DIY Cardboard Spray Booth

One of the biggest shocks of moving from the desert to the Midwest is a sudden change in everything outside your home: The air changes temperature, everything gets wet, it gets so not-warm that sometimes you have to dress differently... It's exhausting keeping up with this changing weather. We used to leave the cardboard box we spray-painted things on outside for weeks at a time and the worst that would happen is a small dust storm would move it a few feet. Now, we've been snowed in on the weekends and it simply isn't conducive to spray paint when everything is frozen under a few inches of what I am assured is water that fell from the sky. The sky! We needed something to let us spray paint more-or-less indoors. Maybe you do, too.


You'll Need:

• A box fan
• Furnace filters similar in size to your fan
• A cardboard box at least as big as the fan/filters
• Duct tape
• Empty gift cards or other sheet plastic
• Zip ties
• Under-cabinet light source
• Lazy Susan
• Flexible dryer hose, plus some hardware (hose clamp, some kind of flange for vents)
• Tools: Cutting tools, straightedge, measuring things, marker

Creative Mending

As artists, J and I are both creative and inevitably broke.  This means we do most of our shopping at thrift stores, and I spend a lot of time mending clothing to make it last past its use-by date.  During this process, I often get bored of stitching things up and trying to make them look "like new."  What if I could make them better than new?  More interesting or unique?  Cue this week's post, a story about what happens when A gets bored and won't let go of her prized gray sweatshirts.

Supernatural Hunter's Kit

If I'm being honest with myself, this post really began about nine months ago when J finally convinced me to watch a few episodes of Supernatural with the sales pitch, "It's a show about two attractive brothers who cry and punch each other.  Oh yeah, and they hunt monsters."  So, J was out of town and I thought I'd give it a chance.  A few days and seasons later, I was obviously incurably hooked.  Although I arrived about 8 years late, Sam, Dean, Bobby and Castiel kept me company all summer and I was caught up before season 9 began.  It's my guilty pleasure, and for those of you out there who understand my recent obsession, WOPC presents our homage to the Winchesters!

Painting Boardgame Miniatures

As game pieces come out of the box, sometimes they don't fit the story in your head. They're too boring or too badly painted. Sometimes you get confused because the red guy and the orange gal look too similar and the wrong piece gets moved for a few turns. For whatever reason, sometimes your board game bits need some classing up.

We're here to fix that.

You'll need:

• Acrylic paint. I use the craft acrylic tubes from various sources (Delta, Ceramcoat, FolkArt... Whatever's on special, essentially)
• Small brushes. Like, impractically small. My largest common brush is an acrylic size 0. It goes down from there. I suggest a 0 for blocking out colors and a 10/0 or 20/0 for details.
• Future Floor "Wax", now called Pledge Premium Finish with Future Shine. Clear acrylic for use on floors, thin like water, mildly fragranced. Does not taste good.
• Paper towels.
• Clean water.
• OPTIONAL: Xacto knife for cleaning mold lines/details.
• OPTIONAL: Palette for mixing. If you want to make your own, buy a picture frame at a dollar store and some duct tape. Instructions below.