lumber box : completed recycle art project

// March 23rd, 2012 // 5 Comments » // Re-use projects

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Recently I have amassed a considerable amount of re-usable timber for my ‘recycle art projects’ and despite my best efforts to keep it sorted, it always seems to find a way of getting out of control and spilling out of its cardboard box.

Before moving house late last year I bought several sheets of used mini-orb galvanised iron from Hervey Bay Reuse Market Centre, which I had been planning to use to make a mobile veggie garden box, however my new home already has a veggie garden which I have rejuvenated with my compost etc, so I decided instead, to use the materials to make a mobile lumber box this weekend.

Almost no change was needed from the original design or materials (I added removable hardwood timber strips on top and inside the bottom of the box to separate longer timbers and stop them slipping), so if my requirements change later it’s no problem to use it as a veggie garden box.

All up, it cost me approximately $40… here’s a breakdown of materials:

• Mini-orb galvanised iron (4 1/2 sheets) – $7 from reuse centre.
• Treated pine posts – free.
• Hardwood decking off-cuts – free.
• Screws – $6.30
• Castors (4 locking) – $26.00
• Wood stain – leftover from previous project.
• PVA glue – I keep a stock of this for projects.

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behind the scenes : mosaic substrate guide

// March 16th, 2012 // 12 Comments » // Materials, Mosaicing guides

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Just as important as your choice of materials for your tesserae (mosaic tiles), is the choice of substrate (base on which to mount your mosaic).

Substrates should always be rigid, as any flexibility will cause the tesserae to dislodge. The substrate should also be suitable for the chosen location of your mosaic, ie; if your mosaic will be in a wet area such as a bathroom, the substrate must be waterproof. Outdoor mosaics should have a frost-proof substrate if they will be in a location which may be prone to frosts.

Porous materials such as wood, terracotta or cement should always be sealed before use.

suitable substrate materials include:

• Metal
• Glass
• Plastic
• MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) – not suitable for outdoors or wet areas
• Plywood (including marine ply) – not suitable for outdoors
• Cement backer board
• Cement
• Pottery

My next mosaicing guide will be about adhesives…

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un-stick it : tip for screw top containers

// March 6th, 2012 // Comments Off on un-stick it : tip for screw top containers // Mosaicing guides

Here’s a quick and easy way to banish those hard to open screw top containers such as jars and bottles etc.

Smear a small amount of Vaseline around the outside of the container’s screw top thread, avoid getting the Vaseline inside the jar/bottle (otherwise you may render the contents unusable).

Screw the lid on… next time you open the container, the lid will be much easier to unscrew.

welcome to my new website

// March 5th, 2012 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized

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After months and months of debugging and testing by a programmer yielding no results, my new website is finally online after scrapping the old site completely. I am happy that I decided to use WordPress to make the job easier for myself with its easier to use widgets rather than stick with the complex scripts etc.  I’m even happier now that it’s finished, and it only took me a little over a week!

Having said that, there are a couple of minor changes required to correct some plug-in issues which appear to affect appearance rather than any function, but if you find something here that doesn’t work for you, please drop me a line or two on the “contact form” explaining what you did and what happened… well, you know the drill.

Now it’s time to get back into the studio and get cracking, or cutting and smashing as is the case with mosaics. I have some really cool projects underway, and I’ll also be posting some of my “tips”… so keep an eye out for them!

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