Material to prototype gear designs For fun, I started designing some two-dimensional mechanisms with parts that rotate, slide and gear against each other. Ultimately these will be made from laser-cut acrylic, but since I don't have easy access to a laser cutter I would like to find a way to prototype them at home.

I tried using foam board, the kind used for architectural models. This is great because I can cut it accurately with an X-Acto knife or a circle cutting tool, but unfortunately the cut edges don't slide against each other very well - there's too much friction for my design to work.

So I'm wondering if there is another material that would be more suitable. That is:

easy to cut accurately at home
at least a couple of millimetres thick
can be sanded smooth so the edges will slide well against each other
doesn't need any bending strength, since all parts will rest against a flat surface and only move in the XY directions

I don't mind buying tools to cut the material, but I don't have any working space apart from a carpeted living room and a small balcony, so I can't install anything that will take up space or make a mess. Potentially I could use a Dremel or something out on the balcony if that's the right approach, but I'd be a bit worried about the noise.

Balsa wood is available from many sources and can often be found at local outlets. Various thickness panels are usually presented in shelf units or organizer caddies, typically in 24" or 36" lengths (0.6/0.9m) and varying widths.

Balsa wood is quite soft and easily cut, more easily than foam core as it is consistent throughout the thickness. There will be weakness parallel to the grain, however, which means gear teeth will break off if too much force is applied.

One could create the model components and then apply a thin layer of PVA glue along with a paper reinforcement layer to mitigate the grain-parallel weakness.

1/8" balsa (3mm) can be cut with a sharp razor knife, but I believe you'll have better strength with 3/16" to 1/4" material (4.75 to 6.35mm), especially if you apply paper reinforcement. If one layer on one side appears insufficient, apply a second layer on the other side. It would then be the equivalent of foam core board with a much stronger inner ply.

Balsa sands to a very smooth surface. You could then apply a thin layer of glue if you require a harder contact area for reduced friction.


Custom name too long for christmas stocking when using duplicate stitch Please see the picture below: I am making the stocking with the Christmas tree. The person’s name is Geraldine. If I use the duplicate stitch, the name will wrap around which I don’t want. I am looking for alternatives to add the name. All the other family stockings have a name, so initials are not an alternative. I am pretty creative, so I am open to anything.

Several suggestions:

Knit a matching strip in a thinner yarn at a tighter gauge. Sew the strip onto the stocking after stitching letters onto it. That way you have more stitches per inch, so you can fit more letters in using duplicate stitch. Since the letters will be shorter, arrange them diagonally so they don't look lost in the middle of that tall strip.

Use a skinnier font. It looks like your pattern makes the letters four stitches wide. Most letters can be made three stitches wide, as in this skinny cross stitch font:

Look at other Christmas stocking patterns for ideas about how to fit a longer name on a stocking. This one has some 6- and 7-letter examples. It uses lowercase for all but the first letter. You can get away with making lowercase letters skinnier than uppercase, especially because "Geraldine" has an L and an I, each of which can be one stitch wide.

Here's an example where they squeezed "Savanna" onto a stocking:

Add a vertical white stripe next to the tree, joining the top and bottom horizontal white stripes. I would start the stripe at the center of the front of the leg. You might need to slightly offset the Christmas tree towards the back of the sock. Work the name down the vertical stripe, and fill in the now blank top white stripe with matching holly leaves from the bottom white stripe. (Sorry about the terrible Microsoft Paint job, but it should give the idea of how the layout would work.) I think the vertical stripe will look like an intentional design element, not something slapped on. Depending on how the stitch count works out, you might start the name in the top white stripe or just below that stripe, and extend it into the bottom white stripe or not.

Embroider the letters instead of doing duplicate stitch. Type "GERALDINE" into a word processor, and play with the font size until it fits in the required space. Try different fonts; some fonts are skinnier than others. In Microsoft Word, if you make a "word art" object, you can also control the spacing between letters. Print out the name, put tracing paper over the page, and trace the letters. Pin the tracing paper on the stocking, stitch through the paper, then rip off the paper.

Embroider or ink the name on a piece of fabric. Sew the fabric onto the stocking. For the fabric, use soft flannel, fleece or felt.

Make the white strip double-height. Split the name into two lines. You could reduce the amount of red under the tree to keep the stocking a similar length. (I don't actually love this idea, but I thought it was worth including for comparison.)
  GERAL
  DINE


Diluting or thinning uncured Milliput Is it possible to dilute, thin or liquefy Milliput so that it flows into nooks and crannies better?

If so, is there any advice on what to use, in what ratios, and whether it will adversely effect the strength of it when it cures?

I'm trying to use it to fill gaps in 3D-printed parts where the stepper motor might have skipped or the filament just didn't bind for some reason.

You can use water to dilute it.

Here someone suggest adding a little soap with the water, as this will not only let it mix better, but also increase the drying time, although I think this might be detrimental for the structure.

Note however, that some users complain about the manipulation of this mix (e.g. here: "I tried [to] dilute Milliput and although it worked (sort of) it was messy and time consuming").
The ratio really depends on what you want to achieve - what works best for your application. I suggest experimenting with the amount, slowly adding more, until it behaves the way you want it to.

Alternatively, you can opt for using ProCreate Putty, which I saw mentioned here, and sounds like something that acts a bit more like you would expect of a watered down putty.

Additional sources:
http://www.40konline.com/index.php?topic=32579.0
https://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?76994-Milliput-knowledge-please
https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/thinnin-milliput.24159/
https://themostexcellentandawesomeforumever-wyrd.com/topic/79094-liquid-greenstuff/


What kind of lathe would I need if I want to turn pens? Pen turning is a fairly common focus for people wanting to learn to turn wood.  Pens are small and 'appear' easy to make.  Having the right equipment can make it a simpler process.  So what kind of a lathe would one need to be able to turn pens?

There are several basic groups of wood turning lathes based on size.  There are the pen/mini lathes, the midi lathes and your full sized lathes.

Pen/mini lathes are the smallest. These are almost always bench top models have a small foot print and smaller swing often 8-10".  Bed lengths vary.

Midi Lathes are larger than mini's and tend to have a 10-12" swing, longer beds and most are bench top models, however some have stands.  They tend to be more powerful, since they can handle larger pieces than the mini's.

Full sized lathes are the largest, tend to be floor models (but not always) and have the largest swings, often starting about 14" and up into the 20's.

In reality you can turn a pen on any of them.  However, full sized lathes are overkill for size, power and price.  Midi's are reasonable to use especially if you turn things other than small items like pens.

This leaves the pen/mini's as the likely option.  They are the cheapest of the bunch, allowing more money for buying pen stock, the are the smallest, allowing for a small work space/shop, and they are designed for this type of work, which means it should have smaller error tolerances as well.

As pointed out in the comments, these lathes can also be used with resin stocks and other similar materials.


How can you dye blown eggs? In the Before Pandemic times, my family would often host Easter-egg dyeing parties, where we provide the dyes and tools and guests provide eggs. We emphasize bringing whole raw eggs, but there are always a few know-it-alls who bring either hard-boiled eggs or already-blown egg shells. With the cooked eggs, we thank them kindly and put the eggs in the fridge for later eating, explaining (again) that the dyes are not food-safe, but we've always had trouble with the blown eggs.

Lots of people who make amazing dyed eggs insist that they only work with blown eggs, but they never explain HOW THE HECK. I mean, basic physics, right? A blown eggshell will just float on top of the dye, leading to, uh... interesting patterns, but not a nice even color.
If you try to push an egg shell into the dye, you either end up with a broken shell, or the dye seeps into the inside, and then you end up with dye dripping all over everything. You can try to blow out the dye, same as the innards got blown out in the first place, but that's likely to still result in dye dripping all over creation, plus now your dye is contaminated with whatever was inside the egg before (raw egg, detergent, other dyes). Also, good luck with trying to turn a blue egg green by giving it a quick dunk in the yellow, and other such tricks.
I've heard tales of plugging the hole (or holes, depending on the blowing method) with wax, but 1. that has never worked for me - the wax always falls out at the most inopportune moment, and 2. that doesn't solve the basic physics problem.
Yet, people still insist that they do this all the time. HOW?

A couple of years ago, I got some goose eggshells from a friend. The best solution I could come up with for dyeing them was to fill the shell with water and then (try to) plug the hole with wax. It made for a rather unsightly blob around the hole, and as you said, the plug could lose cohesion at odd moments, sometimes with rather, um, disastrous results.
(For an egg blown the old-fashioned way with two holes, I guess you'd have to plug one hole, fill it, plug the other hole, and then deal with the double failure points.)
I've been blithely saying "plug the hole with wax", but my experience is that it's far from that easy. I wonder if there's a technique to it that we're missing. (Duct tape? Medical tape? Candle wax instead of beeswax? Haven't tried any of these.)


Drafting film glued on plywood I did an oil painting on drafting film. Now I need to fix it on a board so it will not bend. Can I do it on a plywood and then frame it under glass? Is it safe for the painting? Plywood is not acid free I suppose.

Polystyrene sheets (thermocol is one brand) and cardboard sheets are your friends here! Take the polystyrene sheet, cut it one inch longer than the drafting film on all sides, cover the poly-sheet with colored paper or paint it (optional, and not really necessary as yours is oil painting, but would be needed if it's just a pencil or charcoal sketch), stick the film on the poly-sheet (don't use hot glue or superglue on polystyrene ever; I learned this the hard way), then turn the painting upside down, with the painting facing the floor poly-sheet on top, and stick a cardboard sheet cut exact to size and then long strips of cardboard for the sides and the extra inch you left earlier on the top.

Pros: Looks like a legit frame because of the brown color of cardboard, is much lighter, is very cheap and easy to get your hands on

Cons: Absolutely none

P.S. For the glass thing you were talking, you surely can put glass on it but that would make it sensitive and fragile, so maybe you can also try saran wrap or maybe OHP sheets. With glass you always have to be super conscious while handling it, and also while picking up from the sides so you don't cut yourself; this way it's just more kid/teen/student friendly. But if you're an adult and it's going to stay in your office or on a private showcase, etc, go ahead, use all the glass you want.


How to make kite line more visible? The main question is here. Other related question here.
When rising a kite even a few tens of meters, some danger might exist: low flying helicopters, utility planes, hang gliders etc. might hit or get tangled into the rope.
As the height increases, the length of the rope increases (duh!), and thus the risk of accidents.
How can I make the rope visible, or at least "warn" intelligent fliers that something is there to be avoided?
I think of attaching something visible to the rope every XYZ meters, so anyone could understand easily the "trajectory" of the rope and avoid it. What should I use? How should it be attached?
I thought of attaching some ribbons to the rope (similar to the "tails" of the kite), every maybe 50 meters. But they will make rising and lowering the kite difficult, and they would add greatly to the volume and length of the rope.

Note: I did not even take birds into account.

Update: As a result of the answers posted, I understood that a better solution might be to apply on the line (every X meters) something highly reflexive (maybe even fluorescent / phosphorescent): paint, silicone... So the line would look like a necklace, with the beads spaced a lot.
There should be no problem for me to mix sone transparent silicone with some reflective dust. What should that dust be?

You will find a number of kite forums on the internet. Common to many is the consideration that one does not fly in areas known to have substantial air traffic.
This includes airports and hang gliding (and paragliding) sites.
Adding tails/ribbons to the line will not increase appreciably the visibility of the kite line to pilots, but it will increase the drag both for gaining altitude and for retrieving the line. Birds may be the only entity that would benefit from flagging the line. In the past years of kite flying, I've only had line contact one time, at the beach, by a seagull and it tumbled a bit and continued on its way.
You may want to consider to ask a moderator to migrate your three questions to the engineering SE as it appears to fit that category better than Arts & Crafts.
Per the suggestion of another answer-poster-person, my comment to attach a battery operated/powered emergency strobe (typically 360° visibility) will improve the visibility of a kite. Aircraft have beacons for this reason and pilots will react more effectively to such a lighting device.
Image from Amazon:


How can I block acrylic / wool blend yarn? My understanding is that one should block 100% wool by soaking in hot water and reshaping to dry, which will felt the fibers enough to keep its shape. Acrylic, on the other hand, does not felt, so instead you steam-block it and/or "kill" the fibers (ever-so-slightly melt them together) by holding an iron at a distance, so that it does not completely melt the yarn.

What if I am knitting with a blend of wool and acrylic? Assume this is a wearable article that I would like to remain soft.

(Steam blocking for wool is another method I've seen, but since this is done by placing the iron directly on a sheet/towel on the yarn, rather than holding it at a distance as for acrylic, I'm assuming that would not be a good idea for a blend.)

Some sub-questions I have about this:

How does the fiber content (say, 25% wool vs. 50/50 vs. 75% wool) affect what method(s) to use, and the result?
Is the acrylic method of steam blocking (from a distance) effective on wool?
Are there other blocking techniques that would work on both types?

Data point: I successfully blocked a mixed-fiber scarf by soaking in warm water! It was made of fingering weight yarn, content: 75% superwash merino / 25% nylon.

For an arbitrary mixture, the safest method would definitely be to make a test swatch and see how it responds... but since I don't always swatch, the next best thing is to try blocking in order of least to most potential for damage.

Block by soaking and letting dry
This will only be effective on the natural fibers in the yarn. This will not have any effect on the plastic fibers, but will not damage them either. In my case - 75% natural fiber - this was sufficient to retain the shape.
Steam block
This will affect both types of fibers, so it should be effective. The danger here is that you over-heat and melt the plastic fibers. This is permanent! So I would only use this if the previous step did not work, and on low heat. Wool and other natural fibers won't be damaged by that either.


How can I clean a paper model? I am a paper craft artist. I make 3D pepakura models.
While making the models, if the model is made of white paper, it becomes a little bit dirty because of glue stains. Also, over time, because of dust, the model becomes dirty.
How can I clean these paper models of stains and dust?

Begin cleaning by gently brushing the surface of the object with a soft brush to remove loose dirt and dust. If soiling is heavy, brush debris into a HEPA vacuum with cheesecloth over the nozzle to catch any bits of paper that may come loose accidentally. Just don't apply the vacuum hose directly onto the object.


I made a facial prosthetic out of air-dry clay, how would I attatch it? The clay is by Crayola and is somewhat soft(?) when dried, what product would be best to use for attaching it to my face? I do not want it to be ruined as I worked really hard on it and it took me about 2 days to complete.

That material is not likely to survive very long. Normally you would make the piece out of latex or silicone, because those materials are resilient. However, I can recommend that you use rubber cement. It is generally (unless you are allergic, which you can test by putting a small dab on your skin, if it itches or get red, wash it off immediately with warm soapy water). Assuming you are not allergic, now try to attach another sample as a test to your face. Figure out how much glue and how strong the clay is. Do this by applying the cement to the back of the clay and immediately attach it to your face.

If it works, then do it with the final piece. Good luck


Cheap Screw-Valve Connectors for Water-Based Crafts Recently I have made a lot of crafts involving moving water, especially scenes I sculpt out of clay and then paint/seal. I made a mini pond to put on my table, an old country scene with a working water wheel for a competition and even a small fountain lit with laser lights.

In each of my crafts, I use acrylic aquarium tubing to transport the water where it needs to go, in and out of pumps etc. Up until now, I have simply glued each tube permanently in place, but this has got to change.

There are times when I wish I could just unscrew a valve connection and remove linking tubes, for example to disconnect a pump from an archived project and reuse it, or in more involved projects, disconnect large pieces for transportation to a showcase.

I don’t like using pre-made tube connectors for this, which can also be expensive if I need lots of them.

So I had a genius idea: bottle necks and caps are designed to be water-tight in nature. If I took a bottle, cut off the neck, glued my tube in and drilled the cap for another tube, I could make a screwable connector.

The first problem with this connector is bulk. If I choose too large a bottle cap, than liquid could remain in the junction after draining the piece. The simple solution is to use necks and caps with a similar diameter to my tubing. Airline toothpaste tubes and their caps have proven well-suited to this task.

The second problem is twisting tubes. Directly gluing my tubes to the caps will cause the tubes to twist (and possibly kink) as I screw the caps on. I solved this with some rubber bands and vegetable oil. I snipped the tube near the cap connection and put the free end of the severed tube over the end of a pair of needle-nosed pliers. I heated the end up with a low-heat heat gun and used the pliers to widen the tube neck. Now the little piece of tube still attached to the cap fits inside the end of the free tube. I glued a strip of rubber band around the outside of the cap tube and the inside of the free tube and then pushed them together. They stayed in place after adding a plastic disk to the cap tube cut from a plastic drinks cup. A swab of vegetable oil on the rubber bands makes for a water-tight, revolving jack.

My problem now is where I can find a good/cheap/free source of tiny caps and screwable necks. I am all out of airline toothpaste. I thought about using cork and bottle necks because they sell tiny bottles at the local store with cork stoppers, but when I cut the glass the bottles sometimes crack and break, and the cork leaks without vegetable oil added regularly.

Any ideas?

Here are a couple of simple, inexpensive solutions.  It doesn't beat the free materials cost of recycling used stuff, but it also doesn't require all of the labor to fabricate water-tight connections.

Materials for the first solution would be under a dime per connection based on roughly 1/4" ID plastic tubing.

Get some metal tubing that fits tightly into the acrylic tubing.  It can even be slightly larger than the inner diameter because the plastic tubing can be warmed and stretched.  Copper tubing is fairly inexpensive, and a small roll goes a long way (a 10' roll of 1/4" OD copper tubing is about $5 and will yield 80 connectors).  Cut some pieces roughly 1.5" long.

If you use a tubing cutter, the end will be a little rounded, which is perfect.  If you cut the tubing by other means, use a little sandpaper to smooth any rough or sharp edges, including the end, since these will weaken the plastic tubing.  Use a permanent marker to draw a line around the circumference at the halfway point.

Insert a piece half way into one side of the plastic tubing to be joined.  Leave the mark visible.  The water isn't under serious pressure, so if you need to stretch the plastic tubing a little, it will probably be water-tight as-is.

If you needed to warm the plastic tubing, wait for it to cool.  Finish the connection by pushing the other side of the metal tubing into the other piece of plastic tubing until the ends of the plastic tubing meet.  The visible mark will let you know if you're pushing the metal tubing farther into the first piece, which you don't want.

If that happens, reposition the metal tubing to the halfway point.  Use a plastic zip tie to tighten the plastic tubing on the first side (under 2 cents if you buy a package of a reasonable quantity).  Position it at half the inserted length of the metal tubing, and use needle nose pliers to pull the zip tie tight (pull it tight by hand, then grab the end with pliers close to the lock, and rotate the pliers against the lock for leverage to pull it tighter).  You can snip off the tail.  The zip tie can be used in any case for extra insurance of a water-tight connection.

On the second side, if you want to add a zip tie, use the removable type there, which will facilitate disconnecting and reusing everything without risking cutting the plastic tubing when cutting off a single-use zip tie.
If you need a ton of connectors and want to save all labor, a ready to use solution is double-sided barb connectors.  For small diameter tubing, this would cost just over a dime per connection (in quantities of 50 or more), with zero fabrication.

Image courtesy Home Depot

You just work the tubing over the barb.  This is intended for a permanent connection and doesn't require any form of clamp; it isn't designed as a quick disconnect.  You can disconnect it, but you will probably need to warm the tubing to soften it, then push the tubing off rather than pull it off (think Chinese finger trap).

If it is an application where you will need to connect and disconnect often, I don't know how well the tubing will hold up to that.  If you use these connectors, I would leave the tubing a number of inches longer than required.  If the connection stops being water-tight due to disconnection/reconnection, snip off the worn end of the tubing to connect a fresh end.


Are there alternatives to starch for stiffening finished yarn hat? I am going to be making a cowboy hat for my niece out of cotton yarn. The pattern I am using is a simple working in rounds i.e. making a bowl shape. The "cowboy" comes from using starch to make the brim and shape the top. It also seems a bunch of the patterns I run into use this same mentality. Rely on starch for shape.

I actually have no real need to own starch so I wonder if there are other options for helping the hat hold its shape reliably over time besides starch. Or is that the only realistic option?

Below is what the hat looks like once the pattern is done and the completed work. From the designer

  Tip: To help retain the shape, it’s a good idea to starch the hat.

Image adapted from projectarian.com

My experience with starching is neither extensive nor with crochet items, but in the hopes that it will be helpful:

I would try dilute white glue (school glue/Elmer's/PVA glue). I stiffened acrylic felt with it, and the felt remained flexible, but was definitely better able to keep its shape.

Unfortunately, I don't have a specific dilution to recommend. I found a blog post about crochet snowflakes which says a 50-50 glue-water mixture will make crochet rock hard, so stay well below that. When I did the felt, I used just enough glue to make the water opaque - it was not a true white, just couldn't be seen through. That wasn't enough! I was able to do a second round of stiffening, though, so it's a forgiving method.

If I were doing this I would use enough glue to make the water true white, soak the hat in it (folded like in the last instructional photo of the pattern), and press out the excess. You could use towels if you immediately rinse them out afterward.

I'd want it dry enough to shape and stand it immediately like it is in the finished photo, with plastic wrap under it. A couple of times while it's drying I'd rub my fingers on the parts that are in contact with the plastic wrap - my felt showed some shiny spots on the side that was touching the plastic. Not having a drenched piece will help with that, but I'd want to remove or work in any potential glue on the surface as well.

Some side notes to close: If you're finding a lot of interesting patterns that need starching, buying a commercial stiffening product might be worthwhile - they're designed to be easier! People also use Epsom salts (supposed to make the pieces a little sparkly), sugar (similar to Epsom salts, but I wouldn't use this because it seems like a bug magnet), and hairspray (easy for a gentle hold, if you don't mind the risk of a lingering smell).

And just to say again - this is untested, but it's how I would approach it!


My Mod Podge coat is still sticky. What do I do? I painted some Jenga blocks and gave them a clear coat in Mod Podge to seal the paint. The Mod Podge coat is still sticky after a few days, which is definitely not good for Jenga blocks. How can I make the blocks not sticky?

UPDATE

Unfortunately after more than a month of curing, my blocks still stick together! What are my options?

Mod Podge takes a very long time to cure; around four weeks, depending on humidity and coat thickness.

To properly use Mod Podge, you need to apply multiple thin layers (not thick ones), allowing them to dry completely between each coat. According to Meaningful Mama,

  If you don’t let [the Mod Podge] dry completely between coats, your project can end up more sticky and may bubble a bit.

"Dry" is not "cured," however; while it will only take an hour or so (again, depending on humidity) for each coat to dry, you need to leave the pieces alone for roughly a month to become fully cured and hardened. Once fully cured, the Mod Podge will be a durable coating resistant to damage, but during the cure time, it will remain soft and susceptible to damage, including shifting and peeling.


How to adhere adhesive to glazed ceramic? I make decorative "flower" plates layering different shapes & sizes to be hung on a wall or attached to a post in the garden, Each weighs approx 4- 5 lbs.

I use either metal heavy duty picture hangars or PVC pipe elbow. I'm having trouble adhering both to the backs of glazed ceramic dishes.  I've tried E6000 clear glue, GE clear silicone for Windows & doors, Fuze It & PL500 landscaping construction adhesive. All cure for 48 hours and fail to stay on.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Google "structural epoxy for glass". I use structural epoxies weekly, and it's hard to find something they can't permanently adhere to. I'd give product recommendations, but I don't think it's allowed, and you'll want to find something local anyway.


What is this palette knife called, and where could I find it? I have this palette knife and need a new one, but I can't find one. What would this palette knife be called? Better yet, do you know who might have made it?

It was a gift, and the label has well and truly worn off.

Painting knives don't seem to have much in the way of naming standards for blades. Most are just numbered in a given series. Some manufacturers do manage to group styles together but the names don't carry between.

From what I can gather the very generic name for that is a offset trowel/spatula knife. Offset due to the crocked handle. The tips that are closely shaped to the one you have pictured with similar contours I have seen called flame and raindrop but looking up those would only yield specific manufactures.

Image from oakblade.com

Diamond shaped blades are very similar but have harder edges and generally less curves.

Image from oakblade.com

After reading one of your comments about it being "leaf" shaped I looked for that as well. The name is fitting but it does not look like any brands use that for their products.

After a tonne of searching trying to name the thing I did manage to find one manufacturer. It looks like this blade is part of the RGM New Age line

Image from rgm-art.com

So good news .... the answer to your question is it's a 3. Can't really tell you where to buy them exactly but you should be able to find a seller if you look for the "new age" line from RGM.

I did manage to find another ones of your knives in the wild. If you look at the post it is the 3rd knife from the left in the first picture. It actually looks like another knife from the New Age collection (I think No. 2?). I messaged the page owner to see if they could provide some insight as well. They will have more knowledge then I would as they actually paint with these.

Could always make your own

Knives that closely resemble what you are looking are not hard to find. You could buy a knife that has a "flame" blade and use a dremel to bring in the curves on the end of the blade. Some fine sanding will make the new edge a little more gentle.

Doing this would damage the finish on the metal. As you see on your knife in the picture that will happen naturally anyway and does little to the effectiveness of the tool.


Materials for pictures that change with the direction of sunlight What materials can be used to make pictures / paintings, where the colors change as the direction of the sun and hence the angle of incidence of the sun rays hitting the art structure changes? I'm interested in both indoor and outdoor structures and materials.
I was thinking of cardboard-or-similar material placed as vertically running painted wedges, but I'm not sure if that would work.

I think what you are looking for are called “chameleon paints”, but I cannot recommend you use cardboard. It is better to suited to non-flexible surfaces.

Check out chameleon car paint or search on amazon for it. Most automotive shops should stock it.

Another option might be to look for iridescent paints, but they just get a bit shinier depending on the angle that light bounces off the surface into your eye.


Advice on how to make a pea pod style ring I tried on these rings and I thought they were really beautiful. I was wondering how I could reproduce one - I want to do a silver course, so I would like to do one that includes this technique if it's not super sophisticated. It's kind of like a pea pod, with the beads 'trapped' in the silver. They have a very natural look.

The basic steps should be easy. The real manufacturing work - I never tried :)

Here are the steps:

Get the silver. Ideally it is already a ribbon of the desired width.
If you do not have a ribbon, then it should be a thick wire.
(optional) Transform the wire into a ribbon. You can use a (small) hammer, or some other specialty device.
(optional) Hopefully, you will not need to melt the silver to make it a ribbon.
Bend the silver ribbon longitudinally, as if you want to make a long tube (similar to a syringe needle.) Do not close the tube!!
Add the pebbles / beans / whatever in their final position.
Close the tube at the extremities, and around the beans, to keep the beans in place.
Decide if the ring has to be closed (O-shaped around the finger, or if you want a spiral - similar to some bracelets).
Bend the tube around a round "stick", similar in diameter with the target finger.
Close the tube longitudinally (probably at the same time with step 9).
"Weld" the end of the ring, if you want to have it O-shaped. I have no idea how to weld easily. Alternatively, you can use some glue. Or stick one end of the tube into the other end (similar with using the extension tubes of a vacuum cleaner). Use the hammer to force the end together, closing the ring.

I hope you have the patience to go through all this.

Note: you may want to try the same by using some cheap material, instead of silver. The first which comes to my mind is metal cans - from food (thicker), or from beverages (thinner).

Another note: you may want to use some glue when adding the beans, to minimize the chances of losing them if the ring goes through a bad time. You may even use the glue around the "pod". Or use some resin instead of glue, for the same purpose. It is better if it is elastic, so it will not crack in case of bad handling.


How to ferment green indigo powder to make it blue I have bought indigo powder to color my soaps blue (cold/hot process saponification). Unfortunately I received something which color is closer to match than blue jeans...
After some internet research I found that what I have is unfermented indigo powder, while the blue colorant is made with fermented indigo; very detailed information here.

My question: does someone have a recipe to ferment my green powder to get something blue I can use in my soaps? I found a lot of vat recipes, but that's to dye fabric and I don't think it will work in soaps.

Try mixing the unfermented indigo powder with water in a bowl, and 'beating' it, using a smaller bowl to scoop it up and pouring it back until the mix turns blue.

Consider adding lye [NaOH] or slaked lime [Ca(OH)2] to help the fermentation process. The effectiveness might depend on how the unfermented powder was produced, though.


What is the right method to practice origami? Is rote-memorization correct method? I love to find and learn Origami toys, but I can't memorize the steps.

I often manage to learn models or just while playing with papers I discover a new model; if I stop practicing them for a few weeks, I forget them.

So, how do artists memorize the origami steps? Do they repeat one model again and again and again? I can recall, once, quite accidentally I made (own, new) a butterfly which can be hung on wall-hook in 'wings open' formation. It can also be inserted at a slit as 'wing closed' formation. But just a few days later I had to almost completely re-discover the steps. To make it fluent, I had to repeatedly practice it again and again, on several (3 or 4) days; and I still need a revision at an interval of a few months.

I think I'm able to feel to-some-extent the symmetry, patterns and 'fit'-s. But when level of complication goes slightly up, I can't hold them at mind together, and I need to enter cramming or rote.

In contrast, I've seen, many people including cheerful tiny kids, can effortlessly memorize the fold sequences for long times. So I guess; I'm doing something wrong way. (And I've seen in any subject or fields I've to apply any rote memorization or cramming, I did very bad, accumulate some headache, and forget all informations within minutes). So I guess those peoples (including cheerful kids) not using rote memorization. Am I right?

Or rote learning (cramming) is the way kids do? Could it be  method that artists uses?

P.S.

I have problems with mental arithmetic, and have a very lousy short term memory. I fail to hold multiple bits of information at the same time.

It's because you are still at a stage of learning where you are simply memorizing a series of steps, without really understanding the more nuanced principles of and techniques of origami and how these forms are constructed.

In neuroscience, it's called 'chunking', and it's a crucial part of becoming proficient at any skill, and it only comes with repetition, study, and practice. With more nuanced learning, instead of memorizing the simple mechanics ("fold this, then this half way, flip over and tuck back"), you'll start thinking in the patterns and techniques that combine a relatively simple variety of folds to make increasingly intricate designs.

Think of it like cooking. You can follow (or memorize) a recipe and cook a chicken dish that you can prepare over and over without any real understanding or context. But once you learn the more intricate principles and science behind cooking, you start to understand why things are done that way — so now you are no longer blindly following a series of steps, but following the patterns and techniques you learned to achieve the desired result. Now when it comes time to "memorize" yet another recipe (or come up with a creation of your own), you'll already know about 90% of it before you even begin. That is how you build a repertoire of dozens, sometimes hundreds, of "recipes" without having to memorize each step of each individual creation without context.

The same goes for the techniques of origami.


What spray product could protect paper against grease? I glued a bunch of origami to a paper lantern, like in the photo below. I plan to hang it near the kitchen. But I'm afraid that grease from cooking will ruin it. Is there a product (preferably spray-on) that would protect against grease or, at least, make the lantern cleanable?

I wrote to Krylon, Plasti Dip, and Golden Paints (about their Archival Varnish), but all informed me their products weren't suitable. Plasti Dip said that "the product will soften, and eventually peel away from the surface."

I can live with a slight change in color or semi-gloss look, but don't want it to yellow. I'm using an LED light bulb that gets barely warm to the touch, so I feel pretty safe.

I don't know whether you have finished all of your origami work, but I was just introduced to clear gesso. With this movement of Bible journaling, one of the big problems that they were having was either the drawings bleeding through to the next page or the pages were sticking together with decoupage. They discovered that a layer of clear gesso down on the page first prevented the bleeding and staining problems. This would be a solution to use prior to starting your project though.


Matte repainting technique for action figures I stripped the old layer of the paint off of my Nendoroid and Figma PVC action figures and want to repaint them. I don't want them to be flashy and reflective and look dopey, however.
Is there any technique I can use to give them a matte finish as close to the original as possible?

First, if you haven't already, disassemble the figures. This will allow for easier reach of those parts that are usually obscured, a more even application of the paint, and a cleaner colouring around the joints.
You can carefully use a blow drier to make the plastic a little less rigid.
Wash the figure or parts with a little soap to get rid of any dirt that might prevent the paint from adhering to the surface.
This might also be a good time to trim or sand excessive plastic (like edges).
It's not always necessary, but I suggest priming the figures with an acrylic ground layer, preferably sprayed on (using an airbrush and NOT cans, as they contain solvents - an exception being Duplicolor Vinyl & Fabric, as a user on the thefwoosh forums suggests, as this apparently does work on soft plastics) to retain a smooth surface, but at least applied in thin, diluted layers.
Apart from allowing the paint to have a stronger bonding, this will also form a neutral 'canvas' to see how the colours work together, and to ascertain the colours won't differ a lot from how they are advertised (you can also try out the paints on similar material or parts that will be hard to see on the finished figure [like the soles of the feet]).

Now you can paint your action figure using matt(e) / flat acrylic paints.
You can find those in your local hobby store, or online.

OR

Use regular acrylic paints, and seal them off with a matte finisher.
And again, if by hand, instead of using an airbrush, always paint in thin, diluted layers. Also make sure the sealer can be used for soft plastics/PVC, as some people experienced the layer getting tacky again after a while.
Noteworthy is that that same poster mentioned earlier suggests not using any sealer at all, as they always have a certain amount of sheen, even if advertised as matte or flat, with Testors Dullcote being the sole exception in that user's experience.

Always make sure you work in a dust-free environment.

Some additional resources to browse through for some advice:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ActionFigures/comments/5unmtp/best_paint_for_marvel_legends/
https://myfigurecollection.net/blog/7299
https://forum.rebelscum.com/threads/question-about-what-paints-to-use-to-custom-paint-figures.1089439/


How can I cleanly cut thick plastic straws? I have drinking straws like this:

They are thicker, reusable straws, probably PVC. They're the thickness you generally find in tumblers that come with their own straw.

I thought it'd be neat and cute to cut them down and make a fun panflute for my kids!

The cut needs to be clean, without breaking, splitting or damaging the rest of the straw (which rules out my bolt cutters). I not only need to cut them to size, but also make the holes where the air comes out.

This will be purely decorative, and given to children, so it needs to have no sharp edges.

It's worth noting, if you feel like taking a trip to your local hardware store, that they make specialty blades that fit boxcutters. Some of these are designed for laminate.
Most likely, the blades that came in your boxcutter are ok for opening boxes, plastic packagine etc. However, you can buy some designed for cutting laminate, PVC, etc. Look for blades that are thicker and may have a wavy pattern on the edge. These can be especially helpful in working with plastics. The sharper the blade, the less force needed to cut/saw. Like in the kitchen, this is safer than a dull knife that needs lots of force (that ends up slipping into your thumb - Ouch).

Similarly, rather than "homebrew" a solution, for under $10 you should be able to find a cutoff wheel for your dremel made for plastic. They often are serrated, and may have holes through the wheel that lighten in.

They are super helpful and will give a great, square cut (often without burrs).

Watch out for any sharp edges if these will be near a child's mouth. A good wash in soap and water should take care of any residual dust. Those would not be "Good Eats"


Is there a word for a thing that is drawn? I am looking for a word that means "something that is drawn." For example, if I have a list of things to be drawn (let us say a rock, a person, a tree, etc), these are all items that I need to draw. Do they have a term in art?

"subject" .. as in, "I will be drawing three subjects, a rock, a tree .."

OR (reviewing this caused me to think further about other possible answeres)

"i will be drawing three objects, an x, a y, and a z"
OR
"I will do a drawing of three objects, an x, a y, and a z"

I still cannot think of any single word for a drawn thing


Making a jewellery box - protection and lining My wife has a lot of her jewellery in various small boxes, bags, etc, which makes it hard for her to find a particular item she wants to wear. I'd like to make her a nice box to keep it all organised, as a surprise present for her.

As an engineer, I'm happy with how to make a box - what I'm not so sure of is how to line the compartments in order to protect the jewellery properly - a lot of it is hand-made and non-metallic, so isn't as strong or resilient as mass-produced silver or gold would be.

What materials could I use for this? I can't ask her as I want it to be a surprise!

The normal way to do this is to use something soft inside the box to provide impact protection (usually foam), and then a layer of something over the foam to provide a more durable, scratch free and better looking surface (usually velvet). Velvet is also popular because it is less slippery than other options, so pieces don't slide around inside the box as much.

Often the foam is skipped - velvet provides some impact protection because of its depth, so especially if it's not something that's expected to be moved then you can get away without the foam - but if you're concerned about the durability of the pieces then extra padding is the way to go.


How much concrete to order? If I make 4 of these statues, 1.25x life-size, then how much concrete should I purchase?

The plan is to make a mould and pour into that.

  The original Ludovisi Ares is 1.56 m in height. Therefore: (x1.25) 1.95 m high.

Update: I need to know how much Portland Cement (White), how much sand, and how much aggregate to order, and need a suggested recipe for the proportions of each and size(s) of aggregate I should use.

It has to be liquid enough to pour into a mould and take the shape, but strong enough after drying to stand in public and withstand subtropical temperates and humidity, heavy rain, strong winds, and cold temperates (rarely freezing, 0℃ only one day a year if even that).

Finally, I will cure it for a full 28 or 30 days, and want it to have as smooth a finish ad possible.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

If each statue is 1.25x as large as the original, its volume will be 1.25 cubed, or a little over 1.95 times the volume of the original. If you can find out the weight of the original and the specific gravity of the stone of which it is carved, you can calculate the volume of stone in the statue and use that to calculate how much concrete you would need for a statue having almost twice the volume. I'll defer to the concrete experts about particulars on that subject.


Stainless steel spray coating I'm using spray gun with automatic reciprocator system to coloring stainless steel sheet with some translucent lacquer. However, I found the color is unevenly sprayed and can't figure why is it uneven.

I've tried several ways including:
1.Different distance between spray gun and the steel sheet.
2.Different angle of the spray gun.
3.Moving speed of the spray gun.
4.Spray times and spray volume.
5.Air pressure of the spray gun.
6.Pressure of the lacquer.
7.Different temp and humidity.(64F~85F, 3X%~7X%)
8.Different spray gun.(Iwata LPA-200 and other locally manufactured spray gun.)
9.Cleaning the gun.

It looks like blushing but I think it's not blushing because the following reason:
1. Situation gets better when I tune the air pressure higher while it is believed to be worse if it's blushing.
2.I also tried different temp and humidity.(64F~85F, 3X%~7X%)
3.I've tried to heat up the steel sheet to about 85F-90F before spray but still in vain.

Is there anybody know the reason?

Update

I've cleaned it with Acetone before painting.
For the plate surface, I'm using hairline or "fine bead blasting" plate, not mirror(No.8) plate.

Try scouring the stainless steel gently with Comet (yes, bathroom cleanser), maybe with a sponge.

You can substitute a similar brand, like Ajax, but it must be chlorinated. Avoid Bar Keeper's Friend or Bon Ami as I haven't tried those.

You might want to keep your strokes in line with the grain of the stainless steel if it has any, and you probably want to experiment on a piece of scrap.

Rinse with hot water after scrubbing and wipe dry, but don't touch with bare skin. The hot water speeds air drying. Gloves can help with handling.

You can test the surface with a few drops of water. If it beads up, it didn't work. The water should "sheet" and "wet" the surface wherever it goes. The paint works similarly and will normally form a smooth surface tension over the entire surface treated this way, rather than in spots or splotches.

The scouring "activates" the surface (for a few hours or maybe overnight), increasing the molecular attraction of the applied liquid. Because the liquid molecules are attracted to themselves (which is what causes droplets to form and beading to form on a surface), the surface attraction needs to be greater than that inherent in the liquid. Any oils on the surface inhibit that attraction and cause beading. There are enough hydrocarbons just floating around in the air to coat a surface in a few hours with enough to cause beading. So don't leave it sitting around after cleaning, paint as soon as it's dry if you can.

As well as increasing the surface area by texturizing the surface just a little, the chlorine in the scouring powder breaks down the surface hydrocarbons with an effectiveness that solvents can never match. A solvent dilutes the hydrocarbons (oils) but all it takes is a layer one molecule thick to disrupt the surface activity and the solvent always leaves some behind when it evaporates.


Can I bake oven-bake clay with embedded lobster clasps? I am making charms to maybe start a business.  Can I bake my clay with the lobster clasp embedded in it? Or will I have to hot glue it?

"Can you" is a different question from "is that the best way".  I think the answer is you can, but it probably isn't the best way.
Embedding the clasp, then baking
The metal in the clasp shouldn't interfere with the clay's hardening or properties.  The clasps don't typically have a finish that would be damaged by the heat, and even cheap pot metal shouldn't melt at the clay's baking temperature.
One potential issue that comes to mind is that metal expands and contracts with temperature more than the clay once it's hardened.  Cold isn't likely to be a problem.  While the charms are baking, they will be exposed to far higher temperature than they will see later.  So expansion won't be an issue.  But when the charms cool after baking, the clasp will shrink slightly and might be looser than you expect (captured but not "bonded" to the clay).
I see a bigger potential issue being ease of breakage.  You mention that you're thinking about selling the charms.  If you're making them just for yourself, you can be very careful how you handle it.  If it breaks, you can make another.  If you sell them, customers will be disappointed if they easily break, and a reputation for quality will help your business grow.
There will be a lot of leverage at the attachment point in the clay.  Lobster clasps are normally attached with a ring, which allows the clasp to move in any direction without stressing what it's attached to.  If the clasp is embedded in the charm, the clay will be much thinner around the clasp.  If the charm is thin, it won't take much pressure on the clasp to break the clasp out of the charm unless you build up the clay thicker around the attachment point.
Attaching the clasp after baking
As mentioned above, these clasps are designed to be attached with a ring, which leaves the clasp free to move without putting stress on what it's attached to.  You can drill a hole in the charm for a ring after it's baked, or make a hole in the clay with something like a toothpick before you bake it.
If your objective is to have the clasp rigidly held in the charm, gluing it to the surface of the charm isn't a good solution.  I wouldn't trust hot glue, there are better adhesives.  However, it won't look good (and you're thinking about selling them).  If you want a rigid attachment, you might as well bake it in initially, but with building up the attachment area so there's a reasonable thickness of clay around the clasp.
You might find complications doing it that way, like getting the clasp to lay parallel because of differences in thickness.  You could play around with finding something the right thickness to shim under the clasp or charm for alignment while it's baking, or you could make a thick-walled pocket in the clay to glue in the clasp after baking.
If you go that route, hot glue probably wouldn't be the best way to hold it in.  The pocket will be tiny, and it will be hard to get hot glue into it, at least without messy cleanup.  Epoxy would commonly be used for this, but I'd be tempted to use something like clear silicone adhesive/caulk.  That will remain rubbery, which will provide a little additional protection against breakage.
Gluing procedure
If you glue in the clasp, it will be hard to get the glue to flow into the clasp's ring loop because there probably won't be much clearance between the clasp and the sides of the pocket.  Use a procedure like this:

Fill the pocket half to two-thirds full with glue.

Depending on the size of the clasp's loop and the viscosity of the glue, use one of these two methods:

Fill the clasp's loop with glue, then slowly push the clasp into the pocket.
Or, push the clasp's loop halfway in, fill the loop starting with the leading side so air isn't trapped, then continue to fill the loop as you push it into the pocket.

This will force the glue in the pocket into the nooks and crannies and allow air to escape.  It will also displace some glue from the pocket that you can push back in to backfill around the clasp at the top of the pocket.  You may need to add more glue to the top of the pocket once the clasp is all the way in.

Wipe away any excess and clean up the charm before the glue cures.


How to cut a mug without breaking it? This question is a kind follow up to this other question.
Indeed, now that I know how to glue pieces of mugs, I'd like to know how to cut them. The idea is to get some cheap IKEA mugs with various colors such as this one:

Then I'd like to cut them into pieces (preferably not too many, say 3) so that I can reassemble them (by gluing the pieces). The goal is obviously to stick mug pieces of different colors together. For example, the cut should be along the red lines of one of the picture below:

I'm open for other cutting lines if it makes the process easier. I'm also open to consider a different type of mugs but should say that minimizing the price is important as I potentially would like to make several of them.

My question: Is cutting a mug as above possible and if yes, how?

A grit edged hacksaw blade (random example) would be the hand tool for the job.  It would be a bit of a slow job but not unreasonable (given the rate these things go through tiles).

I suggest making/modifying a jig based on a mitre box to go with it, if you want repeatable, straight cuts. The jig itself might be a bit tricky as it sounds like you want straight, repeatable cuts. You should be able to cast modelling clay, plaster (or even hot glue) around a mug to around half depth using cooking oil as a mould release, all inside a home made or cheap mitre box. Then clamping the workpiece down would be a good idea.

Like with power tools, work wet.  Unlike power tools you need frequent (rather than continuous) water delivery -- though the latter would do no harm.


What are the composition guidelines to be followed in line art of type Mehndi designs? Mehndi/Henna designs result when I search about line art in Google.
I intend to draw such designs on paper.

I could not find any composition guidelines regarding such designs in Google search.

Taking the following as an example what composition guidelines apply here?

The Easter floral henna design taken from the Can Stock Photo.

I am also from India and i know about mehndi, while creating any mehndi look on hand, you need to have a Top down approach, the creation is started from the top so as to not disturb the wet mehndi you already applied to the hand and you have space at the bottom to rest your hand and create a design.

While on paper, there are no rules, it's basically doodling, you can get as creative as you want. The creativity applies to both hand and paper.Also you need to alter your designs based on where you want them, for a hand the diagram you mentioned might not work because a hands shape and size also need to be taken into account. I hope this helps because your question is a little ambiguous.

mehndi is a form of doodle art, some examples ad rules can be found at:

http://drawsketch.about.com/od/doodles/a/Begin-Doodling.htm
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/185773553351220298/
http://www.sparkletart.com/rsr/2013/08/doodling-for-beginners.html
https://www.pinterest.com/elixaa/henna-on-paper/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ub7RR2GNY
http://www.lifechilli.com/draw-mehndi-designs-step-step/ (for hand, just as a refrence)


Picture Frame/Mount for Mosaic, ~28" x 34" (Max Size) , <$20 I started doing mosaics made up of thin scrap aluminum.

This question is about my first first mosaic 'prototype' that I am doing which measures 28 x 34 inches. The aluminum scrap material weighs very close to 3 pounds.

I enjoy building these, but it is a money making venture, so I need to keep the cost low and aesthetically, I like a minimalist frame. So, the design constraints are:

Keep the cost under $20
Build time: <1 hour with practice (simple home garage workshop, tablesaw and tools)
Aesthetically simple design
28" x 34" mosaic (plus maybe the frame border)
Weight of mosaic pieces: ~3 pounds plus adhesive

My first thought was to glue the pieces to to ~5/8" BCX plywood painted black (BCX is sanded smooth on one side); I like the simple look of it, but at 28" x 34" (plus maybe a border) I am afraid it will warp.  I am open-minded and will consider any material, not just wood.

UPDATE:  The scrap pieces used in the mosaic are small (2 inches or less), so some type of backing will be necessary.

Wood

BCX shouldn't warp on you, especially at 5/8" thick. It's rated for outdoor usage*, so as long as you treat/finish it correctly, you shouldn't have a problem with it warping. You could probably get away with 1/2", depending on how much weight you actually add with the mosaic.

As far as finishing/treating it goes, that depends on how you are using it. Gluing things to one side will usually seal that side, depending on the glue you use. Using a standard wood glue might not stick to your mosaic pieces and may not seal that side, but using a silicone or epoxy glue will seal it, while also likely sticking to your mosaic pieces.

Simply painting the wood should be enough to seal the edges and back side. You can also stain and use other finishes, like shellac or varnish, if you want a different look to the back. If your artwork is going to be outside, make sure the finish is rated for the normal moisture and temperature range in your area. Example considerations: don't use an interior paint for an outdoor exhibit, don't use a finish that isn't water resistant if it's going to see a lot of precipitation or humidity, don't leave bare wood in a low humidity and high heat desert, and don't bother with an expensive or time consuming finish for an indoor exhibit unless you really want to.

You can get chemically treated plywood for outdoor use, but paint and glues might not stick to it. And if it's chemically treated, you don't want to paint or seal all edges.

  *Types of Exterior Plywood

  CDX is the most common exterior plywood grade. It comes in 3/4-, 5/8- and 1/2-inch thicknesses. Appearance stamps on plywood range from cabinet-grade (A) to construction grade (C and D). Exterior plywood carries an X stamp, which identifies it as suitable for use outdoors. Beside CDX, you can also find better grades, such as ABX, ACX and even BCX.

https://www.hunker.com/13401518/what-types-of-plywood-can-be-used-outdoors

Metals

You can also think about using a sheet of aluminum or steel, although that'll likely cost you more than the plywood. I'd suggest 1/4" thick for rigidity purposes. You might be able to get away with 1/8" or 3/16" thick, which should be less expensive, but then you could get into more issues with expansion and contraction of the piece warping it, if it's going to see extreme temperature differences.

With steel, you'll still need to seal the unglued side, since it'll rust even indoors. That's as simple as painting it, most of the time. If you want a better look or a more durable finish, you can even powder coat it. Aluminum doesn't need a finish, but it can look better if it does. Or you can do a wide variety of finishing to the aluminum itself, such as brushing, scuff sanding, or polishing. Aluminum can also be anodized a variety of colors.

With both steel and aluminum, to reduce costs, you can use expanded sheets, but then you risk warping again, as well as the glue not having as much surface area to grip. And if you want something that gives more surface area, don't really care about costs, and has a really neat pattern, you can use diamond plate.

Even 1/4" steel and aluminum can be cut with a circular saw with an abrasive disc, an acetylene torch, or plasma cutter.

Plastics

There are definitely reasons to use a sheet of plastic for your backer. It can make it light weight, transparent or translucent, weather resistant, chemical resistant, warp resistant, and a few other things, too. The problem with plastic backing is that it's harder to find glues that'll adhere to plastic and other materials, such as metals. It's not impossible, but they are usually more expensive and may not work as well.

Even though plastics won't warp from humidity, they can still warp, or even crack, due to temperature. Many plastics are stronger than glass, but they still tend to have properties similar to glass. A piece of polycarbonate is much stronger than acrylic and many acrylics are much stronger than glass when it comes to an impact, but due to age and high heat, can turn yellow or become brittle. There's outdoor rated plastics for signs, but they cost more, too. Outdoor rated plastics may also be harder to find and when you do find them, you might only be able to buy them in 4'x8' sheets.

Plastics likely won't need a finish, unless you want to protect them from UV or reduce glare, and even then, you can sometimes get it from the manufacturer with that coating. Outdoor plastics usually have UV coatings on them already. Plastics with a P95 or P99 coating have an anti-glare coating on one or both sides. Frosting is also an anti-glare treatment and has a completely different look, like frost on the grass in your lawn on a chilly winter morning. The other (P95 and P99) coatings are clear and don't interfere with color or translucency.

For the size you're looking at, 1/4" thickness might be all you need, but 5/16" to 1/2" might be better to add rigidity. Plastics tend to cost more linearly as you increase the size and thickness. A 1/2" piece of acrylic will usually cost twice as much as a 1/4" piece the same dimensions. However, 1/4" plastics are much more common to find and can come in a wide variety of colors, while most of the 1/2" plastics I've found come in clear, white, and black, with few exceptions, unless you want to spend some serious amount of money (over $500 for a 4'x8' sheet) to get it.

Believe it or not, plastics can be cut like glass or wood. You can score plastics and they will snap on the score line like glass. (And just like glass, if you don't do it right, it won't break on the score line.) They can also be cut using a finish blade on a circular saw. Some plastics, not all, can be cut using a laser cutter, although you need a pretty large area laser cutter for the size you're looking at. Many plastic suppliers will do cut to size for you, too.


How can I facilitate spray-painting a long text on a wall? I am hoping to paint ~200 words on a big graffiti wall in my town. The wall is on a pretty busy street, so I was hoping to do something like stenciling the paragraph on a big piece of paper and then cutting out the words, taping piece of paper with the cut-out words up to the wall, and then spray-painting over the piece of paper to get the text on the wall. That way, I could front-load the work at home and not have to spend too long painting out on the street.

But, this seems like a fair bit of work, and I also feel like the words might come out smudged if I paint the wall this way.

Any advice on how to best paint about 200 words on a wall?

I believe your method is sound if you take a few trivial precautions during the painting. You can avoid blurred and/or smudged lettering by ensuring the stencil is fastened well to the surface.

Consider to provide additional holes closely spaced to the letters. Applying masking tape through the holes will keep the edges of the stencil tight to the surface, but will not add much to your labor efforts. Obviously, you'll want additional masking (stencil area) well outbound of the lettering and lettering support holes, to keep overspray clear of the background.

The material you use for your stencil will be important too. Avoid absorbent paper material and shoot for something like butcher paper, which is often waterproof to a degree.

As with any spray paint application, multiple light coats will prevent runs/drips and result in a better image.

On the high tech end, there was a Kickstarter campaign called SprayPrinter, which converted an ordinary spray paint can to a phone-controlled dot-matrix printer based on an image provided to the phone. Version one was relatively low resolution, 320 pixels square, while v2 increased that, but I've discovered that neither version appears to be available at a retail level.

I'm not sure how well a text job would appear, although one can easily pixel convert text to old-style dot-matrix printing level!


How can I loosen the joints on my action figures without breaking them? A craft I'm interested in is action figure customization. Basically, you can utilize new or old action figures and you take them apart and combine/mix-and-match them while also adding custom sculpts, paint, etc.

One problem I have with some of the joints I'm working with is that they simply won't move. Due to time on the shelf, and often paint application between the joints, they get so stiff that the force it takes to "break" the seal actually breaks the joint.

There's a hot water trick, where you can run the figure under hot running water or dip it in a bowl of hot water, but this process also softens the plastic which can lead to bending and stretching in ways that can be permanent.

I've also tried adding lubricant, such as mineral oil, to the joints, but some times it's so hard to swivel the joint to even get the lubricant into the space that I'm worried that process will break it just as well.

I'd prefer a permanent fix. Most of the frozen joints will end up re-used as-is (for instance, a frozen elbow, but the entire arm is being transferred to a new figure), so a solution to initially free up the joint and then steps necessary to keep it free.

WD-40 and similar oils contain solvents, which would most likely strip the paint off your model.

A "dry" bike-chain oil will do well to reduce friction.

However the teflon particles are dispersed in a solvent, so it's hard to say how it might effect the paint.

If you go this route, use a toothpick to apply to the inside of the knuckles, for precision without dripping all over the rest of your model.

A light sewing-machine oil should also be suitable.
They tend to penetrate well without any added solvents.

...

I would think a toothpick would be safer than an x-acto knife because the toothpick would "give" if you apply too much pressure, smooshing down before your plastic does.

If it's not strong enough, you can go the X-acto route, or craft pick; a compass point might do.

My main thought was that the toothpick would hold a drop of oil well,
like a candlewick does, plus it's fine enough to get inside.

You could cut the cotton off a Q-tip at an angle and wedge some oil in there that way if you like.

Again, being softer than the plastic, it should bend before damage is done to your model.

Don't expect it to crack instantly. Just keep wiggling the oil in there for a while 'till it gives.

You're right about the hot water trick. If kept low it should be OK. Like 100°F. You know, baby-water warm.  Hot, not scalding.  If you need it in there for a long period of time, maybe set a pot of water on one of those coffee/candle-warmer pads.

Put model in a freezer-bag and do it sous-vide style, so it doesn't get completely soaked.  Put something heavy in the bottom of the bag so it doesn't float.


How can I make the detail of this map stand out better? I have been etching a map of the United States into 9 slate sheets (8" by 11" ~1/4" thick)

Originally my goal was to try and inlay wire into the groove that I cut with a Dremel. I found colored "beading wire" at a local hobby store in various colors, and a couple different metals. So far, I have had trouble matching the depth/width of the cut, to the gauge of wire. I also have a small set of hobby files that I can use to widen, and slightly deepen the cut, but my overall concern is that it would be extremely difficult to properly bend the wire for all the contours of some boarders. I wanted to avoid cutting the wire into small sections because I fell like it will end up leaving noticeable gaps throughout.

The only other wire I have tested was soldering wire (lead / tin- very soft) which I was actually able to gently hammer into the groove of a test piece, however it still is fairly dull and does not stand out well. I think if I were to heat it, it would improve the sheen, so that is an option I am also considering.

In both images, I have a line of soldering wire running along the west boarder of North and South Dakota as an example. From an angle, the engraving alone does stand out a bit, but I would still like to improve it.

It is possible to use a slightly larger dremel bit and widen all the cuts, but I would like to avoid this as it would ruin some of the detail already present. I am not sure how it might turn out if I used a larger bit to widen the more open lines, and then left the 'crowded' areas as-is.

The end result will have the 9 sheets mounted to a piece of ferrous metal, to allow placing magnets across it. I glued a thin felt sheet to one side of a neodymium magnet, and placed a weaker, souvenir magnet to the other side.

Edit I failed to mention that for fear of hammering any harder wire into the slate, I planned on using 'jewelry and metal glue' which claims to bond metal, stone, ceramic, ... among other things.

Final update - I have tested using gold leafing with a brush-on metal leaf sealer. I had the option of leafing flakes, or sheets- I went with flakes because I thought they might be better for the less straight boarders, but I will probably go back for the sheets as it will probably be easier to just cut them down into manageable strips. It is extremely visible, even from across the room. I am going to let the sealer dry for a bit before cleaning up the areas around the lines, and I may try putting some masking tape down before I do this on the final map.

I would call inlaying metal wires into slate a high-risk project in general.

You already managed to carve the groves - congratulations for that!
Slate has the tendency to chip or break when hammered
Colored wire for jewelry often has a very thin coating of color over a soft metal core (often aluminum). Hammering that into the groves could damage or remove the color coat.

Add to that the fact that the contrast between slate and soldering wire is not very high - both appear silver or grey, depending on the lighting.

My first advice for this project is to use a contrasting color for the groves. Anything but black, white, silver or grey will stand out better.

Because of the high risk of breaking a sheet, I would not hammer anything into the grooves. Filling the grooves with a liquid promises more success.

One idea that you can test for a low price is good old Window Color. Buy a bottle of Window Color contour paint - these have a thicker consistency and a higher pigment content. Test the paint on the back of a sheet and see if you can peel it off in case something goes wrong. If you're satisfied with the test, squirt the paint into the grooves and let it dry. You can thin the paint by adding a few drops of water to the bottle.

A better shine might be possible by using metallic nail polish. I suggest transfering the nail polish into a squirt bottle with a thin nozzle that fits into the grooves. Both (bottle and extra thin nozzle) should be available online or in good crafting stores.

Metallic permanent markers might work as well, if the tip is thin enough to fit into a groove. Both nail polish and permanent marker can be removed with nail polish remover, but the grooves probably make it harder to get all of the paint out.

Another alternative that promises an even and shiny result is enamel color. These are often used for model painting and have a high pigment content, like this example by Revell. The only disadvantage is that I don't know how you could remove it in case something goes wrong, but I'm sure the manufacturer will provide more information. Use this paint with a squirt bottle as well.

In any case, my experience with slate as a crafting material is this:

Before applying any paint, wipe the slate off with nail polish remover to remove any oily residue
Slate needs extremely long to dry. It took almost a whole day in my case and in the meantime the slate looked blotchy. It's only dry when the whole sheet is a uniform light grey.
Test any paint or nail polish on the back side. The structure of slate can make some colors run and bleed into adjacent areas.


Tools for etching leather? There’s this artist who I absolutely love, and they etch leather using a tool I am not familiar with. I want to get into this style of art and was wondering if you had any ideas! There is a pic attached, taken as a screenshot from a video so a bit blurry, but any clues as to what the tool is would be amazing.

Based on the appearance of the tool (the thick shaft and the guard around it), the person in the video is drawing on the leather using heat, rather than 'cold' etching, carving, or engraving the leather. This is known as pyrography.
The tool used here is called a 'solid-point burner'.
This tool is attached to a power source, often (and preferably) has temperature controls, and produces heat leading to a tip that can often be changed for improved surface control (see upper tool in image below).
A common alternative, which is quicker to work with and allows for more control over temperatures and surface contact, is the 'wire-nib burner' (see lower tool in image below).

source | source


Is it standard to fill in every cross stitch square or is it acceptable/preferable to leave some blank? I'm planning to start a cross stitch project soon using one of the online cross stitch pattern creators so that I can use an image of my choice instead of finding an existing pattern that I like.

The pattern creator wants me to fill in the white space with actual white stitches rather than leaving the spaces empty, which is what I usually see in cross stitch patterns. I'm guessing that it may be due to a failure in the pattern maker - it is programmed to fill in all spaces - but I wanted to check.

What are the benefits of filling in all of the white space, if any? Is it even standard practice ever or is it actually more common to leave the space white.

I know that not filling it in will save me a ton of time but if there's a compelling reason to do it, I might consider it more seriously.

All of the cross stich projects I've done did not fill in the background with a solid color. This is typical in embroidery -- the design itself is stitched in, and the base fabric is used as the background. Not only is this faster and simpler for the crafter, it helps the design stand out from the background both texturally and visually.

Sampler by Catharine Ann Speel, photo from the Philadelphia Museum of Art

The only exception I can imagine to this is a pillow or other item that might be handled; if you want to have a smoother feel to the finished project, fill in every square (particularly since cross stich canvas is often quite stiff). Again, though, this isn't necessary -- the two pillows I made that included a cross stitch pattern were much more for display than cuddling, and therefore the background was left unstitched.


Cracking on surface of oil painting. Is there any other way to salvage an oil painting? Spent months on this oil painting I'm working on, started in May of 2019. Guess you could say I am a beginner at painting with oil paints compared to other mediums.
Realized my paintings was starting to crack on the surface, after layers of oil paint. So I was doing some research on why it was doing this.

Apparently diluting the oil paint with linseed oil or something equivalent(turpentine is a cheap solution) to dilute the paint. Also called, 'fat over lean'. So you get a layered consistency, and then you keep using less and less of the solution with the oil paint, as the layers get fatter with oil.  If you put a layer that wasn't leaner than the previous one. All the layers that are working together will create craquelure.

Craquelure is cracking on the surface of the painting, either from old age, or the layers closer to the surface drying before the underneath layers. Which would direct the result of the drying technique being the error. Not old age, resulting in a homogeneous texture.
(The image below is a small portion of the painting that has resulted in these cracks. It is the most visible cracks because of the color.)

Found in an older forum online about oil painting and cracking. That saturating the already dried oil paint with lineseed oil, over several hours, and gently dabbing the oil with a cloth. Over a few hours it will start to become flexible again. Then are able to go back in with a fatter oil and fill it back in. There are others that state to just throw the painting out, and start over.
Is there any good advice, to salvage an oil painting when it has begun to craquelure?

As far as I know, in restoration craquelure will often be 'fixed' by concealing it.
After applying a layer of varnish to facilitate the removal of retouches like these, the cracks will simply be painted over with corresponding colours.

Of course, this is usually done with older paintings, that no longer heavily react to both inherent and external factors, but even if the craquelure shows up again, using this procedure the retouches can be removed and the process repeated.


Formula for strong but lightweight paper-mache I've always used the standard flour+water = paper mache. This often results in a somewhat heavy and fragile object though.

I'm looking for a formula for a strong but light weight version. Light-weight being key.
I'm hoping to create a scaffold of chicken-wire and mache over it to create a smooth surface.
I've also read that using "blue shop towels" can be better than newspaper so that is what I'll do.

The end product will be moisture-sealed and mounted to the bathroom wall to hold toilet paper in a decorative way (think "giant sheep" or some other fun shape that involves toilet paper rolls).

I've always used slightly diluted white PVA glue (just enough water to make it runny enough to soak paper in). Recently tried using kitchen roll, which was durable and held its shape well. Tissue paper (as in artistic, not toilet roll!) is also nice - very lightweight, and can also go directly on top of chicken wire, if you preferred to make a framework with the wire. Careful if you're using dyed paper though; sometimes the colour leeches out of the paper, or just runs everywhere.

EDIT

Hopefully the photo shows it a bit more clearly. It's pretty tough, and holds paint really well. It smoothed fairly nicely, but we were in a bit of a hurry (and the bobbly texture actually worked quite well with fruit!)


How do I get a glass jar out of refractory plaster? So today I made a metal foundry with a 2/4 plaster 1/4 sand and 1/4 water mix and I put a glass jar in the middle of it to create room. But now the glass jar is stuck and I don't want to break it. Any ideas to get it out?

My approach would be to carefully drill holes into the glass very near one another, and then gradually break pieces away with long nosed pliers, or if you have a dremel with a tip for grinding glass remove the glass that way once the holes are dilled. I'm assuming you can get to the glass, perhaps not.

A photo of the challenge would be a big help.

Am I assuming correctly the foundry can take a lot of heat? If so, then would a blowtorch on the glass melt it? (obviously the foundry will become exceptionally hot).


How can I define the three axes and their purpose in an isometric projection? I want to give definition to the x, y and z axes in terms of projection. Everywhere around the web, I see complicated definitions. Some use world coordinate space and some say they represent the three dimensions of this world.

Is there a way I can define the axes in such a way that is accurate and understood by kids?

Let's imagine we are going to paint this bowl of fruits on the table that contains an apple, a banana and a pineapple. To help us with the borders, we put this wooden frame around the bowl. As you can see the whole bowl with all the nice fruit can be seen within the frame. If you close one of your eyes, you will even be able to see the picture that we are supposed to paint.

Now, have both of your eyes open again and you see the real bowl of fruit within the frame.

Get up close on the frame and see that the banana is actually extending out of the frame and towards us.

These are the axis of projection. The X and Y are parts of the frame. X is the long bottom part. Y is the left/right shorter parts, the verticals, going up from the bottom to the top.

The third axis is how the banana is protruding against us. We could put a ruler in the left lowermost corner of the frame corners just to be able to measure how far the banana or the pineapple leaves are protruding at different places. That ruler is Z.


How can I describe this alien-looking sculpture art style / concept to find other examples? I want to make a sculpture of an abstract, alien-looking, spiky, liquid-like solid object (I don't know how to properly describe it) like in the screenshot below.

What is this style / concept of design called? Or if it had no name, how can I properly describe this style so I can look it up in search engine?
I want to find more references on that object for inspiration.
I've tried using the keywords above but they yielded no result. English is not my main language so my vocabulary isn't wide enough to get what I need.

Organic Kinetic Futurist Sculpture

Adding organic and kinetic gives many similar results like the sculptures of Patrice Pit Hubert


Using human hair for amigurumi stuffing OK, I realize this topic may creep some of you, be it because of hygienic or ethics questions. I trust you will understand it comes out of pure curiosity and of the desire of using more natural materials in this craft.

Thing is, when cutting my curly, cottony hair by myself, I end up with little brown balls of hair, very similar in shape to what you might expect from a ball of coton, although a little less dense. This is far from being the first topic created on the question and, in addition to the many uses of animal hair you can find on the internet, I've read a few things on making yarn or stuffing out of human hair and I was wondering if it would make a good stuffing material for finer works, as amigurumi by instance.

I know this idea raises a few questions, especially regarding hygiene and ethics (hair being a biological material) but while I would be happy to discuss these with you, I'm especially wondering about the technical aspect of the question: durability of the hair as material, change in shape overtime, washing, holding of the stuffing, treatment which would make the whole process easier, etc.

Human hair is primarily made of keratin and is usually somewhat oily (a result of the sebaceous glands lubrication to help the follicles grow out of their subepidermal sheathing). Although keratin also forms the basis of horn, claws and even fingernails, it is an organic protein that can serve as food for microorganisms. It has a long history in art, which is why I think it is a good idea to look at what professional art restorers have to say:

Human hair is a fragile organic material, which is sensitive to light, temperature and relative humidity.
... common degradations are: abrasion / breaking / undulation / infestation by lepidoptera and dermatophytes

So if you are going to use it as a material, I would recommend that you take a couple precautionary risk-minimization approaches to support its longevity by reducing its stress factors.
Dermatophytes are fungal colonies that on humans are pretty hard to treat, but you can take a trick from Ayurveda for treating water: get some uncoated and very thin copper wire from an electronics store (or harvest some from an old cable by defraying it and washing it in acetone). Copper ions are antifungal and antibacterial.
Next, I would recommend occasionally misting the object with a diluted (1:10) lavender essential oil to distilled water. This will not only impart a pleasant and sweet smelling note to the object, but it will also inhibit mite infestation.
Finally, you will want to consider adding a desiccant to remove ambient humidity inside the object (unless it will always stay in a dry, arid region). If you are not worried about the object being accidentally consumed by small children or pets, you might add a sachet of silica-gel inside (like the ones you can find in new shoeboxes or leather gloves).
Let us know how it goes!!!


Is there a method for setting up my palette on axes by Hue, Value, and Intensity? I'm a very technical person, even with painting.
I wanted to set up my palette like a graph so that it does not become messy, no matter what color I want to mix. This is not an issue if I was only concerned with hue and value (e.g. hue is the X axis and value the Y). However, intensity would seem to require a third axis. Are there any established methods for laying out the three "axes" of color on a 2D palette?

You could mix your fully saturated base hues on one axis, run the desaturated mixes at a right angle to those and if there is room go off on a diagonal with tints of the colors you are using. Alternately just use a different area of the pallet for tints or saturations depending on your preference.

Other than starting with a cool and warm version of the primary colors I have never heard of a standardized pallet or one that seeks to capture the entire available spectrum. Each artist I know has their own layout and each painting calls for different colors. I think you would be wasting paint and time trying to create a pallet like the color picker from Photoshop, and even in digital painting applications there are multiple areas for choosing by hue, tone or saturation. You just need to find what works for your style through experimentation.


How to draw a heat blur from an aircraft engine How would you draw a heatblur from the engine of an aircraft, I am drawing this:

how would I draw the blur that trails the aircraft (Heatblur)? Mind, I'm not drawing the background, just the aircraft
.

The heat blur effect is caused by the hot exhaust chaotically refracting the background. That is, the noisy turbulent hot air of the jet blast bends the light coming through it randomly, leading to blurry areas where the trail is. So to convincingly draw the heat blur you would need to have a background to be blurred.

That being said you could represent it by drawing the exhaust trail itself and slightly distorting the areas of the jet it overlaps. Since you are showing a heat trail and not a smoke trail you would want to go very light with the drawing in terms of tone and density. Try using fine lines and shapes that capture the jet trail's swirling movement.


Can I make primer from student grade acrylics? I want to start painting board game miniatures. I do not want to take it to some crazy level with expensive setups, paints and tools. I have seen some tutorials involving basic acrylic paints which I have plenty of. The things I do not have on hand are primers (and sealers). I do not uses spray cans.

In an effort to keep cost down and use what I already have on hand... Is there something I could just add to black / white acrylic paint to make it into a functional primer?

In short: No, you cannot make an effective primer out of paint.

Primer is not just "paint without pigment," and the purpose of it isn't as a base coat; the purpose of primer is to prepare your surface to accept your paint. Some surfaces are too porous to take paint properly (wood, masonry), other may have issues with the paint adhering properly (plastic, metal). By using a primer designed for that specific surface, you alter the surface to allow your paint to adhere properly.

When painting miniatures, a spray primer designed for miniatures of your type (plastic, metal, or resin) will give you the best results, as it is able to be easily applied to small areas without reducing or masking detail. Note that you should in fact be using a miniature primer, as many general purpose primers will "fill in" fine detail areas. There are a number of companies that produce supplies for miniature painting; these will be your best bets for purchasing a suitable primer. If you purchase from one of their retail stores, they can also answer questions for you about how best to use their products; if you are unable to purchase them in-store, I have also found their customer service people to be responsive and helpful via email.

You may be able to find a brush-on primer that will work, but you will likely end up with a thicker base coat that may reduce your detail; you'll want to practice with it until you can use a light enough touch. You will not be able to "make primer" that will be effective in any way; in this case, you do need the right tool for the job.


Is there an objective level of quality that one must achieve in order to create manga/begin cartooning? I'm pretty young and learning to do art and have aspirations to try and draw out a story (or at least some pretty pictures) and obviously have many more years to go, but I was always wondering, is there a certain level or threshold you have to make in order for your work to be considered worthwhile to people?
I'd say I can hold my own writing a story and plot, its not kindergarten level, but definitely not on par with some other authors and cartoonists out there. I'm more concerned about the actual quality of illustrations.
Is there a certain "rule of thumb" or criteria that should generally be met before you consider doing things seriously? Do I need credentials, or to have several years of study and college education behind me?
I'm only worried because I wouldn't want to embarrass myself or willfully put out content that is "trashy" or "bad", I know its a pretty vague question and doesn't help that you don't know much about me but some insight on this would help ease my mind.

Firstly, in reference to your title, "in order to create" no level of skill or experience is necessary at all - you simply have to start creating. This applies to things ranging from making a simple drawing to making a film. The fact that you know what you want to create shows you have a sufficient idea of what that particular thing is and/or what it means for you (in your case manga).
As to the body of your question, you'd need to define what you consider "doing things seriously". Assuming you are not merely talking about personal joy and satisfaction (which is a different conversation), I am guessing that with 'seriously' you mean 'professionally', or at least 'worthwhile in the eyes of others' (leaving a similar amount of interpretive freedom for the word 'worthwhile').
Nevertheless, ultimately it is about audience: if you can find an audience for your work, you may consider it serious enough.
And if you want to make a living creating manga, you need an audience that's willing to pay you for your efforts.
Getting an audience is a different matter, but you can start by creating profiles for online platforms like Instagram and Deviant Art, creating a personal website, or looking for (virtual or physical) magazines that publish (amateur) comics. The higher the quality, the easier you will grow a following.
Credentials and education play an important role in showing others that you have made efforts, and have the experience. As you can deduce, not being able to produce credentials is by no means proof of not having put in the practice. Similar to job applications, I feel we as a society have become so accustomed to proof-in-writing, that even though it has its practical benefits, a lack of it is often considered a deficiency in skill and experience, or suspicious at best.
Do your best to create what you want to create. Keep trying, keep learning, and remain critical. The rest will likely follow.


Do oil pastels work better on paper with more teeth? Recently I have switched from soft pastels to oil pastels and I am curious if I should use papers with more teeth or a bit smoother or maybe average teeth.

Do oil pastels work better with paper that has more teeth?

Oil pastels work well on paper with a fairly high tooth level. It helps it "grab" the color -- a "toothier" paper is better than a smoother paper.

I'll borrow this diagram I used in a similar answer. You want pretty rough paper (but not quite the roughest), but somewhat smoother than you might have used for regular pastels.

Image from Hello Artsy: How to choose quality drawing paper


Dishwasher-proof way to personalize plastic lunch containers So, I meal prep, and I use bowls like this to carry my prepped lunches to work:

From another angle, showing the lip below the lid:

The recycling mark on the bottom says they are polypropylene for the bowl and polyethylene for the lid.

I leave the empty bowls in the office dish-washer and then take the clean bowls home whenever the dishwasher's been run. Due to forgetfulness on my and my coworkers' parts, I have occasionally found myself trying to figure out how many of the stack of bowls on the break room side table belong to me.

To rectify this problem, I have this idea for a design based on my initials that I'd like to work on the bowls I use to carry my lunches so I can identify the ones that I brought to the office.

So, is there a dishwasher-proof way to make a mark on polyethylene or polypropylene?

Both types of plastic, polyethylene and polypropylene are "slippery" and do not take glue or other adhesive attachments well. By extension, paint products are likely to slip off in some manner.

It would be more permanent to create a "damaging" effect to the plastic in an area that is not structurally critical, a section that doesn't provide for sealing or for strength in handling.

It appears that the corners of the lids may qualify in this regard. You could use a soldering iron or wood marking iron to engrave your mark(s) on the surface of the plastic. If you used sufficient caution and did not puncture the surface, you could mark almost anywhere on the container.

The flange around the rim of the bowl (redundant?) is another non-structural location. Even if you chose not to mark initials or names, a bump or divot or similar depression would provide identification unlikely to be duplicated by another owner.


Why would a candle require a much larger wick than normal for its size? I was recently given a couple of fairly large beeswax pillar candles by a friend who got them from his church.  They were going to be thrown away, but he knew that I dabble in candle making so he salvaged them.  They are beeswax, so well worth salvaging, in my humble opinion.

The reason they were being thrown away is that they were tunneling very badly.  As is well explained on the web, that's usually a result of being underwicked.

I have a couple of votive molds, so I used them to make a few candles from wax taken from the big pillars, and then consulted this page to find that something in the range of an HTP 31 through 52 should be about right.

So I tried an HTP 41, and it also burned extremely underwicked.  Cutting a long story short, I kept increasing the wick size till I got a satisfactory burn, and found that I had to use an HTP 126 to do so.

That's simply a huge wick for a standard votive, it's more appropriate for a 3" to 4" container.  Yet it is somewhat consistent, you'd think that a commercial company would know the correct size wick to put in a candle, and yet that burned like it was underwicked, exactly like the HTP 41 I tried.

So, is it possible that the beeswax is somehow altered, or degraded or something that causes it to require a much larger wick to burn correctly?

As noted earlier, I dabble in candle making, but I'm no expert.  Thus the reason I'm asking.  I usually consult a wick sizing page like the one I linked, and use their advice to find a good starting size.
Most of the time, I get a good burn within a size or two of where I start, just not in this particular case.

The problem could be the composition of the wax.  Could there possibly be a certain percent of soy wax in the pillars, in addition to the beeswax?  The Wick Guide that you referenced states:

  Higher viscous waxes such as single pour paraffin wax, soy (vegetable) wax, and beeswax, may require (wicks) up to several sizes larger than the recommendations below.

Here is another source that discusses how soy wax can cause problems such as tunneling:

  Tunneling occurs when the wick used is too small and flame does not sufficiently melt the whole surface of the candle. This will result in the candle burning unevenly, a smaller flame, lower scent throw and the candle extinguishing itself.  The best candle tunneling fix is to use a larger wick size...