Toolbox Giftbasket

Toolbox Giftbasket

for

Him or Her

    Enlarge this design to whatever size you need.The length can be adjusted to however long you need. I recommend recessing the dowel handle or even drilling a hole all the way through for the dowel. Then hold in place with screws and or glue. Make sure you use the appropriate length screws and glue for the bottom and sides. Sand the sides of the project so that you can stain the wood afterward, but painting or decorating the box would probably also work. 

    Once you're finished with the project all you have left to do is to fill it with your favorite goodies for your favorite person and you will have a gift they will not soon forget. I love this project because it is such a versatile gift that can be given to him or her. It leaves them with something to use after they have consumed the goodies inside and could be used as a toolbox or even a planter for the front porch.

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DIY Bottle or Jar Cleaning Brush

Bottle or Jar Cleaning brush

This is a simple project with three main parts.

You will need the following.

1. Wooden spoon
2. Mop yarn
3. 4 inch foam mini paint roller
4. Hot glue - high temp.

The tools you will need are as follows

1. A sander of some type either belt sander or Dremel tool
2. quarter-inch drill bit and drill
3. hot glue gun with high temp glue.

Take the wooden spoon and sand the handle down just enough to fit inside the paint roller. Then drill 1/4 inch holes in the lower half the spoon, as shown here.

Then using a hot glue gun inject a small amount of blue inside the paint roller and long handle. Insert the handle into paint roller and immediately cool with cold water. The cold water is to keep the foam from melting and two quickset glue. Once you have glued the foam roller onto the handle it should not turn. If the roller rotates on the handle it will not do a very good job in cleaning bottles or jars. After you have assembled the foam handle you can use a crochet hook or latch hook or even micro forceps as seen here, to assemble the mop yarn. Mop yarn may be hard to come by at craft stores so I simply bought a mop from the dollar store and cannibalized it for the yarn. Yarn should be 6 to 8 inches in length and can be added to the spoon by either using half hitch knots or double knots on either side of the holes, so as to prevent the yarn from pulling through. You may want to add two or three strands per hole in order to get the right density of yarn. If you find that after assembly yarn is still too long you can simply trim with scissors. Once you have finished this your project is complete and you now have the best bottle brush ever. It's makes a great gift or a great project just for yourself.

    If you're going to make these for sale it is important to keep in mind that the cost of your materials is critical to whether it is profitable. Most of the materials were purchased at a dollar store and the cost of materials was kept under a dollar. Where you may lose some money as with any crafts is with the amount of time spent in creating the item. This may be offset by adding the item to a gift basket or similar project.  It may be possible to save a little bit of money by cutting out your own spoons out of quarter-inch wood stock. 

   

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FREE Natural DIY Fiber Filling and Batting

I've been meaning to do this story for some time, as it actually has quite the history here in Fallon, Nevada. 

Milkweed, October 2015

    During World War II Japan cut off our supply of fiber fill (kapok) that was being used for making life vests, but a local weed came to the rescue. This plant that plagues farmers and gardeners alike is actually one of the most useful wild plants there is when it comes to textiles. My uncle told stories of kids going up and down ditch banks during the Great Depression collecting milkweed pods to sell the down. And I remember collecting monarch butterflies and yellow swallowtail butterfly caterpillar that feed on it. 

    It grows a seed pod that produces a hypoallergenic fiber fill that can be used in making pillows and stuffing quilts. The fiber is easily collected just before the pods open while the pods are still green. Pods are cracked and the seeds are raked off. You are then left with milkweed down that when allowed to dry makes an excellent fiber fill. There have also been a number of people who have experimented with combining it with other textile such as cotton or wool and then spinning that cotton or wool into yarn. (Sorry but I do not know the ratio used of cotton or wool to milkweed silk ) Unfortunately milkweed down by itself is too brittle for spinning but as I said before it has many unique and useful properties. Native Americans were also known to use the rubbery sap as a chewing gum by rubbing the sap between their fingers to make a rubber ball to chew on. Although I would not recommend it as it tastes awful and may be toxic, the white milky sap is similar to liquid latex. Fibers from the stem would also be used to weave into fishing line or cordage which was then used for making other things.

Drought and late in season, liberty pond

    It should be noted : before harvesting you should make sure that the milkweed has not been sprayed with an herbicide. If it smells funny or the leaves are brown then I would stay clear of these plants. The plants are readily found along ditch banks and ponds. And make sure you remove all the seeds, because if the seeds get wet, they will sprout.

Silky and soft to the touch

To me it is a mystery as to why this plant has not yet been commercialized, as it outperforms goose down. It is more breathable, more durable,and warmer than goose down. It also uses less water when compared to similar fiber crops. So if you’re looking for an inexpensive fiber fill this may make a

good alternative.

The green milkweed pods in the background of this photo are what you're looking to harvest just before they open 

Note green milkweed pods in background

milkweed at liberty pond

 

These beetles also make milkweed their home.

The fire and gem beetles are harmless and may be a good indicator that the plant has not been sprayed with herbicide or pesticide.

How do you irritate a bird that wants to roost?

 Creating bird spikes with 3D pen

    In my first attempts at creating bird spikes, I simply used a quarter round or half round piece of old molding. Using a 16th inch drill bit I drilled numerous holes and then used the 3-D pen to partly fill the hole with extrusion from the pen and then moving outward creating spikes. 

     Although the finished product did not give me the rigidity in the spikes that I wanted it still seemed to work. 

In my last attempt I ran a bead of plastic at the bottom. This created better adhesion and stability to the spikes. I also tried creating lattice to give it additional rigidity, although I'm not sure that it was needed.
    The spikes do not harm the bird as they are not sharp enough or stiff enough to do so. They end up being more like the bristles on a soft broom and more of an obstacle that the bird can't quite figure out how to get around.
    A piece of styrofoam could be used in place of the wood, making it light enough to be stuck to a wall with poster putty. This might work great with woodpeckers and flickers that tend to roost on the sidewalls or under eaves .

Note: The Styrofoam will melt some with the 3D pen, so use gloves and some caution when working with it. 





     I look forword to hearing any constructive ideas or suggestions. Be sure and check out our other posts, blogs and our website www.nevadacrafter.com

Do you need washers for your craft projects?

Washers for whirligigs

FOR SAFETY REASONS NEVER USE THESE WASHERS TO REPLACE PARTS ON COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS. 

Always use the manufacturer's recommended replacement parts.

    Nylon washers are not very cheap, but I have found an alternative that cost next to nothing, helps the environment and works almost as well. 

    One of the things that I do on a yearly basis is to do preventative maintenance on my whirligigs and weathervane's. With all the moving parts and high winds, there is a lot of wear and tear on these mechanical wonders. What I found out is metal on wood wears out the most, so I use a lot of plastic or nylon washers. Although washers are not the most expensive part to a whirligig, they can cut into your profits.

  I couldn't help, but share this money-saving and environmentally friendly up_cycling of plastic jugs. As for the patterns, I simply invested in an assortment of metal washers to use as a template for the various size washers that I use in my whirligigs. After all for a couple of bucks worth of cheap metal washers, I now have a set of templates that are worth the investment and will never wear out. I could've very easily used a compass to draw the circles, but I wanted something that was more consistent with actual washers.

    
(Be sure to use the appropriate safety goggles and other safety equipment when using rotary tools)

    I have found almond milk jugs and other opaque or heavier jugs seem to make the better washers. Anyhow, using a metal washer as my template and a black marker to trace around the metal washer, I create my patterns. Usually, I take the time to make several hundred at a time, so I have washers on hand for later. Then I simply rough cut them using heavy-duty utility scissors, dollar store kitchen scissors or a Dremel with a fine tip rotary cutting blade. (An X-Acto knife on a cutting board will also work as well.) I then finish the washer by sanding the edges or dragging a knife blade crossways against the grain to remove any ragged edges. A Dremel with an abrasive bit also works very well.

For those of you who like to do things the hard way I have included the following photo as a pattern.

Now keep in mind these washers will not necessarily take the place of a heavy-duty nylon washer and will most likely biodegrade over time if exposed to sunlight.

 For other craft projects and ideas be sure and check out our other blogs and our website at www.nevadacrafter.com

Suitcase into storage craft box

  Setting up at a craft show can be a pain, carrying boxes and totes can be cumbersome and sometimes hard to manage. And then there are times we just simply want a convenient place to carry our crafts when we are on the go. Or maybe we want a special place to put children's activities when they come to visit.
    One of my favorite haunts are yard sales and flea markets. I am constantly finding items to be upcycled, or restored into something new and wondrous. On one such trip I came across a couple of vintage suitcases that were in very poor condition. Although I may have restored them to their original condition I had something less expensive and much better in mind. Going to a craft show with a couple of suitcases seemed much easier than carrying several totes.

I started by painting the outside of the suitcase with a quality exterior house paint. This would help hide any blemishes and give a good protective coating to the outside of the suitcase. Once I had a good protective coating on the outside, I began decorating. First by using one of my favorite stencils to stencil a favorite slogan on the top of the suitcase. This personalize the suitcase and gave it more character. Later I would paint the brass fittings with a nice nail polish to protect them and to make them stand out.

    The inside of the suitcase was in pretty bad shape, with the original felt extremely well-worn and in some places holes. The only option here was to replace it with new felt, which I got at the local fabric store. Using a spray adhesive I cut and placed new felt over the top of the old felt. Once the new felt was in place I tack down the edges with hot glue. I hid this seems by brushing the edges of the seams with a stiff toothbrush.

     I continue to add embellishments from time to time, such as these butterfly stickers. Decorating the suitcases is a matter of using your imagination. One could use a theme such as Alice in Wonderland or use a vintage theme such as travel stickers or decoupage old newsprint or even sheet music. The uses for these suitcases are many, such as costumes and activities for kids or just plain storage for your arts and crafts projects and tools. The possibilities are limitless and should you ever become bored with what you have created it is simply a matter of putting on a new coat of paint and changing the style.

3D Pen holiday ornament ideas

Using a 3-D pen with a tennis ball used as a form

   One of the big disadvantages of a 3-D pen is the lack of precision. Unlike a 3-D printer the 3-D pen relies not on a computer but on how skilled you are with your hands. However you can compensate on some things by using a form rather than just creating freehand. Here I am using a tennis ball as a form to create a Christmas ornament, but realize that any ball that can withstand the heat from the pen can be used. And any size ball can be used to create even more than just ornaments, such as using a basketball to create a lampshade. You may wish to cover your ball with masking tape or some other material so the plastic does not melt into the ball. I'm using the tennis ball basically because that is what I have handy and the plastic adheres enough to the ball to make it easy to control. The disadvantage of using a tennis ball is all the small fibers that the plastic adheres to. This can make removing the finished ornament rather difficult. The trick I use to overcome this is the use of a old painter's palette knife. Using the knife as I work, I periodically carefully lift the plastic off of the tennis ball. A thin blade screwdriver could also be used in the same manner. Just be sure to lift the plastic as you work rather than trying to do it all at once at the end. If you try to wait until the end, it becomes extremely difficult to lift the plastic without breaking it.





    Once you have removed your ornament you then can began to remove the fine hairs with a lighter or hot knife. Be sure and move quickly so as not to melt the plastic ornament you're working on. Most of the ornaments that I create are shaped similar to a half finished death Star. If you wish to create a full sphere, you need to create two halves and then weld them together after you have removed them from the tennis ball form. One trick I use is to create the ornament using the lines on the tennis ball, rather than a straight half circle. This also helps hide any seem that is created when I weld the two halves together, as it is not a straight line.

     So here we have our finished ornament and all that is left to do is to add a bit of thread or ribbon to hang it by. We can also add lace, beads, crystals or other decorations to the ornament as well as sand and paint the ornament as needed. The type of artwork you use is up to you and I have personally created ornaments for all the seasons, not just Christmas. So have fun and enjoy creating a little bit of artwork with your 3-D pen.

DIY rubber stamps from wine corks

Home made rubber stamps made from rubber wine corks.

Simply draw your design and then cut out what you don't want with dremel tool or X-Acto knife.

Once you have your design you can use an ink pen, marker or better yet stamp pad.