Duct Tape Wallet.
Cost: $19.50 for book binding tape, duct tape, and Xacto knife
Time: 1 hr 45 minutes
Headspace: So frustrated. Playing with tape and a sharp knife for nearly two hours has resulted in sliced fingertips and lost skin layers from adhesive. But, I have a new wallet! And I got to listen to lots of Portishead.
p.s. I used the instructions on the Make blog, mostly because Bre Pettis (man in photograph) is also from Seattle and a nice guy. I tweaked the instructions a bit (see color tape lining in the pockets, but accidentally followed his color scheme.
LP Bookends.
Cost: nada
Time: 45 minutes
Headspace: This will go down as the week of hard materials. I figured vinyl records would give well under extremely hot water. Oh well.
At least I got to listen to The Books new album The Way Out in its entirety. Life is always better when you get new material by a loved band.
Also! The Books for the books.
p.s. Check out the accidental Latin@ pride! Los Bros Hernandez, Isabel Allende, and Che Guevara represent!
Luggage Tag.
Cost: nada
Time: 1 hour
Headspace: Cutting little letters out is tedious, but I like the way it looks. The quote on the back (which you most likely can’t read) is from the back cover of Pulp’s This is Hardcore. It says, “It’s ok to grow up - just as long as you don’t grow old. Face it…you are young.” This embodies my general philosophy in life.
Also, someday I’ll take real photos of these projects. In the meantime, Photo Booth will have to do.
Jewelry Holder.
Cost: $11.25 for frame, wire, and fancy paper
Time: 45 minutes
Headspace: This was a pretty fun one, because if there is one thing I love above all it is looking at handcrafted paper. Plus, this project lets me move my necklaces off a ugly thumb tack in the bathroom. Also, this project was easy - the only items I needed were glue (for the wire), hammer, paint (for the frame), and scissors. Oh, and I used ornament hangers to hold the necklaces.
(close up)
Natural dye experiment.
Cost: $4.75 for 1.5 lb beets and white t-shirt
Time: 2 hours
Headspace: I was never able to get the red right, but it was a worthwhile experiment anyway. I abhor the idea of wearing gross chemicals, so why not try something a little safer on the water runoffs?
(For the curious, I soaked the beets overnight, boiled them for 30 minutes, and then transferred into a larger pot to soak my fabric. Added the cooled dye solution and added more water to allow the fabric to soak. Low boil for another hour.)
(Also, apologies for next day posting; my internet was being bitchy last night)
Paint an atrocious fake wood bookshelf.
Cost: $24.50 for sanding paper, primer, red paint, and brush
Time: 2.5 hours
Headspace: I hate that I have acquired so much fake wood Ikea furniture. Today was the day I tried to make it less obvious. Also, I love painting. Like, LOVE.
In case you didn’t know, painting “wood” requires a coarse sanding to rough up that glossy fake finish. After my primer coat, I required two red coats because I wanted it brick red. I added a little finishing touch on the side for shits and giggles - it’s a dandelion with the little pieces floating off.
Post-sanding, post-primer step:
In-between red coats:
PAINT A LIGHT BULB.
Cost: $6.35 for two colors of glass paint and a clear globe light bulb
Time: 30 minutes
Headspace: I really should have gotten a thick black glass paint to contain the two colors. This project got messy, fast. Glass paint has a weird texture and smell, and the colors were pretty hard to corral on such a wacky surface (they wanted to run so bad!). But, errors can be endearing. Either way, the colors are pretty on the wall.
STORMTROOPER SCULPEY.
Cost: $3.35 for two packages of Premo Sculpey.
Time: too fucking long (1 hr, 25 minutes)
Headspace: If there was a nerd badge, this should be it (hence, the pose).
I digress. Short story: I wanted to make a stormtrooper out of sculpey. The whole body would have taken too long, so I decided to just do a helmet. It’s far from perfect, but I heart it nonetheless.
MOONROCK PLANTER.
Cost: $1.50 worth of Sculptamold.
Time: About 1 hr total of work spread over a 6 hr period.
Headspace: This material is wild. It’s like papier-mâché, but much stronger and easier to work with. I learned through deeply scientific and intense research that train model aficionados are huge fans.
There were many steps, which included baking in an oven, wet sanding, spot repairing invisible cracks, and painting. But, now I have a pacman yellow moonrock planter. My life is now complete.
Materials:
End result:
REFINISH A CHAIR.
Cost: $1.99 for the finish
Time: 2.5 hours
Headspace: I found this chair on the street. Normally I wouldn’t grab it, but this project is getting expensive. Free furniture is a way to combat the expenses.
I put the before and after right next to each other because the improvements are subtle. The bulk of my time was spent sanding. There were some scratches in the wood and random paint splotches that needed to come out. This wood was pretty tough, so I ended up using a coarse sandpaper. Wild.
I also ended up using a clear finish because I dig the reddish brown of the wood.
