How can I keep track of my stitches when crocheting with fuzzy yarn? I'm used to crocheting with worsted weight yarn, mostly making amigurumi and stuffed animals. So, when I picked up a ball of fuzzy yarn to make a zebra mane a while ago, I really struggled to find my stitches in the mess of threads. I couldn't see them and I while I could feel them, I had a hard time getting the right loops to use.

Is there a way to better see what I'm doing, instead of crocheting half-blindly and taking forever to follow a simple pattern?

An easy solution is to use stitch markers. There are several commercial options available and DIY ones are conceptually easy as well. Most that you see though won't be particularity useful for amigurumi. In that case I would suggest small safety pins, rings or feed in some floss as you move your rows. Anything you can do to mark where a particular stitch is so that you don't have to remember its location relative to where you are working. I would post a picture but there are too many styles.

You obviously need to be keeping count of what you are doing so it might be a good idea to at least mark the end of the row with stitch counters or something similar. Your other projects sound small so this might be good enough as long as you don't take breaks in between rows (Every time I do it i forget my numbers and have to pull back and start over).

If the rows are longer then you could use a stitch counter every 10 stitches for example.

Some people are really adverse to using markers and think they are more of a hassle so your mileage may vary.


Can I use Upholstery Vinyl as the fabric for a hardcover book opposed to using Leather? I’m trying to test out my limits with my book binding skills and am currently looking for an alternative to using leather. While I am not against using leather for my hardcovers, I am just looking for a more accessible alternative since finding and buying reasonably priced leather is a bit hard for me.

Has anyone tried this method? If so do you think the process of stamping, like you would with leather would give you a similar result in the texture of the fabric?

Any advice or insight would help!!

Yes, using upholstery vinyl for bookbinding is certainly a possibility. I got a large reem of it from my grandfathers and was curious if it would work.

I found my result to be satisfactory (see pictures below). The part that concerned me was the stiffness difference between my leather books and my new upholstered book. It still opens and closes fine but it does not sit open on a flat surface well (This book in question was bound several years ago so this could be an age thing). So, if this option is available, ensure you get a thinner fabric.

Pictures of my upholstered book

This book has been sitting around for a while so you will see some dust in the pictures.

Still holding itself well.

While the picture might make it appear like it, the book does not have any issues closing and opening.

Normally with leather I can wrap the fabric around the corners just right so that the mill board is no longer visible. I found this very difficult with the upholstery.

Side note

  I am just looking for a more accessible alternative since finding and buying reasonably priced leather is a bit hard for me.

Just in case this has not occurred to you, I wanted to mentioned my preferred method of acquiring leather for my binding and miscellaneous crafts. I get near all my leather from second hand stores. More specifically from women's skirts. Once deconstructed they will have large enough pieces that I can bind at least 2 books made of 8 1/2 x 11in. paper. I found this to be very wallet friendly.


Types of paint safe for children to make handprints out of, on canvas I am looking to help our boys (5 and 7 years old) make their mother something like this for her birthday, but I have zero experience with painting beyond whatever I did in elementary school!
I'm looking to (likely) put this on a canvas and need the paint to be safe for them to make their handprints out of.
What types of paint could I use that would be safe for them to dip their hands in for the handprint part, safe to work with (I'll make sure the space is well ventilated) and that is compatible with canvas or a similar material?
Unless its the only option, I'm not interested in using washable/temporary paints, or using paper as the medium, because I would like this to look nice-ish and be something she could frame and put on the wall for a long time.

If they wear clothes you don't mind ruining (good quality acrylic paint will not wash out of cloth completely, ever) and you supervise and help them wash off the paint afterward and put down a large drop cloth to protect carpet/wooden floors (tile is cleanable), or do it outside, student grade acrylics should be fine.
At those ages they are unlikely to try eating the paint.
I did something similar with my daughter and nephews as a gift for their grandparents when the youngest was only three (granted a reasonably intelligent 3) only with many different prints in various colours.
Make sure the canvas is primed for acrylic. You can just buy a pre-stretched primed student canvas at an art/craft store or order online in the size you want. That way you don't have to have it framed.


Is what I am looking for a scrapbook? I'm trying to make a scrapbook. I wanted to buy one from Michaels, or some art supply store but I wanted to know if what I'm looking for exists... the scrapbook I found online at Michaels basically just has ten pages full of laminated papers.

What I want is a book with the same hardcover as a scrapbook except on the inside, there are just pages of white paper because I want to paste photos and I want to write notes in them, and even draw comics in them. I don't want something that looks like a binder.

Does anyone know what I am looking for is called?

How about a hardbound sketchbook:

*this or any other brand

**this is a sticker, the cover is black

***they come in variety of sizes and thicknesses


Is there a special glue to use to bond acrylic and metal together? I am currently looking into make some snow globes and I would like to bond the acrylic insert of the snow globe with the metal top. Does anyone know a glue that can bond these two materials together? I have tried superglue and it did not hold when I put the cap on the globe. I have acrylic epoxy but it says that is dangerous to come in contact with metal.

I would recommend a hot glue gun for gluing these very dissimilar materials. Hot glue gives you a bit of work time to get the pieces situated correctly, and it works phenomenally well for holding tight even if the two materials may not mate together perfectly.

Product Search: Hot Glue Gun

I have never built a snow globe from scratch, but I've repaired a few, and this is exactly what I used to re-afix a snow globe that came lose from its stand.


How to plan a drawing? When I am drawing, I have a lot of good ideas to use, but I always have trouble envisioning the drawing I want to make! I end up starting to draw and then erasing it countless times before I get close to making the picture in a satisfactory way, and even then there are times when I see the finished product and think it's not the way I wanted it to look.

How do I completely plan out a drawing before I start so I know what I'm doing?

I always wish I had an image of my future drawing in my head instead of only a general idea and could just transfer it to the paper without trying so many times. Why is this so hard for me to do?

A common practice is to first create a thumbnail. You can do this when drawing from real life or from imagination.

The idea is to get a rough, small, quick concept of what you're going to be working on down on paper. This lets you get the idea out and reference it later as you're working.

When drawing from imagination, you can utilize multiple thumbnails, then decide on which pose/style you'd like to move forward with.

An example can be found on Niklas Jannsan's website: Android Arts Doctor Who project. The first image has some thumbnails of a moth-like creature, and then the final image incorporates the concepts laid-down.

When drawing from life or an image reference, a thumbnail is helpful to evaluate proportions. Before starting to draw on the entire page, you can draw a small rectangle in the corner or on another page. If you divide that rectangle up (into 1/4ths or 1/8ths), then draw your thumbnail, you made yourself a handy map and proportion guide. Just be careful that in your thumbnail you didn't exaggerate some proportions too much.

From your thumbnail, you can build up your rough sketches, laying down shapes and forms and building your line-art, but my advice would to be start with the thumbnail and then go on.

Get your idea out, make variations, work from there. Be willing to make changes, and don't enforce perfectionism in your first drafts.

As an aside, a common problem I've seen, and that I face, is knowing that something is "wrong" with a picture, and then erasing it to fix it. However, there's usually not a clear idea of what is making it wrong, or how precisely to fix it. Before you erase to start making changes, you should analyze the part that's wrong to really understand what the problem is. Proportions? Angle? Size? Shape? If you don't know what's broke, you can't fix it.


How do you fade one color to another with oil paint without getting the mixed color? I have a deep blue sky and a bright yellow sunset setting over a nature scene, but when painting in the yellow sunset and fading it to the blue sky I end up with a lot of bold greens that are noticeably out of place.

How do you fade colors without getting the combined color? I'd like to fade a yellow to a blue without getting green in the middle. I assume the concept would apply to any two colors, though.

This may not be the best example image, but here you see very bold blues, and very bold yellows without mixing into a bold forest green anywhere in the sky.

There are green areas in the photo, although they are not bold.
Maybe your solution would be not to fade but to juxtapose bold colors.

Yet, if you want to fade, painting by layers will have a cleaner mix than painting in impasto (glaze a very thin blue over the yellow). Also you could use dots of each color next to each other for a vibrant optical blending (like impressionism or pointillism).

Otherwise, first fade the colors toward grey before fading.
One of the ways to desaturate the colors is going into non complementary biases, like fade from a blue-green (cyan, phtalo, Prussian), into a blue-red (ultramarine, cobalt), fade that to a yellow-red (azo, cadmium) then a yellow-green (lemon yellow, Aureolin). The intermediary color will be greenish but muted.

Another way is to use ochres and earth tones (transitioning with a Venetian or yellow ochre, or muting the green color with green-earth or another greenish brown paint), and yet another way is to use opposite colors to mute the intermediary color (i.e. mute the green with a glaze of red).

However, I think the best way to achieve a clean contrast with high colors is to mix as little as possible.


Which glue should I use to bond sea shells to steel and/or stone? What kind of glue should I use to glue sea shells to steel and sea shells to stone?  These will  be displayed outside.  I have tried a hot glue gun but it doesn't do well outside.

Depending on how ‘shock-proof’ you need it to be, you have a couple options: silicon or epoxy.

Silicon is a bit more flexible, so if people or pets are going to be touching it, then this is what I would recommend. It is waterproof and really sticky until it dries. My advice is to get the transparent type used in bathrooms.

Two-part epoxy is theoretically stronger, but it might actually be too strong and might not bond well-enough with the steel.


Should I follow a specific drawing way? I usually enjoy doing things my own way, as it feels more natural. I recently started to take watercolor lessons(this was probably a mistake) and my teacher said my way of sketching was wrong.

For example, when I start to draw a face, I usually start from the hair, then I sketch the cheeks and the chin. Finally I place down eyes, nose, etc. I use very few searching lines.

My teacher says that the absolute correct way it to draw a circle, and place the face with a lot of searching lines.

My question is: Is there an absolute drawing style I should follow? Is my style outright wrong? I can get the positions of the thing I am trying to draw perfectly with my style. Should I still change it?

Depends. There is not one drawing style to follow. But if a learned technique helps you accomplish your task then, sure why not. That's the point of an education. An education teaches you how to use available tools to solve problems.

Math, Science, History, Literature, Philosophy and Art classes are all there to educate you about what had come before and how people have worked through those problems and come to a solution.

Education in different art styles and techniques is important because that knowledge empowers you by giving you the ability to solve problems you will encounter in your artistic pursuits.

When you are sitting in a class and learning a techique think of it as your are adding to your tool set. The tools are there to help you accomplish your goals.

Your goals can be accomplished by any number of application of techniques, tools and materials.

An education teaches you about the tools available and how others have solved the same, or similar, problems to what you have in front of you.

When making your art you will run into your own problems.

To finish that work of art you will need to come up with a solution.

An education shows you the tools and how to possibly solve your problem.

Your artistic goals are your own.

Your tools are there to serve you.

Not the other way around.


Methyl cellulose paste mixing mix-up I’m making MC (Methyl Cellulose) paste for origami, and it’s not mixing. When I stop stirring, all the MC just sinks. What am I doing wrong?
(If you need more info please comment, I’ve looked all over the web - no results. I’m using Lineco Pure MC.)

Just put it in a watertight container and shake it. A lot.


How can I determine a yarn's weight? I have a bag full of yarn from miscellaneous projects. In error, I never kept the labels for the yarn because "Why would I need to keep those?". If I am going to work on a project and need a yarn of a specific worsted weight, for example, how can I match the requirement to one of my balls or skeins of yarn?

After reading a small Wiki article about yarn characteristics I realize this might be hard to do and might just be a matter of guessing.

  Some of the names for the various weights of yarn from finest to thickest are called lace, fingering, sport, double-knit (or DK), worsted, aran (or heavy worsted), bulky, and super-bulky. This naming convention is more descriptive than precise; fibre artists disagree about where on the continuum each lies, and the precise relationships between the sizes.

There are apparently several different methods for finding about what weight you're dealing with. All of these can have their own downsides but they're worth considering.
Note that, realistically, if you can't tell whether something is "sport" or "DK" but you know it's one of the two, it's probably not going to throw you off too badly.
Also note that the US and the UK have different terms for the same weights of yarn but that since stores sell yarn from around the world, you're likely to run into all of them regardless of where you live.
Wrapping
Wrapping is a method of testing the weight by seeing how many widths of yarn fit in an inch of space. It looks a bit like this:

You can wrap around the ruler itself or around something else like a pencil. The fewer widths of yarn that fit in an inch, the heavier the yarn is. Note that for thicker yarns, you might want to wrap more than an inch and divide to get a better count.
The downside of this is that not everyone wraps the same and yarn is squishy. They yarn in the image is very neatly wrapped but you could easily squash it together and get another 3-4 wraps in that inch.
Ply or strands
Generally heavier-weight yarns have more strands. This can be finicky with smaller weight yarns and it won't always give you the information you need because there's no real standard but if your yarn only has 2-3 strands, it's probably really light weight and if it's worsted it's probably 10 or 12 ply. So, if you use this in combination with wrapping (or some common sense) it will probably help you. There's a list of the ply to weight name chart on Ravelry.
By Gauge
You can determine whether an unknown ball of yarn will work for your project by making a gauge swatch. This requires that you are pretty comfortable with your stitching and are consistent but it should help. Use the recommended sized hook or needle for the project and follow the instructions for determining gauge for the project (if it includes those instructions) or use a base guide like the one here. If the stitch count per four inch swatch is really off, then it won't work. If it's good and it looks the way you expect, then go for it.
In this case, you should adjust for your own stitch style. If you know that you normally need to crochet with a 5.5 mm hook when the recommended size is 6.5, then crochet the sample with the 5.5 mm hook rather than the recommended one.
By Weight
Some people have really good scales. If you measure how long your yarn is and then weigh it (in grams) you should be able to find out the weight... because everyone wants to spend hours measuring the length of their yarn. The better your scale is (and heavier the weight), the shorter the length of yarn you can weigh.
I'd recommend that you weigh at least 10-20 grams worth of yarn and then figure out the length. Note that you don't have to cut the yarn to do this, just let the remainder hang off the scale and mark the measurement stop point with a small slip knot. It shouldn't affect the measurement too much.
Now that you have your weight to length measurement, you should be able to compare it to other known yarns and get an idea of what the "weight" group is. Though, note that the material your yarn is made of can affect its density so if you don't know what it's made of (which is likely since you don't have the label any more), you might want to try to figure that out, too.

As an aside, labels are annoying to hold on to plus the cat probably ran off with them or ate them... but I recommend that you avoid getting into this situation by logging your yarn purchases somewhere. Either keep track of your receipts (if they give identifying info about the yarn) or, even better, track your purchases on a site like Ravelry. This is great because it often has everything uploaded already, so you don't have to manually enter any of the data except (if you want) color name and dye lot. The section you're looking for is called "stash" under "my notebook".


How can I convert a stick pin badge to a butterfly clasp? I have a badge which uses a stick pin attachment piece like so:

However, this is quite a tricky mechanism to use and align properly, so I would like to swap the stick pin for a butterfly clutch like so:

How could I go about doing this? Is it possible to do with just some basic tools?
Similarly, I have an old butterfly clutch badge which I do not use anymore. Would it be possible to take the clutch from this old badge and attach it to the new one?

For removing the stick pin backing, you need to remove the parts that stick out and file it down to be smooth. To remove, I'd use one of the following:

a Dremel tool with appropriate bit
if it looks like the badge was soldered, a soldering iron to un-solder it. (Make sure that the front of the badge won't be damaged by the heat, and follow safety precautions! If you guessed wrong and it was epoxied, heating it may release toxic fumes.)
a pair of wire cutters, depending on how substantial the pin back is. (This would work well on the butterfly clasp pin pictured, not so sure about the stick pin version.)

Then to smooth the back, you could use a metal file or a Dremel tool with a grinding bit.

To attach the new pin, I would just buy a new butterfly clasp base at a craft store (example). If you really wanted to re-use the clasp from the other badge, definitely use the Dremel tool, as you will need to cut a base for the pin and not just clip the straight pin off.

Then you just need to epoxy or solder it to the now-smooth badge back!


How can I improve my binding process to get a better result? Haven't done it in a while but I used to bind my own books so that I didn't have to pay extra for really cool ones. Mostly printed computer paper from 150 for 300 pages for the contents. This is what I did as far as the spine is concerned:

Get the pages together by gently knocking them on the table and rotating it so that I was knocking consistently in all directions.
Brace the spine on either side with clamps and paint stick so that only a millimetre or two was exposed.
Sand the paper to ruffle up the fibres. Theory for that is more surface area for the glue to bind.
Slighty dampen the paper on the spine to help the glue penetrate more.
Added a little cheese cloth
Using contact cement apply a couple of coats (separated by about day to be sure). I had tried Gorrila Glue a couple of time thinking the expansion would help but it just made the spine larger and I had to remove the curve it created.
Continue on.

Now that did work and I made about 20 books successfully. However I wasn't 100% happy with the product.

Sometimes there would be single pages that did not get an equal amount of glue. So I would be using the book and open a page and turn it just to have it pop out.

I gauged the strength of the book by trying to lift it up by one of the pages. For the smaller ones like 50 to 100 pages this was fine. Larger one I lost the page. This might have been an unrealistic test.

I know that one folly is that I didn't make the book in booklets where the pages were grouped together by 16 or 32 pages like you would see in conventional books. At the time this was not really available to me. Now it is more likely but I would like to know if there is a way to improve on my process above without making drastic changes. If drastic is needed so be it.

Perhaps my choice of glue was bad. It needs to be strong yet flexible and preferable penetrate easy. Contact cement seemed to work fine outside of the issues I mentioned.

You could punch holes through the leaves, and sew, using an asian-style bind, or use overcast sewing before binding. You will need an awl, or drill/drill press to punch holes through the paper before sewing, though, and of course, you're losing more of the edge of the paper than using folded signatures and the book won't open flat.  But you will have a proper sewn binding that doesn't rely on glue to keep the pages in, and will be more archival in quality.


Using watercolor blocks I have a question whether if one begins to use a watercolor block for drawings, if the paint stains the sides of the other sheets in the block by the edge, or does the glue prevent this? I wondering b/c I don't have much space for taping down paper, if it's even worth the extra cost and less clutter.

The glue might prevent this (depending on if the glue really is spread perfectly along all the edges), but a visual inspection should be enough. More likely is that the surface tension of the water will keep it from spilling over the edge.

If you are really worried about this and your technique requires huge amounts of water on the surface of the paper, you could apply some removable liquid frisket to the edges (available online or at your art supply store [e.g. windsor&newton]). Test it to make sure that the brand you are using does not damage the surface of the paper when you remove it.


What kind of mask effectively protects from spray or turpentine/solvents chemicals? The main things that I am looking for in a protective mask are:

Filter efficiency: the less chemicals I breath in, the better.
Comfortable and lightweight: I need to wear it for several hours straight without taking it off, having little to none odors inside.
Strongly positioned: i.e. an occasional touch by my arm will not make it fall off or open gaps.

I also wonder if full-face masks and/or respirators are preferable in this case. If I am missing some key points, I'd like to read details from the more experienced users.

Disclaimer

  I've tried to make sure what's in this answer is accurate. However, when doing any work that can affect your own safety, always carry out your own risk assessment and consult a professional about what protective equipment you need. This is not professional advice.

You're looking at three major types of respiratory protection (well, 4 if you really go down the serious end). They're illustrated nicely by this page.

Dust masks
These are basically large-particulate filters. They're good at filtering out dust, sawdust and chippings, but you should never use these for chemical work - the filter just won't catch them.
Fine-filter half-masks
These vary much more. They're essentially the modern-day equivalent of a gas attack-mask. If you're buying one of these, talk to the store personnel about what protection it offers - some are large-particulate filter-based, others are fine-filter-based and will filter out smaller stuff, even down to chemicals.
Powered respirators
These actively filter what's in the air to remove harmful substances. Again, the quality varies, as does the battery life.

And finally, for if you're doing really dangerous work (such as work with airborne toxins) or you're paranoid about breathing chemicals, you can get a full oxygen system such as that used by firefighters or divers. That has the advantage that if the mask is intact, you get ~100% filtering; it has the disadvantage of being clumsy, heavy, and difficult to fit correctly.

Whatever equipment you get, make sure you get it from a competent reputable supplier, such as 3M.

And finally, when doing work with chemicals, you need to look for eye protection too - many of the chemicals that can damage your respiratory system can also damage your eyes.


Using SculptCrete/ShapeCrete in a gel-like form? ShapeCrete (now discontinued) and SculptCrete (which has less videos) are marketed as concrete that works like clay, but sometimes it is used in a wetter gel-like consistency, as seen in the Shapecrete.com videos like this one.  Why is this middle-ground gel consistency used instead of a wetter, pourable mix of SculptCrete, a drier clay-like mix of SculptCrete, or another more standard concrete product?  By "why", I mean both workability reasons and final result reasons.

Both ShapeCrete and SculptCrete (and similar products), are cement-based mixtures that are designed to be used in several ways, including molding it like clay.  To achieve the clay-like handling and ability to hold fine detail, everything in the mixture has a very small particle size, and they may contain some additives (like clays).  If you mix them with the enough water to create a pourable consistency, they can be poured into a mold like regular concrete.  If you use less water to create a very firm mix, it handles like clay.
In the video you linked to, the ShapeCrete people wanted to use the material to replicate a house-shaped tissue box.  This was a novelty item -- a plastic shell in the shape of a house that fit over a tissue box, and the tissues were dispensed out of the chimney.  The goal was a thin-walled replica of that hollow plastic shell.
Pourable
To use ShapeCrete (or almost any cement product), in its pourable form to create a thin-walled replica, they couldn't just plug the chimney and fill that plastic shell as a mold.  That would produce a solid block of cement in the shape of the house.  They would have had to create an inner mold, nest the two, and pour the material between them.  That's a lot of work.
There's a method called rotocasting that creates a thin shell on the inside of a mold.  With something like resin, you can pour a little into the mold, and then keep rotating and reorienting the mold to coat the whole inside and keep it a uniform thickness until the resin sets up.  With cement-based materials, continually moving and mixing it is the way you keep it liquefied, so it doesn't lend itself to exactly that procedure.  With molds of certain shapes, you can spin the form at high speed so centrifugal force holds the cement in a uniform shell until it sets up (a house shape isn't one of those).  You can also use a mold material that absorbs water to pull water out of the cement so it doesn't slump, and build up a shell in thin layers.  That doesn't work with a plastic mold.
The small particle size and additives of this kind of material give it some strength in a thin shell.  The particle size also results in a smoother, more clay-like surface texture than normal concrete, with the ability to hold fine surface detail.  Pouring it into a mold is likely to result in some surface bubbles (which, from a previous question, you happen to want).  If you didn't want them, they can be reduced with gentle blending to avoid mixing in air, and vibrating the mold to help them rise to the top (which is typically not the exposed face).  There are also chemicals that can be added to reduce bubbles.
Clay
The typical way to use ShapeCrete like clay would be to roll it out into a sheet of the desired wall thickness, accurately cut out sections to match the inside surfaces of the house, lay the sections in place, and work the seams to join them.  That's a lot of work.  Some effort could be saved by using strategically larger pieces, even a single large piece, that get pressed into the mold and formed in place.  A thin plastic mold like that tissue box wouldn't hold up to a lot of replications.
Working from a clay consistency will produce even stronger results, the material will be more tightly compacted.  The surface texture will be similar to clay, and without the bubbles associated with pourable cement.
Cement/Sand
A cement/sand mix is commonly used for cement sculpting.  It's a relatively dry, granular mixture that's a little more moldable than wet beach sand that you might use to make a sand castle.  It could be pressed into a thin shell around the inside of the mold, requiring none of the preparation described in the previous alternatives.
If there was any fine, shallow surface detail in the mold (not likely on the inside of a tissue box), it wouldn't pick it up because the material is too coarse.  The cement walls would also need a reasonable thickness; something cardboard-thick wouldn't hold up to handling.  The surface texture will be grainy, like concrete, but without bubbles.
Gel
That's where the gel consistency comes in, and the use-case they were demonstrating in that video.  It provides the benefit of cement/sand in that it saves all of the preparation needed for pourable or clay consistencies for this type of application, and also provides the benefits inherent in the material of strength and the ability to capture detail.
The material can be mixed with an intermediate amount of water to create a consistency half-way between pourable and clay.  It's just solid enough for you to be able to handle a blob of it, form a simple shape that you can hold in your hand, and for it to stay where you put it without slumping.  It is used like the cement/sand mix described previously -- you put blobs of it into the mold and smear and press it around into a thin shell.
The material is strong enough for a pretty thin shell to hold up to handling.  The small particle size will produce a smooth, clay-like surface texture, which will pick up and retain fine detail.  As can be seen from the various videos on the ShapeCrete web site, at least one result had some surface bubbles, but most did not.  So it appears that the gel consistency is in a gray area on the edge of being pourable, where small differences in water content and/or handling could result in it having some surface bubbles.


I have trouble drawing a sunlight/shadow line I'm sketching an ink drawing. It's going to be black and white cityscape with a sun in the background. The perspective is twisted and I have no idea how I should place the line between the part which is lit by the sun and the dark side. Does anyone have an idea? I attached the original sketch and my ideas beneath.

Thank you!

Sketch:

My attempt:

Basically, you'll want to use a perspective-based method of drawing shadows, such as the technique I demonstrated here:
How to calculate the shadow direction, size, and transparency?

However, you'll need to be doing a modification on your perspective lines to match the distortion you're doing for the perspective in general. If I'm reading your sketch correctly, you've drawn a warped/wavy grid that represents the perspective, so your light perspective lines would have to "snap" to that same grid. In the end, this just means the the shadows that fall on the ground or objects will curve along the same paths as everything else, and be as "straight" as your sidewalk is.

Keep in mind, though, that the sun is very high in the sky, which likely means that your light source point will be well off your page (unless you're drawing the sun in a low position like setting/rising, then it may very well be on your page).


What are the different type of paint brush bristles? I've heard that the standard craft brushes, which you can buy cheaply for school supplies or children, are rather terrible for advanced art.

There are much more expensive brushes, but I don't know where to begin evaluating them outside of the price.

What are the different materials they use, and what benefits and issues do these materials have when it comes to painting?

Natural vs synthetic

I did a bit of research into this and found that there are two main kinds of paintbrush bristles: natural (usually made from animal hair) and synthetic (usually made from some combination of nylon and polyester). Each of these has its own advantages and disadvantages according to what kind of paint you're using. The TL;DR is that natural bristles are better for oil-based paint while synthetic bristles are better for water-based or latex paint. For more details, see this page. As a bonus, it also gives some information on the shape as well as the material of paintbrush bristles:

  Bristle Shape: Most paintbrushes available today are square-cut brushes. They're perfect for holding and laying paint onto virtually any surface. However, square-cut brushes don't provide as much control when painting into corners, up to adjacent surfaces, or along narrow edges or surfaces. For more precise control, use a sash brush, which has its bristles cut at a slight angle. Sash brushes are particularly well-suited for cutting in around the perimeter of a room.

  Bristle Tips: Better quality brushes have bristles with flagged, or split, ends. Flagged bristles hold more paint and spread paint more smoothly. Some brushes, especially sash brushes, have tipped ends, which should not be confused with flagged ends. Tipped brushes come to a point; they're not cut flat and straight, as is a standard brush.

  Professional painters favor tipped brushes because they provide greater control and allow you to apply paint more precisely.

More details on different types

This list goes into more detail on the usages of synthetic and various types of natural bristles, although it doesn't distinguish between different types of synthetic material:

  Badger

  For blending oil paint on canvas, Badger Hair is an age-old tradtion. It comes from various parts of the world and is more readily available than most animal hair, although the quality varies greatly. Badger hair is thickest at the point, and relatively thin at the root, so it has a distinctive "bushy" appearance.

  MEDIA: oil
  Camel Hair

  Camel Hair does not come from camels at all. It is found in watercolor and lettering brushes and usually is made of squirrel, goat, ox, pony or a blend of several hairs, depending on the desired softness and intended cost of the brush.

  MEDIA: lettering, tempera, watercolor
  Hog Bristle

  Hog Bristle is obtained from hogs in several parts of the world, the most sought after coming from China. Bristle is unlike any other natural filler in that it forms a V-shaped split or "flag" at the tip and tends to have a natural curve. A brush with "interlocked" bristles, with the curves formed inward to the ferrule, has a natural resistance to fraying and spreads medium to thick paints smoothly and evenly. A selection of pure hog bristle brushes is recommended for oil and acrylic painting, and is a far less expensive alternative to good-quality softer hairs.

  MEDIA: acrylic, oil
  Kevrin/Mongoose Hair

  Kevrin/Mongoose Hair is strong, resilient, and makes a good long-wearing, medium to professional quality brush for oil and acrylic painting.

  MEDIA: acrylic, oil
  Kolinsky Sable

  Kolinsky Sable is not really from a sable at all, but comes from the tail of a species of mink that is a member of the weasel family found in Siberia and northeastern China. It is generally conceded to be the best material for oil and watercolor brushes due to its strength, spring and ability to retain its shape ("snap"). It holds a very fine point or edge. This is considered a professional grade of hair, and if properly cared for, Kolinsky will last for many years.

  MEDIA, oil, watercolor
  Ox Hair

  The best quality comes from the ears of cattle or oxen. The Ox Hair has a very strong body with silken texture, is very resilient, has good "snap", but lacks a fine tip. Therefore, it is most useful in medium gradewash brushes, or flat shaped brushes. Frequently, ox hair is blended with other natural hair to increase the resiliency of a brush.

  MEDIA: lettering, watercolor
  Pony Hair

  Pony Hair is soft but strong, from mature animals at least 2 years of age. It is primarily used for scholastic grade brushes, but often blended with other hairs for inexpensive watercolor and touch-up brushes.

  MEDIA: acrylic, scholastic, tempera, watercolor
  Red Sable

  Red Sable is obtained from any member of the weasel family with "red" hair, not at all from the animal known as the sable. It is found in a variety of brush styles for many varied mediums, with quality and characteristics varying greatly. A good quality pure Red Sable is a good alternative to the more expensive Kolinsky, with similar performance and durability. Often, weasel hair is blended with ox hair to make a more economical brush, but the fine point is sacrificed.

  MEDIA: oil, watercolor
  Sabeline

  Sabeline is actually select, light-colored ox hair dyed to resembled red sable. Lettering and watercolor brushes often use Sabeline mixed with Sable to lower the cost of a brush.

  MEDIA: lettering, watercolor
  Squirrel

  Gray Squirrel (Talayoutky), most highly in demand for lettering brushes and quills, is native to Russia and nearly always fell in short supply. Brown squirrel (Kazan) is more readily available, and is used mainly for medium quality and scholastic watercolor brushes. A very fine, thin hair, taken from squirrel tails, it points as well as Kolinsky, but has very little "snap" because the hair is not very resilient. It works best with liquid paints and inks.

  MEDIA: lettering, watercolor
  Synthetic

  Synthetics are man-made of either nylon or polyester filaments. They can be tapered, tipped, flagged, abraded or etched to increase color carrying ability. Often, synthetic filaments are dyed and baked to make them softer and more absorbent. The common name for this filament is "Taklon". Advantages of synthetic brushes are: 1) They are less prone to damage from solvents, insects or paints. 2) They are easier to keep clean than animal hair brushes because the filaments don't have animal scale structures to trap paint. 3) They are less prone to breakage and are durable on many different surfaces. 4) They are better suited for painting with acrylics because a synthetic filament will withstand the caustic nature of acrylic paints with less damage.

  MEDIA: all

Finally, this list goes into even greater detail on a huge variety of types of bristle, falling into four main families: animal hair, vegetable fibre, synthetic, and wire brush. Within each of these families, several different materials are described and compared. It's too long to copy it all here, but should be useful as further reading if the above isn't detailed enough.


Golden glue - DIY Kintsugi? To repair a ceramic doll and a cup, I would like to apply Kintsugi.

  "Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending
  the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold,
  silver, or platinum". (Wikipedia)

Any experiences with that? Do you just mix a ceramic glue with powdered gold?

Maybe the aztec gold pigment powder would do as well?

The point of kintsugi is to emphasise rather than hide damage in an aesthetically pleasing way.

The Japanese word Kintsugi translates more or less as ‘joining with gold’, and

  The story of Kintsugi is said to have begun in the 15th century when Japanese military commander Ashikaga Yoshimasa broke one of his beloved Chinese tea bowls and, disappointed with the shoddy repair job it was treated to, urged Japanese craftsmen to come up with a more pleasing method of repair. (Source)

If you wish to remain true to the tradition, precious metal (powdered gold, silver or platinum) is mixed with clear resin or lacquer. This enables you to see the gold or silver colour from the metal clearly.

There would be no reason why you cannot mix the metal powder into ceramic paste, but you would not necessarily see the metal in the join as clearly.

I have seen some people fix the pottery with ceramic paste then paint the crack with gold ceramic paint to emphasise. Painting the joins, or using pigment powders as you suggest, is not a true traditional Kintsugi piece as no precious metals are being used. But, it still plays on the tradition of wabi-sabi (an eastern philosophy of living that finds beauty in the damaged or imperfect).

For more on this, see https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/326qTYw26156P9k92v8zr3C/broken-a-pot-copy-the-japanese-and-fix-it-with-gold


How do you open Castin’ Craft resin cans? Ok. I have this can of Castin’ Craft brand polyester resin that is brand new. I unscrewed the top and was confronted with a second metal barrier:

I’ve tried:

Prying it with a screwdriver.
Grabbing the edge and unscrewing.
Putting pressure from the inside and unscrewing.
Stabbing it.
Focusing my chakra, prana, and kundalini energy to visualize and create a portal through which I can pour out the contents.
Yelling at it.

Before I just take a step bit to the top of this can, does anybody who’s used this resin know how to open this?

I know this might be a silly question but I’ve never had so much trouble opening a can before, and believe me I’ve opened a lot of cans.

Prying with a narrow screwdriver is a good start. It appears in the photo that you have a bit of a start at the near edge of the top.

This particular seal is a throw-away and you can indeed stab it. Something stronger than a pointed stick should do well enough. A small blade philips screwdriver tapped in then bent outward will distort the top sufficiently to pop it free.

Be not afraid, plunge onward!


How to wind a hank of yarn without a swift? I recently acquired several hanks of yarn. They're very pretty and I can't wait to knit them up! Unfortunately I do not own a swift or a ball winder. I've only done this once before and it was a painful process - it took hours and tangled up several times.

What I tried was basically just arrange the loop on a flat surface and keep going around, but the hank kept twisting and strands would get tangled. I also tried using my feet to hold the hank, but that was really awkward and still slow.

How can I (quickly) wind a ball or skein from a hank, without special equipment?

The method I have used all my life involves two people.
One holds the yarn on the wrists, moving the hands such that they assist in unwinding and keep the yarn organized, the other does the winding of the ball and pulls the yarn from the partners hands, gently as not to disturb the lot.
I have used a one person version of this myself, it takes some practice and I think it requires the training of having been person one as well as the other in the two people method.
Hold the yarn on your arms about elbow level, making sure that the winding off side is on the outside and the top, bring your hands together while keeping enough tension on the yarn to keep it in place.
Now start winding, undoing one loop of the yarn at the time at most, to avoid tangles.
The method my grandmother would use: two chairbacks.
Put the yarn around two chair backs where the chairs are back to back, move the chairs away from each other till there is just enough tension to keep the yarn in place. If the chairs glide easily over the floor you may need to put something between them on floor level and if they tip backwards put something heavy on the seats.
Or if your chairs and skein sizes allow, turn one or both chairs so the seats face each other.
It will work easiest if you have an eye above the chairs to pull the yarn up from the chairs, but if needed you can work your winding above the backs.
Some extra twisting or a little untwisting of the yarn is to be expected, (which depends on the lay of the twist in the yarn and the way you unwind) but in twisted yarn it will not be much and might be taken up by how you wind your ball.
In the comments @Not The Face mentioned a niddy noddy. I have never owned or even used one, so I am not sure how easy it is to get a skein onto one, specially if the skein has not been made on it. But I see that there are niddy noddies which can be adjusted in size and those might be useful for bought skeins.
And I am also not sure how easy it is to use one to unwind when alone. But it would keep the skein in place when you unwind.
Checking out videos about making your own niddy noddy, I also found videos about making or using your own skein winder and swift.
I have not tried any of them, I mostly included them as proof that the information is there on internet.


How do I keep ribbon ends from fraying? My teenage daughter dances ballet, and on a fairly regular basis we need to get her new pointe shoes. After so many pairs, I've gotten surprisingly good at sewing in the elastic and ribbons that need to go on the new shoes.

One thing I would like to improve on is the ends of the satin ribbons. When they are simply trimmed to length with scissors, they will inevitably fray and unravel over time. This is only somewhat alleviated by cutting a "snake tongue" at the end, an indented "V" shape -- that angle will help the ribbons last a few weeks longer, but I'm trying to find a solution that will last for months (without constantly trimming the ends until there is really nothing left!)...

How can I prevent the ends of satin ribbon from fraying?

I would like to suggest something I was told while I was working on my ties. What you could do is to use some clear nail polish, not a lot, to stiffen the ends of the ribbon. That should prevent them from fraying at all. It is likely that you could use something like a super glue to accomplish the same thing.

You don't need a lot so, while it will darken the ribbon, if used sparingly it should not be noticeable.

Image from Wikihow

The page that comes from also suggests gluing as well as an alternative. It also covers using heat which Stephanie's answer covers better.

Of course, that could also be seen as less then aesthetically pleasing. So to compliment my solution I would then suggest you use some thread and something simple like a tight overcast stitch. The thread will hold around the polish and hopefully distract from its presence. The nail polish alone should be enough to stop it from coming undone for a while. That would all depend on wear and tear at that point.


Is coconut shell good to produce charcoal for drawing? Is coconut shell good to produce charcoal for drawing? Does the material that we use to make the charcoal decide its tonal character?

Is coconut shell good to produce charcoal for drawing?

I am sure that will work just fine.
It does depend on the type of shape you want, as the structure of coconut shell is not optimal: it is naturally curved, making it hard - if not impossible - to get nice straight styluses out of it, and it might splinter more easily when exposed to high temperatures, because of the inherent tension.

  Does the material that we use to make the charcoal decide its tonal
  character?

It does, but not a lot. Different source materials have slight differences in pigmentation, texture, and strength. Generally, types of wood are used, of which willow and grapevine are the most popular types for drawing. You will notice larger differences between charcoal and charcoal pencils, than between types of wood.


Paper's preservation (fixative not working) Apparently, my (acid-free) paper (from 'SoHo Studio'; shown below) is yellowing, I have Krylon Workable Fixatif Spray Coating.
Obviously, fixatives prevent this issue to happen, what should I do?
Is there anything special I should do to my paper?
I don't think you can see the yellowing, but just trust me, it is yellow

Paper will yellow over time because of lignin in the pulped wood.
Choosing an archival, acid-free fixative means that the fixative itself should not yellow over time. Unfortunately, the primary purpose of the fixative is to prevent smudging of the media that is on your paper. While it can slow down paper yellowing over time (by reducing the surface area of the paper that is exposed to air), it doesn't neutralize those oxidizing chemicals.
There are ways to treat the paper to prevent the yellowing from getting worse, and you can also put it behind UV-blocking glass to protect it from further oxidization due to air and light. However, the current yellowing may not be reversible.


Cutting a hole in baubles When working with acrylic clear baubles like these

What method can be used to cut a clean hole in the side to create a diarama within the bauble?

I imagine using a dremel would create a jagged edge which would be hard to smooth out without creating a scratched look on the edge.  I would like a clean edge if possible.

If you require a circular opening and have access to a laser cutter AND the plastic is acrylic and not polycarbonate, the baubles can be cut with the laser cutter. The edges would be polished by the laser to a smooth edge.

Makerspaces are the best option for finding a laser cutter. It has to be a CO2 laser rather than the lower cost, lower power diode lasers as the latter operate at the wrong frequency.

I would be able to accomplish your objective, but I find no method of contact in the SE system.


Why do pencils offer larger color variety than watercolor? Please correct me if I am wrong, but from what I observe, you can easily get 100-150 colours in a set of pencils, but if you go for sets of watercolors, there's rarely more than 24-36.

Why so?

The answer is quite simple really: you can mix watercolours (and paints in general), whereas you can't easily mix coloured pencils.

For example: If I have two different blues - a light and a dark - and I want a blue that's halfway in between, with watercolours I can just take roughly equal quantities of each, mix them together and use that.

With pencils, I would have to apply both, and try and get the shading just right so that you end up with a medium blue rather than an uneven mess. Because this is more difficult, people prefer to have a wider range of colours, and so because there's a market for it, manufacturers sell this wider range.


What are the common causes for sticky harness needles? Frequently I'm finding that my harness needles are too difficult to pull through by hand, and I have to resort to pliers, which means putting down the awl. Slows down the process a bit.

What I'm using:

4-5 oz veg-tan
Size 4 harness needles (originally I was using size 0, which was even more difficult to pull through)
Size 1 Barry King Awl Blade (2.6mm width)
Waxed nylon thread (Tandy 1227-02, not sure what thickness)

I suspect that my thread is too thick, or that the wax is making my needles too sticky, but I'm not really sure.

What could be the causes of this / what can I try?

Oils in the leather can turn rancid with time, thus becoming a plastic, sticky goo that will transfer to the needle as you stitch. With new leather this is not going to be the problem .. but, just saying.

Try treating the needle and first few centimetres of the thread with teflon spray, WD-40, or neatsfoot oil .. whichever you prefer. You can also rub a bit of Ivory Soap onto the first 10 cm of the thread near the needle to have a slipperier wax on the thread.


Re-branding ceramic tea/coffee mugs I have been given a set of unused standard straight-sided coffee mugs with an out-of-date brand on them.
The branding appears to have been screen-printed on then fired, so its impossible to remove (It's made from glaze)

I want to either cover this up with another brand or remove it.
the new finish must be dishwasher safe, or removable (a sleeve?)

Is this possible? What with?

If you have a vinyl cutter, or are patient enough and talented enough to manually cut out your new brand from adhesive vinyl, there are several which are both dish-washer and food safe.

There are also dish-washer safe acrylic paints but I don't know how food safe they are.


What's the difference between cheap pencils and crayons for coloring? I heard that colored pencils use wax (or clay) as a pigment vehicle, and crayons (wax pastels) use wax as pigment vehicle.

I found recently that crayons are mind blowingly cheap (96 crayola crayons for $6), whereas colored pencils tend to go for at least $2 for a pack of 24.

I am starting to think I should just switch to crayons for when I need to get some color down, especially if I intend to take photographs of them rather than frame them.

I tried searching for what the differences between crayons and colored pencils were, but I couldn't find anything.

My question are:

Are  there any drawbacks to blending crayons with pencils (such as crayola/prismacolor scholar)?
Are  there any drawbacks to using crayons over pencils?
I couldn't find any lightfastness information, and can't think of any reason for them to behave any differently than a typical pencil other than not having wood, and being softer.

Quality will be much higher with pencils. The softness of crayons dramatically reduces your precision when drawing, and they have a tendency to "skip" - I guess because of the higher amounts of wax involved. This is why crayon drawings rarely have a uniform color field, and don't blend well.

You will use up your crayons much faster than pencils as well, because the soft wax smears much faster. As you mentioned, the wood of the pencils also lends durability. I've never had much luck mixing the two unless I want to see the different marks - the materials are different enough to stand out next to one another.


How to paint paper mache rose So I created this paper mache rose.

As you can see, it's not very large. As you also can see, it still has the colour of newspaper. Now, roses in newspaper colour aren't very pretty, so I'd like to change that. What is the best approach to apply some paint? What type of paint would work best?Several things to take into account:

Paint is wet, and I want to apply it without changing (ruining) the shape of the rose completely.
The petals of the rose don't have much space between them; still I want to cover as much as possible with paint.

Would dipping be an option? Should I apply a different approach for the flower, and the leaves and stem?

If you have a dual-action airbrush and a volatile pigment like alcohol inks, you can spray the rose from a distance at low pressure with a high air-to-paint ratio.  The low pressure will keep the air jet from damaging the rose while the distance and high air-to-paint ration would allow the volatile ink to be almost dry by the time it hits.

Experiment with this technique by trying to paint tissue paper without ripping it.

A low tech equivalent to this technique would be spray paint at double the prescribed distance with a strong tail wind or electric fan running behind you.


Inexpensive method for highlighting a sketch I am from India and thinking of starting sketching.

As a beginner I am going to buy 2H, 2B and 4B (I hope that is enough).

What I need to know is some inexpensive method/white pencil for highlighting.

Can I use the hard white chalk used for writing on slate?

I wonder what you mean by highlighting a sketch? If you work on a white (or almost white)  paper then the only thing you gonna need is a soft (6b) pencil or even cheaper a regular HB penci to start. But I recommend a 6B.
If you gonna work on a toned paper or cardboard then be aware that chalk won't work well on graphite. Also a black and a white one will give you a slight blueish cast if mixed. Thereby going with a 6b and leaving the highlights untouched is better. If needed you can use an eraser as a cheating option.


Curing non-UV epoxy resin with a UV light? I'm creating simple alphabet letters using normal household 2-part resin. It seems to be taking forever and a day to cure. I know things such as lamps and turning up the heating can accelerate curing time, but I wondered (because I saw it on a YouTube video, but no explanation), if I could use a UV light to speed up the curing time? Would it work? I'm helping my daughter but we're both completely new to this.

Short answer: UV light won't affect the cure of non-UV resin.  Strong UV may even discolor or degrade some types of non-UV resin.
Longer Answer
UV-curing resin works on a different mechanism.  A one-part resin is stable until UV of a particular wavelength breaks down a component in the resin and causes it to cure.  Any portion of the resin that doesn't receive a sufficient amount of that UV remains uncured.  You need intense exposure to that wavelength, and it doesn't penetrate the resin well (so for thick castings, you need either extremely long exposure or building up and curing in thin layers).
Non-UV resin combines chemicals in separate resin and hardener to trigger a chemical reaction.  Once the reaction has started, heat will accelerate it.
Some epoxy systems use a small amount of catalyst as the hardener to trigger the reaction.  A catalyst doesn't react chemically.  It's mere presence triggers the reaction.  So you don't need much catalyst, and the exact proportion isn't too critical.
Other epoxy systems, like what you used, cure by reacting the resin and hardener with each other.  They're generally designed to require equal amounts, or some other fixed ratio.
Non-UV resins generally harden in a matter of minutes to hours, although total curing for full strength may take up to days.  If you mixed the epoxy and it's still sticky or soft after many hours, or say the next day, it will never cure.  You may be able to harden or clean the surface, but there's no way to affect the resin on the inside.
Failure of two-part epoxy to properly harden is almost always caused by one of three problems:

Inaccurate ratio.  Both the resin and hardener are syrupy, and that consistency changes only through reacting the two parts.  If the ratio is inaccurate, the result will contain unreacted syrup of either the resin or hardener.  That will be mixed throughout and will never harden.
Note that some epoxies are designed to be measured by volume and some by weight.  Verify that you're basing your ratio on the correct type of measurement for the product you're using.

Inadequate mixing.  Even if you start with an accurate ratio, if you don't thoroughly mix the two parts, you're left with a similar situation.  There will be unreacted syrup of both the resin and hardener throughout the result.  They will be isolated by the portion that does cure, and there's no way to get them to mix and react.

Old or deteriorated product.  Most epoxy systems have a long shelf life.  However, the components can eventually degrade through age or exposure to extreme temperatures.  If you discover decade-old product that's been lost in your garage and decide to put it to use, it would be worth testing a small amount first to verify that it will properly cure.

There's also a fourth potential cause of curing problems that's not really the fault of the epoxy.  People often experiment with mixing in various other things as colorants or appearance modifiers, thinners, or to change the physical properties of the cured resin.  Some kinds of additives are incompatible with the epoxy or can interfere with the curing, especially if they're more than a small percentage of the mix.
Where to go from here
Stick your castings in a hot but not super-hot place for a day (not so hot that you can't comfortably touch it or that would damage the molds).  Whatever is going to harden will harden.  Then if they're still sticky, trash them and try again.  If you're using re-usable molds, you may be able to clean them out, but don't reuse them if you can't get them thoroughly clean.  Any unreacted resin or hardener left in the mold will create the same problem when you pour in properly mixed epoxy.


How can I keep my paint brushes long lasting? I am not a trained artist.My paint brushes are getting damage easily after finishing one or two creations.Below I have added the images of the brush that I am using now.I do not know what are best types of paint brushes that I can use corresponding to acrylic color that I am using or the colors that are suitable to the paint brush that I am using.

Currently I am using these brushes.Also I am mainly using Camel Fabric acrylic colors.This one.

How can I keep my paint brushes long lasting?

Awaiting more specific information, I can already tell it's best to rinse your brushes directly after every use. Whether it's oil or acrylic you're working with, the brushes can easily be cleaned with a little soap and water. I use general hand soap bars for this - nothing fancy: don't be persuaded by the overpriced "artist soap" (but more on that later on).

I leave my brushes in a jar with soapy water at all times. I fixed a spring on top of the jar to hold the brushes, so that the bristles don't get squished as they dry, preventing deformation.

You can adapt the spring from a spring holder like the one here:

Using a jar instead of a tin allows for more soapwater, slower evaporation, and fewer refills.

When the paint has dried up already, I usually either soften it up again in that same jar - but you have to wait for days if not weeks (depending on the size of your brush) - or use a small hammer to hammer the paint out (this I only really do with acrylic paint). This is bad practice for high-quality brushes, but with those you wouldn't let it come this far in the first place :) And, nevertheless, a usable bad-quality brush is still better than an unusable high-quality one.

  What are best types of paint brushes?

That is a different question altogether, but, in the light of your main question, the brushes with the greatest longevity are usually those with plastic (nylon, polyester) bristles, as they are less easily damaged.

Natural hairs usually paint better (depending on the paint you work with, your style, the size, etc., and high-quality acrylic bristles are improving), but they are more susceptible to degradation, as organic fibers tend to be, so you have to make sure you take good care of them.

If you're starting out with painting, I'd suggest using hog hair bristles for oils and synthetic brushes for acrylic paint. They are both cheap and relatively resilient, and abusing or losing them while getting used to the painting process won't be the proverbial end of the world.


Advice on preserving an old painting The image attached is of a painting which is deteriorating around the edges of the frame. The paint appears to be falking off of the canvas.

It is between 70 and 80 years old, I don't know what type of paint although I would guess oil.

Is there anything I can do to prevent further damage?

You should consult a professional conservator.

If you're not even sure what kind of paint was used for this painting, chances are high anything you do'll cause more damage.

A conservator can see what kind of paint was used, what may have caused the damage (moisture, too much tension, deterioration of the paint?) and how to effectively stop the damage from spreading. Usually they would have a look at the painting and give you an estimate of the current value as well as an cost estimate for the preservation or repair before you have to decide whether or not you want to engage them.


Can you take a regular photo and Mod Podge it to Plaster? My daughter in law gave me two handprints of my twin grandangels. I would like to cut out their faces from a small picture and apply them on ornament.
Can I do that with Mod Podge?

I'll start by asking are you 100% sure it's plaster? I kind of looks like paper clay to me, but that could be the effect of the photo.

If it is plaster:

Plaster likes to absorb all the water it can - from what I remember Modge Podge is rather watery in comparison to other glues. But I believe it can be used on plaster as it is basically a type of PVA.

It'll stick to the plaster, but will sit on top of the surface like a varnish. Moisture will be absorbed into the plaster, the plastic part of the glue will remain on top. Make sure your photo isn't going to bleed when it gets damp (Do NOT use inkjet photos). Those colors will likely sink into the plaster if they run and your photo will be ruined. If you want to protect the whole piece from absorbing finger grease and various other stains that tend to make their way to ornaments despite it being kept in a clean place - you could coat the plaster in it entirely using it as a sealant.

Just double checked the MP website. They say before using it on plaster, wipe plaster down with a damp cloth - likely to remove any dust - I wouldn't go too damp however. If you saturate your piece too much it might become delicate depending on plaster type.


Can nail polish be used on jewelry? I have many jewelry sets in white, is it possible to color in my jewelry using nail polish - is nail polish effective on jewelry?

When considering the compatibilty of coating materials, the intended use (jewellery) is less important than the base material.  Nail polish/paint sticks well to some materials and not others. Without knowing what your "white" jewellery is made of, we can't tell you whether it wil stick well.

It's not really designed to be permanent, so I would advise against it for pieces that are meant to last.  For temporary modifications it could be excellent, with caveats. Although it will chip fairly easily, there will be some bits left. Getting the last traces off is easy on metal/glass/stone materials (using acetone), but if there's any plastic or glue the acetone (nail polish remover) is likely to damage that.


Blocking knitting using the washing machine? I know how you're supposed to properly block knitting (get it wet, squeeze it out, stretch it/pin it and let it air dry). However, I'm assuming that if I'm knitting something that will be put through the washing machine and air-dried, any effect of the blocking would be lost when that's done. So should I just "block" the piece by putting it through the washer and laying it flat to dry, just like it will be for subsequent washes? I'm working with "washable blends" and will follow the washing instructions.
P.S. I agree that knitted garments should be looked after more carefully than regular laundry, but I just know that's unrealistic for the person I'm knitting for.

Blocking is usually a one-time process for knitwear. It's used to even out the stitches in a single piece and to stretch several pieces to make the seams fit exactly before sewing them together. If your knitting is tight and even enough for your taste or the pieces fit just fine, you can get away without blocking at all.
Blocking is especially useful for delicate and "open" knitting patterns with holes, like lace, net or ajour / open work. The less tight your knitting is, the more it will benefit from blocking.
The steaming (or heating with an iron) of a just finished, blocked piece of knitting sets the fibres of the yarn into their current shape, "locking" the loops and curves of the knitting into the yarn.
In my experience, blocking only needs to be repeated for lace doylies and similar pieces with a delicate geometric pattern. A sweater won't change it's shape much after the initial blocking (given it doesn't stretch due to vertical hanging). The best advice I'd give the person receiving the knitting it to first load the drying rack with whatever laundry there was in the machine and then lay the knitwear flat on top. If the knitwear has the tendency to shrink a little (I'm not talking about the shrinkage of wool, but some cotton sweaters have very tight sleeves when washed that stretch to their usual size after some wear), the person can gently stretch the wet sweater on the drying rack. That simulates blocking without all the efford involved.


What classical painting depicts a trial or a slavery bidding, where a naked female is standing before a crowd? By 'classical' I mean it looked not modern, so it had to be painted at least 100 years ago. I came across that painting in maybe an educational video, but can in no way remember what is was. The mentioned girl or woman is white, and I'm not sure the gathering of other people are all males or have female included.

I was led to wonder what the woman did to deserve that kind of humiliation? My searches led to unfruitful results such as Hypatia - apparently she wasn't in that situation.

Google search: Classical Painting Slave Market

The Slave Market

Otto Pilny. 1866-1936

Slave Market in Ancient Rome

Gérôme, Jean-Léon. 1824-1904

www.hermitagemuseum.org

The Slave Market

Victor-Julien Giraud. 1867


How do I get the barrel of my fountain pen when it's stuck from dried ink I'm thinking of buying antique fountain pen, but the barrel is stuck to the nib and section because ink has dried it closed. I'm thinking ways to get it off. Maybe ultra-sound? Maybe soaking it in water?  Maybe there's just no way? I don't want to buy it until I'm positive i can get the barrel off.

Thanks!

Prepare a jewelry cleaning kit...

moisten separate squares of paper towel in common solvents and put each in a separate  plastic bag.  make one each for clean water, water with dish-soap, rubbing alcohol, acetone (nail polish remover) and maybe... dilute ammonia and dilute bleach (but make sure these last two towels never touch each other or follow directly each other when used).  Label each plastic bag clearly with a black sharpy.  take some dry paper towels as well.

The gold nib is probably your best testing area as you know exactly what it is made of.  gold is extremely non-reactive so exposing it to water, dish soap, alcohol or acetone is completely safe.  ammonia can dull the shine on gold and bleach can oxidize its outer surface turning it black.  either the dull or the black can be buffed away with a dry paper towel, repairing this minor damage.  (once again a safety note about bleach and ammonia.  do not let them touch each other as they give off a poisonous gas when they combine).

So with your cleaning kit ready, go to the current owner of the pen and ask to run a quick cleaning test.  If the owner doesn't agree, he may know something about the unwanted ink that he doesn't want you to learn.  In which case, you should probably go find another pen.  It the owner does agree,...

Rub the dried ink on the nib across a dry piece of paper towel.  If an ink line forms on the towel, this is your base line. A solvent works if it draws a darker line than the dry paper towel.

Repeatedly drag a dried ink spot on the nib across each solvent's paper towel. Between each solvent test, drag the ink spot across the clean water towel to avoid mixing solvents. Once you find a solvent which produces a dark ink colored line, the test is over.  The dried ink can be removed with that solvent, so the pen is safe to purchase.

If none of the solvents produce a dark line, then the "ink" will require stronger cleansers than can safely be used around the soft gold and plastic.


How can I make rose scented myrrh incense? How can I make rose scented incense from unscented myrrh resin drops?

I have some of natural scented myrrh resin drops and would like to be able to be able to give it a rose scent when using it for incense. I do have a mortar and pestle at my disposal, as well as various sizes of mason jars.

I am thinking that perhaps I could somehow use the myrrh grains in mason jars and then putting in either rose scented perfume or essential oil to impregnate the grains to take on the scent of roses. Do I need to use a carrier oil (like olive oil) for the perfume or essential oil?

I have no experience in doing this at all, so any suggestions on what to do would be greatly appreciated.

I am not a perfumer of any class, even amateur.  Because I have an interest in and have dabbled with essential oils for health benefits, I am intrigued by your question and interested in doing a bit of research on it.

The most pertinent resource I found, the beautiful Blog 'The Scent of Love: Ancient Perfumes - How to make your own perfumes just like the ancient Greeks and Romans did', discusses how rose and myrrh can be blended, with the ultimate idea that you can make a reproduction of a typical ancient perfume for yourself.  Starting with a carrier oil (she uses olive oil), she adds a base note from several choices, including myrrh resin, which is ground with mortar and pestal.  Mid-notes are then added, among others, rose petals, which are placed directly into the oil. Last they added top notes which consisted mostly of kitchen spices.

  "A favorite recipe of many was myrrh, rose, styrax, and marjoram for a warm, sweet perfume." [The Scent of Love: Ancient Perfumes]

In describing how to finish the perfume, once ingrediants have been added to the carrier oil, she says:

  "To complete your perfume, heat your oil mixture by pouring the oil and other materials into a glass or ceramic dish, heating water in a pot to boiling, turning the heat off and sitting the dish with the oil into the water as it cools.  This process draws the essential oils from the materials and can be repeated more than once. The mixture should then steep for at least 24 hours, at which point it can be strained—cheesecloth lets you wring the oil out while keeping all bits of ground materials out of the final mixture."[The Scent of Love: Ancient Perfumes]

The Scent of Love Blogger, Erin Branham, even offers a printable PDF with complete instructions.

Below is an image she featured in her story, which is very descriptive of the ancient perfume-making process which Branham describes:

Wall Fragment with Cupids and Psyche Making Perfume, Roman, A.D. 75–100. Plaster and pigment, 14 15/16 x 22 1/16 in. A group of cupids tend a perfume shop in this picture. At right, a cupid holds up an alabastron  filled with perfume, while Psyche (Cupid’s beloved) lifts her arm to smell the scent. Image used by permission of Getty Images.

Lastly, I took a gander at a Fragrantica.com, an online encyclopedia of perfumes, a perfume magazine and a community of perfume lovers. This page goes into great detail about all things myrrh, right down to harvesting.  At the bottom is an impressive array of around 150 tiny perfume bottles, each one a link to detailed information on a "myrrh perfume".  It only took me 8 tries to find one which also contains rose. [Frangratica.com]


What's this art style? I've seen a couple cool pictures with drawing on certain parts. I was curious if there was an actual name for this style. You can see the background and parts of the subject are the photo, and then there is drawings over other parts.
Any ideas?
Here are a few examples:

Thanks!

Some sources found:
(More pertaining to the first image)
Don't think their is a definite term per se, but here is some info:
Term 1: "Illustration on photo/photograph"
When searching Google with these terms, came across the original artist related to image 1:
Source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/53008399/Vector-covered-souls
The tools used were Adobe Illustrator Draw.
Term 2: Vector drawing over photo/photograph."
From the artists portfolio they seem to have a series of vector images drawn over top of portraits of human faces. So this might be helpful.
Other terms Googled terms to look into: "Cartoon drawing over photography"


I’m a complete beginner. What’s the shortest way to learn drawing manga? I’m a complete beginner to drawing. I never do doodles, I have struggles just from drawing a hand or a fork, my hand writing is ugly as hell... I want to learn and practice drawing with the final target is to be able to draw a fine doujinshi.

I want to learn drawing, but don’t know where to start. Can you give me advice for this? I need step by step of what to learn from the very beginning to the end, in the right order. For example:
1. Practice steady hand.
2. Drawing straight line.
3. Drawing cube
...
69. Draw characters from many perspectives.

I want to focus on practicing things that benefits drawing manga, other skills is not needed, e.g knowing how to draw a detailed and realistic face. Also, I planned to get a drawing tablet  and go digital after I can draw decently, so maybe things that can achieved easily by software tools, like drawing manga frames, can be skipped.

If you wonder why I don’t just google for “drawing manga tutorial” already, here is the reason:
- If I search for “drawing manga tutorial”, mot of them assume the readers know how to draw already, so the very first lesson seems too advanced for me.
- If I search for regular “drawing tutorials” it may contains some redundant lessons that doesn’t benefit drawing manga and I don’t want to waste time for that.

If you can share some detailed online tutorial, it will be very welcomed, if not, please give me the steps I need and mentioned above, I’ll google tutorial for each of them myself. Any help is appreciated, thank you very much!

Quite simply, you can't effectively simplify subjects and backgrounds for a comic until you have learned how to draw them properly in the first place. There is no "magic manga shortcut," with or without using technology. The reason the tutorials you've seen expect that you already know how to draw is because that is a prerequisite for drawing a comic. Just like you can't do calculus unless you understand basic math, you can't do stylized art without understanding the structure of the subject you're stylizing.

Creating a proper comic goes beyond simply being able to draw a face or a hand. A comic includes props, clothing designs, and backgrounds, so you'll need to learn to draw everything, not just a character. You'll need to learn multi-point perspective, lighting and shading, fabric draping, and more to be able to convey your setting effectively.

Beyond that, creating a proper comic goes far beyond just drawing. Where most people fail, besides thinking there's a "magic manga shortcut" and not learning their basics, is thinking that because they have read a comic or two, they now know everything there is on how to create their own. Very few people actually put the pieces together properly, resulting in a lot of very poorly constructed web comics, fan comics, and even professionally created comics! There are multiple books on how to construct a comic, for good reason. It's less intuitive than you think it is. If nothing else, you should pick up a copy of Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, so you can start to understand how and why comics work. From there, I recommend Making Comics by the same author, and Drawing Words and Writing Pictures by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden. The former contains some basic guidelines and tutorials; the latter is constructed as a full comics-making class.

Lastly, once you've learned the fundamentals, found your style, and learned how to put together a comic, don't think you're going to create your master work on the very first try. You can't. You need to put everything together and practice. The number I've generally heard quoted is "You need to draw 200 pages before you start drawing good ones." You need to work hard to create a good comic. There are no shortcuts.


What color scheme does the Spongebob character use? We have a homework regarding color schemes and I chose Spongebob as my subject. At first I was thinking that it uses a triadic scheme since it uses blue, red, and yellow, and brown is just a combination of the three. However, I'm not sure if that is how the color scheme works, as brown is not a part of a the basic color wheel. I'm really confused. I even thought brown is just a darker shade of orange.

There's a Photoshop trick to find an average color scheme.

Starting with an image, I chose one with the main BobSponge's characters.

From Photoshop apply a Pixelate filter, or choose an Online Pixelate Filter Maker like pinetools.com/pixelate-effect-image. With this you get a small color map from which to extract the most important or essential colors of an image.


How can I clean a tortillon/blending stump and still keep its point intact? What is the "correct", or most effective way of cleaning a paper tortillon?

Up the now, I have been using sand paper to clean the tip, however this often makes the tortillon rugged and lose its point, and in some cases causes it to unravel completely.

Is there a more effective way of doing this whilst keeping the stump's point intact?

Using sandpaper and then tidying up with craft knife is the generally accepted way of cleaning tortillon. However, it's possible that you might be using sandpaper with a low grit level (under 120) for too long. This would be almost ripping the material.

I start with a 100 grit sandpaper to get rid of the graphite\charcoal staining, then use a craft knife to clean up the really rough bits and shape. Finally I use a 180 grit, or greater, sandpaper to smooth out. I find it much easier to have the sandpaper on the work surface and move the tortillon on the sandpaper. It provides much better control and helps maintain the shape.

A really good tip is to get yourself a pack of double sided emery boards (nail file boards).

You can get boards with 100 grit on one side & 180 grit on the other in most pharmacies, supermarkets, and online shops.


Engrave a design into slate sheets I currently have multiple sheets of slate measuring 8"x12" at 1/4" thickness, and various gauges of colored wire (picked up the wire from the Beading section of a hobby store).

I have been scaling a map of the U.S. onto freezer paper, that once complete will be a 26"x40" map outlining the individual states.

I would like to engrave the map into the slate, and then fill the channel with metal to make it more visible. In some tests, the only metal that was softer than the slate was solder wire (tin / lead, not sure of the %s) which allowed for hammering it into the channel for a good fit. With any metals I tested, they were too hard and would essentially hammer through the slate, and so I have decided to use a jewelry metal glue to inlay the wire securely. This gives me a little leniency on the depth, and width of the engraving, but I am looking to use either 18 / 20 gauge wire.

I have tested a few different Dremel bits made for engraving, but I am currently using the Dremel accessory 108 1/32" Engraving bit, with the depth adjustment attachment. I have okay results, though find it difficult to keep an accurate line. Additionally, I had a lot of issues placing a sketch overtop the slate and trying to engrave through following the pattern on the paper. I held the Dremel perpendicular to the slate, and attempted to use it like a router, but it still had a tendency to walk a bit. While browsing the Dremel site, I think it looks like the '125 1/4" Carving Bit' may better suit my needs, as it would have better cutting power in lateral movements.

Would it be better to keep trying to leave the paper on top of the slate, or to cut out the individual states and trace them with the Dremel? While I would prefer to try and keep the depth consistent, would it be better to handle the Dremel freehand, more like a pen, than perpendicular to the slate?

If you're using the rotary tool with a suitable engraving bit, you may find it easier to trace the state profiles by attaching the paper to the slate with an adhesive. Even a simple glue stick will wash off with water once the job is completed. By tracing around the shape, the lines you generate may be more consistently positioned by not being centered on the line.

Your question about handling the tool is going to be tougher to answer, as it is more dependent on your skill than on one practice being better than the other. With respect to the cutting bit used, unless it is designed to cut with the tip, the perpendicular placement may cause problems.

Another option you have would be to construct a caddy, a sort of "pen holder" to keep the tool at the best angle for engraving, providing a stable base while getting optimum cutting. A tool caddy will also enable you to accomplish a more consistent depth of cut.

If you have a maker space in your area, you may also consider to visit to see if they have a laser engraver available for use. I have a CO2 laser which will do a wonderfully accurate job of engraving slate, to nearly any reasonable depth (1-2 mm typical). You may find other members of the maker space equally helpful. I personally would be happy to take on this type of project for a fellow maker.

Directly related to the above, if you are unable to find a makerspace, consider to visit a laser related forum or two and cast about for a local laser user. If you are willing to pay shipping in both directions, your options increase. I use RDWorksLab occasionally, a forum aimed at users who own lasers with the Ruida controller line, but have since put most of my time in LightBurn, a forum for that particular piece of software. SE does not have direct communications between users, but you can find my username in either location if the shipping option works for you.


Is there a way to bond silicone to nylon? I want to make a face out of silicone and bond fishing line to particular parts of the face so that I can use the fishing line like a muscle but I can’t find a glue that would work on silicone. Is there another way?

I assume you use a molding silicone or a specialized prosthetic silicone for film and theater masks. The chemical compositions of those kinds of silicone are designed to not stick to anything.
Construction silicone, on the other hand, is designed to stick to as many materials as possible. You could try applying construction silicone to the mask, but I haven't tested if this actually works. There's also the risk that the construction silicone could "melt" through the prosthetic silicone. This melting process usually takes several days to months, so better try it on a waste piece.
A more promising approach is to embed an anchor in the mask where the muscle would be. The simplest anchor would be a key ring or a washer to which the fishing line is already tied. The mask must be thick enough to enclose the anchor on all sides or it might be pulled out. You can achieve a better bond and more natural movements by cuting a piece of mesh (any grid-like material made of metal, plastic or fabric) into the shape of the muscle, tying the fishing line to it and embedding the mesh where the natural muscle would be.


How can I finish the tops of my balls so the stitches are not so open in appearance? Pokemon Go has been a feature in my family, and the world, as of late. I figured it would be fun to make some pokeballs for the kids. The first time I make something I expect there to be flaws. I make mistakes so that I can learn from them. However I have now made two balls which have similar issues that I see when I make spherical objects.

As you can see the tops of the balls have rather open stitching. I don't have this issue with the bottoms, which is where I started working, as they are tight and closed.

Based on the instructions I was following, which are pretty much the same for all balls, I just did the reverse of the inc rows using dec's for the top. When I made the first ball the rows stopped leaving a large circular gap at the top. I added some more stitches to round it off.

How can I finish the tops of balls and other spheres so that it looks tighter and not obvious that I finished there.

Here is an amazing tutorial for how to close amigurumi shapes. It's a bit of work but the results are beautiful.

Essentially, this method works by creating an identical system to your opening magic loop (if you're using the magic loop start), by adding a drawstring to the last circle of stitches. This drawstring can then be pulled until the circle is completely closed and then tied in place and finished off.

As laid out in the tutorial, the steps are:

  Decrease the opening in your work until you have 6 to 8 stitches or less.
  Thread a tapestry needle with the tail left from your work. Insert the needle under the next front loop.
  Repeat for the remaining stitches pulling the yarn lightly.
  Pull the yarn tightly until the hole closes completely.
  Insert the needle under a loop close to the closed hole. Repeat one more time.
  Pull the yarn until creating a loop and insert the needle into the loop. Pull the yarn creating a knot.
  Insert the needle into the closed hole and make it come out as far as possible.
  Pull the yarn until the knot disappears into the piece. Cut the yarn close to the piece, the end will disappear inside it.
  Piece closed.


Making plastic mold from plastic sheet I would like to make some plastic mold for my arcrylic pieces. Is there any good way to create the plastic mold not using vacuum former?

Vacuum former example

Depending on the material you will be casting in the mold, you may find that you can make use of a product called Hand Moldable Plastic. This product is shipped as small beads which are heated in boiling water per the instructions. I've used a hot air gun, which works faster and increases the chance of burning your fingers.

Once the white beads are heated, you can flatten and join them into sheets. Doing so will cause them to cool and become hard again. Heating the plastic once more, you can then form them around the part you wish to mold.

I've used a pasta press to form the HMP into 1 mm thick sheets. It cools quickly but also heats quickly when using a hot air gun.

A vacuum former will pull the stock material into crevices and details while this manual method may not provide the same level of detail. You can reheat the plastic as many times as needed and knead it into the model being molded, but I think some detail may be lost.

HMP is a material similar to that used in plastic milk jugs. It may release the acrylic easily, but I suggest to test it on a non-critical item to be certain.


What should I consider when making homemade steam distillation equipment? Background:

I found myself on a wonderful Wikipedia ramble at work the other day, and stumbled across a method for extracting essential oils from plant matter called steam distillation.

As there is a lot of bog myrtle (among other things) around at the moment, and I love the smell, I was up for trying this method out. However the only store bought equipment I can find is over £150.

Now looking at the diagrams included in the Wikipedia link, it doesn't look there's anywhere near £150 worth of equipment there. So, I am thinking about constructing my own, as it doesn't look too complicated.

Questions:

Is this harder than it looks to construct? Has anyone got any previous experience of this that could offer tips?
Where would be the best place to source the parts for this?

Steam distillation is used to convert catnip leaves to concentrated catnip oil. There is an Instructable that I've followed in the past to make what they call kitty crack.

It's relatively simple, at least the distillation portion. The leaves are placed in a container on a heat source and water is added. The collection is boiled and the vapor containing water and oil condenses on an inverted lid over the container. Gravity pulls the condensate to the center where it drips into a smaller container on a stand in the middle of the concoction.

It's using ordinary household materials, including loads of ice! I've forgotten how many times I had to refill the inverted lid due to the heat transfer.

The chemical aspects of the catnip process will be different from your selected herbs, I'm sure and I can't advise that portion, but I suspect you have a few leads for processing the condensate.

I processed about a pound of catnip leaves and recovered a couple grams of concentrated kitty crack, which seems tiny, but they were dry leaves. Your herbs will probably have more oil than dry catnip. Running the same batch of leaves about five times means each sequence will be more water, less oil, but ensures maximum recovery.

I dumped the leaf mush in the yard in view of the security cameras. There was enough catnip remaining in the mush to attract more than a few local felines for a stoner session.


How to intentionally fray curved edges in fabric? Closely Related:
- How to Sew Up "Cut Outs", (Shapes Cut Into Fabrics)?

In the related question, there are solutions for prevent frayed edges in fabric.

But, could you avoid the complexity of sealing, folding, or stitching those edges - by intentionally leaving "nice" pre-frayed edges?

Example: If you were to cut a circle into the fabric, and stitched closely (1cm??) from the curved edge - what methods could be used to leave a "consistently" frayed edge?

Are the fabric's "weave", "thread-count", or other factors, important for this?

You have the right idea. Sewing near the edge but leaving the actual edge raw will achieve a frayed edge. Things to keep in mind:

This will only work on a woven fabric, not a knit.
Most importantly, not all edges will fray equally on a circle shape. Because of the nature of a woven fabric, the threads are horizontal and vertical. Certain places around the circle (mostly when you hit the bias area), the fraying will change or may not show up at all.
The weave does matter. If the fabric has a very open weave, it may not have a very frayed look, but look like loose threads.


Papier maché with toilet paper I have been looking at instructions for DIY hamster toys and equipment.  It's recommended not to use newspapers for hamster projects because one doesn't want the hamster to injest the ink.  (Hamsters are big chewers of everything within reach).  But all the other papier maché instructions I've seen are based on newspaper strips, dampened with a thin flour paste.

The hamster project instructions recommend using toilet paper strips instead of paper, and some instructions have you painting the strips with just water, not paste.  But some call for the usual thin paste even on the toilet paper.

The most common papier maché project for a hamster is to cover a balloon and then cut an opening.

Is there something special about toilet paper (or kleenex) that makes the layers stick to each other better than strips of paper do?
Are there any disadvantages, when using toilet paper, to using plain water?

Toilet/tissue paper is processed in such a way as to be as absorbent as possible.  So, by soaking it in water the paper fibres expand and when they dry, they shrink back and stick well to each other. Other papers, like inkjet papers, are coated, or otherwise processed, in such a way as to reduce the absorption of ink. In your case this means that if you try to make papier-mâché with such paper and just water the fibres won’t be able to absorb enough water in order to expand and stick well together when dry.

So you can use toilet/tissue paper and just water to make papier-mâché but for less absorbent paper you may need some adhesive (e.g. starch from flour).


Artificially accelerating the discolouration of leaves For a project I need leaves (apple, to be precise) that have turned into their fall colors. The leaves will be pressed later.

Is there a method that creates the color change within a day or two? Or at least a partial change?

I was thinking about placing a branch into the fridge over night and in lukewarm water / a sunny spot during the day. But that's just a stab in the dark based on what induces the change in nature.

The solution we used was unexpectedly simple, but not truly satisfactory:

We placed short branches with leaves in the freezer and took them out just two hours later. To my surprise, they already started to change color.

They didn’t develop the deep reds they would normally have, but had a distinctive reddish hue. I suppose repeated freezing/thawing cycles could have improved the results, but the minor that was involved in project declared them “good enough”. For a conclusive answer, further experiments need to be done next summer.