How can I know if my brushes contain pig or hog hair? And for what purpose are these brushes actually used; acrylic, oil or watercolor?

USE
Hog hair or hog bristle brushes are stiff, strong, and durable. Having frayed ends, the bristles are usually not appropriate for watercolouring, as they aren't able to soak up a lot of water, but they are sometimes used for adding texture or scrubbing away faulty layers of watercolour.
Exactly because they don't absorb a lot of fluid, they can be used well with oil and acrylic paints, as you can more easily move paint around. With their rough ('flagged') ends they don't allow for much precision, hence they are often formed into larger and rougher brushes, and can be used for covering larger areas, for grounding, or for more expressive approaches and impasto techniques.
However, by whipping the brush the ends will fray more, making the hairs softer, allowing them to be used for softer brushwork or even blending. This softening naturally occurs the longer you work with hog hair brushes.
IDENTIFICATION
To identify these brushes - which is not easy - you can look at the colour, and the structure of the hairs.

As organic hairs, they are usually quite easy to tell apart from synthetic ones (unless the latter are made to imitate animal hair), as the shafts are a lot more 'noisy' (see images below), both structure- and colour-wise.
Synthetic brushes also tend to have tops with much straighter cuts:

Another, surefire way to distinguish organic hairs from synthetic ones is to burn them: organic hairs will burn as separate threads, and have a distinctive bad smell, while synthetic hairs will melt together and smell of chemicals.

Hog/boar bristle brushes are (almost) always a broken white, and don't have a strong sheen to them, especially when compared to most synthetic hairs.
Sometimes a streak of black paint is added to make them look like badger hairs:

source

As mentioned before, hog hairs tend to fray at the tip, and this is visible in the brushes as having a distinctly diffuse tip, more so than with ox hair, for example:

edited from original

The hairs are also quite inexpensive, so the brushes are usually on the cheaper side of a producer's brush spectrum.

There aren't any clear-cut differences with other organic brushes, so I hope this is sufficient information to help you distinguish hog hair brushes from others.


Breathable painting for acoustic panels? I wanted to have a picture painted by my friend onto an acoustic panel in my room. I contacted some local companies working on such projects, but they work only with printing on this material.

Fortunately one of the manufacturers responded to my e-mail and explained the issues I will meet. He explained to me that material behind the picture needs to "breathe", so the canvas can't be covered with thick layer of oil paint, and even shouldn't be primed. Do you have any solution to allow such picture "breathing"?

The "breathing" is necessary, because the canvas needs to have pores allowing the sound wave to pass through and be absorbed by the material behind the canvas.

I thought about painting without priming, but I am not a painter and I don't know why priming is so important. My painter says it is impossible to paint without priming, but he isn't a professional painter, rather enthusiast, and he doesn't think he knows all tricks allowing such things, but he is willing to get to know them.

I think your best choice would be to have the image painted first (on primed canvas, or whatever it takes), scan it/take a high quiality photograph of it, and have it printed onto the panel.

Notes:

I have personally never worked with acoustic panels.
Yes, there are breathable materials you can paint/draw with (like ink, watercolours).
I couldn't find what material is used for acoustic panels.
There is a possibility of the painting materials affecting the quality of the sound absorption of the panel regardless of them being breathable.
Apparently professionals print onto the panels, so it is know that this won't affect the quality of the panel.
Having the image painted first by all the necessary means will also, most likely, give you a better result imagewise.


How to Sew Up "Cut Outs", (Shapes Cut Into Fabrics)? I would like to cut letters INTO a piece of cloth, but - I would like to "fold" the inside edge under itself to make a nicer edge, (perhaps helping prevent it from unravelling/tearing in the future ...).

But, when you fold the fabric under itself, you either have to cut slits into it, creating a tear vulnerability, or - you create folds into the fabric ...

Is there a best way for sewing up "cut-outs", (the shapes or letters you cut INTO fabric)?  Or, maybe - Is there any way to create the "folds/wrinkles" evenly?

Please help reword this if you know the proper terms that I am missing!

Thanks!

Here are some additional details on the sewing and gluing methods mentioned in my first answer:

Sewing a Satin Stitch
either by hand or by machine: a satin stitch is lots of horizontal stitches (vs. vertical) all very close together.

Here is a YouTube video showing both methods of satin stitching, by hand and by machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eTurIxJlFg

Note:  the video shows how to sew (fasten) cut out letters onto another piece of fabric; you are cutting out your letters from the piece of fabric.

Satin stitch along the outline of your letters before you cut the letters out.

Using Fabric Glue (one brand is Fray Check):
use the fabric glue bottle like a pen, squeeze a thin line along the outline of your letters.

Let the glue dry for about 15 minutes, and then cut your letters out.

Note:  I’m not sure what the iron is for (the advice you got at the store).  You don’t need to use an iron with a fabric glue.

Hope this helps.  Good luck with your project!


Gluing fabric or ribbon to walnut shells I've made a series of small crafts in walnut shells and want to turn them into lockets of a sort by gluing a ribbon (or thin strip of cotton fabric) to the outside so I can tie them shut. I'm having trouble getting the glue to work properly, especially with ribbon.
I've tried Mod Podge, which didn't hold at all, and LePage wood glue, which mostly works if I use thin cotton fabric but is flimsy enough that it comes off with a bit of a yank. It's even worse if I try to use a silky ribbon or a piece of lace. Are there better ways to get fabric and walnut shells to bind, or should I just be very careful with them as is? (I know the other option is to attach the ribbon on the inside, but that won't let me secure it closed.)

If the ribbon is polyester or nylon, it will be hard to make a strong bond to it.  Most adhesives will stick a ribbon to something if it's only decorative and won't really get pulled.  You need something more secure if the ribbon is going to serve as a hinge or closure.
If you can use a ribbon made from cotton, lots of glues will make a strong bond.  Even regular PVA glue (e.g., Elmers), should work well.
If you prefer to stick with a polyester or nylon ribbon, at least you won't need a "structural" adhesive (something that makes a bond as strong as the material, itself); a locket won't get "abusive" handling.  So an adhesive like E6000 would probably be strong enough for that purpose.
Another approach would be to create a hinge with a strip of cotton fabric that can be bonded well to the walnut.  The walnut is a curved surface, so a wide hinge won't work (everything but the widest part of the shell will move apart when you open it).  You would need to create something with an "H" shape (turned sideways).  The connector in the middle would be the hinge, located at the widest point of the shell.  The long legs would each go on one half of the shell to provide a longer gluing surface.  Embed the polyester or nylon ribbon tie under the hinge part in the middle so the hinge holds the ribbon in place.  A little glue on the ribbon will provide enough friction so it won't easily pull out.


Humidity tolerance of Mod Podge I recently created a commission piece made out of stretched canvas and acrylic. It was specifically made for bathroom decor on a wall. I didn't realize until later that the bathroom would have high humidity. So now my paranoia has sunk in. I have been doing acrylic paintings for almost a decade. I have used different variants of sealers. Sprays, and glues. Feel more confident about the Mod Podge because it is more a glue consistency, which would give it a lot more of a shield from the elements.

So my question is, can Mod Podge stand up against humidity?

I've been doing some research this morning on the humidity and temp of Mod Podge used as a sealer. Haven't come across any further detail on high temperatures of Mod Podge, or a lot of detail on the humidity of Mod Podge as a sealer. The painting is in Arizona. Even though it has low humidity it doesn't count for the fact it is in the bathroom with a shower(which I didn't consider at the time)

Come across forums on Etsy talking about humidity and getting the Mod Podge to dry with fans. That isn't what I am looking for, or asking.

Plaidonline.com has PDF talking about sealers and suggests to use a Mod Podge Adhesive spray after putting the Mod Podge sealer.

This piece of art was done for a relative of mine. So there isn't a lot at stake with this piece. I just wanted some more information, from others experiences. So I don't make a similar mistake next time. I could also consider again just going with an sealer spray. The Mod Podge was what I had on hand at the time of the painting. I've been just trying to make do with what I have on hand.

Found on modpodgerocksblog.com | Wasn't sure of its content was accuracy.

Upon further investigation, it seems to have a lot of detail related to Mod Podge. Mod Podge does not have an official website.

It might resist air humidity for a while, but I would opt for a more water resistant variant like "Outdoor Mod Podge" or "Dishwasher Safe Mod Podge".
The following information is taken from Is Mod Podge Waterproof?

Mod Podge is a craft supply made up of several ingredients, including vinyl acetate. The combination produces a product that is somewhat water resistant, but not waterproof.
If a few drops of water end up on your Mod Podge project you can wipe them away with ease. You aren’t going to ruin your craft with just a little bit of water.
Note: if water is on your Mod Podge project for an extended period of time, you might notice some clouding. Typically when you remove the water the Mod Podge will slowly dry to clear again. However, you might see some permanent cloudiness and/or rings.

As long as your artwork isn't subjected to the water stream from the shower, it should be fine. Usually in a bathroom there are times of high humidity, followed by longer times of dryer air. The normal Mod Podge might get sticky or cloudy over time (I have no experience with that), but more resistant variants should resist mist and humidity long enough until the air is dry again.


When mixing paint colours, what is a good technique for ensuring consistent ratios each time a new batch needs to be created? Some Background

Back in 2014, I made a "wand" out of a wooden dowel, and some glue gun glue for the handle. The "wand" part was a single pre-made colour, but for the handle, I mixed together a few different colours to create a nice brown-ish colour. Once I was satisfied, I began to happily paint the handle, unaware that I had not mixed enough of the colour. Once I began to run out, I attempted to re-mix the colours in roughly the same ratio as best I could remember, but obviously it wasn't exact.

I ended up having to do this at least twice, as far as I remember. I managed to get the colour pretty close, almost indistinguishable, but by the third time, I simply mixed a massive amount and painted over what I had already done.

While this was not the end of the world, it dawned on me that there must be a better way than simply eyeballing amounts and relying on memory to determine ratios.

Question

How would a more experienced crafter/painter ensure that, if they needed to mix a new batch of a custom colour, they mixed colours in the proper ratios each time?

It would be helpful to know the order of magnitude of your volumes.

I paint miniatures and so milliliters are often enough. In this case my paints are in dropper bottles and I count the droplets I add to the mix.

For bigger volumes I would use a transparent bottle and make a level mark for each colour I add. So next time the marks could be reused in the same bottle to get the same ratio.


Can I draw dog fur with pencil and then go over it with colored pencils? I'm a amateur child artist trying to draw this. At the end of the video, the artist uses his pencil to make fur-like textures. However, I want to do this with color. After doing the whole tutorial, drawing the fur and all, can I go over the fur texture with colored pencil to add more color? Will my drawing still look realistic, and not messy?

You can certainly add color into a monotone image (like you would have with a graphite pencil drawing). You are correct that there is the risk making the drawing messy or muddy though, so use (workable) spray fix to protect the base drawing before adding light shading with the colored pencils (or water color, etc.).
However using color when drawing in the style of the video, as well as in any added shading, will give you cleaner colors overall. So if you want the fur itself to have color it would be best to work with colored pencils for the line work as well as any tone work you might add after the base drawing. Try using a few different colors when drawing the fur to add more realism; check out some close up photos of fur to get the idea.
In general when doing works in color black becomes a very strong visual element compositionally. So if you do a black and white drawing first any colors you add later will be secondary to that base image. If you do a drawing (or painting) in color any black you use will really stand out. Finding the right balance between the two is the key.


Can I use sunflower oil in oil paint? Usually when I paint there is enough linseed oil.

However, in the kitchen there is always some sunflower oil,
for cooking of course.

It appears to work well but I wonder about a few things.

How is the drying process affected? Will it take longer or shorter?
Does it have any affect on the paint itself?
Does it affect the color of the paint over time?
Could you mix it with turpentine?

Has anyone used sunflower oil, like what is used for cooking food, in oil paint?

Cooking oil certainly isn't a direct substitute for linseed oil. Oils used for paint and treating wood are so called 'drying oils' this means that they naturally polymerise when exposed to air, forming a dry flexible material.

All vegetable oils will do this to some extent but for something like sunflower oil it will take a very long time and you will end up with a gummy sticky mess long before it actually dries. It is also likely that during this time it will end up being colonised by bacteria, turning it rancid.

Also many drying oils are further treated by steaming (ie boiled linseed oil) and/or adding drying agents to speed up the drying process.


Paper airplane maker There was a machine that made paper airplanes. Now my question is this: what’s the name of the machine & are there any pictures of same?
I’m just EXTREMELY curious about this supposed machine .

I think a good start would be to use "paper airplane making machine" as the terms of your search process. I did and discovered a great number of different machines constructed by makers/tinkerers. I expect you will not find an off-the-shelf solution, although the Lego version certainly gets close to something a homebuilder can construct more easily than some of the others.

This first one shows some impressive construction, apparently using parts from old printers:

https://6abc.com/science/student-creates-paper-plane-machine-for-his-final-project/3230717/

A ten-second video of another impressive build, more sophisticated than the previous:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTDtrNo95c

The Lego build is at the top of my list:

https://makezine.com/2016/02/12/machine-fold-launch-perfect-paper-airplane/

This link also contains other links for additional machines used to fold and launch paper airplanes.

There are more, but if you use my suggested search terms, you can pick the ones that suit your fancy.


What else can be used as flux instead of borax for silver casting? I am new to jewelry. I would like to try casting silver (pure) in so called green sand. In my research I see that it is recommended to use some sort of flux while melting silver. The most popular and widely available without a doubt is borax (sodium tetraborate if I am not mistaken), however it seems to be for some reason (toxicity maybe) illegal where I live and I cannot get it that easily.

Are there any common materials that can be used as flux for silver melting instead of borax?

I have seen sodium carbonate (wash soda/calcined soda) being sold as some sort of flux and I have read something about sodium hydroxide (lye) being used as flux in some applications. Would these materials be suitable/better than nothing for silver melting or should I not worry about it at all and pure(ish) silver should not oxidize anyway? Or is there anything else that might work?

I would suggest charcoal and no flux. Keep molten time to a minimum. Charcoal is used on molten lead for long periods to reduce oxidation. For many copper alloys , hydrogen absorption is a problem ; it evolves during freezing causing porosity. I read in ASM Metals Handbook that molten silver may absorbs oxygen causing porosity. Charcoal should provide some protection from both H and O..
Borax seems pretty easy to get in the US. However, long ago I mixed flux to make a slag for copper alloys , it primarily contained : soda ash ( sodium carbonate), beach sand ( silica), and fluorspar. There are a number of sites on the net that sell proprietary fluxes ( for copper alloys). And one site gives info on the flux
 components -  911 metallurgist.


What type of paint should I use to decorate a kitchen appliance? I got a blender for a present, and its body is black plastic. Because of a family joke, we'd like to paint some purple decorations on it. This is inspired by very artistic hand painted stand mixers have seen, such as:

I'm not sure what type of paint to use for this project. What will smoothly and cleanly cover appliance plastic, and not wear away over time (considering it may be regularly handled, and also need light washing on occasion)?

There are special paints for plastic. If there is nothing in the colour you want, you may use plastic paint as primer/undercoat and use acrylic paint on top of that.
Be aware that plastic has a very smooth surface, so you have to sand it first in order to give the paint some texture to hold.
You may also want to apply a layer of lacquer as a finish, for extra durability.


Is there any way to uncrush an empty toilet paper tube so that it's circular again? I have a lot of empty toilet paper tubes, that I'm using for a project (see my previous question). However, sometimes, before I have a chance to staple them, the tubes get crushed. (I keep them in my room and I'm not the most neat person...)

They end up like this:

They then end up rather... square when I unbend them:

Is there any way to uncrush them so that they're circular again?

Unfortunately you won't be able to completely "uncrush" the tube again.

Remember that we are dealing with cardboard here, which is essentially a mass of compacted fibers. When you create a crease (or two as in your photo), you are effectively destroying the fibers' structure and tearing some of them. Straightening the crease with mean you still have torn fibers at the former crease, no matter which method you choose.

If you want to reshape nevertheless, pressure on the two creased ends alone will create a parabolic shape and likely that new crease in the middle (or at a weak point somewhere) and the "square" result. At minimum, you need to "hold back" the center with your second hand, molding the original shape. Combined with a cylindrical balloon (blow up once first and deflate again for easier use) from Willeke's answer, you should be fine.

But there's a big caveat:
If you need tubes with maximum stability for some "load bearing" in your project, the reshaped ones might look good, but will bend again at the creases almost immediately. You might want to discard them and resort to intact ones.


How do I get my Envelopener to cut cleanly every time? The Envelopener is a letter opener/paper cutter that's favored by origami folders because it cuts along folds precisely, there's no way you're gonna injure yourself, and it's highly portable. It's sold on multiple origami sites.  You can see a video of it in action on Youtube. There's no brand name on it, and you can apparently get these things branded yourself. It appears to be of European manufacture.

It works like a dream.  Most of the time.

Then there are the times it stubbornly sticks and won't cut at all. The cutter basically has a fixed exacto knife blade in it, and plastic guides that separate the layers of paper around the blade.  But sometimes, both layers can go through the same channel (so no cuts), or the paper binds up against something in the channels (so sticks).  Any ideas on fixes or techniques to get around these two issues?

I use envelopeners a lot and indeed prefer them to any other means of cutting paper in almost all cases. Here are some tips from my experience:

Regarding the cutting tool itself:

First of all, envelopeners are consumables: they will become blunt over time and there's not much you can do about it. Since they are cheap, simply replace them once in a while, especially if you start running into issues more often than you used to. Your mileage may vary depending on how often and what types of paper you cut, but mine last less than half a year.
The blade which sits inside the tool is pressed between two halves of the plastic case. You can open the case by inserting a fingernail or a screwdriver blade into the narrow gap between the two halves. This will allow you to:

Clean the blade from paper residue which gathers around it. Some envelopeners have a shaft which is supposed to allow the lint to escape from the blade but this does not always work perfectly.
When closing the case, press the two pieces of the case firmly together. Sometimes the two halves become a little loose, causing the blade to not be mounted in a fully symmetric manner, which can cause both parts of the paper to move around a single side of blade instead of getting the blade exactly in between them.

As for the cutting technique:

The envelope opener works best if the crease along which you cut is perpendicular to the paper edge. So, it's good for cutting squares but much worse for cutting hexagons. Personally, I use a Swiss Army knife or scissors for cutting hexagons since the envelopener doesn't handle them well.
Sometimes you run into problems such as splitting the sheet into layers instead of cutting along the edge when trying to cut thick paper and the crease along which you cut is pressed too firmly (e.g. using a bone folder). So, sometimes it helps to either not make the crease that sharp, or to fold it in the reverse direction after folding, which also results in a somewhat less sharp fold.
As mentioned above, an envelope opener consists of two plastics casing parts with the blade fixed in the middle right between them. These two halves of the case do not always perfectly fit together and there may be a small gap between them. Sometimes when you start cutting, you may press the paper too deep inside the casing, which causes the creased part of the paper to get stuck in this narrow gap. The solution is to check that you are not inserting the paper too deep.

While these tips do not guarantee a 100% success rate, and I still occasionally make a bad cut, I think that I have become better at using the envelopener over time, so I hope they are helpful for others, too.

UPDATE: I summarized these tips and some more in an article on my homepage


On what factors does choosing pencil shading technique depend? There are different types of shading techniques like criss cross, straight lines, circular shading, blending, scribbling, and dot shading (drawing dots close to each other).

Of course there are not hard and fast rules in drawing, but there are guidelines. Hence the question - on what factors does choosing shading technique depend?

In it's basic form you are looking to choose your shading technique based on what you want your end result to look like. I only draw in pencil and usually that is a mechanical pencil or a basic HB2.

Most of what I will refer to here is the first drawing book I really read and used: Dragons: Learn to draw step by step

  There are different types of shading techniques like criss cross, straight lines, circular shading, and dot shading

Other names for those are crosshatching (criss cross), hatching (straight lines), circular strokes (circular shading), stippling (dot shading). You also forgot to mention blending and basic scribbling. I am sure there are some other but I think that covers the basics.

The following picture from the book shows some of those shading techniques, done in pencil, in action.

Click image to enlarge and see finer detail

While these techniques are used with pen and ink they are not exclusive to those tools (Blending not so much). Since pen and ink are more permanent then say pencil some guides recommend that you do you rough drawing in pencil anyway. That would include shading as well.

Using pencil is a simple way to get a soft and subtle appearance.

  [W]hat factors does choosing shading technique depend?

Nothing really other than your desired end effect. As you can see in the above picture it is still a dragon regardless of the shading technique used. Personal preference would play a large role in this.

You could use a combination of cross and regular hatching as a means of having different levels of darkness but that is not the sole way of doing it. In the end it does not matter and pick whichever one would compliment the work best or whatever you think would look better.


What should I use to connect my empty toilet paper rolls? I'm building a pyramid made out of empty toiler paper rolls. I'm creating the pyramid as a bunch of rows, with the first row being a singe tube, the second one has two tubes connected, etc. (When it falls over this makes it a lot easier to reassemble, and makes it more portable (although at 36 rows it's sort of impossible to move.).)

Click link in first sentence for full-sized image.

But I need something good to keep the rows together. I've tried using

Tape
Glue
Staples

Each of these was insufficient in some way.

Tape

This was easily the worst, and also my first. I took two rolls, and a length of tape, and put the tape on the ends, the thin part. Sort of like [/][\]. On both sides.
This didn't work well, as the tape didn't always stick. It also got dirty and fell off. And when the pyramid fell, the tape would often fall off, defeating the purpose.

Glue

This was okay (my second try). I glued the rolls to each other by the sides, sort of like []|[].
This worked... meh. The glue took a long time to dry. When the pyramid fell over, the rows would sometimes snap. Not often, but as the glue got older, it started to break more often. And it was very, very, hard to move the position after it dried.

Staples

This might be the best so far. I staple them twice, like

[]-[]
[]-[]

(that's two tubes, not four)

They don't take that much effort, and they usually hold. But they tend to fall out/bend if I leave the row bent for any length of time.

Is there something else that I can use that

will hold if the row is bent
is easy to apply
is readily available
won't make a mess?

Paperclips (even if just from behind, though from both front and behind would be sturdier; each tube would be clipped to all the tubes adjacent to it).

[Edit: oh, btw, the ends of the paperclips should penetrate through the adjacent walls of the tubes for greater stability of the lower rows as the pyramid gets taller]


Can I melt or weld broken ABS plastic back together? I'm still working on developing a game plan for repair and customization of some action figures, and I'm wondering about making the broken parts a single piece again without the use of epoxy.

The issue with the epoxies is that the they need more surface to stick on, and some of these pieces have very thin surface areas where the break occurred.

If I could melt or reform the separate pieces into one, problem solved!

Back in my University days I worked at a place that used to modify vending machines to allow 12oz cans to be vended in 16oz machines. They did this by adding ABS blocks to the racks using a very liquid substance that lightly melted the ABS and allowed the bond to form. It was a very tight bonding.

The closest I've found to that, and probably your best bet if you don't mind buying it, is Plastruct Plastic Weld. This may even be the hobby version of the stuff I used back in the day, the effect is the same based on the description.

I also understand that acetone (otherwise known as nail polish remover) can have a similar effect on plastics of various sorts. If you have some junk plastic to test with, this is worth trying. You're not using a lot, you just need to dip the parts to be bonded in or brush it on with a non-plastic brush or cotton swab.


What kind of glue to use for **large area** paper to wood that is visible while wet? I am having trouble getting a gluing process that I like for large surfaces. I need to attach wrapping paper to 4'x8' sheets of plywood. For small paper-to-wood gluing, wood glue works great. For slightly larger regions, up to about 11x17, 3M 77 works great. But at the multiple square feet scale, I find myself getting gaps in my coverage -- it's quite hard to see when the whole surface is covered by the spray -- so when I later cut the wood on a laser cutter, parts of the paper peel away from the wood.

Another problem with the 3M 77 at that scale is the fumes -- just about killed myself with that much spray all at once, even outdoors with good breeze!

I tried using wood glue over an entire sheet-- that experiment ended poorly. An entire bottle of glue barely covered the top quarter of the plywood! So while it seems like I would like some sort of spreadable, visible glue that I could lay down on, I think most of those options are out.

In my dream world, there's some sort of magic, odorless, 3M 77 blended with spray paint so I can tell when I've got even coverage because the wood changes color when sprayed. I don't think anything like that exists. So... how close can I get to that dream?

This sounds like quite a similar situation to applying wallpaper. Wallpaper is normally hung with wallpaper adhesive, a thickish paste with a relatively long drying time.

The advantage of this is that you can apply it to the paper and let it soak in for a few minutes before attaching the paper to the plywood, which should help ensure you don't miss any bits.


How to tack fuse glass frit and keep pores in glass I am trying to make a glass sheet that is porous and I am looking for tips on my kiln cycle program. I have soda lime glass beads that I crushed into a powder and I am planning on pouring them into a glass frit mold.

I just want to do a gentle tack fuse such that the powder forms a cake that moves as a single piece.

Any advice on hold temps/time and heating/cooling rates would be much appreciated.

Try using the glass beads without grinding them to a powder first. The spaces between the spheres would then give you the pores you are looking for. Alternately you could mix in a material with a higher melting point to create gaps, being sure you do not fire above what is needed to fuse the lime glass. The risk here is different expansion rates between the materials may cause it to fracture and you may not be able to get all of the resist material out of the finished piece.

Soda lime glass has a relatively low melting point (505°C), lower than borosilicate glass. You could tack them together using a torch instead of a annealer/kiln. Then you would have direct visual control over the amount of fusing and/or melt. If that is not possible then target the kiln to just touch their melting point and immediately start to cool.


Is alder wood too hard to whittle? I'm very new to wood carving, and have bought my first two tools, both Beaver Craft whittling knives. I've seen a couple videos on YouTube of a man doing tutorials and it looks like his knife, without too much pressure, goes very deep into the wood. I cannot do this with the Alder wood I've got, and after whittling for quite a while, my knife does seem a bit duller than it was. Is Alder too hard a wood to be using a good knife on? I see people say that you want a harder wood to keep a good longevity on the product, but i don't want to ruin my knives either. Thanks in advance for your wisdom!

No, it's not too hard.

For the beginner, Basswood and Butternut woods are the easiest to carve.  Don't be confused about the hardwood and softwood definitions as they aren't literal interpretations of the wood's hardness.

One source for carving woods is Heinecke Wood Products - https://www.heineckewood.com/

The Sculpture Studio has a list of some of the woods commonly used:

http://www.thesculpturestudio.com/typesOfWood.html

Metal is harder than all of the woods, but some wood is harder to cut than others due to the density, grain, and water content.

Sharpening knives

There are a lot of videos about sharpening knives out there.

Bottom line, start coarse and graduate to finer and finer grits.  At the end, stropping is the finest of the grits.

To strop, mount a piece of leather to a small board.  Rub a buffing compound into the leather and then pull the blade across it, backward so as to be actually honing the blade.  Besides the sharpening procedure, one of the keys to sharpening lies in the type of metal used to make the knife.

Cheap metal blades do not hold their edges very long and must be continually resharpened.

Good metal blades will require less sharpening and don't require such time consuming maintenance.  So choose knives carefully.

When stropping, the surface of the blade is being polished repeatedly.  This decreases the drag of the metal across the surface of the wood.

Up close, knife edges are really uneven and full of gaps and voids.  The goal in sharpening is to minimize them and create a smooth, even finish.

Longevity of the wood

Longevity of the wood depends on the environment it lives in.  Outdoor pieces will weather and be exposed to harsher, more extreme fluctuations which will cause cracking and checking.  Outdoor pieces should be coated with a UV and moisture resistant finish specifically designed for the exposure.

Safety

Do not overlook the need for a thumb guard and carving glove.  These items are truly essential.  A properly sharpened carving knife will cut, gouge, slice, poke, stab, impale, and hurt the carver.  Think about a leather apron which may prevent a cut to the legs and chest while carving in the lap.  The femoral artery is exposed on the inner thigh area and is easily cut without some form of protection.

Further reading

Great references for carving include
 Gene Messer - https://www.youtube.com/user/whittler0507
 Doug Outside (channel) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-eOXKXJ2GQ1gewivwNxYKQ
 Kevin Coates - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHIwp6WJZdGvySIdpmxq5Yw

Happy Carving !


How can I quickly and easily pencil in guide and slant lines for lettering/calligraphy? I'm really getting tired of repeatedly having to measure out and draw guide and slope lines for lettering or calligraphy with a ruler.  Is there a faster, easier, more consistent way to do this?

Note: This is a more expensive, albeit an efficient method.

Requirements:

A bright lightbox, or lightpad
A grid printout

An alternative would be to get a lightbox/lightpad, and place gridded paper beneath the sheet you are drawing to. When illuminated, the grid should be visible through your worksheet (this depends on the brightness of your lightpad, and the thickness of the paper you are writing on).

I have tested my own lightpad with 300gsm watercolour paper and it shines through quite well (it's a Huoin, though there are similar products available on Amazon. Make sure your lightpad is bright enough to shine through your desired paper! My lightpad's brightness is advertised as "1758 cd/ m2, luminous flux: 1800~2100 mcd".)

The grid that you use will depend on the size of the letters and your choice of calligraphy style. A quick google image search for "calligraphy grid" yields plenty of useful grids, including italicized grid lines for italic scripts. A simple printout of the grid is all you need, printed at the scale you like.

This method allows you to work at a faster pace, and reuse the paper grids again and again.


Handmade ceramic plate cracking after putting hot food on it I had made a set of plates (from slab) with the Plainsman’s coffee clay and glazed it with John Britts’ 3M4 glaze (dipped half in 3M4 base and other half 3M4 +2.5% rutile). I’ve been using them for weeks with hot and cold food, in the dishwasher and everything.
Tonight when I put hot food on one, it cracked through the glaze and the clay.
Is this problem due to the clay and glaze not fitting together?
And how do I go about fixing it?

It is the glaze and the lack of annealing the piece. In lampworking, glass  needs to be annealed to decrease any stress in the glass so it will not crack.  Ceramics that are glazed are glass covering the ceramics, so it also  needs to be annealed, with a slow cooling of the piece when fired.
It would also help if you find out the COE of the glaze if you can so you can hold the temperature of the kiln at the best temperature to reduce the stress of the glaze.
I personally do not know what that would  be.  Possibly, just slowing down the firing process; reducing the temperature very slowly to say twice what  you did before.


Is it possible to combine charcoal and graphite in one image? I'm drawing an image with quite a large range of tones and I plan to draw the darker tones in charcoal. However, I used a graphite pencil for the preparatory drawing. Is it still possible to draw with charcoal even in an area where graphite has been applied, or do I have to prepare the area before adding the charcoal?

Yes, you can mix media. But you need to preserve some of the tooth of your paper's surface to successfully transition from working with graphite to charcoal.
The tooth of your paper determines how well things will catch and hold to the surface of the paper.
As you pass your pencil, or charcoal, across the paper's surface little bits of the drawing tool are abraded and deposited onto the drawing surface. Its the abraded pencil material sitting in the grooves of the paper that form the image. Unlike paint that gets absorbed and wicked into the fibres of the paper the abraded dust particles of your pencil are caught and held by the fibres of the paper. Not absorbed but held in place. This is why very smooth paper doesn't take to pencil very well. A smooth piece of paper won't abrade material off the pencil. No deposited material. No image.
Now the problem with pencils is they are made from a material that can fill and smooth the tooth of the paper quite well. The "graphite" in pencils is made from mixture of graphite and clay. Heavily working your pencil over the paper's surface will cause two things to happen: the tooth of the paper will be worn down and there will be a large deposit of graphite and clay filling the remaining voids in the paper. I have had it happen to me where I have overworked a pencil drawing and the surface of the paper has what almost looks like a mirror finish. The burninshing results in a perfectly smooth surface that nothing can grab onto, not charcoal or paint will stick to these burnished areas.
So in your case if you have been gentle with the application of graphite to the surface of the paper and retained some of the tooth then you should have no worries about working charcoal onto the surface as well.


Which adhesives work well when gluing vinyl to plastic? I am looking to glue some vinyl tablecloth material (the type you can buy anywhere in France as it is waterproof and usually left out on garden tables) to a plastic swing bin. Does anyone know which adhesives are best to use for this?

I recommend using plumbing silicon (not acrylic) from a tube, the kind that is used to seal the gap between a sink and porcelain tiles. It will remain flexible and if you spread it evenly it will stick pretty much forever. It is also quite cheap and waterproof - one tube should be enough for you.

Lay your vinyl sheet on the bin, mark it and cut it to shape before you glue. Press out long lines on your bin, smear them flat with a tool and place the middle of your sheet on the bin - working outwards. Let cure for 24 hours.


Can air-drying clay projects be preserved? My son loves making animals and monsters with Play Doh (an air-drying dough). However, his sculptures tend to crumble and deform and crack while drying, which annoys him.

Is there a technique to preserve Play Doh projects that we could try? Or should I help him switch to using different, more durable clays?

If you're using Play-Doh specifically, Hasbro's FAQ tells you this:

  Play-Doh compound is designed to use over and over again. If allowed to harden (to preserve a creation) it will most likely crack.

  Look for oven curable clay at your local craft stores to make long lasting creations.

Which isn't helpful, since it essentially says "you can't".

However, you can attempt to bake and seal it. Drawing some information from this guide, we can get started.

Start by preheating your oven to 200°F or 90°C. Make sure your Play-Doh sculpture is stable, and place it on a sheet of aluminum foil on top of a cookie sheet or something comparable.
Bake the sculpture for 10–15 minutes. If you have thicker parts on the sculpture, you'll have to bake for longer.
I recommend making some test sculpture, like simple tubes, of different thicknesses. By baking these, you can test out how long it takes in your particular oven. You can test if the bake was long enough by breaking the test tube in half and making sure the moisture is gone from the center.
After it's baked, you'll need to apply a varnish to seal the sculpture. You'll want a product that's water proof, and most will do that. Avoid spray varnishes, because the propellant chemicals may affect the sculpture over time. There are varnishes specifically for sculptures, but some people have had success with sculpture by using clear wood finishes.

When you apply the varnish, make sure you get every spot. Use a fine brush to get into crevices. After the first coat dries, go back over to get the bottom of the sculpture and wherever you held it.

And that should do it. Of course, I would test it with a lump, first, to make sure the varnish you're using doesn't result in a sticky texture or soften the Play-Doh as you apply it.


I need a glue that won't turn opaque or run I'm trying to glue something to a rock and need a glue that won't turn cloudy over time. I've spoken to several glue manufacturers to no avail. I have also tried about 6 brands so far and none remain clear even if they were clear before drying. The closest I've gotten is with Elmer's. It dried clear but within 6 months became cloudy. Any suggestions? Thanks for thinking about this. I should also mention I need the glue to stay in a "blob" in certain areas so the paint on the underlying rock surface will show through the well-defined dollop of glue. As I said, I used Elmer's which turned cloudy but it didn't run, so that was half the battle. Sorry I didn't mention this in the first version of my question. I did get some answers one being heat-activated adhesive which I have not tried as yet. I have tried Gorilla Glue (dried cloudy) and Duco Cement (was very runny).

Use a clear liquid epoxy resin, construction adhesive, 'Gorilla Glue', or 'Iron Grip' silicone adhesive:

  Liquid epoxy resins dry clear and hard, bonding stones that may not
  fit snugly together. It may make some stones look wet in the area of
  application. Since this resin is a liquid, it runs a bit after you
  apply it, so it can pool beneath the stones if you use too much. Epoxy
  resin works well on stones, both large and small.

source: smaller scale than what the OP might have in mind, but still a valid example of an end result. Be sure to work safer than the author, though.

As per this site, be sure to warm up the resin before application (though not with a heat gun or similar device), as this may help prevent it from turning cloudy.
In case of outdoor use, be sure to pick an epoxy that is UV stabilized.
Additionally, make sure you apply it in a dry environment and protect it from getting wet (also while curing), and don't overmix it. *

Update: you won't be able to get blobs with epoxy resin, unfortunately.

The following glues are commonly or regularly used for glueing brick walls together, or glueing stones to a vertical surface.

  Construction adhesive, offered in a caulk-style tube, creates bonds
  strong enough to hold larger stones together, such as baseball-style
  stones or river rocks around the perimeter of a homemade garden pond.

Make sure you're using a clear variant.

source
'Clear Gorilla Glue' (no affiliation):

  The strength and versatility you have come to expect from Gorilla Glue
  is now available in an easy to use, crystal clear, non-foaming
  formula. Clear Gorilla Glue is incredibly strong and is ideal for
  indoor and outdoor applications and bonds virtually everything.

See here for an example of mortar replacement. Mind that the regular unclear version is used.
'Iron Grip Adhesive Silicone' (no affiliation):

  Made from 100% silicone, GE Iron Grip adhesive works fast on almost
  any porous and non-porous surface, including aluminum, steel, PVC,
  glass, concrete, fiberglass, polystyrene, plywood, drywall, ceramic,
  porcelain, stone, laminate, wood and MDF – indoors and out – all
  without any extra surface prep.

Clear curing. Here's a commercial video, showing the glue used on concrete blocks. As always, check the reviews.

* More useful information on the application of epoxies can be found here.


Remove or hide red colour from trackpad on laptop I have this Lenovo Y720 laptop which got an overall black design, but this one red square is driving me nuts. Is there a way to paint it black or some vinyl I can add? There are no skins for it.

My first thought would be to use 1/8" black pinstripe tape for the long straight red parts.  Cut the tape to length before applying it to the touchpad edges.  Never apply the knife tip against the touchpad.

The rounded over corners are probably too tight for the tape to bend around smoothly but it might be worth a try.  If the thin tape alone can't make the bend, Oracal makes wider rolls (sold from the same amazon page above).  You could apply some of the 1/2" pinstripe tape to a non-stick surface (like a plastic cutting board) then cut out the corner curve using an xacto-blade.  Again, keep the knife away from the touchpad.

Please note that I have recommended tapes that cost over 20 dollars total which puts you within 10 bucks of the cost of this black carbon-fiber skin which appears to be specifically made for your laptop.  (The same manufacturer also has a charcoal wood skin that makes me consider buying a Y720 for myself.  I do a lot of shou-sugi-ban finishes on my woodwork, so the charcoal style is perfect for me).


Push-to-open lid for box using a special latch? Imagine an open topped rectangle box: it has a bottom and four walls. An interior box fits or nests inside that, and, when seated, is flush with the top.
I want to find a latch/device so that I can push down on the top to disengage it and allow the nested box to rise up and reveal a compartment. Pushing it back down will of course relatch it.

The first response that popped into my alleged mind was a push-to-open latch. The link points to a Home Depot product, but there are many sources. Consider the concept of the lowly retractable ball-point pen. One push extends, the next, retracts.

image courtesy of linked site
The image shows a magnetic attractor to mate with a metal plate on the moving part. If your project has sufficient depth, a single latch could be placed in the center of the inner box or be integrated into the moving portion.
There are other designs of push-to-open latches and some may have a lower profile.


How do I keep from breaking charcoal pencil leads when I sharpen them with a knife? I'm fairly good at sharpening graphite pencils with a knife using the technique in the answer in What is the proper way to sharpen a pencil?

But I'm always breaking the points when I try to sharpen charcoal pencils.

How to release the point from the wood when sharpening with a knife without breaking it?

What techniques can I use to sharpen charcoal pencils without breaking the points?

Sandpaper.

Really, imho the best way to sharpen charcoal pencils is by using sandpaper (100 grit). Works really, really well and the result is perfect.


Can an oil painting be finished with wax to create a matte finish? I've heard of paintings being finished with a thin wax coat, but I didn't know if this could be done with oil paintings specifically.

If wax is not compatible with dried oil paint, what other materials could be used to create a similar, even matte finish?

For clarification, I am asking if wax can be used in place of varnish on a finished, dried/cured oil-painting. If so, is there a specific kind of wax one would use in this circumstance?

Pure beeswax is compatible with oil paint and you can use it as a top coat or "varnish" on oil paints to provide a matte finish.

There are also cold wax mediums and varnishes that you can use with oil paints. They are a mixture of solvent like mineral spirits or turps, pure beeswax, and resins, the same materials you use to make mediums and varnishes for oil painting with the addition of beeswax. These you can work cold mixed with oils, dry pigments, or as a top coat to get a matte finish. In my experience they work fine but do not have the same depth as encaustics. They will take longer to set but will be easier to work with and provide a stronger finish than pure wax.

The curious may want to look at encaustic painting which is painting with pigmented beeswax and gives a distinctive appearance of depth and translucency which using a wax varnish approximates.


The differences between masculine and feminine features to improve my portraits Earlier this summer, I drew a portrait of a girl that I liked. It was a good drawing, but I cheated. I basically traced the important parts and carefully overlayed the photo for shading. I never actually showed the drawing to anyone because I felt so guilty. I promised myself I’d never fake a drawing again.

Anyway, after that I took up drawing and started really working to improve. I’ve been drawing on and off for the past couple months, but I didn’t really start drawing every day until this past month.

Normally, I draw from a reference photo. My reference photo drawings turn out much better than just a standard freehand drawing. But when I do a freehand drawing of a woman (A drawing without a reference photo) my drawing looks terrible. The woman doesn’t look very feminine. She doesn’t even look pretty.

Here is my freehand drawing I did yesterday:

A drawing of a woman from a reference photo:

In the second image, the woman acually looks pretty. The first woman just looks weird. I’m struggling to figure out the differences between masculine and feminine features to make my female drawings look better.

What can I do to improve? Ive searched all over looking for courses or guides to help myself improve, but there aren’t any that are free. Andrew loomis’ book says that women have larger eyes and lips, but that clearly didn’t turn out very well. Professional opinions and feedback are welcome.

I am no professional artist and don't draw any portraits, but I hope to offer you some insights free of prejudice and textbook mantras.

The woman on top doesn't look weird, masculine or ugly, she is just shaded unnaturally.

Light source

Every highlight and shadow depends on where your main source of light is positioned. In the lower drawing the woman is looking into the direction of the light source. In the upper drawing it's not clear where the light is comming from. Maybe to the left? Maybe in the direction of the viewer?

Shadows

The direct consequence of light is a shadow. In the lower drawing, the jawline casts a shadow onto the neck and the hair casts a shadow onto the jaw. Where both shadows combine it's darker than in other places.

Let's first concentrate on the left side of the upper drawing:

Her hair surrounding her forehead casts a shadow on her face but doesn't cast a shadow on her neck.
The hair in general looks quite natural with a flow of lighter and darker areas
The subtle highlights of her cheekbones and chin look very natural, too
The nose casts a shadow to both sides (but I know how f#ing difficult it is to draw a nose).

Now have a look at the right side of the upper drawing:

Most highlights indicate that the source of light should be in the upper left corner. The peak of her head should cast a shadow onto the hair on the right side, but there's a highlight instead.
Her right eye is brighter than the left one, as if the light shines from the right instead. BUT apart from that, the right eye is a perfect example of how it should look like with light comming from the left. You start with more details (more depth) on the left corner and let it fade into a smoth shadow to the right. Might be unintentional but looks perfect.
The cheekbone is again highlighted in a very natural way
On the jaw and neck light and shadows are reversed. The hair that is (probably) flowing over these areas is darker than the skin below. The perception of depth is absolutely destroyed and the hair looks flat or misplaced.

Anatomy

I cannot find any major flaw in anatomy in any picture. Maybe the ear on the upper picture is a little bit too high, but it's unmistakably a human ear. The round jaw and plush lips look very feminine and the proportions of the face looks about right. Good work.


Will commercially produced soap coated in epoxy resin last? I have started to resin-coat certain novelty soaps. I first coat in mod podge, then I give it 2 layers of epoxy glass resin. It is looking fabulous, but someone told me that soap has too much water in it to coat in resin. What will happen to it? Will it last?

Once epoxy resin is cured, it's extremely stable and resilient against mechanical and chemical damage. It's impossible to dissolve cured resin in water, so your soap is well protected.

Adding water to resin before it's cured is a problem, though, and probably the reason why the person told you it's impossible. As a rule of thumb, if you add other substances to the epoxy resin (like paint, ink or other water solutions), you cannot add more than 10% of the epoxi's volume. If you add too much other stuff, the epoxy will never cure completely and stay soft or bendable, tacky or even runny like honey forever.


A cork tree made of other materials? My question is this:regarding this item could it possible to make it out of other solid materials?
Theriatically it should be possible to do it with other materials, I just wanted to be sure.

I don't see any reason why a cork tree couldn't be created using other materials.  Wooden dowels, cut in one inch sections could be hot melt glued together for a similar effect.  The same could be done with cross sections cut from small tree branches.

On a larger scale, you could assemble a similar tree from empty aluminum cans or water bottles.  In both of those cases, you would want to align the containers upside down relative to the front of the artwork so that decorations can be added to their comparatively featureless bottom sides.

Theoretically, you could scale this up to paint cans, barrels or any grouping of cylindrical objects.


What colour is a mix of two perfectly proportioned complementary colours? I am still on my journey in colour. I'm currently sitting at my desk so I'm unable to test the following myself: if I add a colour's complementary colour to "meet in the middle", as it were, would they just be brown? Are they tertiary?

I understand now that it reduces the saturation.

As the answers in your other question (Why do complementary colours desaturate each other?) and the link in the comment by Danielillo address, it will in theory be a perfect grey: the complementary colours will have complementary temperature and value, so, after mixing, any pair of complementary colours will have the same perfectly neutral grey.

Of course, concerning the 'analogue' arts, in practice, other factors weigh in, like the quality and opacity of the pigment, and its coarseness. This will make the mixing harder, the proportions variable, and in most cases causes an overtone of the stronger colour.


Does a minimal difference in hook sizes really change the outcome of a project? For example: Is there a significant difference between a 15.75 mm crochet hook and a 16 mm crochet hook?

I have a pattern that calls for a 16 mm crochet hook, but all I was able to find was a 15.75 mm crochet hook.

You'll probably be fine. One quarter of a millimeter isn't a huge difference, particularly considering how large the hook is.

The reality is that the hook size is just a suggestion. Different crocheters will need to use different hook sizes depending on their tension. Someone who crochets very loose will need to use a smaller hook for the same project while someone who crochets tight will need to use a larger one.

Assessing gauge is necessary when starting many projects. Some are pickier than others. A shawl/blanket/scarf is unlikely to need you to find your gauge first as you're not working to size anything. Hook size and yarn weight is much more flexible in these projects. On the other hand, clothing (like a sweater) will require you to use the proper gauge for you to get the item sized properly.

If gauge matters for this project, work a test swatch using your hook and compare it to the recommended size. If your pattern says that 8 stitches is an inch and your test swatch gets only 7 stitches to the inch, you need a smaller hook. If, however, you get 9 stitches, you'll need a bigger hook.


What is the name of this knit stitch? I want to make the head band in this video. It's not in English and I'm not familiar with that knitting style as I'm a beginner. Could somebody tell me the name of the knit stitch?

This pattern is done in moss stitch/seed stitch, which are two names for the same stitch.  There are plenty of resources on line for learning it, but it is really very simple:

Cast on an odd number of stitches (the odd number is really
important)
Each row will be worked the same--start knit 1, purl 1, and repeat to the end of the row

Because you cast on an odd number of stitches, each row ends with a knit 1.  When you turn it around to work in the other direction, you work a knit right on top of the last knit stitch, and a purl on top of a purl stitch.  This creates this bumpy texture.

Knit stitches make a sort of V-shape on the front of the fabric.  Purl stitches make a horizontal line on the front of the fabric.  If you look at the picture closely, you can see that this fabric is made up of horizontal lines with Vs sitting directly on top of the lines. It is actually much easier to see the line of knit "V"s, if you look at a ribbed pattern*:

Ribbing is made the same way as moss stitch, but you start out by casting on an even number of stitches. In this case, when you finish a row, you end with a purl stitch, and when you go back in the other direction, you work a knit stitch on top of that purl stitch, and then a purl on top of a knit stitch, all the way across.

A ribbed piece has a lot of stretch to it, so it is often used for sweater cuffs, or the bottom of hats, etc. Moss/seed stitch does not stretch much, and will also make the fabric lay flat, rather than the curling you often get with stockinette stitch (all knit stitches in one direction, all purl in the other).

A quick hint I will add for newbies working moss/seed stitch.  When you get to the end of the row, and turn your work, your yarn will be in front of the work, in position for a purl stitch.  In order to work a knit stitch, you have to get the yarn to the back of the work, which you do by carrying the yarn underneath the needle to the back of the piece.  A problem that many new knitters run into is that they actually wrap the yarn over the top of the knitting needles to get it to the back of the work, and then when they work back to that end, they accidentally work this additional loop as if it was a stitch. This is also an issue when working the knit stitch in both directions (called garter stitch), and is the most common reason so many new knitters find that their pieces get wider as they work (and have holes at the edges).

*Please note that the second picture actually shows a piece knit using brioche stitch, but it does such a good job of illustrating the ribbing pattern that I used it anyway.

ETA:  As @jkadlubowska pointed out, the picture labeled Moss Stitch actually shows double moss stitch, meaning that you can actually see are two knit "Vs" and two purl bumps.  But just like the brioche stitch sample, I think it easier to see the knit Vs and purl bumps in this picture, so I am leaving it as is.


Does latex perform well underwater? I need to build some decorative aquatic animals that will be inside a big fishbowl in a shopping mall. The question is: Can I use latex to create these pieces, or the latex deteriorates when submerged in water for a long time? The decoration must be underwater for at least 1 month (the longest the better) before needing any maintenance.

Latex will survive at first, but you will need to consider the hardness and any other chemicals that might be in the water. Depending on the water’s properties and the grade of your latex, it might be falling apart sooner rather than later.

I would recommend for your application that you consider using casting silicon, which is a two part component that you will mix and pour into forms. Alternatively you can “brush” it onto fiberglas mesh - or even on top of styrodor foam that you have shaped.

There are also silicon paints that are very robust.

EDIT
Latex is an organic material, and organic materials decompose. Depending upon the aggressiveness of the environment this can happen slowly or quickly. Microorganisms can assist this, as can acidic water or water that has chemical additives, such as chlorine.

Regarding toxicity of silicon, some grades, when hardened, can even be used for food preparation and can withstand great temperature changes.


What binding options are there for an A3 sketchbook that I can rearrange or add pages to? I want to start a project sketchbook where I will put all of my existing notes for 1 specific project, separated into different sections, and with a table of contents, to arrange them and have a central point for my notes on that project.
It will mostly be text but will also include process flow diagrams and pasted photos, so I want plain paper without printed lines.
I want it to be A3 size, and I thought of getting a plain A3 sketchbook, but there may be a time where 1 page is not enough for a specific section that is between other full pages, so I wonder what options there are for something so I can add a new page in the middle.

You can make your own sketchbook ring binder:

That way, new blank A3 pages, as well as coloured index tabs, can easily be added anywhere.
You can perforate new pages yourself using a hole puncher.
If your project files consist of a lot of loose or thick objects, you can also opt for a binder box.


Maintaining/improving drawing skills without having the time to draw I'm at school, and my days are busy, I can't draw and do homework at the same time, and my greatest fear is that I lose my drawing skills since I'm looking for scholarships. I mainly work with charcoal.
Any tips on how I can maintain my skills?

The following exercises can be done with most writing or drawing utensils while focusing on other things. They will train your imagination, and will maintain your hand-eye coordination and finger and hand movements involved with drawing:

Take your utensil of choice, find an even and blank surface and doodle.
This can be done while listening to lectures or podcasts, and could even help you concentrate better.

Write differently. Instead of your regular handwriting, experiment with other types. Try writing in cursive, mirrored, with your other hand, or only using capitals, &c.
This is easy to do while doing your homework or taking notes.

The following things can be done in the margins of your (note)books, or on small pieces of paper you happen to carry, like receipts. They will need temporary attention, however:

Do small exercises. For example, experiment with different kinds of hatching, try giving simple forms (spheres, cubes, pyramids, blobs) a convincing apparent three-dimensionality, combine different colours to see how they interact, or draw only residual shapes (the shapes between objects), &c.

Make quick sketches of objects around you. Limit the time you spent on a single drawing. Try to alternate what you focus on: shading, proportions, volume, contrast, composition, &c.

Hang up a single or a few sketches by (old) masters (e.g. Annibale Carracci, Albrecht Dürer, Francisco de Goya) where it is that you study, and observe these whenever you feel like you can use a short break from your homework or studying.
Pay attention to the lines: the accuracy and swiftness with which they were put on paper, the changes in their thickness and what they signify. Analyze the hatching, and how those lines relate to each other and to the contours of the object drawn. This will hone your observational skills, enhance your knowledge of drawing, and likely increase your urge to draw (which is either a good or a bad thing in this situation :).


Is this leather veg tanned? I'm embarking on my first leatherwork project, a laptop sleeve. I read a few guides online and feeling inspired bought a piece of leather - second hand - off a certain online auction site.

On opening the leather at first I was very pleased with the colour, it was described in the listing as "saddle tan, veg tan". However after making some test cuts to get a feel for it I've noticed that the dark brown colour of the leather is really only on the very top surface, the underside looks like the original lighter colour, as does the cross section of the cut.

Is this the way it should look? On all of the guides I've been reading online the leather appears to be a more consistent colour. My fear is that it has not been tanned correctly and the colour will rub off rather quickly. If this is the case, are there steps I can take to prevent this happening?

It looks to me like you're conflating the tanning with the dyeing processes:

Tanning vs Dyeing

Tanning is how you turn a piece of rawhide into leather - it does change the colour, but that's not the main purpose.

Dyeing is how you change the colour of an already tanned piece of leather.

Telling Veg-tanned and Chrome-tanned leather apart

There are two main ways to check if a piece of leather is chrome or veg tanned. The first is stiffness - veg tanned leather is normally quite stiff, and can be impressed when dampened.

The second is colour; undyed veg-tanned leather is a salmon-pink fleshy colour (like you have), whereas undyed chrome tanned leather is normally blueish-grey.

Your leather

Looking at your picture, it looks to me like a piece of veg-tanned leather that's been surface dyed rather than through dyed - the dye has been applied to the surface and hasn't had a chance to soak right the way through. This is quite normal for pieces of leather that were bought undyed and dyed at home.

Unless you have other reasons to be concerned, I'd say that the tanning is perfectly fine and you have nothing to be worried about there.

Yes, the dye will fade and rub off more quickly than if it were through-dyed, but you can always apply more dye if you need to. Applying some sort of leather finish such as dubbin should slow the fading.


Techniques for markers I was gifted a small set of quality markers (think Copic, not Crayola). The last time I used markers to color was as a kid where I just scribbled in solid colors. The ink was always a little uneven and you could see where the strokes overlap. Since these are nice, I want to make sure I'm  using them properly!

I'm familiar with techniques for acrylic paints, watercolors, and colored pencil. I suspect watercolor techniques are the most similar to markers, as far as layering colors, but there's obviously quite a few differences.

What are some basic techniques for using markers?

There are a lot of artists online who use Copic markers or a mix of Copic, other brands and even other media like pencils to create texture or white ink for highlights. Often a lot of cool images you see online are actually a mix media of markers and other materials.

Lets start at the beginning though... You mentioned markers you used to use had uneven coloring. Most basic markers or kids markers will do this. Markers like Copic, ProMarkers etc are alcohol based, they don't dry as quickly on the page, allowing you to create a nice block of color or to blend two colors together.

You need to be careful when coloring though, your color edge can dry and then you'll be left with a visible seam in your color block. Always follow the wet edge of color adding to it each time before it dries, and even go back over your colors so you get a solid block of ink down if that's what you're looking for, as the first pass might be a bit uneven depending on your paper type.
This video will help explain what I mean if you're like me and like to learn visually: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZpBpAdQliU.  That YouTube channel actually has a good amount of information on Copics that may help you get started.

So, a great way to start is to practice blending colours together if that's your style. I suggest diving in and using the markers to get a feel for them, I used promarkers for a long time and it took be a little while to get used to them at the beginning because they were very different from what I was used to (Faber Castell / Crayola etc).

Paper is always an important factor to me. Specifically designed marker paper (Daler&Rowney, Letraset, Copic etc all make it) helps maintain control over the ink flow. For me anyway, drawing on regular paper or cardstock meant going too close to the edge of my ink outline risked it leaking beyond - Marker paper was amazing for this and reduced bleed a huge amount for me. It may all depend on your style and what kind of pieces you want to make. Don't just stick with one paper type, try a few and experiment, you'll probably find you prefer different papers for different styles and quickly choose a favorite.

Aside from blending another great way to use these types of markers is by layering in blocks. Rather than constantly trying to blend seams together, you can make great pieces by being hard and direct with your strokes, or make pieces that feel dynamic and full of motion by being loose and rough. Terrance_Unchained on Instagram is a great example of this. https://www.instagram.com/terrance_unchained/?hl=en. He uses chisel tipped copics a lot of the time to layer down blocks of color. If you follow the link in his profile he does a tutorial on his style. He also uses other inks and pencils etc to highlight and texture areas like I mentioned at the start. One of my favorite techniques of his that gave me an "omg that's genius moment" is when he's finishing up a picture, he'll go over the whole thing with the one color to tie all the tones together - I've yet to try this myself but it looks really cool.

Hope this all this helps! Good luck with your Marker adventure!
Clare


What kind of palm leaves or other material can be used for palm weaving? During the famous spice tours on Zanzibar, the locals make various nice presents (e.g. hats, frogs, ties, and handbags) by palm weaving. Since there are so many different plants on a spice farm, I don’t remember what kind of palm they use for palm weaving.

That leads me to my questions: What kind of palm leaves are originally used for palm weaving? What substitute material (that is easily available in Central Europe) can be used instead?

Various kinds of material can be used for this, including palm, banana, and coconut leaves. In Zanzibar specifically, according to the website Zanzibar Tribal Art, grass and ilala palm are used in their weaving:

  The products of grass and ilala palm weaving (such things as sleeping mats) and basketry are associated with the widest possible range of activities throughout a Zulu’s lifetime, touching virtually every domestic, social, and religious function.  These baskets are evidence of the expertise of these artisans and their ingenuity for using indigenous plants.  Traditionally Zulu women weave the African Zulu baskets using age-old, time-honored methods that are passed on from mother to child.  The patterns, each with their own meaning, vary from decorative bands to intricate triangles, diamonds, zig-zags, and checkerboard motifs.

I don't know how easy such materials would be to find in Central Europe, but apparently it's a strong tradition in Italy, where:

  All over Italy you will find decorative palms that have been exchanged as gifts, hung above doors or been placed in homes for good fortune. The art of palm weaving itself involves twisting the palm leaves into elaborate decorative designs.

More generally, it's a Catholic custom, and done in Catholic communities of various countries including Germany and Poland. According to this blogger (emphasis mine):

  Keeping braided palms around the house is part of this Catholic culture, and I continue to practice it just as my parents and grandparents did. When I was younger, I tended to associate this tradition with yet another oddly rural thing my family still observed, but in reality it is not so much rural as it is a German and Polish Catholic tradition, which makes sense why my family did it. Sadly, it is starting to become a lost art. That is the thing with traditions; they are only continued if they are passed down to the next generation.

So it looks as though palm leaves suitable for weaving should be reasonably easy to acquire in various European countries.


What kind of paper to use for airbrush practice? I'm just getting started with an airbrush and I plan to spend some time practicing basic techniques (dots, straight lines, curves, etc.) using cheap acrylic paints which I will dilute down to airbrush paint consistency.

I eventually plan to use my (yet to be developed) airbrush skills on smooth non-porous surfaces like metal and hard plastic.   At that time, I will move up to real airbrush paints, but I hope to have developed comfortable control of the brush before then.

Question: What cheap paper types are appropriate for beginner-level airbrush practice?

I'm assuming that "low-absorption" and "extremely smooth" are traits which I should be looking for, but beyond that, I don't have a clue.

Also, if there are non-paper mediums that would serve better, (I am currently using those red-plastic disposable plates)... please let me know.

The paper you are looking for is "Bond" which has a smooth plate surface.

You could also use Hard Press or Hot Press water color paper but that will be more absorbent.


How to repair leather belts? I have a black leather belt whose hole got so wide (due to using the buckle) that the belt cannot be safely used any more to hold the trousers.

Example: http://www.hood.de/i/schuchard-friese-guertel-82338253.htm .

Is there a way to repair the hole?

A few thoughts:

If the hole is being destroyed, you may be wearing the belt tighter than the leather will support.  If the belt is otherwise in good shape, you may be able to make a cosmetic repair to the hole, then use the belt at the next looser hole.
Cosmetic repair: If the leather is torn, try the grommet solution, below, after this repair.  If the hole is just stretched, try pressing it flat, using a tool to push the leather around the hole back into shape.  If needed, use shoe dye or a Magic Marker of the same color to restore color to areas around the hole.  Then apply super glue (thin liquid version) on the backside to saturate the leather around the hole.  Cover both sides of the repair with baking paper (it's silicone treated so the glue won't stick to it), put the repair under a weight, like a heavy book, and leave it overnight.
Functional repair: If you want to continue using the belt at the same hole, there are limited options for a repair that will hold up comparable to the original leather.  That type of buckle typically has a short hook that won't reach through the thickness of an added patch layer on the back.  You need a way to reinforce the hole.

The most practical way to do that is with a grommet.  If the buckle hook is right at the edge of the buckle and the grommet would be exposed and noticeable, you have a couple of choices.  One is to grind away the exposed edge of the grommet head before installing it (you then need to be careful about its orientation when you install it).  Another is to just add grommets to all exposed holes for a uniform appearance (they can be colored to match the belt, but they won't have the dress appearance of plain leather).

Start with the cosmetic repair described above.  For the grommet going into the damaged hole, augment it with two things.  One is a thin metal washer on the back side.  They may come with the grommets.  If not, cut one from a beverage can (just be sure there are no sharp edges or burs that can damage the trousers).

The grommet may have a "cupped" head to grab the leather and spread the stress over more than just the hole.  If not, glue the grommet and washer to the leather when installing it (even with a cupped head, it wouldn't hurt to glue the washer to reinforce the leather).  Use a neoprene-based glue like E6000, and wipe off the excess.  Let that dry for a few days (or at least until you can no longer smell the solvent) before using the belt.
That type of buckle typically attaches to the belt via a clamp on the backside.  The clamp pries open and snaps shut.  You can just replace the leather portion with another of the same width.  You can buy the strap without a buckle, or buy another belt long enough that you can cut off the buckle and insert the leather strap in this buckle.  One strategy is just to buy a cheap belt the right width, cut off the buckle and use the strap for as long as it lasts, then replace it again when it wears out.


Gold nibs vs steel nibs in fountain pens - Does it really matter? I recently purchased a steel nib fountain pen of Parker. I saw that the gold nib one was more expensive and I thought that gold nib might be for style hence I didn't purchase it.
What are gold nibs made of? Are they worth the price? Do they serve any other benefit other than style?

Gold nib fountain pens - invented around 1850 - were originally the standard as early (fountain pen) inks had corrosive properties. Although corrosion of nibs is no longer a problem, gold nibs have other advantages.
Pens of all kinds of metal (alloys) are often tipped with 'iridium' *, as the tip will have to endure the most. Apart from thickness and shape, the material qualities of the rest of the nib are decisive for the writing experience, as they determine ink flow and comfort of writing (that is, when compared to similar nibs of other materials on pens of equal size, shape, weight, balance, &c.).
Gold is the most malleable of the metals, so pure gold tips will relatively easily deform under the pressure of writing. This is why standard gold fountain pen nibs are made of 14, 18, or 21 karat gold (out of 24k), meaning (+/-) 42%, 25%, or 12,5% respectively consists of other metal(s) to strengthen the nib.
Nevertheless, when compared to other nibs, gold nibs are known for their suppleness, springiness, and a softer writing experience that adapts to the writer's hand.
Golden nibs are also praised for their durability. Gold (alloy) will last longer as it is less prone to corrosion than other metals, but modern steel alloys in combination with most modern inks will wear relatively slowly as well.
Whether golden nib fountain pens are worth the investment is impossible to answer objectively: it depends on how often and much one writes, personal preference with regards to the writing experience compared to the (wealth and often comparable qualities of) alternatives and the aesthetics of the precious metal over that of other materials, the cost-quality and cost-durability ratios, and whether or not and to what extent one regards such a pen as a statement and symbol of prestige.
One author makes the compelling case that gold nibs are only really worth it when you want the additional flexibility for line variation.

* More a synonym for 'fountain pen tip' than the actual metal, see https://www.nibs.com/blog/nibster-writes/wheres-iridium

Sources:

https://www.penheaven.co.uk/
https://www.writeherekitenow.co.uk/news/the-gold-standard-is-a-gold-nib-worth-the-money/
https://www.nibs.com/content/what-fountain-pen-nib

Further reading:

https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/4cfflr/gold_nibs_vs_steel_nibs_and_why/
https://edisonpen.com/in-praise-of-steel-nibs-2/


How much acrylic paint do I need to fill a 2x2 meter canvas? It's my first time painting a large canvas.

I want to buy Golden paints but I am not sure how much to get, with some room for experimentation too.

Get yourself a 10 x 10 centimetre square of your canvas and paint a test piece. Once you are happy with your painting measure the amount of paint that was used and then multiply it by 400. That is how much paint you will need to create the same image on a two by two meter square canvas.

2m = 200 cm

200 cm x 200 cm = 40 000 cm^2

10cm x 10 cm = 100 cm^2

40 000 cm^2 / 100 cm^2 = 400

Your 10 cm^2 canvas is 400 times smaller than your 2 m^2 canvas.

Going the other way, you would have to scale the test piece by 400 times for it to be the same size as your desired canvas.

Oh, and you can determine the amount of paint used by weighing your canvas (the 10 x 10 cm) one before and after painting. The difference in weight is the amount of weight added by the paint. Multiply that by 400 and you will have a good estimate for the amount needed.

Experienced carpenters add 20% for wastage. Carpenters are smart, they know things will go wrong.

So a safe number would be 480 times the amount.

400 x 1.2 = 480

How much actual paint could this be?

Let's say, it takes the artist the equivalent of a quarter of a 2 fl. oz. tube of paint to cover the 10 cm^2 canvas. That's 0.5 fl. oz. of paint to do the painting with.

0.25 x 2 fl. oz = 0.5 fl. oz.

Since the 2 m^2 canvas is 400 times bigger than the 10 cm ^2 canvas you would need a total of 200 fl. oz. to do the same painting as your test piece on the larger size canvas.

0.5 fl. oz. x 400 = 200 fl. oz.

That means you would have to purchase 100 tubes of the 2 fl. oz. paint tubes.

100 x 2 fl. oz. = 200 fl. oz.

Now I did say you need to account for wastage. Assuming 20% of your paint gets wasted. then the number of tubes needs to grow by 20%. That's 120 tubes of paint.

100 * 1.2 = 120 tubes of 2 fl. oz paint tubes.

Now lets say those 2 fl. oz. paint tubes cost $10 USD each. To buy 120 tubes at $10 USD each would cost you a total of $1200 USD.

120 * $10 USD = $1200 USD.

That's $1200 in paint alone.

The next time you go to a gallery show and see all those large paintings hanging on the wall know that the artist had to shell out a hell of a lot of money out of their own pocket to get those paintings made.

The greatest investment artists make are in themselves.


Strengthen or preserve a soap carving? After carving some soap per the suggestion here:

Is there a kid-safe carving material?

I made a small, but fragile design that I'd like to keep relatively safe. I'm concerned about moisture and physical strength, but also that handling the soap actually affects the shape (for instance, edges get smooth if I accidentally rub them, and it gets soft from the heat of my hands).

This tutorial mentions using acrylic sealer after painting it, but I wasn't planning on painting my carvings. Will that type of sealant still hold and work?

For the record, this was Irish Spring soap, and it's pretty soft.

If you weren't planning on painting your carvings, how about varnish?

A transparent and colourless lacquer should be almost invisible after it's dried on the finished product, but will adhere to the soap and preserve your carvings as well as keeping the moisture inside the bar and preventing it from cracking.

From J. C. Rich, The Materials and Methods of Sculpture, p. 357 (emphasis mine):

  Soap is an inexpensive, readily available and easily worked material that is steadily gaining in popularity as a wholesome and interesting avocational carving medium. (See Plate 62.) The major disadvantage of the substance is its marked lack of durability. A work in soap is subject to a degree of physical shrinkage as it dries out and this may result in the development of fine surface cracks, which may in time fracture through the entire piece. As a soap mass dries out there is also a resultant change in appearance, from the soft and attractive surface the block has while it is fresh and possesses an abundance of moisture, to an opaque and dull surface after the bulk of this moisture has naturally evaporated from the mass on exposure to the atmosphere. However, a finished soap carving can be treated with one or two thin coatings of colorless and transparent lacquer, which will serve to prevent the marked evaporation of moisture from the mass. Much of the attractive appearance of a feshly carved block of soap can thereby be preserved, and the permanence of the work substantially increased.

And this tutorial from the LDS organisation website tells you what to do after you've finished the carving process (again, emphasis mine):

  Set your carving aside to dry for several days and then polish it with soft tissue paper, using your fingertips and palm of your hand to bring out highlights. If you wish, you can preserve your carving with a coat of transparent lacquer or tempera paint.

(Oh, and just for fun: Has a prisoner ever escaped by carving a bar of soap to look like a gun, painting it with shoe polish, and then tricking a guard into allowing them to leave the jail; or is this only an urban legend?)


How can I stabilize flowering tube onyx? I've got some rough flowering tube onyx.  The material is beautiful, with fantastic patterns, and I'd like to slab it and cab it.

However, like most specimens of this type, the material has a lot of fractures.

What is an effective way to stabilize the material for slabbing?

You may have some luck with stabilizing it as though it was a slab. Using an epoxy in acetone method:

Dissolve epoxy in acetone
Submerge rough stone in the epoxy acetone mixture
Seal up container so acetone does not evaporate
Leave in mixture for at least a week
Remove from acetone and let dry for at least another week

Mindat has some good instructions along with other methods

The important detail is this method relies on diffusion. When you have a slab your path length is relatively short, so the epoxy can diffuse in fairly quickly (days). As you make the material thicker the time increases. If you have a piece of rough that is fairly narrow in one dimension, you're in luck, treat it as a slab, diffusion won't be slowed down by rough edges, indeed it will be slightly faster. Where you're going to run into problems is with a thick piece of rough material that resembles a sphere. In this situation you may want to go at it in multiple passes as follows:

Let's say that your rough material is sphere with a diameter of six inches. Additionally you've determined that you can "completely" stabilize a slab that is one inch thick.

If you follow the same procedure with the rough material, you can "completely" stabilize the outer 1/2 inch of it. At which point you could cut off slabs as circles of a sphere:

of 1/2 inch thickness.
The process could be repeated to allow for a second, larger, slab to be produced.

I would probably sacrifice the first layer, as it is typically irregular to begin with, making a poor slab. Or, because I am impatient, I would slab the rough and accept what breaks as broken and stabilize the usable parts as slabs.

Note: It has been years since I've made a cab and my knowledge of stabilization techniques is from research only, I have not tried these techniques myself.


Which steels can be nitrogen quenched? I have been making knives as a hobby mostly for myself and friends for some time now. I have been using mostly carbon steels such as UHB20C/1095, O1, 5160. I want to step up my game with more exotic steels such as AEB-L, RWL-34, ELMAX, D2 and N690Co.

Due to lack of dedicated equipment I found a Steel Heat Treatment company that will help me with quenching, cryo, and tempering. The only problem is that they only offer 'pressurised nitrogen quenching'.

Could you please tell me which of the stainless steels above can be quenched this way?
I could not find any information on Bohler and Uddeholm websites regarding this method.

Any martensitic stainless ( all cutlery grades ) can be cooled / quenched in nitrogen gas. I presume it is gas and has significant circulation to speed cooling . The cutlery grades are all have very good hardenability and do not need rapid cooling. In my experience , nitrogen gas cooling would be very unusual ( not needed ) for martensitic stainless. It would be useful for quenching titanium ( type 5 , 6 Al , 4 V ). If you mean liquid nitrogen , no problem , probably . The very rapid cooling can cause cracking of complicated shapes. Various claims are made of the advantages of cryogenic cooling, some are true . But the possible advantages would not show up in a personal knife; they would show up in an industrial application cutting many tons of material per day.    HOWEVER , heating / austneitizing in a nitrogen atmosphere can be dangerous. Nitrogen can be absorbed into the metal and  stabilize the austenite phase producing a soft surface.


What to use as the background for a self-made scratchboard (or scrapeboard)? What is this about?

I wish to make a scratchboard or scapeboard myself:

Scratchboard definition on Wikipedia.
More information here

My Problem

Take a look at this video from David Rooney. He is an illustrator and I would like to build my own scraper board as he does. The problem is that he does not explain how to build the white background board. He says that is a chalk-covered board, but I cannot find it in any shop and I don’t know how to build it. Some websites say that they use a clay board.

My questions thus are:

What kind of board should I should use?
How can I find it?

What I tried so far

I found this scratchboard recipe. Basically the steps are:

Combine 3 parts of glue, 1 part of water and 1 part of plaster.
Apply a thin layer to the wood coat.
Apply a thick layer going in one direction and wait about 10 minutes to dry.
Apply another thick layer going the other way and let sit to dry completely for 4–8 hours.
Sand down the plaster until smooth, using a medium-grit sandpaper.
Mix together 3 parts black acrylic paint and 1 part dishsoap.
Apply paint/soap mixture using a foam roll brush or just a foam brush. You can use black ink instead but the paint mixture seems to scrape off the easiest.
Let dry for 8–24 hours before trying to scratch.

Note 1: You can use black ink instead but the paint mixture seems to scrape off the easiest. I think David uses oil ink (indian ink).

Note 2: I have tried with normal plaster but the color was not completely white. So next time I am going to try adding zinq oxide to the mixture. It is a white pigment to make it less transparent.

What you are looking for, the base for a scratchboard, is Clayboard. It is available in art stores and online... search for art panels.

You can make clayboard a number of ways:

The Jimmy Arborough site has a recipe for rabbit skin glue based
ground. Rabbit skin glue is tricky in that it requires hot water, cooling time, and is made out of rabbits. He uses about a 1:1 ratio of water to clay in his recipe.
The white glue and plaster method is popular and easy. Use plaster of paris not drywall compound to get a brighter white.
You could also mix kaolin clay or plaster of paris with regular acrylic ground and apply that.  Here start with 1/3:1 ratio of clay to base, adding more clay to get the absorbency/feel you desire.

With any of these methods you can whiten the base by adding Titanium White.

Once you have a ground, apply it in multiple layers to masonite or heavy paper board in layers, letting each layer dry between applications. You will need a number of layers (5-10) to get the right thickness. If the board warps, try painting the back with an X of the same ground to pull it back into shape. When the board has dried thoroughly, lightly scrape the surface with a knife to remove any blobs or burrs, then sand smooth with a fine grit sandpaper.

To finish the scratchboard, take a dry and clean clayboard, brush or spray with India Ink, again layering until you have the tone you want. The result should be a smooth hard surface, ready for carving into.