Modular Composite Diamond Braid vs. Braided Twine Garland
I like to show my construction 'failures' as well as successes here. This is a good example.
I made a garland of these links about 3 yrs ago as a sort of proof of concept. I wanted to see how a 'composite' garland could perform - one with top-strings that were much heavier than its bottom-strings. To accomplish this I used the same material, diamond braid cord, but treated the tops and bottoms differently. Both started out with coring, boiling, and washing. The tops were soaked in sodium carbonate. Bottoms were very harshly bleached and abraded. Both were dyed in the same batch. It was interesting to see how differently the dye took.
The results were very good! But not good enough to justify all the effort. I tested it against one made of 3x…
Cooking BLM and dealing with J-lube clumps
When making BLM by the traditional microwave method, I've always done what I could to avoid letting the semi-hardened over-cooked J-Lube sticking to the sides of the bowl get into the finished concentrate. I mainly just avoided scraping this stuff into the bowl as I continued with the process.
Inevitably a few pieces would make it into the mix anyway. I could see them as I poured the BLM into clear squeeze bottles and sometimes saw ghosts of them in the bottles themselves. But after a week or so they were no longer visible and I never noticed them as I dispensed the concentrate. The only inhomogeneous thing I'd notice was that the last ounce or two was thicker and more difficult to squeeze out. I assume these were those clumps settling and …
Some Hot Glue Applications for Bubbling Cords
I've found a few more practical uses for hot glue in building bubbling cords. I've used it before to join the ends of diamond braid cotton for novelty garlands like my cheerio bubbler and for some prototype loops for a heartstrings garland.
I've also found it useful for forming connections in what I call grinner (a.k.a. denture) garlands that use a thin and easily twisted line to connect the loops rather than swivels. I like using Dacron fishing line to do the whippings and make the connections. The best and worst thing about this line is that it's difficult to knot. With something like cotton, if you accidentally make a knot while you're using the garland, it can be more or less permanent. It hasn't happened to me yet, but I worry about th…
Making the Cheerio Bubbler Prototype
Making the Cheerio Bubbler Prototype
This is the story, in pictures, of how I made my cheerio bubbler prototype. Please note that there are certainly better ways to do this and I'll build my next one differently. This one will likely have a limited lifespan. Nevertheless, it performed surprisingly well. It's really fun to fly!!!
Not pictured in this gallery but also needed are: wire cutters, light household string (cotton or cotton blend), and a hot glue gun.