DIY Wood Cleaner

The worst thing you could do with wood is use water to clean it. The water can stain the finish of your wood piece or even worse warp the wood. Once the wood piece is warped it is impossible to get the original look back. 

I wanted to share a quick recipe for a DIY wood cleaner that I've been using to clean all the wood furniture that I have received from my grandparents' old house.

In a clean and dry spray bottle I added the following:

½ cup Apple Cider Vinegar

½ cup Olive Oil

1 tablespoon Dish Soap

1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

Just take a look at the results. I dusted the entire chair with a dry cloth and then cleaned the right side of the chair with my wood cleaner. You can see how dirty the left side was. 

You can use white vinegar if you do not have apple cider vinegar. And you can use any type of oil as well. 

The vinegar and soap act as cleaning agents while the oil conditions the wood. 

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Repurposing a Three Bulb Light Fixture into a Candle Holder - Part 2

I actually have done this type of repurposing a second time with a used light fixture. A friend was renovating one of his apartments before putting it up for rent. In the process, he had a vintage light fixture which he asked if I could make something for him with.  

Here's what it looked like to start with, covered in paint and grime. So the first thing I set out to do was clean it. You can check out the process I went through to clean it in my post "Cleaning Metal with Toothpaste". It took a bit of effort to get it cleaned. 

Once I had it cleaned up, I had to add the candle holders. I used a used and cleaned glass candle for the center to give it a unique look and added a glass bowl to both sides. I used hot glue to secure each of the glasses. Since the metal sides of the fixture were sloped I had to build up part of the side using hot glue to make sure the glass bowls would sit flat. 

Next I painted the three glasses black. I then used stain on the entire thing. I made sure not to get any black paint or stain on the inside of any of the three glasses. Since this will be used with candles, I wanted to be absolutely sure nothing is flammable where the candle flame is. 

Here's the finished product!

Repurposing a Three Bulb Light Fixture into a Candle Holder - Part 1

When we moved into our house a few years ago, we noticed that the previous owners left a few house-hold items behind. Mostly left over tiles from some of the renovations that had been done to the house. But they also left things that look like they were intended for a bathroom renovation. And even though we have renovated the first floor bathroom which was in dyer need of an update, the fixtures which were left by the previous owner just do not match the fixtures we finally decided to use for that bathroom. So with an extra 3-bulb light fixture at my disposal, I decided to turn it into a candle holder. 

Since it would no longer be a light fixture, I had to first remove the light wiring. Next, I painted the whole thing black. But I was not completed in love with the color effect so I added some brown (rust) coloring over the entire fixture.

I added one more light/transparent coat of black. This gave the fixture a dusty matte finish. And finally, I sealed the paint with a thick coat of modge podge to give it more of a shine. 

I added 3 glass candles which I intend on reusing the glasses in this candle holder when the candles burn out. And here is the finished product. 

Dying Clothes Pins

I have seen a few articles online about dying clothes pins and I just had to try it out for myself. This is what happened when I did try.

A little background on why I decided to even dye some of my clothes pins. I have two large tapestries which I have mounted onto my wall using clothes pins and Velcro (I may have to write a blog about how well or bad these were to use in the future). They are a cute way of displaying the tapestry without damaging the tapestry itself, but the color of plain clothes pins just don’t match with the decor in my basement. So, when I saw that you could dye clothes pins, I knew I had to try to make them a color that would compliment the tapestries they were displaying.

I tried dying 10 clothes pins and two tiny wooden hearts. I filled a clean glass jar (used to be for tomato sauce) with hot water (boiling), a table spoon of white vinegar, the clothes pins and hearts, and blue food coloring; letting them sit overnight.

After 24 hours they seemed more green then blue. I decided to add more blue food coloring and leave them for another 24 hours. I must admit I forgot about them and they actually sat for about another 60 hours or so.

They looked a bit dark when they were wet.

I must say I actually liked the color they dried to.

Next time I will take the metal off the clothes pins prior to dying them. Some of the metal started to tarnish from being in the water mixture for so long.

They turned out quite well to hold up the tapestry in my basement!

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Cleaning Metal with Toothpaste

I started a crafting endeavor recently which I thought would be quite simple and straight forward as I have done it in the past; turning an old light fixture into a candle holder. I hope to later write a post about how I have done that.



This time was different. The old light fixture was not clean. It had old paint layered on top and layers of dirt on the underside. I thought a quite wash with soup would do the trick… It did not. So, I turned to my tried and go to method for cleaning dingy metals; toothpaste. I know it sounds odd, but I have also used this method when cleaning jewelry.



Here is how the light fixture looked before I started cleaning.

I first scrapped off as much paint as I could and did a cleaning with dish soap and water. This is the results.

Then it was onto the toothpaste. Look at how it came out! The left (gold) side is the side I cleaned with the toothpaste. You can see the difference from the tarnished right side. I originally thought this was silver, but after washing it with the toothpaste, I can now see that it is actually gold.

I was quite happy with the results and am excited to move onto the next step to turn this into a candle holder.

What you can make from crocheting squares/rectangles – Part 1: Blankets, Towels, Pot Holders

This post series is for those who crochet but think that they are limited in what they can do because they only know a few stitches. Well you can stop believing that now.

Knowing how to just chain your foundation and then using any given stitch that you are comfortable with, you can create anything that can be formed from a square or rectangular shape.  I used to think I could only make a blanket if I didn’t have a specific pattern first but thankfully, somewhere along the way, I realized that I only needed to know the dimensions of the squared item and using the stitches I already knew, I could create my own design. I will post instructions for my own designs in future postings, but for this post I will be focusing more on the structure of many of these square items which you can create just using what you already know about crocheting.

I am going to group blankets, towels, and pot holders all into one basic set of instructions, since they are easily seen as square or rectangular. Create a chain in the width you wish to create, then create enough rows using whichever stitch you want in the length of the item. Sounds simple enough, but what does that really mean?

Let’s take a throw blanket as the example. Since the two dimensions are different it will be easier to understand which length we are discussing. The approximate throw blanket size we will use for this example is 52”x60”. Because we are crocheting using size instead of stitch number, you do not have to worry about the weight of the yarn or the hook size you will be using. You can use whichever yarn and hook you are most comfortable with or for whatever thickness of blanket you prefer.

First, create a foundation chain that is approximately 52”. Add enough turning chains for the stitch you will be using to create the blanket. I use a double crochet most often when I create blankets, so I will continue this example using a double crochet (dc). At the end of my 52” chain, I would crochet 2 more chains (ch) and then dc into the 3^rd ch from the hook.

Then dc across to the end of the chain. Ch 2, dc across. Repeat with rows of ch 2, dc across until your blanket is 60” long.

If you would like, you can create a border around the blanket or change up your design by changing the stitch you use for some of the rows.

It’s as simple as that. Now you have a blanket that is 52” x 60” and created by you.

You will just need to adjust the dimensions of your crocheting to create other sized blankets, pot holders, or even towels. For towels and washclothes, I recommend using cotton yarn.

Other items that I will be discussing in this series are scarves, shawls, sweaters, vests, pull over tops, headbands, and maybe more.

DIY Dryer Sheets

For my first DIY blog post, I will be starting off with something easy: DIY Dryer Sheets!

Since I crochet a lot of items that I wear and use around the house, I tend to have a massive problem with static cling. I find that buying dryer sheets all the time begins to become uneconomical, so I have had to find a more practical approach to dealing with my static cling problem.

All you need for this is fabric softener, water, extra pieces of cloth, and an air tight container to hold everything. I use an old pickle jar that holds about 3 cups of liquid. I also crocheted my own "dryer sheets", but you can certainly use any cloth you have around the house or cut an old towel into smaller squares.

 

First I poured 1 cup of fabric softener into the jar.

 

 

Then I added 1 cup of water and mixed. 

 

 

I use a mixture of 1:1 for the softener and water. But you can experiment with the exact ratio depending on how thick the fabric softener you use is. You just want to make sure that the fabric softener is watered down enough for the cloth to be absorbed easily, but still be opaque. 

Next, I rolled up my crocheted cloth and submerged them into the mixture.

For the cloth I crocheted a few different versions of granny squares with extra yarn I had from previous projects.