When should I cut fabric with scissors, rotary cutter, or knife? Inspired by Can a pizza cutter cut through fabric? I started thinking.  I tend to cut fabric with scissors, or occasionally a scalpel (x-acto knife) on a cutting mat.  I used to have a rotary cutter, but lost it before I started doing much sewing.
How should I choose which to use?  Does workpiece size play a part? Fabric type?

It's mostly a question of personal preferences and boils down to a mix of what shapes you need to cut and your bodily capabilities.
Shapes
If you need to cut many straight lines, gentle curves or use a hard template to cut out many pieces, most people prefer a rotary cutter for its speed and capability to cut around the edges of a template without having to mark the outline first.

Image source
Another advantage of a rotary cutter is that it can cut through multiple layers of fabric at once without the pieces shifting out of place. This is often used by quilters.
A rotary cutter produces the cleanest cuts if you can cut the whole outline (or at least one entire side) in one go. That makes it impractical for very large pieces like shades, sails, upholstery and the like.
A rotary cutter also fails at notches.
For straight cuts some people prefer a rotary cutter with a long ruler, others fold the fabric over and cut along the fold with straight scissors. I once saw a video where a woman explained that the reason why Japanese fabric shears look different than western ones is that you only need to cut straight lines to sew a Kimono. The fabric is folded over where you need to cut and one blade of the shears is inserted into the fold. By gently pulling the fold taut you create a straight cut but you still have very much control over the cut due to the shape of the shears.

Image source
I honestly never heard of cutting fabric with a knife (at least not in a professional context). I assume you could do that for straight cuts when the fabric is folded over, but I'm afraid the risk of a crooked cut or snagged thread is much higher than when using Japanese style shears.
Capabilities
This is a very diverse topic and always depends on the individual user of the tool.
There are for example left-handed people who were forced to use scissors with their right hand in childhood and now left-handed scissors feel awkward to them. They might prefer a rotary cutter for its simplicity.
On the other hand, you need the strength to push the rotary cutter forward and through the fabric. There are people with physical disabilities that do not have the strength or are unable to stand up and lean over the fabric to cut it. Most of them prefer scissors.
There are also scissors with a spring that opens the arms after each cut, which makes them easier to use for people with disabilities or muscle weakness.

(Image source)
And lastly there are people with impaired vision that might need to hold objects very close to be able to see them sharply. They may not be able to use a rotary cutter for bigger pieces because the edges may lay outside their range of vision. By marking the fabric and using scissors they can pull the fabric close enough to see clearly where they cut.
Price
Both tools come in a great range of prices, but one set of good quality fabric scissors can serve you for years while a rotary cutter needs replacement blades and a cutting mat. The mat must be at least as big as the biggest piece you need to cut, so bigger is better (but also more expensive).


Is there a difference in stability between prestringing and placing a bead? I am thinking about doing a knitted project with beads. I am wondering if there is a difference in stability between prestringing the beads and placing the beads. I would like for the beads to move as little as possible in the finished object. (If it matters, the finished object is likely to be a shawl.)

For the purposes of this question, please assume that the beads in question are large enough in relation to the yarn that both techniques are possible. My smallest crochet hook is a size 5/1.90mm. Purchasing a smaller one is not a problem.

Prestringing = Placing all of the beads onto the yarn and then knitting with it.
Placing a bead = Adding the bead when you knit the stitch.

There are a lot of pros and cons to both methods of placing beads into your knitting, but when looking only at stability there is a difference between prestrung and placed beads. Having used both methods, I find the placed beads stay precisely where you put them whereas the prestrung beads can slip.

When you place a bead you put it on precisely the stitch required. It can't shift anywhere because the two yarns going through it split and go in different directions. When you knit a prestrung bead into your work, it can travel along the yarn. Generally this means if, for example, you place the bead on the vertical leg of a stitch, it could slip up or down to rest on the horizontal bar of the stitch. This sometimes means it slips to the back of the work. The looser the gauge, the more this problem will occur.


what rubber to buy for wooden wheels I'm building toy strollers for my girls. I'm planning on using solid wood wheels and I would like to attach rubber tread. I was hoping to buy a roll of rubber tread, maybe with a slot or something to help secure it to the wheels. What options are out there for tread?

You could cut up an old bike tire. Cut off the sides, and you have a nice strip of actual tire tread. There are lots of different sizes of bike wheel, so you can customize the depth of the tread by choosing between road tire (skinny tire, shallow tread), off-road (much wider tire and deeper, bumpier tread), hybrids (a cross between road and off-road) and those fat balloon tires that have become popular recently.
You could secure the tire tread with thin nails, strategically hidden between the treads. If the nails are too visible once they're in, add a dab of black paint to the nail head.
Or, if you just want a thin layer of rubber, cut up an old inner tube. In this case, there's nowhere to hide the nails, so I would make them part of the design. Space them evenly around the circumference. I would go with a larger nail with a wider head (eg, carpet tacks). Stretch the inner tube slightly as you secure it so it doesn't stretch after the fact and sag or gap. But don't stretch it so much that it will pull against the nails and rip. Note that the nailheads will stick out just a bit, like hobnailed boots. So this is not a good idea if you expect your children to play with these strollers on your nice wood floors.
Thanks to Chris H for this suggestion:

You could glue inner tube rubber - not with patch cement but with contact adhesive or gel superglue. Neither will hold against attempts to peel the rubber away, but should work in this case. This wouldn't work for a tyre, as that's too stiff.

Ask your local bike shop if they will sell you an old tire or inner tubes they were going to throw away. It should be cheap; they may even give it to you for free (especially if you tell them it's for a hand-made toy for your children).


Are there any downsides when painting with a cyan-magenta-yellow palette instead of the traditional yellow-blue and-red? From what I've read, theoretically all colours can be mixed to a higher level of saturation when done using a CYM pallete, especially for magentas and hot pinks. Is this true? Can a limited palette of just these three colours and white suffice for painting?

Cyan, magenta and yellow are actually the primary colors you should use when painting with inks and paints.
(I'm surprised we didn't have this kind of question asked before, because most of us are taught the wrong primary colors in school and by paint manufacturers)
Fair warning: the information in the following section is WRONG but it's what most people learn about the color wheel.
The typical color wheel that is printed in (some) art books and on paint boxes looks sike this:

The primary colors are: red, blue and yellow.
Every child learns that:

Mixing red and green yields brown
Mixing red and blue yields purple
Mixing blue and yellow yields green

But have a closer look. The wheel is not uniform and yellow has a much bigger area than all other colors. The color right next to red is magenta, which is actually lighter than the two colors it's supposed to be mixed of. And anyone who ever tried mixing a vibrant purple from red and blue was disappointed by the muddy outcome.
How it actually works
There are actually 2 sets of primary colors and both of them are correct, but they apply to different ways of mixing color.
White light is a composition of every visible color. If you shine a red light at a spot, then add a blue light and finally a green light, the center where all colors add up, is white. This is called additive color. This applies to all TV, phone or computer displays and anywhere where color is made by mixing light.
If you mix red, blue and green paint on a paper, you end up with (at least almost) black, though. Your paints don't work the same way as light. You need to take color away (subtract from the mix) to end up with white. This is called subtractive color. This applies to all printers, pens, inks and paints and anywhere where color is made by mixing substances.
The primary colors of additive mixing are: red, green, blue. (RGB)
The primary colors of subtractive mixing are: cyan, magenta, yellow. (CYM or CYMK)
The primary school art class colors red, blue and yellow aren't even a valid set of primary colors!

(Image source and more detailed information)
And here is another example of CYM color wheel that displays how adjacting colors mix:

Can only 3 colors suffice?
Unless you use high quality inks, the answer is still: no.
The color wheel is an idealized model based on wave lengths of visible light. We can manufacture color filters that absorb all but a single wave length (color) and mix colors additively in a perfect way. But as far as I know there are no pigments that reflect only a single wave length, which means that there is no paint of a perfect primary color.
The chemical and physical composition of pigments and the binders and additional ingredients in paints influence how the paints look when mixed. Linseed oil, for example, has a slightly yellow tint, which always influences the oil paints it's mixed with.
Many paints, especially cheaper ones, already contain a mix of different pigments. They may look like a primary color to your eyes, but they physically react different than a pure primary color pigment when being mixed.
Most yellows, for example, contain chalk or white pigment to make it more opaque without adding more of the expensive yellow pigment. You'll never get a rich, lush green by mixing a cheap yellow paint with blue.
(Side note: that's why the ink for inkjet printers is so obscenely expensive. I dare say that inkjet printing is the closest we've ever come to perfect subtractive color mixing, and it still isn't perfect at all. A printer has to use very pure, high quality ink to be able to mix all colors. And even then you need an additional black ink cartridge because the mix of all 3 primary colors doesn't yield a perfect, opaque black.)
In addition to that, it's simply more convenient to have certain colors premixed, because it can be very tricky hitting just the right hue when mixing a color from just the primary colors.
And lastly, it can be a matter of cost. Especially brown mineral pigments like Umber and certain chemical pigments are cheap to manufacture in high quality, so mixing the same hue from more expensive primary colors is a waste of resources.


Does the colour of the eraser matter? Today I saw that erasers can also be of black colour. Would the colour matter in terms of better cleaning/erasing? Can a black eraser perform better that a white one?
According to this article,

because of this eraser’s black color, you can expect your paper to
stay clean and smudge-free, no matter how many times you need to erase
a mark.

The color isn't really what matters, its the quality and type of eraser. Almost all erasers are dyed, so that's the only thing that effects the color. Depending on the materials you're using and types of canvas/paper, different erasers will work better.  So if the black eraser was better quality, then yes, but overall, the color means nothing.


How to improve control of hand whilst drawing on tablet? I got a tablet yesterday and had been drawing for almost 2 hours straight, drawing over the outline of already drawn figures in photoshop. I have always wanted to draw so when I saw a sale of a tablet for 35 euro's I went for it.

The problem is, I can create some nice lines but when I get to the end of the line my hand makes a wierd movement. I tried controlling it by focusing more but that didn't help either.

What do i need to do to make my movements smooth and gain more control of my hand?

Thanks in advance!

This might seem like a cop-out answer, but... practice! Practice is the main way for you to improve your control and line quality. I've been using a drawing tablet for 10 years and I still make mistakes.

The key to drawing lines is to use long, quick strokes rather than trying to hold your hand steady while you trace your outline. Each stroke will likely take several tries, so don't feel bad if you don't get it right away!

If you find you need further assistance, software like Lazy Nezumi will stabilize your strokes, giving you much smoother lines in general.

Lastly, as @whrrgarbl pointed out, make sure that your tablet is calibrated properly and that your drivers are up to date.


Repair divider in wallet I would like to repair or strengthen the divider in my wallet as shown here.

It kinda close quarters.

Part of the damage is caused when I close the zipper and catch the material.

Original image link

It may not be pretty but...

I sewed the damaged material and used Gorilla glue to attach some leather pieces to both sides. The leather should protect it from the zipper rubbing against it.


Glue/Stick printed labels/stickers onto fabric I have boxes made from MDF which are covered with some fabric. I'd like to print stickers/labels and stick/glue them onto those boxes (and thus onto the fabric).  I have an inkjet printer capable of printing on photo paper.
The boxes are to be used by children, thus the stickers/labels need to withstand a lot of stress and wear, also including saliva.
What kind of paper should I use, and how can I glue this to the fabric?
Is there some paper readily available which already has glue suitable for this purpose on it? Or which can be ironed to the boxes? (Or would this damage the box?)
Is vinylic foil a possibility?
I cannot remove the fabric from the MDF to work with it - this would destroy the boxes.

You could use self adhesive clear pockets and print the labels to place inside. Available in a range of sizes from A6 to A3 depending on your needs. They are made from durable PVC, you just peel off the protective paper and apply. Self adhesive CD pockets may also work although not as durable as the pvc.


Are acrylic painting tutorial videos different from oil painting videos? I am passionate about (young) man portraiture and I am myself trying to create acrylic portraits and therefore I am trying to learn this art from youtube videos. Unfortunately there are almost no acrylic (young) man portrait videos and therefore I am watching oil painting videos. My question is - what are differences between oil and acrylic painting techniques as can be learned from videos? Of course, I know the necessary things about differences in both mediums (no need to repeat them here), but is it possible to learn acrylic painting from watching oil painting videos and what differences should I take into account?

Yes - Acrylic and oil paints create different effects on the canvas, they are blended differently, and they dry at much different speeds.

Acrylic painting techniques are different styles of manipulating and working with polymer-based acrylic paints. These types of paint eliminate the need for turpentine and gestapo, and can be applied directly onto canvas.

Here are some tips for ** Oil Painting**.


What is a non-photo blue pencil? In this question about non-photo blue pencils, it is implied that non-photo blue pencil marks will not show up when scanning, or photographing, art pieces.

So, could I just use any blue pencil, or does it have to be a specific shade, or does it have to be a 'special' pencil specifically for that job?

It has to be a particular shade of blue.

From Wikipedia, it is apparent that non-photo blue refers to a particular colour rather than a particular kind of pencil:

  Non-photo blue is a particular shade of blue that cannot be detected by graphic arts camera film. This allows layout editors to write notes to the printer on the print flat (the image that is to be photographed and sent to print) which will not show in the final form. It also allows artists to lay down sketch lines without the need to erase after inking.

Here's the code for this colour under various systems (also taken from Wikipedia):

Hex triplet:    #A4DDED
sRGB:   (164, 221, 237)
HSV:    (193°, 67%, 79%)

And here's the colour itself:


Dyeing hard polycarbonate plastic I have a hard, polycarbonate globe, like this one pictured below. I am trying to make it look like an eyeball. I am lighting it from inside, and I already have a good blue iris that I made out of blue gel sheets. The problem is, it only looks like an eyeball when the light is on, and it is not too bright outside. When the light is off, it looks like a white sphere.

So, I'd like to dye an iris shape on the outside of the globe. But everything I'm reading seems to say that you can't dye this kind of plastic. Is that correct? Or is there some way?

(I've tried painting the outside, but when light is shining through, every little brushstroke stands out, and it looks awful)

Thanks!!

EDIT:
Just to add more context, here are the current eyeballs I have created. The first pic is in not-so-bright sunlight, with the internal light bulbs at max:

And here is what it looks like in very bright sunlight. Note that you can barely see the iris:

Get 2 clear plastic bowls that are the same size and some clear bathtub silicon in a tube. Glue one bowl in the eyeball, this is the iris - paint it so it looks good, glue the other bowl upside down onto it. When the silicon has dried, cut away the excess with a really sharp knife.


How to make this string art? I found the adjacent image here, and want to learn how to make this:

It seems like every pin/bead is connected to only three opposite.
So I guess the job is to divide the circle into the number of beads/pins and to connect them using only three strings per each :)


How do I lengthen this ball chain with screw closure? I'd like to be able to just find another screw closure just like the one on the necklace, screw it in, and then I would be fine, but I haven't been able to find one.  This is a Gucci necklace, I would prefer not to have to cut off the original closure and add in ball chain.  Any ideas?

From the photos, it looks like there is a spring ring clasp attached to the necklace. You could attach the extender to that instead, since it would just need to have a basic ring ending (easy to find). It might look funny with the screw ends hanging there, though.

Another idea, if you can't find the same size barrel closure, are you ok with (possibly) permanently modifying the necklace? You could either glue or solder another clasp and/or the extender, using the screw ends as a base. Solder would be sturdiest but probably permanent. Depending on the glue you might be able to remove it later, but you still risk damaging the finish with the chemicals (particularly acetone).


How can I mount a polished stone to wood? I have a finished wooden walking stick. I'd like to mount a few polished gemstones to it. What is the best product to use for mounting stones to wood surface?

Epoxy resin
I love the stuff for the same reason John Vukelic's answer does so I would recommend it here as well. Even some of the cheap 2 parts should work perfectly fine for this. It is very good at bonding different material even when the surfaces are not perfectly mated.
The two parts about Gorilla Glue that need to be cautioned here is that it has expansive properties and is (as far as my experience with it goes) not a clear product once cured. These can both be mitigated with proper clamping and proper application.
Prep your surfaces
There are infinite ways I imagine that you could place your rocks so it would be hard to cover all angles of advice here but there are a couple of things I want you to look out for.

Try and mate the surface of the stones and wood as best you can. Glues will fill the gaps but if you can keep the spaces as small as possible you can help prevent air and moisture pockets which could lead to complications in the future. Again... not a huge risk but worth putting in the time.

Avoid crevasses where moisture will sit. Follow up from the last point be sure there is few places for water to sit or seep in. Depending on where your stick gets used and lives you don't want moisture build up to weaken the wood underneath. The wood is going to fail before the glue does.


How to draw human body in chest/collarbone area? As I have found myself learning more about the human body anatomy, and less focused on the human anatomy of the face, I am struggling with the latter.
I am an expressionist. I do want accuracy, and opinion of anatomy. But want more feeling into the piece.
I have been studying the human body for almost ten years, and learning how to draw the human body. I am struggling with how to make the human body more fleshy/plump looking. Less flat. I struggle particularly with the breast/chest bone area.
My question is, how do I make the human body more fleshy/plump in appearance?
Realized that yes, contrast is a huge issue that is facing with this. Also taking into consideration the gradient of depth that would be going into a drawing/painting particularly around the chest/collar area. Sometimes realizing maybe the photograph just wasn't the best of choice. What caught my eye about this photograph was the soft purple pink hues of the atmospheric image. Almost in a dream-like state.
I also realized after closer investigation, I was struggling with where the actual light source was coming from, which would cause a lot of issues on my part of the shading.
The original photograph:
Free to use stock image credit:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-black-bra-inside-room-3279545/

First steps:

2nd improvement steps:

3rd improvement steps: I tried the method of turning the image upside down to focus more  on its shapes instead of the image as a whole. I also, did a bit of shading/smoothing, compared to the third rendition. Focused on the sternum part of the body as well.

4th improvement steps(after working with suggestions):

I think the main reasons the curviness seems lacking is because the contrast is too high or uneven, and your hatching doesn't follow the curves of the body.
The quite abrupt ending of the shading on the breast(s) - the upper part, that seems to be erased with a kneaded eraser in a dotted way, and the dark area of the person's right breast (image 1) - gives the idea there is a sudden concavity or bulge where the transition should be smooth. Curviness, plumpness or fleshiness are all about smooth transitions.
Also look at the curvature and the colour value of the sternum in the original image: it's not as bright as the highlights on the sitter's breast, and there is a gradation from right to left, where it is partially obscured by the right breast.

Image 1
The shadow on the left shoulder has its darkest shade in the contour, close to the light, while the original has a quite even cast shadow, and the rest of the shadow seems flat because it seems completely independent of the shape underneath it (image 1).
I suggest following the lines of the body while hatching, and initially only focusing on the shading that is a direct consequence of the local shapes - the shade underneath the collar bone, the even subtler shade in the depression of the tissue between the arm and breast, and the shade on top of the shoulder (very hard to see here, but compare it to the original):

After these have been shaded satisfactorily, the cast shadow can be drawn on top of it, evenly, so the underlying structure will remain visible.
Treat the entire body as the one single entity it is, and shade accordingly: note the lightest parts (the faces where the light hits at such an angle that it bounces directly towards the observer), and the darkest parts (that are opposite the light source or obscured by other parts or objects), and shade these all evenly.

Some additional remarks:

The sternocleidomastoid muscle seems a little misaligned: in your drawing it seems to originate at the sternum on the left side (of the person in the picture), while it should originate at the right side.
Make it a habit to look at the shape of areas between forms, as they will often give evident clues of how the shapes on both sides are related.
For example:

The shading on the face is very well done, because there is an obvious visual transition between the shaded and lit part of the face.
The shading on the person's right shoulder is also well done, but to emphasize the light hitting it, I suggest making the edge of that well-lit part a lot lighter - unless you plan on making the background darker. Contours are imaginary help lines and don't really occur in real life. They should almost without exception be as light or dark as the shape it is the edge of (they seem to occur in photographs sometimes, but that has to do with the way light is captured and/or the compression of images).
Consider working with charcoal to (partially) circumvent the problem of hatching (depending on the quality/type of charcoal and paper), as smooth transitions will be a lot easier to attain.


Heat resistant paints for metal smoking pipe I want to paint a small metal smoking pipe. All of the paint I can find that's "high heat" / heat resistant says it can go up to 1200F, but apparently a regular bic lighter can get up to 3500F!

Is there any paints that can withstand this? Or perhaps a special coating to go over the paint? Or perhaps the paint part doesn't get as hot and in worrying for nothing?

There has to be an answer as I've seen pipes with paint on them before.

After looking into a few options that you might have already seen I think this will be a safety concern for yourself that you should best avoid.

I am not insinuating what you do with the pipe but this discussion has come up before on a few forums about pipe smoking.

Grasscity - Opinion on spray painting metal pipe
Drug Forum - Paint/Color a Metal One-Hitter2
Marijuana.com - Metal Pipe Paint -- Overly Paranoid?2

The consensus is don't risk doing it. From a general standpoint you cannot guarantee that the paint, once sealed/cured/dried etc, wont react in some way once heated regardless of the temperature limit. I know this does not meet your threshold but consider the MSDS for Rustoleum High Heat Spray which is designed for resistance extreme temperatures (1200ºF). It list several chemicals that are known carcinogens1. It is also worth noting these types of paints were not meant for direct flame contact.

Sure you might not paint near the bowl.. but why risk it anyway? If you are trying to personalize it it might just be better to buy one that already has what you are looking for. I don't know what the motivation for painting it though. Personalization was just a guess

1. I understand those chemicals are listed as present in the can before sprayed but surely enough of them are still present in the paint and have the potential to be released later.

2. This forum post goes a little off topic but the sentiment of not painting a metal pipe is shared.


How to cut and remove sharp edges on aluminum sheet using a Dremel Rotary Tool or other tool? I'm working on a project that uses rolled aluminum, the kind for repairing chimney flashing, eavestroughs, etc. It's 0.0125" thick and has very sharp edges, especially after making sized cuts from the roll.

I've read in a few places that certain grinding/sanding accessories aren't a good idea for aluminum as it can clog the abrasive. I have a basic Dremel 100 which has a single speed of 35,000 rpm. I just got a bunch of accessories in a new kit but don't have access to it or the list of items in it at the moment.

Can anyone tell me which Dremel accessory by number would work best to remove the sharp edges from the aluminum sheet, and for cutting it as well? If the rpm is too high, what other tools or methods are recommended? I have been using a utility knife to make my cuts so far, easy but tough to be accurate.

For material that thin, even a set of heavy duty scissors will work well enough. Harbor Freight sells stainless steel multipurpose scissors for six bucks US that should do well enough for 0.0125" stock.

For the sharp edges, especially in aluminum, a deburring tool should do well for your purposes. A quality tool will be somewhat expensive, but there's such a large price range in this item that you should be able to find something in your budget.

I have a tool similar to that in the photo and use it frequently on aluminum and plastic sheets to chamfer the edges. In your case, such thin material will need support. It may be necessary to place the edge on a solid surface such as a countertop or sharp edged table to provide the necessary support. Deburr one edge, flip the piece over and deburr the other side.

In the above photo, it appears that the E200 bit would give the best results. Light pressure, drag the cutter along the edge and you would see a curl of aluminum from the cutter. Too much pressure and you'll create a new sharp edge.

Alternative solution involves a hand file and the aforementioned support table or countertop. Push the file downward over the material creating the chamfer as you progress along the length. Dremel-type rotary tools also have burr bits that would work, but with a single speed (high speed) tool such as yours, the possibility of removing too much material is quite high.


How do I blend charcoal enough to make it look like a skin surface? I've been drawing Wonder Woman for quite a long time. Since she has a lot of bare skin, it's kinda hard to draw it without pencils, using only charcoal.
Here's the reference image I'm using:

Artwork by Shierly Lin. Click for larger version.

You will probably need medium and soft charcoal for creating smoothly blended surfaces (like her skin), and some hard charcoals or perhaps even a carbon pencil (which contains a mixture of charcoal and graphite) for the crisp textures of her armor and the fine lines of her hair.
For blending, you may want to use a tortillion or a blending stump and a kneaded eraser.

Source: https://rapidfireart.com/ <-- also has many great tutorials on how to shade
Tortillons and blending stumps are tightly rolled pieces of paper with a tapered tip. You can either buy them from an art store or make one yourself. They can be used with both pencil and charcoal, and they're better for blending than using your fingers, since your skin contains moisture and oils, which can cause the charcoal to clump to smear unevenly.
Here is a thorough response describing how you can use a blending stump or tortillon for blending: How do I get a blur effect in pencil drawings?

Source: https://thevirtualinstructor.com/blog/10-essential-drawing-materials-and-tools-for-beginners
A kneaded eraser is a soft, stretchy, gummy material that can be used for lifting, removing, and blending charcoal or pencil. Aside from removing "mistakes," erasers are also great for blending. This video does a nice job of demonstrating some different techniques for using kneaded erasers with charcoal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIAKBVfl_YU

Source: https://phoenixartsupplies.com/art-supplies/strathmore-500-series-charcoal-sheets/
As for paper - there are many different types of paper out there for use with charcoal. You can usually find charcoal paper pads at art stores. You could draw on white paper, like the original pencil drawing. But if you have white charcoals (for drawing highlights), you could use toned paper. This can help make your subject "pop" off the page. For sketching and practicing, newsprint paper is a great (cheaper) alternative.
Here are some good resources for learning about types of charcoal paper and their characteristics:

https://nitramcharcoal.com/selecting-perfect-paper-charcoal-drawing/
https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-mediums/drawing/best-paper-for-charcoal-drawing/

Hopefully this helps! Feel free to ask any questions. I'm not a professional artist, but I've had some experience with charcoals and pastels. If anyone else has additional tips, feel free to comment below.


What's the name of a concept where objects take on forms out of different things? I think the title is the most proper question that could come up in my mind, as for an example - take a look at 2014 ESC postcards:

or this:

Thanks in advance!

Optical illusion

According to Wikipedia, this is

  an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual percept that arguably appears to differ from reality.

In the first two photographs (making it '(optical) illusion photography'), this 'visual percept' is a flag. Here the 'illusion' is caused by the (careful) positioning of objects in alignment relative to the point of view.

Another term often used is for this is 'forced perspective', which is a type of optical illusion.

Though the illusion is not as monumental as the word suggests, it functions basically the same as works like this one, the Triumph of the Name of Jesus by Giovanni Battista Gaulli:

This example is another sub-category of those optical illusions, referred to as trompe l'œil (from French, meaning 'fooling the eye'), a term which is almost exclusively to paintings. It is often used in conjunction with architectural forced perspective.

Our perception tricks us into seeing more than the sum of the parts (like depth, light, &c.).
The construction of (linear) perspective is also based on this principle.


How to draw a grid over and image that won't be printed? In high school, I used to print images, draw grids over them and carry them around in my sketch book. Now, I have my smartphone with me all the time and am almost never near a cheap and easy printer. Needless to say, I usually use my phone to find art projects or inspiration images.

Is there a software or website that can quickly draw a grid (of my chosen size) over an image on my smartphone that can be saved to my device? It would make my art projects and sketching from a photo a lot easier.

A low tech solution is to print a grid onto acetate, cut it out and just lay it over the image you want to copy. This has the advantage that it will work on any medium and is quick and easy to use once you have made your grid. You could also have different grid spacing for different applications.

You could also glue it into a card mount to make sure it lays flat.


How can I make this pendant vertical? (See related question here.)

I was given a necklace with a cute geode pendant. Love the color, but I don't like that the stone is horizontal instead of vertical.

The chain connects to two embedded rings in the rock itself.

Is it possible to to re-ring the stone even though it's electroplated?

Just thinking out loud here.

Rotate the pendant 90 degrees.
Solder hooks on the opposite side mirroring the two on the other side.
Add the new chain.
Attach the chains together with loops.
Done.


How do you make curved folds in origami? I was Googling about, and saw some images of Dr. David Huffman's models and the work of the Demaines, and was curious how one makes curved freehand folds with any precision.

So much of origami is taught as straight-line, corner-to-corner, or edge-to-edge straight folding. How do you make smooth, curved folds along predetermined lines?

Apart from just carefully folding along the curve with your fingers, following techniques get used:

Embossing the line with a pointed object or (better) a used-up ballpoint pen. Folding along such an embossed line results in a relatively smooth fold even if the curve is complex.
For some models (mostly the organic-looking ones), wet folding can allow very smooth lines to be folded. This is sometimes combined with scoring the paper using your fingernails. Daniel Chang uses such a technique for folding his realistic human faces.
Robert J. Lang famously uses a laser tool to score the crease pattern into the paper. I was able to fold from such paper in one of his workshops and the scored line looks a row of tiny perforations which weaken the paper and guide your hand when you fold along the line.
Some folders (e.g. Ekaterina Lukasheva) use digital plotter-like tools for embossing the paper.

Machine-embossed lines (the latter two examples) are of course much more precise than those made by hand, but even a line manually scored using a ball point pen can be surprisingly precise.


Ceramics and shellac I'm exploring water etching by painting designs on bone dry clay with amber shellac. I paint on 2 coats (wait 30 minutes between coats) and then wait overnight before I begin the water etching process.

My problem is before I've removed enough clay (cone 5, B-Mix) the shellac starts to peal up around the edges and I am forced to wait for everything to dry then add another (third coat) of shellac and wait another 24 hours. I've been using a small sponge that is semi wet.

What (if anything) am I doing wrong? I've heard this can be a finicky process (which is why I have always carved my pieces instead). Thanks!

With the first coat you should dissolve the  crushed shellac flakes in denatured alcohol with a bit more shellac than usual, and stir in an emulsion of premixed marble dust, a touch of linseed oil and fresh egg yolk until you get the right consistency for painting. If it doesn’t dry fast enough for you, consider adding a few drops of saponifying ‘japan drier’.

I can’t give you mixture ratios because shellac comes in lots of grades, but as an explanation, the marble dust gives hardness, the linseed oil suspends the marble, the egg yolk binds the shellac with the oil.


What is the name of that type of cap? The other day, I was watching The Office and noticed Jim's cap. I would like to find the name of that type of cap to make one of my own. Unfortunately, it's near to impossible to find a pattern when you don't know the name of the model you are looking for.

What is the name of the model depicted in the following screenshot?

To have a better look at it, it's at the end of the 10th episod from the 4th season.

It's a flat cap, colloquially more commonly seen as "newsboy cap" in North America. Other areas will have other common names for it, including (as seen on Wikipedia) "scally cap," "bunnet," "Dai cap," "paddy cap," "cheese-cutter," and "driving cap."

You're most likely to find patterns or instructions under the names "flat cap," "newsboy cap," and "driving cap."


How to repair (sand down) the sides of a paperback book properly? I've seen people use sandpaper to repair worn out sides of paperback books with great results. The problem I have with this is that the sides of the book puff up and I have a hard time fixing that (using brushes, finest grade sandpaper and weights). Keeping the pages together as tight as possible while sanding makes it better, but still doesn't solve the problem. Is there a way to sand a book down without the sides puffing up?

When working on the cut edges of a book you need to clamp the pages of the book closed between boards. Making a 'board book board' sandwich.
Ideally the boards are as big as the pages of the book and you can clamp them just around the book with separate clamps.
Which in turn you can clamp down in a vice, to hold it for you working on it.
It is also possible to skip the clamps and position the book in its boards in a vice but it is harder to position them right in that way. Even when for working you should not have clamps, it is often good to clamp the work before placing it in the vice and take the clamp off when it is safely in the vice.

If your boards are bigger or smaller than the front and back of your book, you can still use them but you have to be careful to position them such that the edge of the book you want to work on is. supported and not work on any part which is not supported.

If you want to take a bit off the book, you can have the book stick out of the boards a little, but often it is easier to take a bit of the board along with the bit you want to take off the pages.

When the pages are clamped in like this, they should not be able to puff up, but you should still work in such a way the paper of the book can not get wet at all.

If with this way of working you still have problems with 'puffing' please add photos and a good description of the problem.

The book binders I have seen working all used a knife to cut the pages to size, with the books clamped in between boards, not using sand paper, but they do take off more than you seem to want.


Double-sided Eyelets? I have some cheap eyelet pliers and aluminium eyelets. They produce reasonable attractive results on one side but an ugly mess on the other.

Often this doesn't matter as you only see one side, but for cases where you'd like a more attractive result on both sides is there a solution?

The double-sided ones are often called "grommets".  Good search terms are "fabric grommets" or "fabric grommet tool".  Amazon has a huge selection, including different sizes and colors.
The grommets consist of two pieces.  One is like a shaped washer that goes on the back. The other piece is similar to the eyelets you're using, but it, and the installation tool, are designed to stretch and flare the eyelet tube instead of splitting it into a "star".  Once it's installed, it looks fine on both sides.


Crafting "fake potions" Still working on my costume

Previous question

I would like to know a method for crafting fake potion bottles for shows, i want the bottles to be:

Approximately the size of an apple
Resist the pressure of being transported in bags
Resist weaker impacts
Don't leak any liquid
Not considerably heavy

Aditional info:

It doesn't need to be made of real glass
It doesn't need to contain real liquid
I don't pretend to craft the "bottle" itself, but I want to know what may be used to represent it (A light bulb, a medicine bottle, etc...)

Visual representation:

PS.: I'm not sure how to tag it so feel free to edit it

For a few reasons, I'd go with holiday ornaments. These are available in clear plastic, rather than glass, which is less of a breakage worry. They're also cheaper and lighter than glass jars. And they're already nicely spherical!

an example from Michaels craft store

Ditch the metal collar and ring.
Fill with a colored epoxy resin.
Add a decorative cork.

The main advantage of this is that it wouldn't spill. Also, if it does crack from being dropped or struck, the epoxy would hold the pieces together, reducing the chance of injury or mess.

But if you want the internal liquid to slosh about and look very potion-like, that's also feasible:

Ditch the metal collar and ring.
Fill with colored liquid.
Add a decorative cork, and glue securely in place.

That shouldn't spill either, assuming it's well-glued.


What paint should I use to make a portrait glow in the dark? I want to surprise my friend with a portrait painting of his image that will be glowing in the dark but don't know what paint to use. Any help please?

There are at least three approaches, but it will be difficult to make a "fine art" portrait, especially that looks like one in the dark.  All glow-in-the-dark paints are limited to a small number of colors that tend to be primary or secondary  "neon" colors.  I don't know how well the colors blend to create other colors, but color inkjet and laser printers create most of the spectrum by placing small dots of primary colors next to each other, so that might be a fallback approach.

There are two general kinds of glow in the dark materials (aside from what's in glow sticks that glow for a short period after mixing, and materials that rely on radioactive material).

Phosphorescent materials can be "charged" with light energy, then they slowly release the energy as light which is visible in the dark.  The light they release is not very bright, and isn't visible for long.  The kind of light used to charge it makes a big difference.  Direct sunlight or a full-spectrum light (like a grow lamp), give the best results.  An incandescent light will give much poorer results.

The color of the light released isn't the color that the material appears in normal light, so colored phosphorescent paint is typically mixed with a colored pigment so that the color is similar in normal light.

Phosphorescent paint isn't designed for fine art, it's typically used for purposes like painting large shapes for Halloween decorations.  It would be hard to create a portrait that you could actually see in detail in the dark.  The paint tends to be pretty thin and requires a lot of coats to build up enough material for reasonable brightness and uniformity.  With pigmented colors, a lot of the phosphorescent material gets blocked by the pigment, so it glows less brightly after it dries.  You can find a range of colors like this Amazon link (no personal experience with this product, it's just an example).
Fluorescent materials are excited by ultraviolet (black) light, and give off very bright, visible light, often enough to see the effect even in room light that isn't too bright.  In a dark room, the picture will glow.  You just need to illuminate the portrait with an ultraviolet bulb (and it will glow as long as the UV bulb is on).  You can find color assortments like this Amazon link (again, no personal experience with the product).

So two of the approaches are to use either phosphorescent paint, or fluorescent paint plus a UV bulb, and create the colors as best you can from what's available.  Of the two, the latter is likely to give you the best result.

The third approach would be to create a monochrome portrait with non-colored phosphorescent paint.  You create shading by how thickly you apply the paint (number of layers; the thicker the paint the brighter it will be).  This would be analogous to packing tape art, although light and dark would be the reverse.  I'm not sure how easy it would be to discern the detail in normal light.

I'll throw in one more idea, although I don't know if it would work.  You can buy or make non-colored phosphorescent paint (just a clear vehicle plus strontium aluminate powder).  You might be able to create a normal portrait, then coat it with a thin layer of this paint.  It will add a haze on top that will mask fine detail.  But it might work to illuminate the portrait in the dark.  It wouldn't be very bright, so the portrait would need exaggerated contrast.


Do you need a buffer to get a shiny finish on jewelery? Having a giant electrical machine just for buffing metal isn't convenient for me. If I could, I would prefer to just sand away. Is it possible to obtain as good of a finish as you would see with a buffer by using continuously less course sand-paper layer by layer?

No, you definitely don't need a buffer

Image from Wikimedia Commons

This gold belt buckle dates from the 6th century - long before buffing machines were invented. Finishing jewellery by hand is the traditional way to do it, and as you can see the results can be excellent.

However, you can't get this kind of finish just with sandpaper

Going up through the grades of sandpaper is a good way to start, but to achieve a truly smooth finish you need something finer. There are a few different things that are available now for final polishing, but the traditional one is ferric oxide, also known as jeweller's rouge.

You can use this by applying a little to a polishing cloth, and polishing the piece until it's done (you'll need to wipe the rouge off afterwards)


What is the name of this stitching pattern? I've been looking around on google but can't seem to find anything similar to this:

I'd like to know what is the name of that stitching pattern. This is a Chanel dress made out of cotton (search: "Chanel White Pure Cotton Sleeveless Shift Dress with Flowers"). It is also sold on this website.

I've looked for "tuck" stitching, but it's not quite that.

Can anyone help me on this one? I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

Possible knit stitches.
From book: Knitting Dictionary 800 stitches & patterns by Margaret Hamilton-Hunt Crown Publishing 1963.

Lace: “cellular”

You might have luck looking up “open work.” There are a few styles of open work.

Also esparto stitch or honeycombe.

Hope these help in your search!


Is there any way to print white colour onto paper? I want to print the colour white onto a transfer paper.

There is white Trace-it transfer paper from a company called ScratchArt[1]. This would require you to print out your image first then trace over image to make the actual image transfer.

Similar to the idea of carbon paper instead in this case the paper is coated on one side with lose layer of white ink bound with wax. The image is transferred by placing the coated side down gently onto a surface and then scribing the image on the non coated surface.

http://www.hobbylobby.com/Art-Supplies/Canvas-Surfaces/Tracing-Pads/White-8-1/2%22-x-11%22-Trace-It-Transfer-Paper/p/4558


What are the little pieces of wood that come with pre-made canvas for? I buy pre-made canvases, and they always come with a little packet of wooden things:

What are they for? How should I use them?

These are called "canvas keys".

The are shimmed into the corners of the canvas to maintain the tautness of the canvas.  This generally happens only on machine-assembled frames, or on mass-produced frames that have low-quality inspection standards (for cost).


Multi-unit pottery kiln - how hot can it go? I am inheriting an old electric kiln. It has three stackable heating elements and the data plates on each stacking ring says "Petterson Multi-Unit Kiln", I can't seem to find much about this on Google.

The data plates each specify a maximum temperature of 1950°F (1065°C), and are rated at 250V, with 10A, 10A, and 9A current ratings (each with its own cord). When all three are used together, would this kiln be capable of getting hotter than 1950°F, such as to fire stoneware or porcelain (cone 6 to 10)?

Also, is there a preferred way to test the kiln to ensure it is functioning correctly?

If the kiln is rated for 1950 degrees Fahrenheit, then that's about the highest you should fire it to.  The number of rings you use isn't a function of how hot it gets but more a function of how much space the inside of the kiln will have.

To test the kiln, you can just plug it in and turn it on, if it heats up, it works.  As BrownRedHawk stated, you should place some cones in the kiln when it fires to see how hot it gets.  Sounds like your kiln will probably easily fire to cone 06 to 04.


Help? How to glitter a photo canvas I want to glitter a photo canvas. Just an all over sparkle over the picture.

How do you diamond dust a canvas?

Thanks

The method I use is a clear glaze which also acts as a strong adhesive. And, coincidently, the best product I have found is something called Diamond Glaze which is a type of varnish. It is used predominantly in card & jewellery making.

There are lots of manufacturers and it seems universally available. When it dries it provides a completely clear varnish with virtually no opacity or hue. And it is very strong adhesive. Below is an example of one manufacturer (no connection):

Judikins Diamond Glaze on Amazon.com

As it is water soluble, when wet, you can also add inks or dyes to provide different effects. But once dry, about 2-3 hours, it is exceptionally difficult to remove and provides about as permanent adhesive as you can find.

You do need to be careful when applying to media that is water soluble, as it can bleed. So it is best to test it out first. But I've successfully used it on fully dried acrylic paints without issue.


What can I use to make grips for my felting needles? Apparently getting economic hand held felting needles in my area is hard. I can get single felting needles easy though. While I can purchase what I want online I would like to see what it would take to make my own rubber-like handles. I was looking to see how something like this could have been made:

I had thought about experimenting with hot glue or perhaps even epoxy. I thought of hot glue when I saw what looked to be bubbles in the casts above. Either way these ideas could lead to the ruin of my needles so I am hesitant. The colour is not important.

What can I use to make the grips on felting needles that are like what is pictured above? Best I get from searching is something called Plasti-Dip but I don't think that will work here. I am aware that I can try and make a wooden style handle but I am trying to see how these are made.

Have you considered sugru?

A silicone-based rubber for lots of "hacks", adding ergonomic grips or softening handles being one of them.

(Image source: manufacturer's website)

The material can be removed from all non-porous surfaces, so your single needles won't be harmed.


How can I cut gemstones in half without a lapidary saw? I'm looking for ideas on how to cut small raw gemstones (1" or less in diameter) in half without damaging the crystals and preferably without spending hundreds on a lapidary saw. I've been told tile saws and dremels aren't appropriate for this application. I've also been told the stone and blade must stay wet through the process.

Has anyone done this at home or have any ideas?

There are lapidary materials that can be cut without using specialized saws.  Small raw gemstones are not good candidates, however.

Prior to modern lapidary equipment, cutting small gemstones relied on understanding, and taking advantage of, a stones natural cleavage.  This method gives very little flexibility as to how and where you cut, and will result in a lot of lost material.

Tile saws, dremels, and end-cut bolt cutters can be used to cut gemstone material without the cost of specialized equipment, but all suffer from limitations.

End-cut bolt cutters:  ...can, in a pinch (no pun intended!), cut slabs (sections of gemstone material pre-cut into relatively even thickness slices) to preform for cabochons, but they are most likely to just shatter anything that isn't a flat slab.

Dremels can be fitted with diamond blades to cut gemstone materials with finer precision, but they still have some serious downsides.  The biggest concern is health: cutting stone materials generates dust, which if inhaled, can lead to silicosis, a dangerous and debilitating lung disease. Gem cutters typically mitigate this risk by always keeping material wet while cutting and polishing it.  This keeps the dust within the water, and out of the air.

Dremels may also have difficulty cutting tougher materials, as unless you obtain a variable-speed tool (which tend to be more expensive), it will likely be too fast.  Lapidary saws are designed to cut at a slower speed, to gradually wear away the material without cracking or shattering it, and to keep the blade from binding.

Tile saws also spin too fast for harder lapidary materials.  They also tend to have a much larger kerf.

The kerf is the width of the actual cut, where the blade removed materials:

The larger the kerf, the more material is destroyed by the cutting process.  When dealing with larger, inexpensive material, this may not be a big problem, but for small gemstones, this is likely to be a significant concern.

Ultimately, your best bet is to use specialized saws.  Beginner hobby saws can be relatively affordable, especially if you can obtain one used.  If there is a gem and mineral club nearby that you can join, some of them will have club machines available for members to use.  Even if the club doesn't own machines, members might be willing to help you out.  Just remember that the blades for the machines are expensive, and wear out relatively quickly.  Offering some money to cover wear-and-tear would probably be appropriate.


Can I use the ink from the Photosmart inkjet cartridges for my dip calligraphy pens? My Canon All-In-One Photosmart printer can't be repaired and I still have ink in the cartridges. Can I use the ink from the Photosmart inkjet cartridges for my dip calligraphy pens or with paint brushes?

Yes, inkjet ink works with brushes. It's thinner than the usual ink for dip pens, but give it a try. I haven't broken open cartridges to get it, but used the ink from a refill kit. Because they're pure, primary colours, you can theoretically mix any other colour from them, just as the printer does. You can certainly get strong, saturated shades.


Color sequence of a sunset Hi what I'm trying to do is some "light art" with simulating a sunset. For that I'm able to create all colors and fading between them in different speeds.

But what I'm missing is the actual color sequence that is happening during a sunset. My first approach is some kind of a black to a dark blue to red to orange to yellow to white. But it looks artificial and not natural.

Where can I get this (and other) sequences? Preferably which a whole bunch of intermediate steps?

There are many versions of sunset. What colors will you be using depends on what type of sunset are you planning to paint. It is always the best to go out and observe. As always, I will be talking from my own experience.

I would advise you to look at these pages:

Munsell color system

Why is the sunset red?

You will find it very interesting. It will help you understand colors a little bit better, or should I say - the light.

As sun sets lower, thanks to atmosphere, it gets more orange, sometimes even red, and also changes the visible size. Lets say this the entire explanation (it is not) because, for more details, it would take hours to write.

Take these colors:

Prussian Blue
Cadmium Orange
Flesh color (or Raw Sienna or Naples Yellow)
White
Cadmium Red and Rouge Red
Burnt Sienna
Cadmium Yellow

Prussian Blue can be used instead of black. Take a look at the beauty of that color. Sometimes, limited palette that we have can make someone go for black color, and I understand it. Black color is nice, sure, but it will kill the vibrant color of the sunset. That is why you should use Prussian Blue!
When mixed with red, it will produce nice purple glow, and purple can be seen at sunset. I cannot explain how much I love to use this paint.

Cadmium Orange is for the strong light Sun gives us at Sunset. You need Sun to glow. After all, it is an explosion that we see. Cadmium Orange, when applied, can get you closer to that glow.

Flesh color Use it instead of white. It looks pink-ish, but it is not. If you need to make some area lighter, mix it with this color.

White - use it as a background for glowing areas. This is how it works. If there is an area you would really want to make strong in color, first paint it with white. Wait for it to dry. Paint over it with the specific color. In the picture below, I would use it for the Sun. Sometime you will not be able to produce such pure light that can be found in nature, so applying some background before painting is something you can do.

Burnt Sienna - to darken some areas that are opposite of the lit side, use this color. Example: on clouds.

Cadmium Red - is just perfection to get the glow.

Rouge Red - mixed with Prussian Blue gives deep color of the sunset sky.

Cadmium Yellow - it gives extra glow for the Sun and clouds.

Here is a color chart to help you out.

But there is a problem. This is not the only palette. Sunset can be more red, more yellow, more purple...

So, in short: for sunset go for colors that are in ranges of yellow, orange, red, purple, blue.

Lets say that sequence would be: Prussian blue/ Prussian Blue mixed with Rouge Red/ Rouge Red (not too much) / Rouge Red with Cadmium Red/ Cadmium Red (not too much)/ Cadmium Red mixed with Cadmium Orange/ Cadmium Orange mixed with Cadmium Yellow at the very end (preferably just glimpse of it at certain areas).

However...

...look at this picture above! It breaks that sequence! That is because sunset is not so uniform. But lets examine it.

The lightest part is the Sun itself. I would use white. Wait for it to dry. I would apply Cadmium Orange. But that would not be enough. I would wait for it to dry to the point where I can glaze over it with Cadmium Orange. Glazing is what you should be using here. Light scatters all around, and you need it to show. Mixing colors will not produce that effect. Glazing will.

The darkest color on that picture is not black. That is purple glazed over with Burnt Sienna and Cadmium Red. So, I would use Prussian Blue First. Mix it with some Rouge Red. That will produce fine, dark, purple color. Then, glaze over it with Burnt Sienna (but only at the darkest parts) and with Cadmium Red where dark parts of the clouds start to meet lighter clouds.

Clouds at the top are on fire. I would use Flesh Color to mix with Cadmium Red and Orange. The lightest parts seem so light and fluffy, so you need to make them thin. I would use white and glaze over it with Cadmium Yellow.

Hope this helped. It is not enough and it never will be, but it should be fine for the rough start.

Good luck.

P.S. I used these links because they were the easiest to find when typed in Google Search. My goal was not marketing of these products. You can take any brand you like, if it works for you. I, myself, am using many different brands.


How to determine the "correct" scale for your art project? The very fist step in traditional art painting, drawing, sculpting, and such is:

Determine the scale of the work!

The painter must select their canvas, a drawing requires the right size sheet of paper, and a chisled statue requires the right size stone.

But how do you decide?
And does the scale affect the composition of the work being executed?

Deciding on the scale is part of the design process
When you decide to make a piece of art its size is part of the design process.
There is a huge difference between a miniature and a way more than lifesize piece of art in the materials and tools needed and in the structure which may not be seen but is needed to build the item, but not in how you design the piece of art.

Often the size is decided by how much money the artist has to spend on the project or whether someone is sponsoring, has given a commission or guaranties the cost of the project.

Even huge artworks mostly have a smaller sample made, either as sketch or as miniature to show and get financing or as a way to work out technical difficulties. And most of those models can handle two or more out of those in one small version.

For the more modest items, where the 'smaller' scale will be about 50% of the 'larger' scale, it is still a case of money, preference and availability.
Many people get lessons as part of their art education, teachers usually set the size as well as the subject and medium.
Or at least talk it through with the student to get the best result for the project.

If you are self taught, you will have to experiment as much as your purse allows you.
I find in almost all crafts and arts, I go for smaller once I know how to do the technical side.
Others I have met or know about do go for bigger and huge.

Each person has to find his/her own way.

About scale influencing the design
Basically the design should be independent of the scale. The smaller you work, the smaller the details should be. The bigger the scale, the more likely you will not put in small details but you will still be able to.

If you look at huge canvasses of old masters, Rembrandt van Rijn for example, you will see that most of the work is wide strokes of the brush or whatever tool they used. There might be some details, but most of those will not stand out when you are at a distance to appreciate the whole of the canvas.

That goes even more when you go for more than lifesize sculpture.
Take as an example the Angel of the North.
The huge statue does not have more details than the man sized marquettes.

Of course you can decide to make a 4 by 3 meter painting with as much detail per cm as miniature paintings, but that is a design decision, not something that comes from the scale used.


How to fix or remove a stuck cone shape airbrush nozzle The issue happened to many airbrushes using cone shaped nozzles: badger 175.

I tried putting it into fire and the freezer, but none of those methods worked.

The Taiwanese factory sent me an email to help me fix an airbrush having the nozzle stuck in the head cap 15 years ago.

The solution is to use a needle-nosed plier:

Place the needle-nosed plier's left tip on the left edge, and the right tip of the needle-nosed plier into the nozzle's hole. Grip using little force.
Place the needle-nosed plier's right tip on the right edge, the left tip of the needle-nosed plier into the nozzle's hole, grip it using little force.
The nozzle falls off!


How do I start over? First, apologies for my last rant. I've been very stressed lately.

What I guess I meant to ask, was that if I'm doing everything wrong, how do I start over? I'm actually decent at drawing detailed small scenes if I have a lot of time, but any drawing with more than a couple characters, even if they're literal stick figures, makes me freeze.

I suppose it's sort of like rendering tons of entities at a time in a game. So how do I actually come back to when I was five? I tried drawabox but it didn't work for me because it assumes I have a natural grip on my pencil, which I don't. I know I must adjust my grip anyway, but what can I do while I'm trying to fix it? Sorry again for rambling,

These are the ways I start over:

Walk away and leave the work out of sight for a few days.
Sketch out the scene on something that does not matter. Do that 10 or even 20
times. For example, I bought a roll of paper (40cm X 50 metres) for $5 and allow myself to waste this sketching out small compositions and tonal studies in charcoal (6x4") before I commit to working on a canvas. Sometimes I'll do 30 studies and eventually break through to a sense of flow and connect with the art again.

What causes this?

I have found freezing is also caused by a fear of commitment, that is, worrying about being unable to undo errors, being imperfect, or worrying about wasting materials like paper or paint. Sometimes it simply means I'm not sure what to do next. Being judged by others is a big one: I've stopped asking for feedback from family members.

Other solutions in a highly-regarded small book "Art and Fear"

I bought a copy of Art and Fear. Here's a quote from it:  “Fears about artmaking fall into two families: fears about yourself and fears about your reception by others.”

― David Bayles, Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

We will always have these fears!

Ask the art what it wants. Dialogue with your art

This is an approach derived from arts therapy (McNiff, S, Art as Medicine, Shambala Publications, Boston, 1992) (I recently completed a Grad. Dip. in this field). In its simplest form, settle yourself down, look at the work and gently invite the work to tell you what it wants.

Final note about art classes, and working on more than one work at once

Find a drawing class where the tutor can help, but to do that, speak to the tutor before you enrol and ask if they can help you. My experience is some tutors are very good at understanding how to manage our relationship with our art. One of current tutors has me working on three works at once, on small cheap canvasses. This has worked for me, and help me loosen up, and not get so attached to the one work.


Finishing an Embroidery Hoop I am quickly nearing the end of an embroidery hoop project, and am not sure how to finish it.  I plan to display the project within the hoop itself, but am in search of guidance on how to finish the edges of the fabric, so that the project as a whole is only the size of the hoop.

Thank you!

I'd recommend checking out YouTube, there a bunch of methods and they give you a full tutorial on how to do it. I tend to cut so there's may a centimetre of two to fold back thread with a needle and pull tight, a bit like this tutorial but only up to step 4. You can go on to cover the back, but it's all mostly down to your personal preference.


What's the name for the pen and ink drawing style seen in J. J. Grandville's art? I don't know much about art history or different drawing traditions, but I often see this style of line art (done in pen and ink I think?) which uses many thin lines for shading. Some examples of what I'm talking about include:

J. J. Grandeville, source
John Tenniel, source

A hand, source
Some animals, source

I never know how to describe this style of drawing and search for more examples. I'm also not sure if there's a term for this style of art, or if I'm grouping together unrelated art styles, but any help would be greatly appreciated!

The kind of shading with many thin lines is called hatching.

(image source)
It's very common in ink or pen drawings and printing techniques like etching or woodblock printing. A sub-category of prints with especially fine details is the "old master print".
This site demonstrates a number of different hatching techniques and how they influence our perception of the shapes


Fixing cracks in air-dried clay? Whenever I work with air-dry clays, the sculpture shrinks in size and there occurs lots of cracks. It is really time consuming, and hard to fix. So far, I tried filling in the cracks with glue and clay, then I sand the sculpture to get a smooth surface as much as I can. However, it is never very smooth, and like I said time consuming. Are there any other ways to fix it? (I let it dry covered with a plastic bag to increase the drying time.)

My experience so far is that cheaper air-drying clays tend to shrink more than quality clays while drying. Many types of clay list the expected shrinkage on the package. If there is no information about shrinkage, you should expect it to be non-negligible (sometimes as much as 10%). As far as I understand it, different fibres added to the clay are to blame. Cheap clays use fibres that soak up more water because you pay by weight. More water in the clay means less expensive ingredients by weight.

"Super soft" and "super light" clays are also full of fibres. I would always prefer a clay with the texture and consistency of natural clay.

Slowing the drying process down is a very good idea. If the outer layer of clay dries and shrinks faster than the inner layer, it cannot shrink uniformly and has to crack. If there are badly mended cracks in the soft clay, they tend to reopen while drying.

The thickness of the clay may have an effect as well. When you form very thick structures like a fist-sized ball, you should substitute part of the clay with another material like a ball of aluminium foil.

When your sculpture cracks, you should moisten the cracked area, fill it in with fresh clay and really rub it into the crack to attach it to the dried clay. If the fresh clay won't stick at all, it's a sign of bad quality clay.


Smooth ends of steel wire after cutting it? I'm cutting steel wire and inserting one end into a wooden base and the other end will be exposed and used to hang items from. I believe it's around 16 gauge, possibly larger (I can't measure it right now).

It's important to me that the exposed end is smoothed, and rounded if possible. I don't want to accidentally scratch the items when I'm attaching them.

I'm trying to avoid buying end-caps (such as these), and would prefer to spend that money on a reusable tool (or spend no money, and use some type of tool I may already have lying around).

I do have a Dremel and possibly a suitable grinding stone on hand, but I'm not sure about setting up a workspace to do it safely, controlling the tool on such a small working area, and whether or not I'd need follow-up tools to properly smooth it (similar to progressively finer sandpaper for wood).

Your objective is much easier than you might expect. I frequently use a small belt sander or my Dremel rotary tool to round sharp edges of cylindrical items such as nails or stiff wire.

Rather than using a grinding stone on your Dremel, consider to use a sanding drum. The grit will be more coarse on the drum and remove metal faster. Unless you require extremely smooth finish, the drum will make for shorter work.

Regardless of the tool selected, you'll want to secure the Dremel to a solid workspace/workbench to provide for best control. I've done the process with a Dremel rotary tool in one hand and the workpiece in the other, with mixed results.

Once secured and powered up, you can use both hands to position the wire to the drum/stone and brace one hand for graduated movement. You won't want to push the wire into the tool from an inadvertent muscle twitch or a slight balance waver. If you can perform the task while sitting, all the better.

You mention "properly smoothing" which means you will likely aim to the grinding stone side of things. The amount of material to be removed is small enough to make this practical.

Once you've attained the desired shape, your Dremel tool may also have a buffing wheel of sorts. It's likely to be a white fabric looking disk with a mandrel or a center hole for a thread-in mandrel. Using this tool in the same manner as described above, after applying jeweler's rouge, will provide for a polished finish. When performing the final polishing, use caution to avoid creating so much heat as to burn your fingers.

Spin the wire if possible as you press it against the wheel. The wire will accumulate abrasive powder as well as some of the fabric from the wheel, requiring periodic wiping to better examine the surface.


Baking polymer clay phone case I've been trying to make a polymer clay cover for my phone case and have been having a horrible time.

The baking directions say 275 but the plastic is melting and warping the case. I want it to be strong on there, so I thought baking directly on it would help. Also with Bake & Bond Sculpey to hold it to the case. Any suggestions to make this work?

I'm using "Premo".

Premo is one of the stronger kinds, so you're making the right choice there. I have only recently started using premo mixed my older sculpey III and have found it can cure as low as 225, but you'll obviously have to bake longer.


Help needed to transfer bird base to stretched bird base variant in John Szinger's origami fox model I am stuck in step 7 to step 8 transition of the foxy fox model by John Szinger specified in the picture below.
Can somebody explain which folds are exactly being done to complete this transition?

Please help.

Simply, take the bird base by the two flaps which are not folded, and pull them apart as far as you can without tearing the paper. The triangular part at the top of the bird base will flatten and stretch into a square. When you fold the model back flat, you will end up with the shape from step 8.


What to do with tail of yarn to hide it? When you start or finish a project, you end up with a tail of yarn. What is the simplest way to hide it?

I usually find that the simplest way of hiding yarn is as follows:

Cut your yarn about two inches (5 cm) away from your last stitch. Pull the yarn through an inconspicuous corner and tie an knot on itself. Weave in the end (Tie a knot or two more if it feels insecure).

If you are looking for a more secure finish:

Cut your yarn about an inch and a half to two inches away from your last stitch. Split the yarn into two strands, push them through a gap and around a stitch, one strand in front and one in the back, then tie a strong knot and weave in the ends.


Eco Friendly Alternative to Felt I have made several toys using acrylic felt and I think the variety and options available in felt is beautiful. Recently I have been more conscious of my impact on the environment and I was wondering if anyone has tried doing "typical felt crafts" (quiet books, toys, fridge magnets etc)  with any other material? The reason I like acrylic felt is mainly due to the vibrant colors and the stiffness of the material. Ecofelt is plastic that has been recycled so I don't want to use that for toys for children and I don't want to use wool either (allergies). Is there any material like cotton (plant based) that can be a replacement for felt? Thank you!

There is cotton felt, there is hemp felt. Pretty much anything that has fibres (plants including) could be turned into felt. If you can't find it in the desired colours you can always dye it.


When to add a waist stay? I'm working on a dress with a strapless bodice and a gathered skirt. I'm designing my own pattern, but for an example it will have a similar shape to this dress.

From browsing online I've seen that "fancy" strapless dresses sometimes include waist stays. So I'm considering adding one, but I haven't sewn (or worn) something with one before. If the waist stay won't do anything for my dress I'd like to avoid the extra work, but I'm not sure what to check for when I try it on, to tell if it would make a difference.

When would I want to use a waist stay? What issues would it help with?

Here is what I found after researching a bit more:

A waist stay is typically made out of a sturdy ribbon (grosgrain or petersham), tacked at the natural waist. The stay should be slightly smaller than the garment dimensions.

The purpose of the waist stay is to help carry some of the weight of the garment and lessen the strain on the bodice.

Without the stay, the dress is held up by the bodice. A heavy skirt will tend to pull the dress downwards, which is not good for strapless styles!!

With the stay, the dress is "anchored" at the waist (because this is now the tightest part of the dress). The skirt will be secured to the waist, and a boned bodice will also be held up from that point. This lessens the strain on the bodice and zipper (if applicable).

This can help the garment feel more secure and less likely to fall down. It shouldn't significantly change the fit, but should help for wearing over longer periods of time by making sure the dress stays where it's supposed to and doesn't sag.

Some sources:

http://www.lauramaedesigns.com/2015/08/adding-waist-stay-to-garment-tutorial.html
http://blog.gorgeousfabrics.com/2012/04/05/the-what-and-why-of-waist-stays/
https://www.lovelyandenough.com/blog/2015/09/waist-stays-and-weddings


How to paint my acoustic guitar? How do I paint my acoustic guitar like this:

Or this:

The second example ("No me llores") looks airbrushed to me. The first... frankly, I think that you could achieve it with nothing more than a wood stain, correcting fluid and a pocket-knife.

You should be aware, however, that both paintjobs are likely to impair the tone of the instrument. The first one, especially, looks like a number of no-skill, homebrew paintjobs that I've seen over the years. They do very little for a guitar as guitar.

The tone of an acoustic guitar depends greatly on how the soundbox vibrates. Applying a ham-fisted paintjob onto the soundboard, especially, will change its sonic characteristics. What is worse, heavy-handed painting will make it nigh impossible to repair the damage, once it is done (you might simply find it impossible to be rid of the paint without having to sand off a whole layer of wood that it has seeped into, which introduces its own set of problems). This is the reason acoustic guitars are given only a thin coat of soft paint.

I would not recommend doing anything like this to anything other than a cheap and already sub-par guitar - unless you have no intention of ever playing it.

Solid-body electric guitars are much more amenable to crazy paintjobs.


How are sketches like this drawn? Are these sketches simply drawn by hand with a lot of effort or is there a trick to them?

Credit: Naruto, Vol. 1: Uzumaki Naruto (9781569319000)
(Version with higher resolution)

One way I think is common among comic artists is through instancing*: after having drawn a few of the figures in different positions, you can copy instances of these individual figures unto the panel using either

a lightbox or light table, when working with traditional tools, or

image editing software (e.g. Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint), when taking a digital approach.

Alternatively, some specialized software allows for importing 3D models that can be positioned, after which a render can be made that looks like a drawing.

However, at close inspection, this particular image doesn't show obvious signs of instancing, so I think this was all drawn by hand by Kishimoto.
That, or the instances were edited afterward (using any of the approaches mentioned).

* I'm not sure 'instancing' is the term used in the comic world, though: I know it from 3D editing software and game engines, where it is common.


How to tell a story through pencil drawings? When sketching, I can usually visualize a comic strip containing multiple images that tell a story. I want to try merge the images of a comic strip into a single drawing that has a story. I don't know how to merge these images as each of them are from different points in time and have the same character performing different actions. An example I have in mind is:

A lively cup of coffee
A tired vampire drinking the coffee
The vampire now looking lively
The coffee now looking exhausted and drained

I could draw each of these bullet points as an image on its own, but I don't know how to draw a single image representing all of them.
What drawing techniques can I use to tell a story and depict change?

There are several different ways you can depict multiple actions taking place over time in a single panel, depending on who is doing the action, what the action entails, and which components remain constant/static over the duration of those actions. The key is that you are depicting both movement in time and space (e.g. you're showing an action that occurs over time, not multiple actions taking place simultaneously).
For instance, if you had a pet mouse crawling all over its human companion, you could have the human remain in a single, fixed position. For the main image, you could have the person sitting at the kitchen table, holding the mouse in their hand to illustrate their relationship with each other. But then the mouse can be drawn in many other places to create the impression that it's curious, energetic, and explorative - in the person's hair, on their shoulder, peeking out from the cuff of their other hand, sliding across the table, climbing the back of the chair, peeking out from behind the salt shaker on the table or a jar on the shelf behind the person. The other action poses of the mouse can be drawn in less detail or in lighter shades so that the main pose - that of the person holding the mouse - is more emphasized. Sven Nordqvist makes use of this technique in Pettson and Findus quite often - see below for an example.

(Source: Findus Disappears! by Sven Nordqvist)
For an action carried over a distance, you could show a long, landscape drawing with the subject shown in various mid-action positions to illustrate their movement across the landscape - for instance, a child running and playing through a park. You could even depict a greater passage of time by having the subject and other components of the background (trees, houses, etc.) age as they travel across the scene - think of Simba, Timone, and Pumbaa as they cross the log bridge in Disney's "The Lion King" (the original animated classic; not sure if the newer movie has this scene) - as they travel over the log, you can imagine creating a single still image where they are young at the start of the log, and as they walk from left to right across the log, in the middle is a young, adolescent Simba with Timone and Pumbaa, and near the end of the log he's full-grown, mane and all.

(Source: https://9gag.com/gag/a846Lr3)
I have also seen some stunning examples of actions taking place over a single vertically-oriented panel in comics drawn by NanoMortis and Yuumei on DeviantArt.
Here is one such example: "Up All Night" by Nanomortis
In your particular example of the coffee-drinking vampire, you could have the starting and ending positions of the vampire change over time. For instance, perhaps he starts out seated at the table/counter, slumped over the lively cup of coffee, but then after drinking the coffee, he perks up, while the now sad and empty cup of coffee has been knocked over on the table. You can have these poses overlapping and have one constant, static setting, with light lines drawing the intermediate stage(s) in between. If you're using color, that could be a great way to show the transition from the first phase to the final - perhaps a cool color scheme transitioning to bright/hot (to show the change in the vampire's energy), with the intermediate tones in muted/light tones so that the first and final stages are the most contrasting colors and pop out more than the transition. Otherwise, if you're working in graphite only, you can use dark, sharp, crisp lines for the final pose only, and lighter lines for the earlier position and transition. In either case, the transition poses should be less detailed to avoid cluttering the image too much and to produce the illusion of movement.
If the first and final poses are too similar, such that they overlap significantly, then you might need to do a sort of "merged panel" drawing - that is, show each of the stages (including the inanimate objects in the background/setting- you can link the counter together to appear as one continuous object to establish continuity between each stage) repeated over the length of the image, but separately instead of overlapping (or with some slight overlap). This may work if there's a certain motion that carries through the repeated image (e.g. the motion of lifting the cup to the vampire's mouth can help guide the eye in the same direction over the repeated images).
These are just some ideas off the top of my head, but hopefully these can help give you some ideas to work with. Good luck!


How to chose between soldering and welding? I understand the difference between soldering and welding. What I'm confused with is how do you chose which one to use, when is one more suitable than the other and when one should be avoided. I hope someone here could explain.

For the benefit of other readers, let me start with a brief explanation, and I'll expand the terminology to include brazing.  Soldering and brazing are the same process, the difference is the temperature at which it happens.  Both involve using a filler metal that melts far below the temperature of the base metal to be joined; when this process happens below 842°F it's called soldering, above that temperature it's called brazing.
Welding
Welding involves melting the base metal so the liquid metal from the two pieces to be joined flows together.  Additional metal of the same kind can be melted and added as filler.  This creates a single, solid piece of the base metal.  The strength of the joint will be determined by the amount of metal there and how the "heat treatment" of the melting process affects it.
If we ignore spot welding for this discussion, where sheets of metal are overlapped and then melted together at small spots, welding is typically an "edge" process.  Pieces are butted against each other and the edges are melted together, or the edge of one piece is melted to the face of another piece.  Welding typically takes place on an exposed surface, and strength is achieved by filling or building to create the desired thickness of metal.
Soldering / Brazing
Soldering and brazing are a bit like hot gluing metal together with other metal. Metal with a melting temperature much lower than the base metal is melted and used like glue to stick the base metal pieces together (done by heating the base metal to above the melting point of the filler metal, and that melts the filler metal).  The solder or brazing material forms a metallurgical bond with the base metal, but it doesn't have the mechanical strength of the base metal.  So you can't butt two pieces of base metal together, connect them with some solder, and expect the solder to perform as if you have a solid piece of base metal.
Solder and brazing joints rely on a different principle.  The mechanical strength comes from the base metal; typically, two pieces of the base metal overlap and a thin layer of the solder or brazing material between them keeps them from sliding or pulling apart.  The liquefied solder or brazing material flows over the base metal surface in a thin layer through wetting the surface and flowing as a liquid, and by being drawn into gaps via capillary action.
The strength doesn't come from the filler metal.  The filler metal is typically just a few thousandths of an inch thick.  The strength comes from a large surface area, where the stresses are trying to shear a lot of filler metal the "long" way, or trying to pull it apart across a large surface.
As Chris H points out in a comment, brazing can also be used for some welding-style joints.  If you use a filler metal that has mechanical strength and melts below the temperature of the base metal, it can be melted and built up around the joint so that the filler metal is providing the mechanical strength of the joint (called "fillet brazing").  In this case, the strength of the joint depends on the mechanical properties of the filler metal, how thick it is, and how much area of base metal it's bonded to.
When to use which
Both approaches can have similar, or at least adequate, strength.  Ignoring the fact that welding takes specialized equipment and more skill, there are a number of considerations that go into the choice of approach.

Nature of the joint.  As described above, the type of joint may point to one method or the other.  For example, if you need to butt two edges together, soldering/brazing generally won't be a good solution.  If you need to join two thin nesting tubes and ensure the joint will hold liquid or gas under pressure (think copper plumbing or refrigeration systems), welding is not a good solution.

Strength requirement.  If strength is a critical factor and the joint needs to have at least the same strength as the base metal, some joint configurations may require welding.

Size.  Soldering/brazing requires heating a large surface to above the melting temperature of the filler.  Two massive metal base pieces may conduct heat away too fast for soldering/brazing to be practical, or to evenly heat the entire joint.  Welding uses very localized heat, so large pieces can be joined with a series of welds.
At the other size extreme, welding is too crude.  For a weld to have useful strength, it needs to involve a substantive amount of metal, and the melt area will be large enough to readily see.  Welding isn't typically suitable for something like assembling jewelry components.  The melt area will visibly affect the shape of the piece.  And if you need to fix the shape by grinding the weld, you're often wasting precious metals.  So jewelry-making normally uses soldering.

Material to be joined.  The heat required for welding might distort the pieces to be joined.  Thin material can melt and flow away from the surrounding material, destroying the shape or integrity of the material.  Soldering or brazing keeps everything below the melting temperature of the base metal.
The type of base metal may introduce considerations.  Soldering or brazing requires use of a filler metal that will wet and bond with the base metal.  At welding temperatures, some metals quickly oxidize, so welding may require use of special equipment that keeps the molten metal in a chemically inert atmosphere.

The need to join dissimilar metals.  Soldering and brazing allow you to join two different base metals, which you can't do with welding.

Post-joining requirements.  If the joined pieces might ever need to be separated, soldering/brazing would allow that (e.g., reworking copper plumbing).  If the joined pieces might be exposed to high heat, either in subsequent fabrication steps or the environment in which it will be used, welding might be required to prevent the joint from falling apart.

Appearance and cleanup.  Welding typically doesn't leave a nice finished appearance.  If appearance is important, the joint usually requires grinding.  If soldering or brazing leaves excess material, it is easily melted so it self-levels or can be wiped away.  It is also typically softer than the base metal and is easily abraded in a controlled way to give it a finished appearance.

Industrial process.  In an industrial or mass production setting, there can be considerations of speed and cost.

These aren't all of the considerations, but it will provide a flavor of the decision factors.


Should I consider watercolor wash outlines mistakes? In some case when I paint small areas the paint seems to go on the borders instead spread in the water.

I usually notice this effect after watercolor dries.

Should I consider these outlines mistakes?

Maybe I'm using a brush that is too big.

I usually paint on A5 paper and small subjects, like flowers, with a n.6 Kolinsky Sable brush and some times it hold too much water.

You get these outlines when the pigment collects on the edges of the water you have laid down. This happens when you use a lot of water, causing the pigment to float around in the "puddle" and gravitate towards the edges as it dries (if you're interested in the physics, there's even a name for it: the coffee ring effect!).

To avoid these outlines, you need to use less water when you lay down the color. You should have enough water to wet the entire area, but not so much that it puddles on the paper. You may find that you need to dilute your pigment more - before the wash - to achieve the same color. (Note that diluting pigment is not the same as using lots of water to apply it!)

This will involve some amount of experimenting to get a "feel" for how much water is necessary. Also, consider using a smaller brush since you mention yours sometimes holds too much water. I would recommend trying different ratios on a scrap piece of paper to see what works best with your pigments.


Is there an easy way to sharpen a wire loop carving tool? I have some wire loop tools like this:

I've found they're working wonderfully for carving plaster.

Or, were. Now, the edges seem to be a but more blunt and taking too much pressure to remove material. I can't apply more pressure at this point, because my details are too small.

Is there an easy way, or any way, to sharpen these?

This answer is not based on first-hand knowledge of sharpening wire loops, but is based on extrapolating what works for paint scrapers.

Many years ago while performing one of those early-marriage projects that required the removal of paint from second-hand furniture, I decided that my scraper blade needed to be replaced.  Ran over to the local hardware store and the knowledgeable clerk informed me that I did not need a new blade - just sharpen it - doh, really? how?

He proceeded to demonstrate and after thirty seconds and two swipes of a file to the cutting edge I went home.  I still have the scraper and blade, though it's much reduced in size.

I would take the same approach with these flat wire loops and use a file to restore the edge.  A few firm swipes should produce a nice edge.  It might also be possible to treat the edges the same way you would sharpen a pocket knife with a whetstone or with a small hand-held stone. It might be a bit tricky on the curved parts, but I think any artisan could handle a file to create a curved edge.


What fabric is appropriate for an ironing board cover? Our new house has an ironing board that folds out of the wall. While I love the convenience of this, the ironing board cover is rather old and gross, as well as having some tears.

Being crafty, I'd like to make my own ironing board cover. What fabrics can I consider that would not be a fire hazard? (Assuming I will never leave the iron just sitting face down on the ironing board, of course.)

You can buy "heat-resistant fabric" by the yard at large fabric stores in the utility fabrics section (literally called "ironing board fabric" at a popular chain) or online (several sources came up on a search), for about the same price as cotton duck or canvas, often for less. Measure the board and be sure to allow fabric to tuck under and attach to the bottom in the same way as the original cover. It is strong but not bulky or very stiff, silver-gray, and easy to work with, also often used for potholders. If needed, you should replace the cotton padding while you are at it, with cotton batting, from the same sources.


Process behind golden palm leaf I saw this amazing piece of art and was curious as how I could make something similar using stuff I could find in nature like ferns, bark or large leafs?

What would the process be?
How would you stop the leaf from further decomposition?
And is it just dipped in gold paint?

https://naturalcuriosities.com/bird-of-paradise-ready-to-ship-16153.html

From the absence of visible leaf structure, I would guess that this is just artfully laid out gold colored tissue on canvas.  There is an inherent pun in the work because that gold tissue is usually referred to as "gold leaf".

As for making similar work from actual plant life, you might it easier to build a one-sided, open silicone mold around a plant leaf, then cast them in a mixture of clear resin and gold-colored pigment.