ToolGirl

Free Plans, Free Videos!

Mag's DVDs and Free Plans

ToolGirl's online How-To Videos

Contact Mag: mag@toolgirl.com

Subscribe to ToolGirl in a reader

Do-it-Yourself 'Dry Cleaning' - a non-toxic alternative

If you’ve ever known a theatrical wardrobe mistress, you’ve met someone who’s smart and under-appreciated. 

Without the calm grace of the wardrobe mistress, most theatrical productions would unravel faster than a chorus girl’s virtue on opening night. 

Perhaps you think I’m exaggerating.  But have you ever wondered how you’d keep sweaty actors’ costumes fresh night after night for weeks on end when you can only send out the smelly clothing for dry cleaning once a week?

The question occurred to me when I was in the cast of  a long-running production of A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum in the Eighties.  Every night for months we sang, we danced, we perspired, we bowed and then left our costumes draped in soggy folds, hastily flung on hangers as we fled the pong of the dressing room. 

And yet every afternoon when we returned to the theatre, there hung our chiffon finery, fresh and odorless on the rack.


Greener Cleaner
Being a flippant 23-year-old I never bothered to ask the wardrobe mistress her secret and I’ve regretted it ever since, especially since I travel a lot and there’s never time to get things dry-cleaned on the road.  So I was pretty happy when I ran across the arcane solution this week in my copy of Natural Home magazine. 

I’m excited about this secret formula because it’s non-toxic to the point of being drinkable, in stark contrast to traditional dry cleaning’s ghastly chemicals. 

Conjoined Tin - Make a Tin Backsplash from Ceiling Tiles

Although I’m under-endowed as a decorator-y person, sometimes my lame decor ideas actually work.  And by ‘work’, I mean that the concept has to pass the ToolGirl 3-way Test; Cheap, fast, easy.  Notice I didn’t mention ‘good’ – that’s where denial kicks in.

And let me qualify the ‘easy’ part.  You need the right tools. 

For example, the Conjoined Tin Backsplash described below is easy IF you own a pair of offset tin snips (also called aviation snips).  Any other kind of tin snips will torture your soul beyond the gut-sucking spasms of unrequited love, albeit for a shorter length of time.

Personal Tweezers – Hair, Tick, Sliver Removal, Precision PockeTweez

via www.pocketweez.com

Workshop tweezers for the sliver-inclined! Thumbs up to Michael for the heads up on this unit. I didn't think anything could beat my Tweezerman tweezers, but this new design is nothing to tweeze at.

Transfer Photo Images to Wood Using Your Inkjet Printer

In case you missed it, this is a really fun, cheap way to cover wood with your favourite photos.

The plywood coasters pictured on the left are part of my recent discovery that you can take any digital image and transfer it to plywood, solid wood, wood veneers or unfinished furniture.  It's fun, fast and cheap.  I've made mouse pads, lap desks, flooring and even wall tiles using this technique.

The result is a fantastic alternative to stencilling or staining and you can even use your computer to create watercolour effects in your photos, or do other freaky stuff to the images.  If you're into carving wood you can also use this technique to transfer your pattern directly onto the wood surface.

Cork-a-Doodle-Do - Make Fridge Magnets from Corks, Twigs and Rare Earth Magnets

Fridge magnets are an under-sung hero of modern communications.  You can forget a voicemail, a text message or an email, but you can’t ignore a note stuck to the fridge.   

The average person opens the fridge 22 times a day (94 if you’re dieting), so a fridge message makes at least 22 impressions on the visual cortex.  That’s why fridge notes work better than nagging tones in a voicemail or SCREAMING CAPS in an electronic message. 

The only thing that can erode the impact of a fridge note is the strength of the magnet that affixes it to the metal surface. Under the force of say, a hungry teenager slamming the fridge door, some magnets have less sucking power than a dying leech. 

My fridge magnet collection of circa 1989 Fimo ladybugs is so lame that whenever I post an important note it slips to knee level by the day’s third FDO (fridge door opening). 

I needed a new fridge magnet design that couldn’t be dislodged by gravity, impact or a light breeze. 

Inspiration struck, as often happens, when I was opening a bottle of wine. 

Knock-Off Wood: Free Woodworking Plans for Beginners

via www.knock-offwood.com

Ana White is a really smart girl offering very cool, simple, free downloadable woodworking plans for beginners. These are great projects using standard lumber that's readily available at your nearest hardware store.

Here's one of my favourites:

Make Rustic Twig Hooks with 'Sugru'

I'm a fan of rustic functional art.  This project from Instructables mixes two colours of Sugru, the new formable silicon putty, to create permanent forest-green anchors for twiggy kitchen hooks. 

via www.instructables.com

It's a Wild, Wild Life: Mexican Oilcloth Wallpaper

via www.readymade.com

Wallpapering is for the strong of spirit, the steady of hand and the gentle of vocabulary.  This project takes wallpapering a couple of steps beyond normal. For step-by-step instructions on creating your own Victorians-on-Opium styled room, visit Readymade.  And don't forget to sort your books by colour. 

Cheap, Fast Wood-Fired Earth Oven | Slice Pizza Blog

via slice.seriouseats.com

This link focuses obsessively on wood-fired pizza (not that there's anything wrong with that), but if you look at the photos you can see the steps the builder took to make a sweet outdoor wood-fired oven for under $200!

Bamboo Sinks

I recently made my own bamboo desk but never thought of using bamboo for a sink. Kind of goofy not to think of bamboo as water-resistant though, since we use bamboo in other moisture-rich environments (i.e. cutting boards, chopsticks, boats).

First Day of Shooting with the 'Real Life' Crew

We're halfway through our first shoot day for Real Life with Sharon Caddy.  As you can see, we're out standing in our field. 

This shot is an intro to a segment called 'Reserved Sparking', a beginner's guide to changing a lawnmower spark plug.

The weather's great and the crew (Greg and David) are way more efficient than me but I'm trying to lower their standards. 

30 Quotes to Inspire Creativity

  


I rely on these quotations when I'm making, writing, hacking or dreaming.  Maybe you can use them too.

I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution.  Wernher von Braun   

The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.  Eden Phillpotts

You can have anything you want if you want it desperately enough.  You must want it with an exuberance that erupts through the skin and joins the energy that created the world.  Sheila Graham

We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.  Joseph Campbell

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.  To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.  Helen Keller

The work of art which I do not make, none other will ever make.  Simone Weil

I think I should have no other mortal wants if I could always have plenty of music.  It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain.  Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.  George Eliot

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.  Anais Nin

Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what, next or how…The artist never entirely knows.  We guess.  We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.  Agnes de Mille

The notes I handle no better than many pianists.  But the pauses between the notes – ah, that is where the art resides.   Artur Schnabel

When you perform…you are out of yourself – larger and more potent, more beautiful.  You are for minutes heroic.  This is power.  This is glory on earth.  Agnes de Mille

The real leaders are the ones who say, "I don't know. Let's find out."  Betty Cohen

No two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible, intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind.  Napolean Hill

I am always doing that which I can not do in order that I may learn how to do it.  Pablo Picasso

Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it that makes a difference.  Nolan Bushnell

We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again expecting.  Samuel Johnson

The power and resources of our intuition, imagination and unconscious are greater
than the rational mind can imagine.  Robert Burns

Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source. There is no mystery about the origin of things. We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, only to discover what is already there.  Henry Miller

Commitment is never an act of moderation!  Kenneth G. Mills

It’s never too late to be who you might have been.  George Eliot

Only God creates.  The artist reveals.  George Balanchine

Everything you can imagine is real.  Pablo Picasso

In creating, the only hard thing is to begin: a grass blade's no easier to make than an oak.  James Russell Lowell

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.   Henry B. Adams

What is now proved was once only imagined.  William Blake

One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.   Goethe

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.   John F. Kennedy

They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.   Edgar Allen Poe

Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.  Tom Robbins

Ideas won't keep; something must be done about them.   Alfred North Whitehead

And if I can just add one more:  Just because you’ve never done something before doesn’t mean you don’t know how to do it.

Erasable Sharpie 'Liquid Pencil' Won't Snap Under Pressure

via blog.sharpie.com

I bust a lot of mechanical pencil leads when I'm woodworking. I get excited and press too hard and then I hear that familiar snap of graphite and feel the tip ground out on the surface I'm marking.

Therefore I'm jazzed to see that a pen company has come up with truly erasable graphite ink. Heavy-handed crafty people, rejoice.

I Leg to Differ

via www.flickr.com

This creation is just my kind of weird. It reminds me of the Christmas I knitted 18 sweaters; sometimes libido arrives unbidden and it's good to find a wholesome outlet for it.

And this leggy darling has poignant levels of repression.  You can gaze admiringly at it, but never get under it. This table is the furniture-fication of unrequited love.

Inky Dinky Slider - How to Move Heavy Stuff Singlehandedly with No Screaming

Ditch the hernia and move heavy stuff smartly

One of the great opportunities of a family reunion (besides the name-calling and the short-sheeting) is getting help with moving heavy stuff that’s been sitting in the garage for two years, like that 400-pound treadmill I bought on eBay.  

Ruffman family members enjoyed a valuable team-building exercise as we horsed that giant unit into the basement.  The project comprised four essential team-building principles:  sweat, swearing, strain and liniment.  

But why wait for the help of relatives who eat seven times a day, max out the wireless Internet and correct your grammar?

You can move stuff alone for an investment of as little as $25 using a new wonder-tool invented by a savvy woman with a penchant for hauling.

Sliding Into Home
When the editor of a respected periodical like Popular Mechanics says something nice about a new tool, you have to perk up:

"If the BigSlider had been around 5,000 years ago, the wheel might have never been invented."
-- Jim Meigs, Editor-in-Chief,  Popular Mechanics

That’s a pretty dramatic statement.  Not as dramatic as “Your cat just fell behind the dresser and I don’t think it can get out”, but still pretty arresting.  

So what is the BigSlider? It’s a rectangle of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic that reduces friction to such a huge degree that you can drag a 300-pound load and it feels like it’s a quarter of that weight.  

Inventor Jeri Masterson created BigSlider  because she needed to move things around her home and garden while her husband was at work.  The BigSlider replaces wheelbarrows, handcarts, relatives and sheer brawn.  It comes in several sizes ($25-$155 at www.bigslider.com) so you can choose the model that suits your purposes. 

Industry News - Home Improvement Retailing

A little design porn to kick off your day. Who makes this stuff up?

The 2011 IKEA Catalogue, in its 60th year of production, features four new overall trends among its products and designs. The trend colour of the year is ‘Blue,’ the company says, from turquoise, indigo, and cobalt to deep navy, it can provide a sense of calm and depth to homes. Another trend is ‘Architectural,’ which reflects sculptural pieces of furniture and accessories – mainly in white or punchy red – with clean lines and graphic shapes. ‘Folkloric’ is “the new haute folk style,” a reinterpretation of ethnic and global influences, featuring simple shapes embellished by embroidery and other hand-sewn details, along with flowers, birds, and fruit as the prominent motifs. And ‘New Utility’ represents industrial style popularized by people living in reclaimed spaces and defined by exposed parts and simple materials like wood and steel.

via www.hirmagazine.com

Dapper Wooden Necktie from the Brilliant Minds at Instructables.com

via www.instructables.com

Instructables.com is one of my favourite sites to browse through and shop for ideas. If you haven't checked it out lately, they are adding more and more stuff every minute. Each 'Instructable' teaches you something you probably didn't know before, and it's all free. That said, I did pay a small fee for a 'Pro' membership so that I could get instructions in PDF format and store them in my burgeoning Project File.

New ToolGirl Music Video Showcases Adequate Hammer Collection

I have 44 hammers (so far) so we created this soaring music video to display some of the best ones.  Stiletto, Vaughan, Stanley, Hart...they're all here. Feel free to suggest a hammer I haven't met yet. 

How To Build A Sandbox | Charles & Hudson

via www.charlesandhudson.com

Fabulous design, simple techniques and great tips. The Charles & Hudson site has great advice and projects for beginners.  And what parent of a toddler isn't craving a sandbox just looking at that photo?  Personally, I'm craving the dog. 

The Ultimate Toolbox

via gizmodo.com

A custom toolbox made by H.O. Studley (best name ever); the result of "30 years of consistently improving on the organization of the tools".  Damn fine work, Studley.

How to Change Your Lawnmower Blade and Otherwise Tune That Baby Up

The Mower the Merrier

Easy tune-ups for your lawnmower

It’s shocking how many times an otherwise intelligent human can cut a hose in half with a lawnmower while thinking the blade would clear it by several inches.

Please allow that oblique admission of idiocy to preface today’s topic: getting in touch with your lawnmower.

For many of us, the manual that came with the lawnmower is a manifesto of guilt.

For example, my manual says to clean the engine regularly with a soft cloth or brush, clean the underside of the mower after each use, and replace the spark plug annually.  Three things I’ve never done in 4 years. 

The manual also says to inspect the blade after striking a foreign (or domestic) object, such as a hose, toy, rock or stick. 

I’ve never inspected that blade once.  Till today.

To say that the blade didn’t look great would be like saying charred-to-a-crisp asparagus looks ‘a little wilted’. 

I put it off for years and then discovered that a blade-change takes 5 minutes.  A new blade makes cutting the lawn way nicer - the mower runs more efficiently, the grass tips aren’t brown and jagged, and the lawn looks smooth instead of tufty as a sheep.

Blade of Honour

Here’s how to change your blade fast and sassily:

Jazzy Wallpaper that Disguises Lumpy Walls and Paneling

Graham & Brown is a UK-based company that has somehow made wallpaper cool again.  Here's one of their latest:  Swirly, highly-textured 'Curvy' Superfresco Paintable Wallpaper.  It covers cracks and imperfections in aging walls, and will even cover the vertical lines in paneling.  Retails for $23.99 per double roll (each roll covers about 56 square feet) at HomeDepot.ca (not an affiliate link)

Brazing an Aluminum Trellis

Hey this is pretty cool.  My sister Gillian and I tried brazing aluminum and made this corset-shaped trellis for the morning glories.  (We have 8 relatives here at our house for a week so I'm coming up with home improvement projects for them.  Nice hostess eh?)

Instructions to follow later this week.  

5 Handy iPhone Apps for Home Improvement

via mashable.com

If you're an iPhone zealot, this little fivesome of apps could help you put off your home repairs almost indefinitely as you play with your iPhone. Any excuse, really.

Serious Torque for Serious Builders

This is my dream commercial.  If I were a bonehead.  Which I am.  Thanks to Steven Brown for the link.