Thursday, October 31, 2013

Wire and beads, yes middle school (you) can make an interesting jewelry for $10 or less.


You only have wire and some of your favorite beads. Can you make a jewelry with it? If you ask me, the blog writer, the answer is YES. It is nice to have store bought toggle or lobster clasp. But if you are on a budget to make a gift for your loved ones, you are in luck because if you take one of IDEA It Lab jewelry program, they will teach you how


Here's how.
1. Buy some quality beads from local bead store like Ju Ju Beads for $6.
2. Black copper wire a spool for $2.
3. Borrow chain nose, flat nose, round nose and cutting pliers from your dad, uncle or anyone you know for free.
4. Your time to read make it.

If you don't know how to do a simple wire loop, you can check out this video. In this bracelet, I added something unique which is squiggly wire. Last but not least is to make a closure. The basic idea is to make an "S" shape or "skinny number 8" where both wire loop connects. You can slightly modify to make an interesting shape. One end needs to have a gap enough for the wire to slip. If you need a step by step instructions, please leave a comment on this blog.

Total cost for this bracelet, $10. The personal value of making it yourself, priceless.





Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Harry Potter inspired lighted wand for Halloween

Joke:
How many engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
Three. One to hold the ladder, one to hold the light bulb, and the third to interpret the Japanese text.

It is funny to think about that joke. I probably could do one myself. "How may engineers does it take to make a pretend Harry Potter inspired wand? Two and an artist. One is an electrical engineer who is figuring out the circuitry, one is an architectural engineer who is figuring out how to make a right sized "wand' for a 12 years old using dowel and plastic container and one emerging artist who decides on the color."

We follow the instructions as in this link.
I takes few hours to work on it. First, we went shopping to Radio Shack. Then, we cut the dowel to the size, drill a hole for the LED light, connect the light, run the cable around the dowel and connect the circuitry. It didn't work. Dad came to the rescue with circuitry and I helped with other part.


Finally, it all come together a couple hours before Halloween party starts. Can you guess what is the character in Harry Potter is she?

Saturday, October 12, 2013

How to make a prism bottle shape? ( not quite but I use this as learning opportunity)

Yes, we do have one.... an almost perfect prism bottle shape... ! How did we do it?
We'll it's a secret.

We went to Mt. Evans last week with a guest. The view was spectacular. Despite  having hard time with altitude sickness, I decided to the short hike to the top of the mountain and so did our daughters. As usual, we would bring extra drinks including a bottled water for every one.

After we got home and cleaned up the car, my younger
daughter found this odd shape bottled water. She was very curios and wondering how did it happen. I have a light bulb moment to use this opportunity to teach her about air density.

As we go to a higher altitude ( Mt Evens is about 14265 ft while Denver is 5280 ft), the air is less dense because the gravity pull the air downward towards the earth. When we opened the bottle at 14265 ft, the air density inside the bottle is the same with the air density at 14265 ft. When we go to a lower altitude where the air density is more, the higher density air pushes the lower density air. But why prism shape? This one I wasn't so sure as we only have one type of bottle water,  but I am guessing because triangle is the very stable shape of other shapes.
And of course, I have to do a little drawings when I talked to my daughter so she could understand easier ( I hope :) I seemed that my answer satisfy her curiosity. What do you think?

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Braille inspired 'Best Friend" necklace


What a great gift for a best friend....!
DG ordered this gorgeous braille inspired necklace for her best friend AH.
What a lucky friend. Thank you DG for your order.
To learn more about this necklace, please visit bigib.etsy.com