The Garage: A craft-y type thread for handypeople

I'm done with the other armwarmer!

Naalbinding doesn't seem to be as painfully slow as the claims on various sites say it is, but I'm only using one stitch. I really like it. It has the speed and durability of crochet with the soft denseness of knit.

I've seen non-white ceilings that looked good, but only in children's rooms. One of my friends did a pale blue ceiling with fluffy white clouds on it in their baby's nursery and even now that the girl is four it still looks good.

Found out why my house gets so dusty so quickly.

DG and I pulled up the carpet in the office...and discovered two full dustpans worth of fine powder between the carpet and the subfloor. I'm looking forward to getting rid of the carpet in the rest of the house.

Also, apparently flooding has been a perennial problem for this house; I counted three water-stain rings vaguely surrounding the bathroom. This merits some investigation.

Okay, I am about ready to set my house on fire.

We painted the ceiling yesterday (after painstakingly scraping and cleaning it), and gave it plenty of time to dry. We then masked off the ceiling with high quality painter's mask - like you do - and then painted the walls.

When I went to peel off the painter's mask, the ceiling paint came with it. Apparently the joint compound is so old and crumbly washing it was not enough...the paint (and primer) did not stick to it. Now, more touching up and more work.

To quote Captain Mal: "It never goes smooth. How come it never goes smooth? Just once I'd like something to go according to the gorram plan!''

Dude, just put up crown molding and you can ignore the fact that the paint line between the ceiling and the walls is not perfect. That's why I'm planning to put up faux tin ceilings and crown molding. The other option is completely re-drywalling the ceilings to get rid of the crap job of taping and mudding the previous owner did.

edited 12th Dec '12 1:17:28 PM by Madrugada

oh no, it was the primer. It didn't stick to the patching compound I used on the walls either. Fortunately Home Depot was kind enough to refund me the money.

DG touched it up, and now that it's dry it should look okay. It was just quite frustrating to watch your brand-new paint job peel like a bad sunburn.

Next up; flooring, trim and electrical.

Helping my sister make a messenger bag.

One of the things I decided to keep from my brother's house was his sewing machine. It's a pretty basic Kenmore. I hope it can handle 12 oz canvas.

Have extra needles on hand (heavy fabrics are more likely to snap them). And—although you probably already know this—if it starts sounding like it's grinding, stop.

But of course.

Since it's mostly straight edges, though, I might just hand-sew the whole thing.

Excuse me if this is too basic, but you might also want to get heavier needles for the sewing machine, they make them in different weights and sharpnesses. That's the extent of my knowledge though, I can't say what particular kind to look for.

I will.

I have a leather needle that I use for leather and another leather needle I use for thick, heavy fabric that isn't leather. And then I forget to change it out and try and sew silk velvet. Wheeeeeeeee!

I've gotten into the habit of just taking the needle out when I'm done sewing. That way I'm guaranteed a good sharp needle of the appropriate size when I start a new project.

The worst thing about naalbinding: It cannot be unraveled. So I have to be very careful or else spend ten minutes going through the motions backwards to fix them.

I am making a practice sock and it is slightly more straightforward than knitting or crocheting.

Can I get an opinion as to the safety of soldering household-current-bearing wires to a relay when mounted on one of these boards?

The office is done!

Despite primer that didn't stick, painter's mask that stuck too well and self-stick vinyl tiling that griped about...well, sticking, DG and I are getting properly moved into our new space.

We've managed to fit an unbelievable amount of stuff back here without making the room feel crowded. The room is only 10 x 7, but we have two large computer desks, the big bookshelf-thing that used to be in my living room, all my books, all of our knicknacks and most of our office-y stuff back here. It's going really open up the rest of the house.

DG is in the process of assembling pictures to post.

Only problem; the shelving brackets I scrounged from something the previous owner did are not burly enough for the big oak shelf I wanted to install. I can tell this because they are flexing in the middle under the weight of just the shelf. Oh well, one more trip to the home center. I don't blame them really; the shelf is a 10 foot slab of solid oak 3/4 of an inch thick and 12 1/2 wide.

Here are the pictures!

Wow! Looks totally awesome and Drunk Girlfriend, I bow to your tile cutting ninja skills! That is perfect!

And to Drunk, love the sideburns and mustache combo. Only you can rock that while having Godzilla stand on you!

There's a kitty on your head!

@Gabrael: I'm glad my style holds up.

@shima: It is relevant to note that DG and I have adopted the phrase "X is being a kitty" where X is an item that is being recalcitrant for no apparent reason.

My first major impression (well, apart from: "wow: co-ordinated kitty with top combo" ): "good, bookshelves: lots and lots of bookshelves".

Got sick of a piling system, did we?

Wow, that looks great! Open and spacious but still comfortable.

So, the large paint splatter on my new pot has not come off despite the scrubbing I gave it earlier today. Are there any other ways to get paint out of terracotta? Or will I just have to scrape it off somehow and hope that works?

Soak the pot in water for 24 hours to loosen the paint. Then use a combination of a putty knife and sandpaper and it should come off.

It's a bit large for soaking, but I'll try using a spray bottle to keep it moist. Thanks for the tip.

edited 22nd Dec '12 7:52:27 PM by Leradny