Rinky dink project.... dyeing kitchen towels

Several years ago I purchased some huck towels from the Rag Lady (on Amazon).   Over the years they got a bit dingy and I couldn't find any replacements I liked.  I've been working on learning to dye fabric and so I have leftover dye.  I use it to over dye those dingy faded towels.

Here are some of them (some are in the laundry)

This is how they look before dyeing

 I soak them in soda ash solution before applying the dye.  That is my dye solution in 2 oz bottles.
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Cleaning the roof with Dave and Nancy

We helped our friends Dave and Nancy clean the roof on their cabin.   The goal was to clean the roof without a ladder.

Dave threw a tennis ball tied to fishing line over the roof .

Then a (too long) rope was tied to the fishing line and pulled over.

And the double broom thing they made was attached and pulled up.

The rope was pulled back and forth to sweep the roof.

Dave and Nancy got the buggy uneven side.

Nancy and I went for a walk.  It was so quiet there.

Oooh Oooh that smell...

For some time there was this bad smell when I opened the basement door.  I could not track it down.   And then I realized that the landing linoleum was installed on particle board that had become wet and stinky.  So, yesterday John tackled removing the particle board.

Here is the failed particle board.  I am very anti particle board.  It's just too susceptible to moisture.  It says cheap construction to me.  John says the landing was also bad because it changed the stair height so the riser intervals were not the same.  How did it take us so long to figure this out?  And why didn't John figure it out, huh, Dave?

This is the landing now.  John cleaned the mastic off and washed it.  And today he patched it.  Then he will paint it with sharkskin floor paint.  Linoleum just inside an outside door is a bad idea anyway.  It got very slick when it was wet and even worse when it was icy.

Whatever will we do when we get too old to do stuff like this ourselves?

Birth of a rinky dink project

The hot spell is over and I've taken the parasols down.  I pulled the rebar out in most cases.    In a few cases, where it was difficult to figure out the placement for best protection from the sun,  I left the rebar in place.

But I didn't like the bare rebar that I could see from the back door....

So I got some old light globes out of a box in the basement, stuffed them with bubble wrap and put them on top of the rebar.   That looks better.  However, I'd like to add some color.  Any ideas?  It has to be simple because I will be taking these off and putting the parasols back when the heat returns.

S

Early hot spell is upon us

The heat is on.  Another weather record is about to be broken they say.   Ninety-ish today followed by two days of around 100.  We watered and put up parasols to protect the most delicate plants from the searing sun.   

I bought the parasols at Amazon.  This is the third season for most of them.  I used to tie the parasol handles to pieces of rebar.  That worked but it was tedious to assemble/disassemble.  This year John cut bamboo sections so that the rebar can fit in one end and the parasol can fit in the other end.  The bamboo is cut so that the node (the closed part) is in the center of the bamboo section.  It works great.  Another successful rinky dink project!

Rinky Dink Project.... tote bag bottom

John made plywood bottoms for our tote bags.  The plywood bottom distributes the weight and allows the bag to carry more  stuff without crushing things.  He uses quarter inch baltic birch plywood.

This one has been stained red.

There it is in the bottom of the bag.

This post is for Sharon.

Rinky Dink Project

We needed a place to hang wet kitchen towels.  John made this little towel rack out of cherry for the back of the basement door.  He used a keyhole router bit to make it removable for those times when we need to get large objects through the doorway.

The keyhole on the back.  It mounts on two screw heads in the door.  Nice job, John!  Pretty classy for rinky dink.

Rinky Dink Project

John uses disposable dust masks for woodworking.   I make some modifications to make them more comfortable.  I replace the narrow elastic with wider elastic fitted to his head.  I also wrap a piece of bias binding over the  nose part  to cover the rough edge.  He is more likely to use the dust mask if it is more comfortable.


Mask after adjustments for comfort.

Adjusted mask next to original mask

Hand cut lap joint

John made a light bulb heater for the other bird bath.  He cut the lap joint by hand and he was very pleased with how tight the joint fit.

Assembling the parts...

Tah dah!!

Warming the bird bath... first rinky dink project of 2016

We made our first rinky dink project of 2016.  I do so love a rinky dink project, especially when we collaborate. They say whatever you do on the first day of the year is what you will do for the rest of the year.   So I hope there are LOTS of rinky dink projects in our upcoming year.

When it gets cold like this I know that water is the most important thing to keep available for the birds and squirrels.  The bird bath heaters I've found for sale are clumsy and difficult to install plus expensive.  It occurred to me that our small bird baths have a hollow column they sit on.  So I asked John to make a light bulb warmer for inside the column.

We've used simple light bulb warmers in the past for cold frames and such so we think it will work.  We started with a 40 watt bulb.  I am keeping an eye on the water temperature.

Update next morning: it worked great!  It's been very cold and windy (28 with a wind chill of 16 degrees).  We have two of these bird baths and only one is heated.  It froze within an hour or two and is a solid block of ice this morning.  The heated one is 46 degrees.  Yessssss!!!!!  I think we will be heating the second one, too.

Here you can see what is inside the column.

And here it is installed on the side porch.  I like that you can see it is on.  The upper right corner is the ice I dumped out of it.  It can be hard to get the ice out so I hope this fixes that problem.

My cutting table

My table was too low for cutting so I asked John to make it taller.

These are the little blocks he made.  The side with the round holes is where the table leg fits in (it has some kind of metal glider at the bottom of the legs.)

The table legs before....

The little blocks raise the table height two inches.  The table legs after....

Stained glass for my work room window

I asked John to make me a small stained glass piece for a window pane in one of my workroom windows.  I drew the shape, we talked about the colors, he did the work.  It's a very simple piece because there are actual spaces between the shapes, there are no glass seams (no copper foil, etc).  The glass is so beautiful, it didn't need anything complicated.

On the other hand the wooden frame the glass sits in is probably quite sophisticated since John made it....

Outdoor stained glass panel

Well, the supposed to be rinky dink glass panel is finally done and even installed!

Some photos along the way...

Chiseling out the corners.  The glass is installed directly into the wood frame without any copper foil.  After laying the glass in the frame, John nailed in sticking to keep it in place.  We also left open spaces between the long curved pieces.

 Cutting glass

 Installing the panel.  John nailed a 2x4 between the posts and attached the panel with screw eyes.  We intend to hang more objects from the 2x4.  I want some strings of lights and maybe another panel.  We are going for fun and funky here.

Yeah, John!  Good job.

John may have lost his title

John was once known as the "King of rinky dink".  I think his standards of workmanship may have exceeded the rinky dink category and so he may have lost his title.

For example, we are making a small stained glass panel to hang outside in our tiny back yard.  John asked me to draw what I had in mind so I drew my idea on the bottom of a cardboard box of the correct size (Portland Nursery boxes have so many uses).    Here is what I drew:

Here is the frame he made:

It's got fancy joints and it took him quite a while.  Now, I don't have a problem with good workmanship BUT I did expect to already have my glass panel completed.  Rinky dink projects are quick and this one's not quick.  My patience level is certainly more in keeping with quick projects.    Bring back the king of rinky dink!

Fountain in February

There isn't any water in the fountain yet so I used rocks and chunks of glass to hide its stark concrete look.  The chunks of glass are leftovers from John's stained glass past.   The glass sparkles like water.  Another satisfying rinky dink project.

A satisying rinky dink project

I "made" new curtains today and it was a real rinky dink project.  I had some leftover lace curtain tops from when I cut down the curtains for some other windows.  The leftover top part had the rod pocket but the bottom was a raw edge.  I put up the curtain and glued the hem in place.  It was easy to get the level right because the curtain was in place.  They look good, I used stuff I already had and they were quick to do.   I call that a satisfying rinky dink project.