Franken-rasers

It's just an eraser. Right? I mean, what can you do with an eraser? Well, you can erase things of course. And ..... um.....

...um, you can... um...

Well, if you're a rather creative Tween with a good imagination, strong engineering skills, and patience for little diddling work, you can ...

Franken-Raser !

Beginning in Kindergarten, Zippy used to regularly bring home erasers that were mangled in one way or another: holes drilled through the middle, broken in half and then stitched back together with staple-stitches, covered with ink drawings, encircled with rubber bands, spiked with thumb tacks, or all of the above.

And then one day a couple of years ago...

... a Ninja.

He has a headband of wire, push pin legs/feet, paperclip arms dressed in tape, a samurai sword, eyes made from tiny scrapbook brads (notice the two-colored David Bowie eyes), and what for all the world looks to be a Japanese Obi.

Almost every day we were introduced to a new character in Zippy's world of do-gooders who were armed to the teeth and ready to right the wrongs of the world.

We started calling her creations Franken-rasers because they were cobbled together- lovingly- from whatever spare parts she found in her desk. Or my desk. Or the sewing room, or in the garage, or on the floor in the science lab at school.

So that year for Christmas we got her what has to be the second oddest Christmas present ever...

.. a tool box full of a variety of erasers, colored tape and wire, brads, rubber bands, paperclips, markers, pushpins, washers, wire snipers, needle-nose pliers, and who can remember what all else. To be honest, it was really fun shopping Lowes and Michaels for all that stuff. We also included cute little compartmented boxes to organize and store all of her supplies.

So much for the idea that it would all be neat and tidy. This should give you a pretty good idea of how her room looks most of the time, but I digress.

Zippy sometimes spends hours in her room working on her creations, humming quietly to herself, before she either throws the latest Franker-raser into the tool box, never to be seen again, or rips it apart and starts on the next. Sometimes a new Franker-raser will magically appear on the end table or the bathroom vanity, waving his sword at us in the most swashbuckling manner. And they almost all have swords. Do-gooders need swords to vanquish evil. That's my Zippy.

Let's take a look at some of the inhabitants of Franken-World.

This one-eyed fella looks vaguely like Plankton on Sponge-Bob.

If Plankton were as well-armed as this, complete with squid whip, he would most definitely get the secret recipe for Krabby Patties

 Serious mask on this guy.

And he is rockin' one awesome mohawk. Very Mad Max-ish.

The Zip made this gal especially for me. She has a cute button nose and looks like she is puckered up to give a big ol' wet smooch to someone. I asked Zip what this gal was doing and she replied, "Nothing, she's just sitting there lookin' pretty." That's what my husband tells me when I ask what I can do to help when we're working on our latest project- "Just sit there and look pretty" he'll say. To which I reply, "Why do you always give me the hard job!"

 Anyway, this pretty little gal has some astounding 1980's shoulder pad action happening. That's kind of how it felt to wear those things.

Here we have a fully equipped warrior with nunchucks and keys on his belt as well as a variety of other secret fighting-warrior-type equipment, plus a canteen for water, and a nice blue shield. And so as not to be hindered by calls from mom in the height of battle-

--- a Blackberry for his ear.

  

Because you can't do battle, drive, and talk on the phone. It wouldn't be safe.

Some Fanken-rasers are just cute. This cutie has his bow slung around his back but seems to be missing his quiver of arrows. Maybe he used them all up already.

Some just are who they are and sort of defy explanation.

There are Franken-Doggies too because a doggie is a good companion to have after a long day of fighting nefarious characters. His head is made from a clothespin spring.

Life isn't all sword fighting and swashbuckling. On the weekends, our Franken-rasers like to knock off and go to the drag races. Yes- that's the big parachute flying out the back, which you need because when the dragsters are equipped with an array of mini-brads for wheels, they fly across the table. Not kidding- these guys really haul.

After the races our gang likes to put on their matching "E" jerseys, hop in the dune buggy, and head to the beach.

There is definitely a Franken-Heaven because there are ---

--- Franken-Angels.

Even one-eyed angels that are armed for battle. It's true that some folk's guardian angels have to work harder than other folk's angels.

Some Franken-rasers can't be explained or even identified. They are just explorations in object manipulation, exercises in "The Possible".

I've encouraged Zippy to be neater, maybe not so "complex" in her creations (read that as "not so messy looking") but she has apparently been strongly influenced by Outsider Art. She's free-form. Zippy-form. As I was taking these pictures and digging through her Eraser Kit (carefully, so as not to be stabbed by pushpins), thinking about how my kid is, I couldn't help but feel it.

Franken-Love for my Zippy.

(Yes, as a matter of fact, that is how my hair looks.)

Go grab some cheap erasers from the Dollar Store, dig around in your junk drawer, round up the kids, and turn your imagination loose on an unsuspecting world. It's great fun.

So what was the first oddest present we've ever given our Zipster? Another tool box, this one full of big chains and ropes and clips and hooks. She loved it!

But that's another story...

Bling! January- Garnet

SheKnows.com

Oh so sparkly and pretty!

I'm sure this has been done but I thought it would be fun to take a peek at the birthstone for each month as we move through 2011. I'm not a gemologist or an amateur jeweller (so our peek will be pretty basic). I just like sparkly things!

There is a great deal of folklore and history and personal significance connected to birthstones. Those things are interesting and we will certainly explore them each month. However, let me just say right up front that I don't believe a chunk of rock, no matter how pretty, brings us luck or healing, endows us with patience, protects us from evil, or gifts us with wit and wisdom. I'm just not one of those folks. But the lore, I suppose, is part of the allure.



PrecisionGem.com



So with that bit of a disclaimer out of the way, I'm sure we can agree that there's no escaping being enchanted by their sparkle and beauty. What girl doesn't fall for that? Come on- you know you've sparkled your engagement ring in the sun while stopped at a traffic light. You notice, with a bit sparkle in your own eye, when someone's earrings throw a flash of jazz out at ya. And you've noticed how flashy your jewellery looks in that neat restaurant lighting. It's all about the bling, girl!

So, let's launch into January with ...

GemSelect.com



... the garnet.

Garnets are a silicate mineral, the largest rock-forming minerals, and contain silicone and oxygen. Garnets are formed in the presence of  outrageously high temperatures and pressure and geologists are able to use garnets found in the field to determine the temperatures and pressures under which the garnet-containing rocks were formed. The different types of garnets are a result of variations in their make up.

Nature Beds

Garnet gets it's name from the Latin garantum, which means "seed" or "grain", so named because of it's resemblance to the pomegranate seed. Garnet jewelry has been found in graves as early as the Bronze Age (3000 BC) and was thought to provide protection in the afterlife. It was also thought, at one time, to stop bleeding.



GemstoneArtist.com



January's birthstone is said to give the wearer victory, chastity, truth and fidelity. It signifies friendship and trust. Garnet is also know as the traveler's gem as it is supposed to ensure a safe return home and has been a traditional gift for someone going on a trip. It may also be given on the 2nd and 6th wedding anniversary.

Garnet is known for it's deep, almost mysterious, red color yet actually can be found in any color. The deep red color that most of us traditionally think of as being garnets are called pyrope garnets, or "Bohemian Garnets". It's color is spectacular.

Some of the Victorian era Bohemian garnet jewelry is stunning.



Georgian Jewelry



House of Francheska



But let's not forget the rest of the color wheel.

Pink Rhodolite Garnet

  ArtFire.com



Purple Rhodolite

RubyLane.com

Cinnamon, or Hessonite

The Jewlery Blog

Yellow mali garnet

GemSociety.org



Light green Tsavorite garnet

Deleuse Jewelers

 The brilliant green Demantoid

Toranj-Gem

The very fun orange Mandarin Garnet.

Brigitte Designs



Even blue garnets, previously thought not to exist, have recently been documented (late 1990's) in Madagascar. These have replaced the Tsavorite as the rarest and most expensive garnet.



Nordskip.com

 
OK- we could go on eyeballing beautiful garnets all day.

Care- Garnets are fairly durable but variations in hardness do exist depending upon its chemical composition. RubyLane states: "The hardness of Garnet varies a bit, due to the differences in actual composition, ranging from 6.5 to 7.5 on the Moh’s Scale.  Steam cleaning should never be done to garnet jewelry. Ultrasonic cleaning is considered to be normally safe, but the presence and type of inclusion in the stone may have an effect on durability, and we do not recommend the practice."  Warm water and a mild dish liquid will work just fine. Be sure to rinse your garnet(s) very well, with the drain closed. Though durable, garnets are only as hard as silica, which is what makes up sand, soil, even dust. Do not wear your garnet ring when working as they can be scratched.

Garnets have, in the past, been relatively inexpensive and were often used in "affordable" jewelry. However, with all of the beautiful colored stones now available, garnet's reputation is taking an upward swing. Garnets generally range from $40 to $5000 per carat.

Gem Soul

That's about it for our little look at January's incredible birthstone. It's been fun and sure makes a girl wanna spend that Christmas money. Keep an eye out for February's birthstone. And hey...

Happy Birthday all of you beautiful January Babies !

Interior Storm Windows



via Sciencephoto.org

We've all seen those thermo heat loss images that show how a home transfers heat from the inside to the outside. The idea is to show us places in a home where heat is leaking away from us and into the cold winter night so we can plug those leaky areas in order to save on our energy costs.

The more blue and green an image is, the better that home is keeping the heat where it should be- around our chilly toes. The more yellows, oranges, and reds we see, the more heat is being lost. The image above shows windows as a notoriously weak spot in our defense against the winter chill and an empty wallet.

via Ecofriend.org

This home above, all rosy and bright, has heat loss issues.

We live in an "antique" house that is pushing 200 years in age. We've added insulation where we can, caulked until the cows came home, left, and came back again, and have generally done what we can. Still, I can only imagine what a thermo image of our home would look like.

We keep the thermostat on 58 degrees. No, I'm not kidding. We have three floors but most of our activity takes place on the first floor. So we turn down the thermostat, put on snuggly socks, and close the door to the second floor. We use a vent-less gas fireplace on the first floor to supplement the boiler. When we use the upstairs computer, play in the sewing room, or read on the enclosed porch we have room heaters for those areas. It works for us, mainly because in spite of our efforts we're still a pretty drafty old homestead and it isn't in our budget to heat the neighbor's yard.



by DonkerDink via Flickr





This fall we had the pleasure of replacing our natural gas heat source with propane. You can go to this post- I've Got Gas & I Couldn't Be Happier- for all the sordid details. With natural gas, you have a pipe that comes into your house and there's always gas (unless of course things go for you like they did for us). With propane, you have a tank which contains a finite amount of liquid propane. I can't shake that uneasy feeling that we're about to run out of propane. And in spite of what the websites and pundits we consulted told us, LP is more expensive. It's price fluctuates with petroleum prices, which have gone up recently. Lucky us.

We've been known to tape the particularly leaky windows with painters tape.

Crude but semi-efficient.

So my husband decided to abandon the sporadic use of window plastic and painter's tape and make interior storm windows. He's a pretty clever guy and very committed to saving money because we have 15 windows that seriously needed attention. These aren't the original single pane windows but some "mature" replacement windows. A houseful of new windows isn't the in the budget right now either and truthfully may never be in the budget.

Here's what it takes:

1 x 2 lumber
2 1/2 inch drywall screws
Shrink film
Foam tape
You also need some sturdy two-sided tape
Clear packing tape- on a dispenser roll is super handy

If it's 18 degrees outside, set up a makeshift work bench in the already crowded Utility Room.

Stack the picnic table on its benches for an equally makeshift work area outside on the screened porch because the workshop in the garage is 50 yards from the house and each window has to be measured and cut separately and it's 18 degrees outside and a guy just can't be running back and forth that much. (Whew)

Each window is done separately because we've learned that when our house was built 200 years ago there were no standard sizes for anything. Even if there were, over the years previous occupants "did things" to the house, and a house settles after a couple of centuries as well. We highly suspect it also tilted ever so slightly when the long-wall mine went past a few years ago. Not that anything was plumb and square before that. Oh, it's been an adventure.

Run outside and cut the wood.

Each window needs 2 vertical pieces of wood and 3 horizontal, one being a cross brace in the center.

Secure the corners with a brace, drill a couple of pilot holes, and secure the frame with the drywall screws.

Run the two-sided tape around the entire frame, lay the frame out on the plastic, carefully pulled out any wrinkles (it won't be perfect), and pull off the top layer of tape.

 

Carefully pull up one of the short sides and wrap it up over the end of the board. Smooth it out and then lay the plastic back. Do both short ends and then both longs sides. Your plastic will come to a mitered-looking corner. Kind of like hospital corners when you're changing the sheets on your bed.

Trim off the plastic so that there isn't any extending beyond the wood frame.

Now- turn the frame over and repeat so that you have plastic on both sides. Tape, wrap, trim. This makes an air pocket inside the frame which helps with insulation. It's a double-paned storm window.

OK- now run clear packing tape around the entire frame. Cut the corners and fold the flaps down. This seals the entire frame. Remember, the point is to prevent heat transfer so get all of the leaky spots sealed up or it's not worth the effort. These windows are fairly labor intensive, in case the handyman in your life hasn't already pointed that out to you.

Just like you do when you put plastic directly onto the windows, use a hair dryer to shrink and firm up the plastic on the frame.

Last step- the foam seal around the edges. This lets your frame slide into each window sill and adds that final degree of insulation. Start the foam even with an edge and end the first side you do even with the other end. Start the next side by lining up the foam so that it is even with the outside edge of the foam on the side you just did and end it even with the frame. Go all the way around. If you just wrap the foam around the corners without cutting them you are more likely to get a leak on the corners.

And unless you are absolutely certain all of your windows are the same exact size, label each storm window so you know where it goes next year.

Finally, cheer your fella on as he puts up the storm windows and if he even hangs the curtains, well, he'll need special rewards.

In an ideal world we would have painted all of the frames before putting on the plastic. However, the logistics of where to paint and dry all of those frames inside the house was rather daunting. Secondly, it was already winter outside and things were beginning to cool off a bit in the house.

There was an immediate difference in the comfort level in our house, especially noticeable on the windy days. And in the spring I won't have to go around cleaning off sticky tape residue from the windows. Bonus!



via Solvent-Free Paint

The challenge will be figuring out where to store all of these frames over summer!

You can find countless Internet resources on building your own storm windows. My husband used information from Art Tec and his directions are much more detailed than those given here. This fella, Guy Marsden, has all kinds of neat things on his site from Levitation kits to electronic artwork to building a canoe to solar heating to custom furniture to, of course, interior windows. Go check him out.

You can also find vendors who will sell you ready-made or custom windows. The options are mind-numbing: plexiglas-based windows, acrylic, glass, magnetic, snap-in, etc forever. Since our old house has non-conformist windows, we would have been into custom windows almost exclusively. When we first moved in we priced them at about $120 each but that was 14 years ago and no doubt they are more now. Purchasing custom was just never an option for us. Mr Marsden estimates $9 per square foot.

Anyway, it's not every girl that gets 15 custom made interior storm windows for Christmas. Goes nicely with the 500 gallons of propane that I got for my birthday.

Thanks for stopping in today and please--

stay warm.