Hobby Shop Blog

You can find lots of unusual things in bottles, ships and messages, so why not fill a bottle with LED lights? What a bright idea! This attractive bottle is a great talking point; it makes a nice table decoration or a festive night-light.

To make the LED light up bottle you will need…

A clear glass bottle, a meter or so of tinsel, a loo roll or kitchen towel tube, glitter, PVA glue, and a set of 20 LED lights. You can get these ready made from with a battery compartment from the ‘99p Store’ on your local high street. Tech confident people could make their own from individual components. DO NOT use mains fairy lights, this is a fire hazard!

First wash out the bottle and remove all the labels. Use a nice smelling detergent to rid the bottle of any lingering odours from its previous contents. Leave the bottle to drain and dry out completely.

Take the LED lights and the Tinsel, use a small amount of selotape and stick the wire directly behind the last LED bulb (the bulb furthest away from the battery compartment) to the end of the strip of tinsel.

Twist the string of lights and the tinsel loosely together and carefully push the lights and tinsel into the bottle until the battery compartment rests on the neck of the bottle.

The loo roll or kitchen towel tube will become a fancy bottle stopper that covers the battery compartment.

Draw around the end of the tube onto a piece of card. A grocery box is great. Cut the disc out and push it into the end of the tube. Use a bit of selotape to hold it in place.

Cover the tube and end piece in PVA glue and sprinkle with glitter. Cover the cardboard completely so that it is no longer visible. Leave to dry.

Perch the battery compartment on top of the bottle and place the glitter bottle stopper over the top of it, so that it hides the batteries and part of the neck of the bottle.

Fountain pens are special pens as they are not only used for writing but also fall under the category of collectables. Most of the fountain pen owners apart from using the regular fountain pens also have a variety of rare and elegant fountain pens which add splendor to their collection.

Elegant fountain pens usually have magnificent hand crafted or machine made exteriors that are extraordinarily beautiful and appealing to the eye, as the name suggests. These are made from a variety of materials which range from wood, plastic, gold, platinum to even diamond. Elegant fountain pens have motifs carved out on the exteriors of the pen which add beauty and make them all the more exclusive. Certain exotic types of woods are often used to make the exteriors delicately fragrant. Some of the commonly used wood materials for such pens come from high quality purpleheart wood found in Central America. Even the pens with plastic bodies have different types of designs and prints on them, giving them a touch of elegance. Elegant fountain pens made out of metals are usually made from fine quality gold, sliver or platinum and are quite expensive. These pens also might have certain exclusive motifs on them and can even be personalized or custom made.

Most of the sleekly designed elegant fountain pens are expensive and they are usually priced at $45, $200, $500 or more, depending on the durability, clarity in writing and quality of material used for the exterior. Most of the elegant fountain pens are sold with matching pen cases and at times, matching ink pots too, making them excellent gift items.

If you’re going to spend a good part of your spare time working in your hobby foundry, then you’ll need to have the best possible equipment & gear that you can afford. And there is no need to go out and spend a small fortune, if you are resourceful you can do a lot your self.

If you have the ability to fabricate & weld steel, then the best way is to self-build, you can custom design & build a moulding bench exactly the way you want it.

And if you don’t know how to fabricate and weld then building a moulding bench will provide a learning experience in basic fabrication and arc welding skills. It’s not hard; and it’s a lot of fun, & quite rewarding when you can complete worthwhile projects your self.

In the 3-Vol-foundry ebook, we illustrate a moulding bench constructed from second-hand steel tube, 3/4″ thick MDF board for bench top, it is mounted on casters for mobility around the shed. When not being used for making moulds it can be used for other purposes in the workshop. To protect the bench top, it is wise to clad the MDF with 16g sheet metal, preferably with a zinc or galvanised coating to prevent rust occurring, which will happen if you use green sand for moulding, because it holds quite a bit moisture, and will corrode plain sheet metal.

Moulding Bench Dimensions - What is the right size for you?

Most tables & benches are made to standard heights, these heights are determined from the average human being size… but what if you’re not AVERAGE, you might be quite tall or very short, nothing is more uncomfortable than working at a bench that’s not tuned to your height.

So think carefully when you construct your own moulding bench. You don’t want to have to bend over the bench too far as this will give a back ache, make it too high, and you wont be able to carry out your moulding work properly. Measure the heights of various tables and benches around your house which are generally made to recommended table or bench heights, try these out in an imaginary way, and then adjust slightly up or down to suit your height and no one else, simply because you will be the one working on the bench.

A good way to see what bench height is best for you is to place your mould boxes on a normal table; imagine you are about to start work in your foundry. Make an assessment to see if the table is to high, or to low, or perhaps it’s just right, make an informed decision and then build your new moulding bench to suit you.

You will be spending a lot of time ramming and making sand moulds, so make sure the bench height is the most comfortable possible. You should also think about storage areas underneath your moulding bench, design your bench to store your sand bins, moulding boxes, bottom boards, tins of parting powder, and other hand tools used in your hobby foundry.

Col Croucher.

Quilts are a type of bedding that are made of a colorful quilt top, a layer of cotton batting, and a layer of fabric, which is used to provide a firm support and backing. All these layers are combined together using the technique of quilting. While the primary purpose of a quilt is to be used as a bedcover, several quilts are made for the specific purpose of decorating our homes.

Quilts come in various sizes with a variety of beautiful designs. While machine-made quilts are easy to make, the real beauty lies in handmade quilts. Handmade quilts were initially made as necessities by women to earn a living and keep their families warm. Of recent, quilts are developed more as an art piece than as utility items. These exquisite quilts were hard to make during earlier times, as the women did not have sewing machines for assistance. The handmade quilts were made from patches or small squares of different colors put together with a backing. These wonderful works of art were passed down through the generations with a sense of pride.

The material used in the manufacture of these quilts was rarely new. Pieces of worn out clothing were sewn together at random to create different designs and patterns. This gave the women a wider scope for imagination, which resulted in some truly unique designs.

Handmade quilts tend to be sturdier than machine-made ones and also keep a person much warmer. Moreover, as a lot of manpower is put into making these quilts, they are more expensive than the machine-made variety. Today, handmade quilts are made more for their aesthetic beauty than anything else. Many of them are items of excellent craftsmanship; they highlight the prowess of the quilt maker. Handmade quilts are not only great for decorating ones home, but also make unique gifts to fit any occasion.

Foxing is a condition flaw on a work on paper.

Foxing yields a freckled appearance typically of red brown spots. Currently it is believed these are iron oxides and hydroxides produced by the chemical reaction between the organic acids discharged by mold and the colorless iron salts and impurities embedded in the paper.

Dampness encourages mold. Some types of sizing in the paper also attract fungus growth. Acidic contact materials such as cardboard and animals glues can aggravate the foxing.

Only a professional paper conservator can minimize the appearance of foxing safely.

To read more on this topic, I suggest The Care of Prints and Drawings by Margaret Holben Ellis as well as Prints and The Print Market by Theodore B. Donson.

This article presents readers with the basic understanding of the Eco-drive manufactured watches and Understanding a little bit about Chronograph. It is usefull for studies and also for watch enthusiast to know a little bit about their timepiece.

What Is Eco-Drive?

Eco-Drive is a type of solar powered wristhingyches manufactured by the Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. The watches are equipped with a special lithium ion battery that is charged by an amorphous silicon solar cell located behind the dial. The quality of the battery precludes it from being affected from the regular charge/discharge cycle. Light passes through the cover glass and dial before it reaches the solar cell. Depending on the model a fully charged cell will run with no further charging for 180 days to 4 years. If kept in the dark for too long, they will resume running with exposure to any light.

Understanding Chronograph

A chronograph is a timepiece or watch with both timekeeping and stopwatch functions. Chronographs were produced as early as the 18th century but did not become popular until the 1820s.

There are several types of chronographs :-

1. Analog Chronographs Analog chronographs show both time and stopwatch functions with analog hands. Typically the center hand will be used for stopwatch functions, while subdials may indicate seconds, stopwatch minutes and hours and (in some quartz chronographs) tenths or hundredths of a second.

2. Digital chronographs Digital chronographs use a digital display for both timekeeping and stopwatch functions, either with separate displays or by switching modes on a single display.

3. Analog-digital chronographs Analog-digital chronographs have a standard analog watch with permanent center seconds and a separate digital display that usually operates independently of the analog section. A fallback will reset to zero and then continue to run when the reset button is pushed while the stopwatch is running. In contrast, most mechanical chronographs will reset to 0 only when the starthingych is stopped.

4. Wristhingych chronograph Bull-one head is a wristhingych chronograph with the movement rotated 90 degrees, placing the crown and buttons at the top of the watch rather than the traditional location on side.

Apart from understanding these function on watches is to let you understand your art and your timepiece. Buying a watch requires just money, but understanding a watch and it’s key function lets you master an appreciate your art of timepiece in the purest way.

Shah