Snack Chopsticks

My son grew up in front of the computer. The mouse and keyboard are extensions of his arms. So if he needs to eat while interfacing with his tech, which he does all the time, he needs to be able to put food in his mouth without dirtying his typing/gaming fingers. While a spoon and fork work with most food stuff, they’re not really efficient for snacks like potato chips and cheese curls.

I wouldn’t doubt that my son thought of this first, but yes, he uses chopsticks to eat snacks when multi-tasking with tech.

Pretty soon, I was using chopsticks too while working on my articles and blogs (I actually have a snack set beside me right now). This blog is not about using chopsticks – I bet everyone already knows that. This is about how to reuse the chopsticks.

You’ll notice that only the tips of the chopsticks get dirtied by the cheese curls. And when you don’t care to finish the whole bag of snacks, you close the bag (or plastic container) and throw the wooden sticks away (no, you don't want to reuse some old and nasty cruddy infected stick tips!). So you’ll have to get a new set of sticks for the next time you feel the urge for salty cheesy snacks. Ergo, you’ll need a lot of chopsticks on standby.

Of course, you can get a pair of metal chopsticks (which my son gave me some time ago -- he had a spare), and you can wash them after every use. But if you don't want to have to bother about washing the sticks, or you only have those sticks they give out at the Chinese restaurant, then here’s how to make the most of the wooden sticks -- without having to leave your workstation.

Cut off the dirty tips with a pair of cutting pliers, pruning shears, or a cleaver (you should have one of these implements in your workstation drawer so you won’t have to stand up to get it). 

Feed the newly-cut tips into your pencil sharpener (also a mandatory implement in your work area).

And there you have it – a clean pair of wooden chopsticks for your next cheesy snack.

Tip: It’s okay to pull out a new set of whole chopsticks when the reused ones are already less than three inches long.

Resin and Polymer Clay Bracelet Inspired by The Hobbit

Am I evolving into a mixed media artist? Certainly felt like it when I got my first resin casting kit a few weeks ago. Creations with polymer clay and resin – should be fun, right? I had to give it a try. Throw in the Hobbit theme, and voila!

For those curious about how I did it, here’s the story.

First, let me share my first-try pieces with resin. Not bad. The process is easy enough.

Suddenly, I had this design in my head of a Hobbit-inspired bracelet combining polymer clay, resin, and cord knotting. Since there would be 12, no, 13 pieces, each element had to be small enough to complete a bracelet that wouldn’t be too bulky. I started making circles with polymer clay. Bake clay, then on to the next step.

I had printed out a photo of the dwarves when I first started making Thorin’s scalemail armor, so that would be the source of my bracelet photos.

Long story short, I prepped the dwarf faces, glued them onto the round setting, sealed them with Mod Podge (this step is essential because without the seal, the resin will eat up the photo), and delicately covered each photo with resin one drop at a time.

No matter how slowly you stir the resin mixture, bubbles will appear in the pour. So I had to tend to the pieces for a few hours, checking to see if bubbles are forming.

To remove the bubbles, I used a butane lighter. I just swiped the flame very quickly a few inches over the bubbly piece to create enough heat to pop the bubbles. Some crafters blow through a straw, but that’s tedious (and your breath moisture could create droplets that will end up on the piece); others use a heat gun (which I don’t have) or a hair dryer (which some don’t recommend because the air flow is hard to control and it could kick up dust/debris that will stick to the piece).

 I covered the curing pieces to protect them from dust and lint.

While the resin was curing (this is the toughest part for me -- the resin requires two days to harden), I molded the back pieces – the thingies that would help me string the bracelet. Nothing fancy, just has to do the job. Baked, then after the resin hardened, glued them on.

It was a little tricky knotting the band of dwarves but I got it together. And here’s the knotting effort:

And the finished product. Who can tell me why my OCD is nudging me to redo the final step?

Repurposing a Star Wars Bag

At the Star Wars Celebration VI last August, WeLoveFine.com gave away humongous bags for the t-shirts they sold. You buy one t-shirt and you get this gigantic tarp-material bag that you end up carrying around like a billboard.

Not a bad advertising gimmick. For tall people. I had to tie a knot on the handle so that I could carry it over my shoulder without the bottom dragging across the floor. Over the four days of the convention, I ended up taking more than one of these large bags home.

I couldn't see myself having the need to reuse these bags as bags, so I thought, why not repurpose them into aprons? When dismantled (rip out the stitches), one bag yields two panels, a strip that used to be the handle, and another strip that held the two panels together.

It was just a matter of cutting a panel to the shape of an apron and cutting the strips to however long the apron strings need to be. I used a serger machine (a zigzag stitch on a regular sewing machine works too) to clean up and secure the edges, and a few quick sewing stitches to attach the apron strings.

And there it is: a Star Wars tarp-material apron courtesy of WeLoveFine.com. (The second panel is in my "to do" pile.)

Machine Embroidery – Exploratory Phase

The first time a saw an automatic embroidery machine do its thing, I thought it was magic! That was many years ago, when magic was beyond my reach. Fortunately, technology helps things along, so now the machines have become affordable. When Mike asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I said I wanted magic!

Since the Brother SE400 Enthusiast arrived a couple of weeks ago, I have been marveling at what it can do. (Follow the link to the Brother site for the product features.)

I was so excited that I quickly got extra bobbins and two types of stabilizers. 

I also bought a ton of discounted embroidery thread from eBay.  I got the 63 Brother colors, a glow-in-the-dark set, and even an all-purpose fancy colors pack. And a rack too.

I know how to sew, but I guess I was just so fascinated with the automatic embroidery that on my second design I didn’t notice that the thread had snagged – it tugged on the needle as it embroidered, then I heard a *snap* and the machine stopped cold. I had to use pliers to pry the broken tip from the bobbin case.

Then, when I worked on my third design, I didn’t notice that the cloth had folded under the holding frame, so the machine stitched over two layers of material. Duh.

Of course, I had to try the monogram function on a face towel. It worked. Now I know I have the capability to make monogrammed whatever projects as gifts and giveaways. Ha!

And here are the black t-shirts I embroidered with glow-in-the-dark thread. Not bad for a first try embroidering on t-shirts. (I figured from the frumpy results that the sticky back stabilizer is essential for t-shirt embroidery.)

Now let me share the lessons I learned from my exploratory phase:

1. Use the right stabilizer. The stabilizer is what keeps the material steady and firm. For t-shirts and other stretchable materials, the sticky stabilizer is best – the fabric remains stiff against the needle action. Also, you can stick the t-shirt directly on the stabilizer, so you don’t have to trap the shirt in the holding frame, which tends to leave a mark (they call it “frame burn”).
2. Double check that the threads (needle thread and bobbin thread) are correctly threaded and not snagged anywhere. Or suffer the consequences.
3. Glow-in-the-dark threads are only cool when the design is heavy, thick, or large. Otherwise, they won’t glow bright enough to be noticeable in the dark.
4. Before embarking on a critical project, make sure you have the right thread and needle for the material. And enough spares of both.
5. Do a trial run on scrap material so that you can make the necessary adjustments before working on the actual project.
6. RTFM (read the f*ing manual). It helps.

Here’s my SE400 doing its thing. You really just have to set it up, push the button, and wait for it to finish. And you’re done! Like magic!

The machine has a number of built-in designs and fonts, but a wide variety are available online, for sale and for free. Some folks make a living creating machine embroidery designs. Maybe someday I’ll look into that.

Hobbit Costume Tutorial – Finished Thorin Scalemail

If you are joining us just now, here are my previous tutorials covering the phases of the creation of Thorin's scalemail armor:

1.       Hobbit Armor Costume Scale Mail Tutorial – Clay Scale

2.       Hobbit Costume Scale Mail Tutorial - Painting

3.       Hobbit Costume Tutorial – Sewing the Armor Shirt

Finally, it’s time to show photos of the completed Thorin armor shirt.

First, an inventory photo of the handmade scales prior to attachment to the shirt. I made a total of 434 polymer clay scales, not including the trials and errors. For Thorin alone, that’s 116 for the sleeves, 110 for the breastplate, 98 for the thighs and belt. The rest are for Kili’s collar, baldric, and vambrace.

Then, here are some production photos I did not include in the previous tutorials:



And here's Oneal wearing the armor the night it arrived in Manila:

Yesterday, Oneal wore his Thorin character in a Geekfight event where his team won!

Thorin and the dwarves will make their grand appearance at the premiere of The Hobbit on December 14th. I will add photos here as they become available.

P.S. At the premiere: