DIY standby dustpan from plastic jug

Ever faced the odd no dustpan at home situation? Rare, but something as universal as a dustpan can send you scurrying to the shops to buy another one.

What if home situation does not let you step out? Or you simply do not want to spend right away on a new dustpan? If you have a plastic jug that is shaped into a quadrilateral, it can turn into your temporary dustpan with simple DIY.

All you need, is to look for a plastic jug - water or milk, or of the juice variety, and get those easy tools out.

I used a water jug for my project.

The handle for my jug was on its corner, and not centered on one of its sides.it was a matter of taking advantage of its available ridges and contours.

Things you possibly need for this super quick DIY:

-- plastic jug

-- sharp craft knife

-- a pair of scissors

-- marker

-- ruler

-- paint pen

-- embellishments (optional)

It is always easy to cut along the ridges of a plastic container. But really, before you begin anything at all, make sure to remove any labels from the jug.

A quickie way to remove product labels, is to run a hair-dryer over the stickers for about 10 seconds, and then pull the stickers out carefully.

Wash the jug thoroughly if it is a drinks one.

Next step is to mark out along the contours - first at the bottom, The flat end of the dustpan, should be diagonally opposite to where the jug's handle is placed.

Mark a line using a ruler and marker pen. And use the tip of the craft knife to cut.

After you are done with the base, mark the cut ends of the base by connecting them with the pen, towards the handle. Leave enough gap between the handle and the edge you want to cut. Run the knife.

You can use a pair of multi-purpose scissors to cut. The only trouble with using scissors is that plastic cutting lessens their sharpness. I used scissors to trim the cut surface. When you reach the mouth of the jug, cut it off the dustpan design.

The resultant piece looked alright.

The rough cut piece, you can use your scissors to smoothen through trimming. I would not advise running these edges along a lit candle flame, as that can leave uneven curves on the dustpan.

During the trimming process, I left a little curve at the dust-gathering edge of the pan, which did not work. The dust would not slide on to the pan because of the curvature.

I had to straighten it out.

If you need to keep the dustpan for longer use, make sure to pick up a jug that is made of thicker plastic.

This piece comes in handy to gather small objects that have spilt on the floor, kitchen disasters such as rice and lentils falling off, and the likes.

I kept embellishing the pan to minimum - just a white paint pen along the edges. The piece cannot match the thickness of market bought pans. It can work as a secondary one, and also as a makeshift piece before you go off to get a new one.

You can use the left over plastic from this project for other things around home. I plan to use my pieces for handmade jewellery.

This is a project best suited for adolescents and adults. Kids need to be kept far far away from it.



Pictures and content courtesy: Radhika M B

For permission to re-use, write to: radicreative@gmail.com

One big plastic drink bottle, two uses: How to

Searching online for that perfect piece of a kitchen utensil can be a pain if you have specifics about its make and looks. I got fed up with a search, for an extra ceramic jar to hold my stash of kitchen ladles. It's strange I cannot find the right one in the exact nano second I want it, when my soup is boiling away on the stove. Last week I noticed the plastic drink jar that got empty.

It was thick. It had a unique hand-friendly design. And it threatened to make me cry - I simply could not trash it.

Let's just say the need for a large container enough to hold ladles, and the availability of such a bottle coincided.

I needed one other thing in my kitchen, and scoured the internet away, with hardly any satisfying results - steel or copper funnel to ease storing grains. Too expensive. The drink bottle was a perfect fit for my need.

You can try this with thick plastic bottles that come with drinks or old plastic kitchen boxes that have a good depth. Use your discretion and get imaginative.

After the orange juice got over in my kitchen, all I had to do, was to wash it thoroughly. And bring out the craft knife.

The bright yellow cap I kept aside for future projects.

Among the other materials that came in useful for this project, were:

-- a nose plier

-- tweezer

-- candle and matchbox

-- fine-point marker pen

-- Gold hue paint pen to decorate

You will need to begin by marking out the exact line between the narrow mouth of the bottle and its broad base, that you want for - the funnel and for the ladle jar. I was lucky to find perfect contours on the container. You can mark out with the help of a masking tape.

Run the masking tape along the jar, and cut.

I am dreaming of the day I cut that piece of plastic with precision using my craft knife. The one I have is a sharp piece, but I am a long way from getting the angles right while cutting along cylindrical and elliptical bottles.

I made sure to pull out the `tab' ring from the funnel half of these two pieces.

And trim the uneven edges a little with the craft knife, the way I used to sharpen a pencil as a kid. I had to be careful.

Now, you make cut the container into two with all the precision in the world, but remember, you will still have to deal with sharp edges that can hurt. Here is where a candle comes in handy.

I lit the candle using the matchbox, and ran the cut or sharp edges of the two pieces one after another, over its flame. The idea is to blunt the edges out. If you have the skill you can turn them into artful shapes. Beware. The fumes are not good. So do this in open air if possible.

The funnel got ready. Uneven on edges. But a functional utility piece that will ease my kitchen woes.


I ran the jar half of the drink bottle over the candle next. While I did not feel any need to embellish or paint the funnel, the jar cried for some colour. Out came my gold coloured paint pen. I used its contours and draw away some lines. And over its edges I tried a wavy border to go with its uneven edges.

And the ladle holder was ready for use.

I do not know how long it will last. I did save some bucks on not one, but two pieces I wanted for my kitchen use.

Here is how the funnel looks, and has started to find use.

When you set out for a similar project, remember to keep children away from your work area. Also, remember to work outdoors. Choose a container with thick plastic.

If the container has plastic that is less thick, it can be repurposed for other uses - jewellery/jewelry, toys, household pieces, and the likes.

Just do not buy a bottle for the sake of the project.


Pictures courtesy: Radhika M B


For permission to reuse content and pictures: radicreative@gmail.com

Doorway mini pin-board with cardboard: How to

Organizing our weekly schedules is a task we loathe most days. It is so easy to dream of organizing, but so difficult to keep up! We come across pin-boards  to place above desks and in home offices. But really, how often do we care to look up our desks? A mini pin-board or post-it slip on the back of our main door is a lot easier to keep up with.

The last minute rush is what organizing products industry has cashed in on a great deal. We have today, `doorganizers' that get hung over foyer doors, or placed at the console tables of the foyer.

I used pieces of cardboard that came with packaged products, to create a mini organizer for my main door. Get ready for some mess.

You will need:

-- a felt sheet of your desired colour

-- tacky glue

-- a ruler

-- a pencil

-- a pair if scissors

-- satin ribbon of an accented or contrasting colour

-- tacks or push-pins

-- cardstock of an accented or contrasting colour

-- used corrugated cardboard cut into pieces approximately larger than postcards

-- optional -- washi tape or embellishments

The felt sheet you see in this picture is a lot lighter in shade than it appears. My corrugated cardboard pieces were all cut and ready for use before I started off. So I did not have to worry about the first step of cutting the cardboard to size.

If the cardboard was thicker, it would have been easier for the overall thickness of my pin-board. I had to get the desired thickness by gluing two pieces together. Keep a tissue or rag cloth handy as working with the glue can be messy.

Here is the picture, of the cardboard piece with tacky glue spread over its surface. After gluing the pieces of identical size together, let them dry for a while.

Place this set against the felt sheet, and leave out margin of an inch on its length and breadth. And cut along. Use the ruler and pencil to help with it.

After this, fold the one inch wide felt sheet protruding from beneath the cardboard, and glue it over the cardboard set.

This part of the project can get messy. I cut edges of the felt sheet that would mess with the gluing, and the scissors would not sheer through it easy! To ease the gluing process, make a slit from the corner of the felt sheet towards the corner of the cardboard, and maybe trim off a little more.

Smear some tacky glue about two inches from the intended upper edge of this piece, and glue a piece of satin ribbon, about four and half inches in length. Fold it to strick to the cardboard, to itself, and glue a little over the stuck piece (not seen in this picture).

Over this whole tacky glue mess, glue over the piece of cardstock that is an accented or contrasted colour piece, to cover the surface.

Let this dry. I discarded the washi tape that I had kept handy for the project. Instead, I pulled out cloth flowers from my craft stash and embellished it.

It is ready for use. If nailing this on a wall, or using wall hooks is a problem, use self-adhesive tape to run along its rear edges, and stick it on the door. You can make a few of these for strategic everyday use points at home - on the fridge, on the kitchen wall, near your bed...

For more thickness, you can use two felt sheets instead of one.

As for me, am falling a little in love with the versatile corrugated cardboard.

Pictures Courtesy: Radhika M B

For pemission to use content and pictures, write to: radicreative@gmail.com

No part of this tutorial or any content of the blog should be used without permission.

Wine cork stamps and key chain DIY

When you pop out the cork from a wine bottle, you know not what can happen with the one inch cylindrical piece. Obviously it goes to trash

I did so too, and tried to figure out for long what can be made out of those little tubes of no significance. Bless the thousands of people posting their ideas online, and I picked up and idea or two for wine corks lying around at home.

When you collect a good number of corks, it is possible to make coasters and art pieces out of wine corks. With one or two, you can experiment with other smaller crafts.

I tried making wine cork stamps and a key chain with left over material of the cork pieces.

This five minutes' project needs few items:

-- a sharp edged craft knife

-- wine corks that are in fairly good shape

-- stamping ink

-- marking pen or pencil

-- for the keychain, a key ring

-- jump rings among jewellery/jewelry findings

-- jewelry pliers

-- plain paper to try the stamping design out

For a start, mark out a desired shape on the side of the wine cork that is not too damaged with your pen or pencil. Use the crafting knife carefully and carve the shape out. It may be noted that carving tools are available for corks. But with some skill, you can use the pen knife too. It was my first experiment, so I stuck to the knife.

I made two designs on two similar pieces, that posed their own challenge, such as, uneven and bumpy surface...

The idea was not perfect pieces, but pieces that would have a good effect on paper. Here is the inked cork stamp, ready for use on paper.

And here is how they turned out looking on paper.

Note that with cork, you will need some extra pressing and tilting of the stamp for the shape to turn out fine on paper. Use this for patterned designs to make gift wraps, or decorate bookmarks, or mark your books with a standard signature...

I decided to make use of the side of my cork pieces that were left unused for the stamp. And used the knife to cut discs. The disc came in handy to make a keychain charm.

All that I needed was, jump rings, a tiny plastic o-ring, with the keychain ring and jewellery pliers.

                           

                            

And here is how it turned out after I fixed the jump rings - one to the cork which had a hole already, and another to the ring.

And the wine cork accessorized keychain is ready for use.

A single wine cork can come in handy as not just an accessory, but useful for other little needs too.

 Try your hand at wine corks from old wine bottles. Or corks that come with other containers. The stamps will be useful for your kid's school projects, or your own crafting projects around home.

As for the keychain, it adds that earth-friendly feel to your vanity bag or wallet! Or simply gift them all to a friend.


Pictures courtesy: Radhika M B

For permission to reuse, write to: radicreative@gmail.com

DIY luggage tags from cardboard trash

Have you been at that conveyor belt queue at an airport and wondered often which of those giant polymer boxes happened to be yours? Or looked underneath the train berth and gotten confused between two identical looking suitcases?

Most of us have been there. Not a surprise that many of our elders come up with their own creative ways to mark their suitcases. Little pieces of satin ribbons, large labels with address screaming in large fonts on large pieces of paper glued on with duct tape.

Luggage accessories industry that includes luggage tags, has seen a phenomenal growth as a result. They come in all shapes, forms and the standard size of a credit card or more. If you have no mood to spend your precious bucks on a credit card, dig into your trash around home.

You will find it in plenty. Cardboard cartons of products you picked up at the super-market, packing corrugated cardboard, magazines...

Here is a tutorial for luggage tags with a personal touch. And with no adherence to the industry induced sizes for a proper luggage tag.

What you need to make these tags:

-- a pair of scissors
-- used cardboard that comes with products
-- corrugated cardboard that comes in boxes an packaging
-- glue - either tacky glue or glue stick
-- patterned paper
-- marker pens of a colour or two
-- thick thread and jute or burlap twine
-- sticker labels to embellish - optional
-- also optional is eyelets, if you know how to work with them

For the first step, I decided to do away with using a sandpaper on the cardboard. I used my nails to separate the last layer stuck on to the cardboard. It took some effort. And patience.

This is how it turned out after some pulling. I cut it to the desired size.

Time to use patterned paper on it. I tried the glue stick, and was not happy with it. So out came some tacky glue.

You will notice that with application of such glue, it tends to bend the cardboard.

So after you are done with the trimming of this tag, put the piece under a heavy book or two for about an hour. It helps even the piece out while drying it at the same time.

Round off the edges, punch a hole on its edge, and knot a thick thread in. You may knot this directly on to your suitcase, or keep it aside for future use. When you knot it before hand, make sure they are loose enough to pull out when you need them.

The corrugated cardboard luggage tag did not require much effort. Just cut the cardboard to a desired size, and round off the edges.

And punch a hole. After this, you may embellish using a sticker label. And write your names or initials, with a thick marker pen.

I used a mustard shade marker pen to outline the cardboard edges and along the sticker label. Knot a thread in.

Here is how its other side looked before the embellishing and threading.

Check out how it looks on a suitcase.

Now you can crane your neck out at the conveyor belt and simply notice the colour of your handmade luggage tag to identify it.

The tag definitely saves you the trouble of pulling the box out of the belt and having to put it back in if it is not yours.



Pictures courtesy: RADHIKA M B

For permissions to reuse content and pictures, write to: radicreative@gmail.com