The Garage: A craft-y type thread for handypeople

Unless the screw gets stripped. That's always a pain.

@Deboss: Yeah. Or when the damn thing snaps and you have to hunt up a pair of vice grips.

Or some genius orders fancy schmancy screws that aren't slotted or phillips but triangular and didn't get the bits. I'm looking at you Tech Director from undergrad.

OK fabric cobbies here's a question. A friend just discovered that the box the late 1870's silk and velvet dress was in had been put on the floor in the basement and with all the rain we've had lately...

The dress has mold and water stains and we are trying to figure out some solutions. I already sent her links to ehow that has some good tips. Anyone else have any ideas?

This is going to sound completely counter-productive, but Wash it would be my first try. Gently, gently — use a garden hose with a "mist" sprayer.

A lot of "water damage" really soaking-damage followed by uncontrolled- or 'too-slow'-drying damage. Evenly wetting, then controlling the drying can go a long way to make it better.

Handle it very gently, support it while it's wet (like you would a very delicate sweater or lace shawl), lay it out to dry in a room that you can stick a dehumidifier in, turn it often while it's drying so that it dries relatively evenly.

Oh, the most important part: accept that it is not ever going to look quite as good as it did before and that it might indeed be Ruined Forever, if the mold got enough of a foothold.

edited 10th Jun '11 10:10:24 AM by Madrugada

Thanks Maddy!

My wife redwhitenblue made her own wedding dress, with help. Also did the flower girl's dress all by herself.

Kind of burnt her out on sewing, though...

I've built a computer out of scrap parts I fished out of a trash container. Tempermental, but it did the job.

edited 10th Jun '11 11:38:59 AM by pvtnum11

@Blackcat: What Maddie said. A lot of the time, "water stains" on silk can also be caused by the finish washing away, which can (usually) be solved by washing the whole thing and restarching it. If they're dark colored though, I'd worry about the dye leeching out in the water. If they're light colored, the mold/mildew stains might still show up.

@PVT: For a second there, I thought "scraps" meant fabric from your wife's sewing project.

"He built a working computer out of fabric?!"

edited 10th Jun '11 1:29:54 PM by DrunkGirlfriend

The bodice has copper buttons and you do not want to know what that did.

I can imagine, though — nasty greenish stains that probably bled a lot.

@Blackcat: I can guess.

It says a "craft-y type thread for handypeople", which isn't quite a description of me, but I'll post this here anyway. Would it be all right if I post more art here in future, Cobbies?

Oh, heck, yes, yuan. Your art is always a pleasure to look at (for me at least.)

Thank you very much, Maddy.

Here is another, for today.

You have both a lot of talent and enormous skill. That's beautiful. And charcoal is a bitch to work with.

Drunkie: Pictures of the dresser. Some good, some not so good. The bedroom has crap lighting for photography.

'cat: How'd the dress come out? Salvageable or trash?

edited 14th Jul '11 8:44:36 PM by Madrugada

I gave it to her with everything done but the trim down the front. I've decided that the gig was an interesting venture that taught me some valuable lessons including one of the "don't want to do that again" variety. My theatre background is too entrenched.

Oh, I was talking about the water-damaged one.

whoops, no idea.

@Maddie: Damn, that's beautiful. And definitely solid wood; I can see the grain patterns on the drawer edge. The cubby front is gorgeous, pity the veneer's starting to go. There are ways to fix that but they require a lot of practice and would be too complicated to explain via forums.

But yeah, a little hand-sanding should fix your problem. for a softwood, 180 grit will likely work. Also, if you can find the self-sticking kind, stick it carefully to something that's the inverse shape of your drawer rails; simply doing it with your hand will result in a wavy surface. *

Isn't it gorgeous, though?

That one chip out of the veneer is the only place it's not in great shape. I don't know why that one little spot lifted away.

edited 15th Jul '11 6:49:23 PM by Madrugada

@Maddie: Probably just glue failure; common enough with damp environments if stuff isn't perfectly clamped when the joint was made. Also, a flaw in the veneer could be to blame...a pitch pocket, a knot, a weak section of grain, something like that. Finally, whoever put the veneer on might have just not spread the glue evenly.

In other words, lots of reasons and we'll probably never know. Still, 'tis pretty.

My latest drawing looks better upside-down. Oh dear.

Shading is very hard◊ when you're teaching yourself.

Ooh, digital drawing - I don't envy you there. Are you using pencil and paper first, then inking over the top, or are you working digitally from scratch?