The Garage: A craft-y type thread for handypeople

Found a very handy site about forging. This is one of those internet legacy sites apparently.

Basically three years worth of how to forge projects.

Anvil Fire

No, it's not styrofoam, it's plasticard. Basically, the same thing chemically, just rolled into a hard, homogeneous sheet. Also, it's supposed to contain fluid (dyed water) and a small aquarium pump - it'll be backlit with a couple of LE Ds from underneath, so spills are a bad thing.

I'm going to measure myself out for a brand new sloper tomorrow. My old one is, well, old. About 3 years. And since I've got 2 dresses with sleeves planned out, I bought 5 yards of muslin. Tomorrow will be devoted entirely to sewing and it will be awesome.

edited 11th Jul '14 11:08:50 PM by Leradny

The 555 timer chip. So versatile it's crazy.

Memory wire is really not the best material to use to teach myself about wrapping loops on the wire. It is specifically designed to hold it's shape,and that's exactly what it does. And does it darn well. :)

Oh what are you making beholdress? Sounds like you are doing jewelry. Thin gauges of copper are handy for practicing. It is plentiful and easy to manipulate.

Jewellery, yes, and I do want to teach myself some basic wirework, because I think it would complement what I already do.

Memory wire bracelets don't even count as wirework, but one does need to make a loop at the ends.

Speaking of memory wire, I like this beachy◊ one. Happened to have some rough wooden beads and lava rock lying around

edited 23rd Jul '14 10:28:52 AM by Beholderess

How lovely.

I'm going to pull the selfish American card and say you're no longer allowed to post such beautiful creations if I am not allowed to buy them

Where do you get your beads?

Well, I do intend to try Etsy at some point. Not even by some nebulous point but definitely by the end of year. But first I need to make more shiny things and figure out how to achieve a perfect white background. Also please be aware that delivery from Russia is slooooooow (goes up to 40 days, though might be faster in my case as I live in the capital city).

As for the beads, I don't even remember where I've got the wooden ones, it probably happened several years ago. The lava rock ones are available at the Indian market located not far from where I live.

If you can swing it learn to weave wire. A pain in the ass to learn but it is indispensable for jewelry.

That's awesome your supply is closer. That would be half the fun for me. I know I love going fabric shopping before I make something.

I'm not scared of a long wait time. I would probably buy a lot at once to make it easier for you so it would be like a random Christmas for me!

And you can then brag you're an internationally renown designer which you deserve to be.

Everyone wins! I get pretty shinies and you get appreciated and paid! Joy!

You're mostly in it for the shinies. I can tell. You practically turned into a magpie with that post.

Heck yeah! We don't have any real, high quality jewelry shops in my area. Let alone stuff that is unique and different.

I am distracted by shine and texture. And her stuff is awesome!

Up to? I ordered a watch from Raketa in February that I'm still waiting on.

edited 25th Jul '14 7:20:09 AM by Achaemenid

Yes, weaving wire is a skill I am trying to learn. I am especially interested in learning how to make my own findings.

Getting seed beads is much more complicated, I often have to order them from abroad. But shopping for gemstone beads is fun, yes. You never know what you'll find.

Well, 40 days is when you shouldn't even start worrying about your delivery. More than that and you might want to inquire with the post office whether they lost it

What a load of bollocks. Over here, even parcels from China take less than twenty days to arrive!

I know, right

I got an e-mail from them the other day, they said they've dispatched it and it should be here next week. Supposedly an admin foul-up their end. I don't suspect they get many orders from Scotland. Still v. annoying.

Also, I would buy those beach shinies from Beholderess.

edited 26th Jul '14 4:49:06 PM by Achaemenid

Beholdress: Another option is learning to make your own beads out of assorted materials or find someone who does that.

Ha, my XCOM pack project is seriously moving forward. I finished the main control board today, cut holes in the control box, painted the reactor panels, built the bubbler tank and spark gap frame, and soldered the leads to external power supply socket. I'm gonna need the cables I ordered to finish the reactor wiring, though, as the thicker wiring I got doesn't fit into Goldpin plugs.

I'll also have to hit the Home Depot and stock up on PVC pipes to build a rollcage of sorts for the pack.

So I'll have a reset button for the iffy bubbler mechanism, and I'll have to scratch the separate power setting for Venn Brace and control box. I just can't figure out how to do this without buying more stuff and fiddling with them until they start working. My patience is running out and the weather isn't helping.

This project sounds awfully complicated, but awesome

Ha, completed the bubbler without implementing the reset button - separate circuit for the pump motor was just enough to make it stop acting up. Now I just need a simple PWM circuit to control the pump speed, as on default 4.5V supply it's really fierce.

Tested the PWM. I'm hardly satisfied with its range, but there's not much more I can squeeze out of a 10kOhm potentiometer. At least the difference is noticeable, and I freed enough room on the board to squeeze it in.

I'm also considering the purchase of a Banana Pi (juiced-up clone of Raspberry Pi, with a dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM and better networking capabilities), a small screen for it and building something akin to a PipBoy 3000, based on the Iron Man wrist blaster I got some time ago in a thrift shop.