Cheaper than a can

If you are ever in the position where you are going through a lot of cans of spray paint or you want something besides the traditional colors you might want to consider getting an airbrush. I wanted an airbrush for painting models and miniatures. I have probably spent more in spray paint than it takes to get a good airbrush set up.

Like many things there is a whole range of airbrush styles all depending on what you need.

If you want to just replace a can of spray paint then you can get a cheap airbrush for about 15-20 dollars and just connect it to a can of aerosol.

If you want something that you are going to use more often or need better control over the paint then you need to get a more expensive double actioned airbrush. These have a trigger that turns the air on and off and slides back and forth to increase and decrease the flow of the paint. These often range between 100-200 dollars new and can be found for under 100 online. Tami got me mine at michael's using a coupon/her employee discount for about 40. If you do not get it online. Make sure you use a coupon.

If you are going to be using it often you will need an option besides of cans of aerosol. There are two good options, a compressor or a large CO2 tank.

Compressors are nice because as long as you have electricity you will always have air. You have to have one that has a tank so that you can have a smooth steady flow. At the low end you are looking at about 100 dollars for the compressor. Along with the compressor you need at least a pressure valve to limit your air to about 25 psi and a moisture trap. The moisture trap is used to dry the air out so you do not have droplets of water going through your airbrush and ruining your paint. These additions will run about 30-40.

Another option that can be cheaper and that is often used by professional airbrushers is large tanks of CO2. A 10 gallon tank is about 50-70 dollars and each time you fill it, it will be another 5-10. You can get it filled at welding supply shops and places that supply restaurants. You will still need a pressure valve but not a moisture trap. Over time you will probably put more money into you set up this way if you are using it really often. You also have to be careful to not run out. However it is much quieter and you do not need an electricity source. This is what I would get if I were to do it over.

Below is my airbrush, a badger 155, and my compressor with the pressure valve on the left and the moisture trap on the right

Wood coloring

Along with wood sealing we learned about some of the different options to color wood. Oddly enough the one thing that we did not cover in class is traditional wood stains.

The first option was bleaching. I am not talking about your laundry's chlorox, but industrial grade wood bleach. It comes in two parts that are mixed in equal amounts to create a very strong bleach. It is just evenly brushed onto the wood and allowed to dry. Over the next 20-30 minutes it will noticeably lighten in color. If you start with a light colored wood to begin with like bass or maple it is very possible to get the wood to be sheet white with repeated applications.

The second option was using leather dyes. Leather dyes that are in denatured alcohol are very good at permeating the wood and can give a rather wide range of colors. As my brother can attest to, it is almost impossible to find stains in colors like red. However leather dyes come in a whole rainbow of colors. Black is a common option if you want to turn your piece very dark and make it look like ebony. The wood retains the appearance of wood but takes on a very drastically different color. One word of caution, it is impossible to control where the dye spreads in the wood so only use it if the entire piece needs that color. However you could choose to dye the piece before assembly if you need different colors.

One of the cooler coloring (and also sometimes texturing) technique that he showed us was that of using a blow torch. Through the careful use of fire you can cause one of several things to happen. The first is the changing of color of the softer wood in between the grain. The grain is harder and burns at a different rate than the rest of the wood. This can greatly accentuate the pattern of the grain with a light and dark pattern. This is done with a light and rapid application of fire to the wood. Another option is the more intense and longer application of fire to the wood. This chars the soft wood in between the grain to the point that it can be brushed away with a wire brush or steel wool. This leaves all of the wood darkened but also leaves the grain raised compared to the softer wood. This gives a very intense texture on the wood. You can also use steel wool to remove some of the char on the raised grain to increase the color contrast as the wool removes the grain and lightens the color of the wood again. Note it is smart to keep a large bucket of water nearby in case things get out of hand.

The last coloring technique that was discussed is using paint. You can get the largest variety of color with paint. You can use almost any type of paint, from acrylics from the local craft store to hand made paint using really high quality components. If acrylics are used it is often as simple as thinning it down with a little water and painting it on. Make sure you add only a little water to the paint at a time. If you add paint to the water it will stay as globs in water and not mix well. Professor Tom Eckert has also been pioneering a technique that is based on mixing powder pigment into a water based lacquer. Water based lacquers were popular before the environmental standards were relaxed and most people returned to solvent based lacquers. I know that this does not sound all that awesome, but you will be blown away when you check out the link below. If you took all the time to read this post you have to take at least another 2 minutes to check out the link that exhibits the use of pigmented lacquer to simulate silk with a wood carving.

For some unbelievably amazing pieces of art with wood as the medium check out http://www.public.asu.edu/~eckert33/gallery.htm

Wood finishes

Today in wood shop we learned all about wood finishes. My professor has been working in wood for about 50 years and has art pieces in museums and collections all over the place including the Smithsonian.

There are three sealants that he suggested.

The first is Danish Oil. It is applied quickly with a cloth, allowed to permeate the wood over a time 10-30 minutes and then the excess is wiped off. Once the oil has dried over a period of a day or so, it is sanded with either a very fine sand paper or 0000 steel wood. This process is repeated several times to impregnate the wood with the oil. As the oil dries it hardens and does a great job of protecting the wood. It is also good at darkening the color of the wood.

The second is a lacquer or varnish. It can be painted on using 2-3 coats with sanding in between. It can also  be sprayed on using a store bought can or used through a paint gun. It is great at preserving a piece for a long time. It is not the best though for pieces that will be abused as it can crack and wear off the wood (something I wish I knew before I made my longboard).  It also slightly darkens the wood although not as much as oil does.

The third option is wax. Wax is another great option. Wax has the advantage of not changing the color of the wood much at all. So if there is a piece that has perfect color already it is easy to keep it that way with wax. It is also a good option if you are making something that is going to hold food. A mixture of beeswax and mineral oil will make a paste that can be rubbed into the wood to seal it but remain safe for food. Many of the wood Egyptian art pieces that are found today in great condition were sealed with wax. Some waxes will last better than others.

My First Cheese

     Cheese happens to be one of my favorite foods. It goes well with almost everything. However some cheeses are really expensive by the pound. So I started looking into the art of cheese making. My dad suggested that I look into a soft cheese made from yogurt. I found directions on how to make Labneh, which is a strained yogurt. 
     Labneh is a super simple recipe that is a great place to start making cheese. The basics are take a quart of plain yogurt, place it in a clean white cotton handkerchief  (or similarly sized piece of cloth), and hang it up and let the whey drip out. It takes about 16-24 hours for the whey to drip out. I let the whey drip out into a pitcher and left it in the fridge overnight. I had to pour the whey out a couple times as the whey filled up to the point where the cheese was hanging into the whey. 
     Today I pulled it out and scooped it into a container for storage. At first taste I was not all that happy. Tami and I talked it over and we decided to try a couple of additions to smooth out the flavor and make my taste buds a little happier. We tried three different things. First was using a garlic press to press two small cloves of garlic into about a half cup of the cheese. Second I pressed a small jalapeño from David and Emmy's garden and mixed in the juice. After tasting both of those and being fantastically happy with the results I tried adding the crushed jalapeño and a clove of garlic both into about a cup of cheese. I am waiting for the flavors to mix before I try that. I will let you know when it is done.


If you are interested in learning more about cheese making check out  http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Cheese/ or http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/cheese.html

Vanishing of the Bees

     In my study of Beekeeping I repeatedly came across the the issue of Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. If you have not heard about this yet, it is a worldwide phenomena that has been devastating many of the worlds hives. It is recognized by the complete disappearance of all the bees in a hive with almost no trace of what happened. At first many thought it was a couple of bad beekeepers trying to blame their problems on something besides themselves. However people realized that there was a larger problem as more and more beekeepers started to lose their hives.
     Thousands and thousands of hives are just disappearing which could lead to major problems to the worlds food supply if a solution is not found. Many things have been looked at and nothing has been a certain cause for CCD but one problem that many scientists and beekeepers feel could be the cause is systemic pesticides. In the past many pesticides were sprayed onto the plants, but now systemic pesticides have the plant draw the pesticide into itself through the ground or even the shell of the original seed. The plant then delivers the pesticide through its leaves, flowers or pollen. These pesticides are not meant to kill outright, but to confuse, weaken and damage insects over time.
     These pesticides often confuse bees but they have not been shown to directly cause CCD. However the tests done so far do not look at how systemic pesticides can affect a colony over time. They test to see how it affects an adult bee over the period of a few days. They do not look at how it affects an entire colony, or how it affects the young raised on pollen tainted by the pesticides. These pesticides were okayed by the EPA based on the minimal tests conducted by the pesticides companies.
     When beekeepers in France made the connection that systemic pesticides were possibly the cause of CCD they protested and fought the use of the pesticides. Within a year of some of the pesticides being banned the beekeepers noticed that many of their hives have regained the strength that they once had. Fewer colonies were having problems and over all their bees were healthier. Now American beekeepers are trying to do the same thing that their French counterparts succeeded in doing several years ago. However the EPA still thinks that the systemic pesticides are okay to use and that the risks that they pose are acceptable risks.
     This is one of the reasons I am becoming interested in beekeeping. It is getting to the point where if we do not start doing something ourselves about the vanishing of the bees we may face a world where our fruits and vegetables will have to be hand pollenated. If you have ever complained about the cost of healthy food it would be nothing compared to the possible hand pollenated food of the future. Backyard beekeeping is a great way to help prevent the future from being beeless. Keeping healthy colonies spread out across the world will help prevent problems in the future. And you know what, you get something sweet from it too.

For more information check out "Vanishing of the bees" on Netflix's Instaque or http://www.vanishingbees.com/