lost wax hand bottle opener.

Have wanted to cast my own bottle opener for quite some time. I don't really trust zinc because of how brittle it is to make the mechanical aspect of the opener so I have decided to coat an existing bottle opener with the casting.

Built this around a free moosehead bottle opener with wax. Sprued and vented as shown to the left. coated in plaster and burned out in a wood fire. I poured zinc heated in the same fire in a soup can into the mold. this is the first time I have had gotten good wax burnout and pour. Cut sprues with dremel metal cutting blades. May or may not go on to patina it.

Removing text from free travel mug (we all hate comcast)

We all get free stuff that is ruined by the names of brands we hate. Here is the process for removing the ad:



Apply a thin layer of Goo Gone. There may be other products that work for this but this is the one I had. Acetone did not work.
Scrape with the back of a butter knife.
Wash.



After spending a few days in a row getting home to my angry neighbor waiting for the late and overpriced comcast man I decided I needed to do this. Now if only we could get their ads of TV and no longer have a cable internet monopoly.

DIY: Screen printing a hat the cheapest way.

You will need:
Screen printing ink (i used superball that cost about $5 at a local shop but you can probs get it online), a paint brush, a nylon, krazy glue, push pins, a hat (preferably a free hat you don't like.... yet) and some sort of frame. Of course all this can be done on a t-shirt as well.

Also props to craftgrrl for the concept of using nylons.


Start with a hat that needs re-purposing like this cooperate gecko hat:
I don't show this but I blacked out the gecko with black screen printing ink.


Draw your image on a 3x5" note card.


Stretch the Nylon around a frame and tape it down:


Trace the image onto the nylon with a black pen:


Take the card away and cover the lines with Krazy Glue:


Once the glue has dried test the screen on a piece of paper:


If you are satisfied with the image cut out the section of the screen:


Pin the screen to the hat and paint it:



Remove the screen and touch up the design:

Wash the screen let it dry and repeat.