Creating your own rock wall

Masonry is another very easy thing to do with great results. I am currently doing a rock facade to side the bottom half of my house. I have done this for a fireplace backing as well. 

First step is collecting rocks. I find dry creek beds and fill buckets to as heavy as I can lift with stone. I am picking out small beautiful rocks, very small ones for gaps, and the larger the rock the flatter the rocks if you are doing a veneer or facade over either cement, hardie backer board, or an existing rock wall. Also a few base stones, or thicker ones for the bottom.

I also enjoy using other objects like broken glass I tumble to make sea glass, broken dishes, old marbles, etc to give shine and pops of color. 

Next you mix your type S mortar with water in a bucket. I do probably less than half a five gallon bucket at a time so I can mix it thoroughly and jt doesn't dry out on me. Consistency is key, add water in slowly until you get the consistency of about a cake batter. Let sit for a few minutes.

I have been using a large metal putty knife for applying to my rocks. I always dry fit each rock. It takes more time but ensures a better, more balanced fit and less large gaps of no rock. Glob on your mortar onto your rock, spread it around, and stick the rocks on. If you have gaps it is petfect to stick some pebbles or marbles in. There is a certain height you can go with them before you have to let everything dry and return. I can't tell you, but you will know. Grab a soaked sponge and clean off any rogue mortar before leaving it.

At the end I go back with a bit thicker, or dryer mortar to shove in any empty spots or fill in. Have fun!

Plantain oil for bugbites and stings

Plantain can be found growing wild in a lot of places. Both times I have found mine near a creek though. I have been reading up on edivle plants and medicinal recipes. Plantain fresh can be rubbed on your skin directly, but to be able to be used other times of the year an oil infusion is the way to go. 

First gather your plantain leaves. Good foraging means not picking all leaves of one plant so gather thoughtfully. 

Now I have made myself a kitchen herb dryer. I just left the leaves to dry for a few days and done. For oils you do not want the extra moisture or you could get mold.

Bonus is dried leaves can be used for tea which is good for kidney and urinary health. Anyway, next, cut up the dried leaves and stuff in a glass jar. Cover the leaves with carrier oil, I used sunflower, put a lid on, and let sit in a sunny spot for 2 weeks.

Now you need to strain out the leaves and you are left with your plantain oil. It is good for bee stings, bug bites, splinters, I have even heard it is good on snake bites. The natives called it medicine leaf since it soothes and draws out toxins.

 

No fuss applesauce

A lot of people seem to know how to can. My dad always made applesauce but I mostly just ate it. Now with my own apple trees and still my love of applesauce, I can my own. Now I hear all sorts of ways to do it and they are probably good, but I don't own a pressure cooker or an apple corer or anything special but i do have extra large pots. You will need one for the sauce and one for the jars. The kitchen will be hot and steamy so it's nice to do this on a cold day.

My apples are not just organic, they are natural. That means they have squirrel nibbles and worm holes and an occasional earwig in the middle. But for applesauce who cares. I pick up the ones that aren't rotted off the ground and all my ripe ones on the tree. I used to bother peeling but with apples, the cooked peel tastes fine and it is where the good-for-you stuff lies. I cut out the bad parts and the cores, then wash them. If you washed them before cutting you have to wash again, you are just adding extra steps and this is no fuss applesauce.

I throw them in a huge pot with water up to the top of the apples and some cinnamon, probably a tablespoon for a vat of it, and stir it around a bit to get the cinnamon mixed up. Now my dad keeps telling me to use apple juice instead of water, but I like mine the way they are. Notice I didn't say sugar. If the apples are a bit sour I will add about a cup for my vat but otherwise I wait til they are done to see if I even need it. I heat 'em the apples and water, pop the lid on and prepare my water bath.

I have got my jars filled partly with water sitting in a big pot filled to half of the jars with water. If you don't have water in your jars they will float and that's not good. Put your rings and lids in a small pan. 

Once the apples are squishy in a few hours and your house smells like apple cider, I will drain what was water and is now apple juice out, but keep it. I use a large bowl for this. Then turn on the heat for your jars and lids/rings so they come to a bowl while you are squishing. I squish the apples until my desired consistency is reached. It would be handy to have a potato masher but I just use a big spoon against the pot and yes it takes a while. Add some of your apple juice if it got too dry. When done squishing, I filter my apple juice through a sieve into a pitcher and the remnants in the sieve is like really smooth apple sauce that I add back to my pot.

Now some people like a really smooth sauce, and will need to put it in a blender or food processor to do this (some people call this apple butter) but I already have a mess to clean up and I like mine a chunky so I leave it that way.

Taste it at this point. Sometimes you will need to add sugar, some apples are sweet enough.

With my oven mitts on I pull out a hot jar, dump the water back into the jar pot, and ladle some applesauce into it. I go all the way to where the jar threads are. Use a utensil to get a hot lid on it and thread the ring on but leave it loose. Place in the hot water pot with its jar friends. Continue doing this, you will notice that water that was in the jars when poured out starts to fill up the pot. You want to water to be pretty high on the jars but you may have to pour some in the next round of jars to prevent overflowing into the empty jars in the pot.

Now you leave your filled jars in the boiling water. I usually hear them pop while I am getting my next batch ready. Yes next batch because I can only fit six jars in my pot at a time. And really, once the water's boiling it doesn't take long to sterilize jars.

It took me pretty much a day to finish but I have a lot of jars of applesauce. I gave some to friends and neighbors I had so much.

So now you have delicious applesauce for the year and some apple juice for the week!

Mini greenhouse from chicken coop

So a few posts ago I talked about how to make a cold frame. Well a pine branch fell on mine during one of the wind storms, breaking the roof and soaking all the seedlings inside. It has now become my second compost bin instead since it takes at least year to make really good compost so I stopped putting it in one and am now putting it in the second so next spring the first compost bin will be ready to use for planting.

I got some old animal cages from my neighbor across the street who is building new ones. They were sitting all winter waiting for me to decide if I wanted to turn it into a chicken coop or rabbit hutch, but now I decided I would like a mini greenhouse. So I removed all the hardware cloth, cleaned them with soapy water and a brush, and then took most of the panels completely apart since there was some dry rot and they weren't exactly the right size. The ones that were right I put new nails at the joints since they were coming apart too easily. So basically if you have a pile of 2x2s, a tape measurer, a pencil, hammer and nails, and a chop saw and you can build what what I've built so far.

The two short sides and the base fit together  perfect so after putting the base panel on some level cinder blocks (I would do pier blocks buried halfway down instead), I put the short sides up one at a time and used some short pieces of 2x4 screwed on each side of the base and then screwed to the wall diagonally to keep these walls up while I get the other two walls made. I nailed down the sides from the base plate to the base panel and constructed the other two long sides to fit the length in between. Luckily my door was on one of these short sides, it is constructed out of the same 2x2s. You will have to make a door and also frame in a space for it. In either order since you will make one to fit the other,

Since my greenhouse is not getting a heavy plywood roof or any live animals, I didn't put that many joists in, just enough to make the wall panel stable. I made the whole wall panel on the ground and then put in on the base as a whole unit. I nailed it to the base, and to the side panels using a level to make sure it is plumb.

I did the same with the other long side just this one was a different height since there is a sloping roof. Now is the time to remove those little diagonal wood scraps attached from the base to the short sides. Give it a good shake. You want it to fall now instead of when you aren't expecting it right. Mine seemed a little wiggly so I put some more nails down through the base and in the corners.

Now the roof joists can be done several different ways. I put a board across the width of the roof and marked up where to cut at an angle. My angle is only 15 degrees. So I cut three boards and then drilled toenail holes and started my nails while on the ground so standing with them up on the ladder only a few hits were needed to get them secure. After these are attached the whole structure should be pretty solid. If not add a few more fire blocks (horizontal short pieces) in between the joists.

Now all my leftover wood I cut into braces my cutting them each at a 45 degree on both sides to get a whole bunch of foot long or less pieces that will hold up my shelves. I toenailed them in with the tops at the same height and cut some plywood I had laying around. I have four shelves in on the back and put some more braces on the other side for some future shelves. I painted everything to match my house which is light blue and that really made it look high class.

That is all I have done so far but am planning on putting clear corrugated plastic roofing on it and just some heavy painters plastic type sides. If the sides don't last a season I will do the corrugated plastic on all of it since it is 30$ for a roll of plastic to cover everything versus 15$ for a 2 foot by 8 foot feet of hard corrugated plastic that I will need probably 12 pieces of and have a heck of a time cutting for the door. Of course there is heavy duty greenhouse fabric as well which is in between those two price points that lets in sun and rain but also keep it warm and the bugs and birds out.  I have a feeling I should put a few drain holes in the floor as well before winter time comes too.

Firewood storage

The tarps over the firewood seemed like a good idea until massive rain, snow and wind of winter came. The water soaked through the tarps, the wind blew them off.

So today's project was firewood storage with a roof. Pretty much think of building a basic table just the top at and angle and then some thin plywood siding and a low shelf to keep the firewood raised off the dirt.

I like to use what I have and that was two 4x4 posts and then some 2x6s for the rest. Of course all you need is 2x4s. Then I had some OSB from my neighbor I used for the roof, some plywood veneer from another neighbor for the sides and back of it and then shingles left over from my house for the roof as well.

I measured my firewood and decided on a width of 28 inches and a length of my plywood which is 8 feet. So by laying my posts on the ground I found out the angle I needed to cut the tops at was 25 degrees. I attached these four legs to the bottom of my OSB plywood roof piece that I cut to the proper width with 2 1/2 inch screws. This was a little tricky because of the angle but with Rodger holding it and me screwing it worked out.

Now I attached the back and sides with just some finish nails. I left space for air which hopefully won't let too much rain in. Moved to its actual location I needed some blocks under it to make it level since everything is a slope in my yard. Once in place I realized I needed more support so I put 2x6s across the length on top to support the roof and then some scrap boards across the bottom of the sides.

I used the narrow length of OSB that I had cut off and used it as the shelf to keep the firewood off the ground. I shingled the roof and put walnut stain and water seal on the outside of it and it now looks pretty classy.

Freestanding deck project

This seems like a large project, and it is, but it really only took 3 few days to do and 2 days of waiting for cement to dry. So I picked the dimensions of the deck with the idea of having no scrap lumber left over and a minimal amount of cutting. So lumber comes in 8, 12, or 16 foot lengths at my local lumber yard so the deck is 8 feet wide by 12 foot 3 inches long.  Since my deck wood is going to go the width I picked 8 foot exactly for the length so all my deck boards will measure perfectly.

So for lumber for the structure of the deck ;
(4) 12 foot 2x6s since my spacing is 24 inches.
(1) 16 foot 2x6 plus some scrap dimensional lumber that is about 24 inches for cross pieces.
(4) 8 foot 4x4 pressure treated posts for the foundation.
(12) 16 foot 2x6s for actual deck

The total was somewhere between two and $300 for everything I needed and this will last longer than me.

Other materials needed were 12 inch diameter cylinder sauna tube and 12 bags of cement for the foundation and then the post brackets (6) and also (5) column caps. You'll need joist hangers nails, and vinyl coated or galvanized 10 penny nails around 3 inches long.

So first I marked out my deck location with stakes and strings. I dug six holes 18 inches deep and 12 inches in diameter INSIDE the string boundary. The four corners and then two in the middle of the two lengths. I cut and put the sauna tubes in the holes and then mixed my cement and put it in. It took about two bags per holes. The other way to do this is use the cement in the bottom of the hole only and put a pier block on top when it dries.

I let my cement dry a day and then cut the sauna tube off and attached my post hole brackets to the cement. The cement was still a little soft so I let it dry another day.

Now  the eight foot 4x4 pressure treated pieces are going to go across horizontally the width from cement pillar to cement pillar. Everything will be level to the cement pillar that is highest in elevation so start there and have a buddy hold a board across with a level on it and then measure what from the bottom of the board to the top of the cement pillar on the opposite side from the highest cement pillar. Mine was about 6 inches. This will be the length you need to cut off that fourth 4x4 post. Nail this vertical 4x4 piece to the post bracket with joist hanger nails with a level on the top. Then nail a column cap on top of it. That first high cement pillar does not get a vertical post
 and therefore does not need a column cap.

Now put the 8 foot 4x4 across here and you can nail it in as well but don't nail the other two 4x4 horizontals in until you put a board across all three to make sure the ends are even so you don't have a diamond shaped deck. Now the next vertical post you cut you need to level both across the width and length to find out the length of this next post. And don't forget to account for the width of the 4x4 when measuring with just a level board. So my next one was about 8 inches, then 12 inches and so on since I'm heading to the lowest corner.

Nail in all your vertical posts and column caps and once you have checked the horizontal 4x4s for square you can nail them to the column caps. This is the foundation for your freestanding deck. Then I simply lay my 12 foot 2x6s across this base to be my joists and nail on the two 8 foot ends. Then I put my scrap pieces between the floor joists for stability.

Now I put some weather seal on this bottom joist section before laying down the deck. I used two wooden stakes on each end for my spacing between boards and starting screwing in my deck. Then I put deck stain on this and built a make shift rail with my one left over 8 foot 2x6 that I made my railing posts out of  and then used cable across.

I love working out my deck overlooking the blackberry patch and taking lunches in the sun out there. I just planted some boysenberry and climbing peas around it so they can grow up the rails.

Making a cold frame to start spring seeds in winter

So you already know I am super excited for spring planting. I have my seeds germinating and a bunch of little sprouts. To start them off early and get them hardened off a cold frame is a way to have your seedlings outdoors but protected in case of one more frost.

I wish I had known about this last year since I moved in at the start of winter and my spring plants didn't get a good showing with the late season frosts stunting them as sprouts. Basically a cold frame is a mini greenhouse.

The top though has to be see-through and placed at an angle for the sun to warm up the sprouts that will be inside. I took some plexiglass out of a free large plastic picture frame for this part. The bottom stays open to the dirt, or it could be closed I suppose. The top needs to be able to open as well so you can use hinges or like I did, put a 1x2 piece to rest on the bottom. Unfortunately it means I have to use two hands to open it but I didn't have the right kind of hinges in my collection. I still have some chip board from my neighbor and some 2x6 scraps from my deck project I will post about later to make the sides out of.

I have heard too about a heat activated window opener, like a small shock, that many people use so if it gets too hot in the cold frame, the heat makes the opener open the lid to the cold frame and let some air in to keep the plants nice and healthy. I don't think I have too worry about things getting too hot in the winter here though. I was worried about snow load on the lid though so I designed it so the snow will slid off my lid.

The size of my cold frame was dictated by my plexiglass sheet. First I made a frame for this. I did only three sides however and left the bottom off so the snow will slide off. I used a table saw to cut the groove so the plexiglass will slide in. I used screws on the bottom edge with the heads keeping the plexiglass in place but glue in all the grooves will work probably better. It was too floppy leaving the bottom off completely though so I put a piece of wood underneath a few inches up from the bottom, as short as I could make it while being able to screw onto the wood frame to act  as a block to keep the lid on instead of hinges. Later I did it on the top as well.

Now I know the length of my cold frame. I cut my two front and back pieces to length. One I made about half the height of the other since I want a steep angle on mine. With a little difficulty I laid the lid on top to see what my width would be and cut the two sides of my box.

The angle on top is simply the height of the front piece to the height of the back piece. I now used 2x6s for the corner supports. If  you don't have scrap dimensional pieces, 2x2s would work great. Since I have an arbitrary angle, I made them a little long and penciled the angle on the piece and cut them that way. Then I screwed them to the side pieces while laying flat and then raised them vertical to screw the front and back pieces on.

If you are doing hinges, mark your holes and pre-drill the holes for the screws and do that, but like I said, I just put blocks under my lid to hold it in place. Then I painted it all dark brown because the plywood was very conspicuous in the place I put it, which is in a sunny location with the angle facing the south so it will get the most exposure. Plus the dark color should help absorb a little more heat as well.

Sugar pine needle tea

With the cold wet weather comes warm fires and flu season. Either I get a little bit sick for a long time or extremely sick for a short time so this time I could feel myself getting sick and wanted a boost of Vitamin C. Sugar pine needles right off the tree are chocked full of Vitamin C and since I can boil water fairly quickly over my wood stove, sugar pine needle tea is the perfect cold weather immune booster.

This time of year fortunately it is easy to identify sugar pines from all other trees because their pine cones are just about ready to fall or have fallen. Sugar pine trees have large but long cones. The other identifier is their short needles.  Ponderosa pine needles are poisonous to eat so don't be willy nilly trying this with all types of pine needles. I've been told sugar pine sap is pretty good too but I licked some on a tree to try and I was not impressed.

When I take the dogs for a walk, I can make the trek uphill just a little farther than usual to get to the sugar pine trees. Sometimes I get lucky with a low hanging branch since the pine needles need to be green to get all the good nutrients from them. Usually I can jump just a bit and pull some down.

Now, remove the little balls where the needles attach to the tree, you want just the needles only. I have been leaving a pot of water on the wood stove to humidify the room every time we have a fire so I just add some more water and the sugar pine needles. When the water gets hot enough for the pine needles to float to the surface, that is when the tea is ready. I add a packet of black tea and some sugar too because the taste is a little astringent without it and with is quite delicious. I like to strain the pine needles out too into my extra large mug.

I left some pine needles on a small branch in a vase as decoration and it lasted a long while and I just picked some needles off as needed. I used them in about a week but they were still green.

Starting seeds

I am super excited for spring plants already. Of course it is fall but I did not live up here the spring of last year. It is hard to find plants that don't need full sun and can resist a spring frost.  I saw a lot of giant hollyhocks, roses, snapdragons, periwinkle and petunias. Even some marigolds in town where it is sunny. Of course bulb plants and wildflowers grow great here.

I also found out hops grows great up here and all kinds of berries.I have a huge patch of blackberries, but a neighbor up the street has olallieberries, and the Ace in town had raspberries and boysenberries for sale.

But as a beginner in a seed starting I got myself some re-seeding perennials. These were hollyhocks and poppies. I also got some hop seeds but they are not doing anything yet. I have been told many ways to start seeds. Some in the refrigerator, some in potting soil, some in peat moss, some in potatoes.

This worked for me and is what I'm doing from now on. So, find a low container that will fit the seeds and does not absorb moisture. I found this plastic drywall mud holder to do the job perfectly.

Now line it with paper towels. I put a couple small pieces of paper towel so each seed variety can be lifted  completely out easily. Put the some seeds on it. Try to spread the seeds apart from each other. Now find a clean spray bottle and fill it with water.

Spray some water over the seeds, not much,  but enough to get the paper towel damp. Cover your container with saran wrap or a shower cap and leave it in an area that gets some sun. Uncover and spray with water every morning and night then re-cover.

When the seeds start to germinate, pluck them out and put them on some potting soil. Or it's through the paper towel already, just take the whole paper towel with it and put it on some potting soil in a pot or peat pot. I love peat pots since I can just plant the whole thing without transplant shock. 80% of my flower seeds germinated this way.

 Have your pot covered in saran wrap or a shower cap and continue the same process. When it is rooted good, you can remove the saran wrap and continue watering,  three times a day since it dries out faster. Mine are currently in this stage. Or if it is planting time, plant it of course. I will be wrapping my peat pots in chicken wire when it comes time to plant since there is a huge gopher population here.

Glass bottle lights part two: wiring.

This lamp is for my craft shed, but when I finished this project I was excited to make more and better ones. I found Vintage Wire and Supply which is like a little candy store for doing these bottle and jar lights.However, for this project I went to Home Depot and got some simple candelabra sockets (normal size bulbs don't fit in these bottles), some threaded nipples and hex nuts as well as a candelabra set foe the plug and switch since this one is going to be a lamp. Although I can still easier turn it into a fixture in the future. I had some lamp cord already, I used probably only two feet for these three IBC root beer glass bottle lights.

For tools, all you need is a wire cutter, wire stripper, and a drill with a bit the size of the threaded nipple. You will also need two wire nuts and a little bit of paint of your choosing.

First I put the lamp cord through the threaded nipple, then split and stripped the two ends. On mine, the ribbed goes to the silver screw on the socket and the one with the writing goes to the gold. Most lamp cords the writing strand is the hot which goes to the gold. First I threaded the nipple into the candelabra socket.  Now, you can skip the threaded nipple all together and just do wire with an underwriters knot and a strain relief at the top instead of a hex nut. I didn't want mine swinging around though.

I made a U shape with the stripped wire end and stuck it around the screw and tightened it. Once I saw what my wire length needed to be to reach the middle of my wood base with some room to spare, I cut it. Now the cut end can go through the bottle. The candelabra socket is the right size that the root beer bottles sit on it just right. I though the cardboard socket cover was horrible so I just put some brown Rustoleum on it before installing it back on.

I drilled holes the size of my threaded nipples in my finished reclaimed wood board I am using for the top of my light where the bottles will be. Mine was snug which was perfect. The hex nut goes on top here. Do this for all of them. Now separate and strip all the wire ends on top. You will need one more length of wire as well that will either be to attach to the one coming out of the ceiling for a fixture or like mine, to a switch and plug.

Since I have three glass bottle lights, I have four wires. Once separated and stripped, the hot (writing side) all go together with a wire nut. Then the other side (ribbed side on mine) all go together in another wiring nut.

Now if I was thinking, I would have turned my wood board into an open wood box because I can't flush mount mine. That is okay on mine since it will be high enough no one will see the top of it, but next time or if I do turn mine into a fixture, I will make sides for it of 1x1 inch strips of wood to hide the wires coming out of the top of it but still be able to mount it easily.

Wood signs

I didn't take a lot of pictures for this project because there is not much to it. You do need a router and a bit to do this. It could be a core box bit, v groove bit or straight bit. The core box and v groove gives it an extra dimension. Now I did one sign with a ruler and pencil measuring the top bottom and middle of the letters and giving each letter the same amount of space. The other sign I did freehand,  You can tell which is which.

All the wood used was just what other people had considered firewood. 

Routers are designed with the hole for viewing although you may need to bend down to see good. Wear safety glasses, you don't need flying bits in your eye. Just set the bit at a shallow depth and follow the lines. You can move the router pretty slowly to be accurate. I try to keep a moderate speed so I don't get wobbly. Just pick the router straight up each time and put it down slowly to cut away to the proper depth before moving again.

I sanded the signs and just used plain black acrylic paint with a paint brush. If you do get some outside your grooves, it washes off with water when wet. After that dries, just put some exterior clear polyurethane on it and figure out it you need mounting holes, string holes or a stake depending on where you want to display it. I made some stake ones to mark my trail through the berry patch and one hanging from twine as a gift to my sister for her new last name.

Halloween tombstone stakes

This is my first Halloween where I have a huge yard I can decorate. My decorations need to be out in the rain, who knows even snow, so not all decorations will work here in  the mountains. I don't want any fabric or even those fake cobwebs will probably be full of real cobwebs and definitely pine needles when Halloween is over.

I do have a lot of OSB plywood end pieces leftover from my shed roof so I decided to make some tombstones.

First I used the skill saw to cut a my plywood into tombstone sized pieces. Then I used the jigsaw to round the corners off. One of them I left square and did a crack design instead.

Next I put some brown latex paint on both sides. Did the backside first and then the front. Of course if you have gray or black that would work fine too.

Once the back side dried I screwed some wood stakes on, two screws each so I can pound them in if I need to. Once the front side dried I got some lighter spray paint and fogged it on the middle area.

Now is the fun part. I just did hand lettering on mine but it is not the greatest. I made up for my lack of straight letters by making up kooky names, descriptions and unreasonable birth and death dates. It was plain so I added crosses, floral patterns and skulls at the top to dress them up more since grave markers used to be extremely ornate.

I still did not think they were spooky enough so I threw some red acrylic paint on and couldn't get that blood stain look with a brush so just got my fingers in there and made some bloody finger prints and smears. Hey, I know it's not as realistic as I wanted but you can get a letter stencil at your local craft store and use that to make it much better.

I think an outline around the edge would give it more dimension too, but that might be for next year since I got so excited I stuck them in the ground already.

Glass bottle lights: Part one, breaking glass

This is part one because this is how to get the bottoms off of glass bottles to even start. I've seen so many awesome mason jar lights that I wanted to try my hand at it. You know from my earlier posts that I made a DIY  modern light fixture from an old kerosone fixture. This is similar but the multiple hanging lights gives some extra steps. Plus, you have to take the bottoms of the glass off or it will overheat with normal use.

After watching Youtube videos I thought it would be easy to take the glass bottoms off of bottles. Well it is, but it took me several failed attempts. First off, Corona bottles did not work for me, they don't break at the right point. I am using some IBC cream soda bottles in the pictures and 3 out of 4 came out great. Brown beer bottles work good too.

Second off, I bought a little pen type glass cutter off Ebay for about five dollars and made a jig by using two pieces of closet rod attached to a chunk of 2x4 to hold the glass bottles and be able to spin the bottle completely around in place. I hold the glass cutter to the bottle about a half inch up from the bottom (right above the dent on the IBC bottles) and spin the bottle around with my other hand to score it. This helps keep the glass from cracking farther up the bottle.

Now, I tied twine around my score line. About two or three times around is perfect. Tie it off and cut the extra. Now either pour on, or dunk the twine in lighter fluid. I have been keeping the twine on the bottle now, but my first times I wore gloves and dunked the twine and then put it back on.

Have a bucket of water handy filled up enough to be able to dunk your bottles half way in. Also have matches or a lighter ready.

Light the twine on fire, keeping the bottom up and slowly rotate the bottle around. When the bottom gets black, dunk it in the water. One time the bottom did pop off before I got it in the water, but usually as soon as the twine hits the water the bottom pops right off beautifully.

Like I said though, I had some failed attempts at first but once I got my first one I have been getting most of them off cleanly since.

This isn't it though. You now have a bottomless bottle but it is sharp. I used my orbital sander with some 150 grit on it and sanded away. It actually worked great which I was a little surprised by. It had a foggy look though so I followed up with some 400 grit wet and that made it look much better.

Easy necklace display stand

I've sold my jewelry at art walks and had a cool branch with screws in it that I set on my table and have the necklaces dangle off. I wanted  more professional, less back-breaking way for customers to view my necklaces. Instead of spending money on a bunch of velvet busts or glass cases, I wanted something more me, more rustic modern.

I took a scrap piece of 1/4 inch plywood I kept in case I got inspired to paint on it and then some scrap pieces of wood in my cut pile.  I screwed through the plywood a small chunk of a 2x4 at the angle I wanted my plywood. Then I added this little scrap 2x2 piece as a support so handsy people won't knock over the whole display.

Now I have a mess of outdoor upholstery fabric I fell in love with and had upholstered a rocking chair with, but I think burlap would be super cute too. Or if you want to class it up, velvet or satin would be great too.
I stapled the fabric from the back and hammered the staples after so they wouldn't stick out.

I took two of my screws out of my branch and replaced them with 3 inch screws with the same head. These go all the way through the branch and attach to the plywood. And that is it, really! I arranged my necklaces nicely so next time am out selling I can just grab the whole thing.

I have some of these up on my Zibbet page to sell but the others I don't so my customers get even more variety and a better deal in person.

I probably should make one more too so I can bring a lot of inventory.

Selling on online craft stores

Since the start of my blog Rustic Modern Woman, I have been posting projects I've made for myself. Of course, the rock jewelry I sold at the Huntington Beach art walk last year. I loved making my cutting boards so much I made more that I know someone would want to buy for their own home.

Since one of my childhood friends has had success with Etsy, I thought I'd look into creating an online store. A quick search of "reclaimed wood cutting board" and there are a lot of results, of various prices and the first page is even personalized cutting boards. How am I supposed to compete with that? I made an online store, but I am not enthusiastic about getting any hits.

I found another site, Artyah and set up an online store there. It is $5 to start a store, and that's it. Etsy is 20 cents per listing which can add up since they encourage more listings to get higher on their search.  One of the important things about online selling is beautiful photographs. Pictures of your product in action but uncluttered and clean with nice lighting, is the key to getting people to look at it.

Now, another important thing I've learned is shipping. I didn't know then, but if I keep my cutting boards on the smaller side they can fit in a slightly cheaper shipping box. A postal scale is very handy too for exact costs. I know free shipping is in, but I have to raise prices if I have to eat the shipping cost. I might try it to see how it works, but right now I am charging for shipping, but making returns easy. The bad thing about Artyah though is it doesn't change shipping cost based on the buyer's location so I had to set the price at a USPS flat rate box cost which might be higher than it actually is to ship it.

I am under the name Peterson Studios because a last name and what the business does, does not require a DBA so I don't have to go through all that again for San Bernardino County.

Rock magnets

I got a super cute birthday card from my sister and immediately wanted it on my refrigerator. However, most of my magnets are thin or weak. Well, I had to use the magnet hanging up my other card for it so.....To the craft store!

The local craft store here is the Oak Trunk. I found magnets, a set of 8 for 1.99. Now if you have been reading my blog, you know I love collecting rocks.

I found some of my small ones that I kept but I don't think are jewelry quality. I put some semi-gloss sealer on them a long time ago. All I had to do was super glue the magnets onto the rocks and that's it. It took about a minute for the Gorilla super glue to dry.

I just made eight rock magnets for $1.99 and a few minutes and they are unique local rocks so I think that's awesome.

Used saw blade clock

With all the cutting boards and construction I've been doing,  I had to replace my saw blades. I didn't realize how expensive they are now and there's no way I'm throwing my old blades into the recycling can.

A long time ago as an impulse buy I got a quartz clock kit while buying some supplies at the hobby store. I figures eventually I would find a nice wood round to use as a clock. I haven't yet but my used table saw blade is just right.

First I clean my used saw blade with some Prep-All to get the gunk off and give it a light sanding. I spray painted both sides with some gloss black Rustoleum. I did my smaller blade from my circular saw in tan and did a faux wood airbrush job on it because I was originally thinking of combining them to do a double saw blade two-tone clock. I liked just the simple design of the black though, the saw blades give it enough flavor.

Once the paint dried, I added the numbers included in the kit. They had a sticky paper backing but it really wasn't sticky enough so I put a drop of super glue on each number to place it. Now the 12, 3, 6, and 9 were easy because the table saw blade had 4 air holes exactly where they need to be. I eyeballed the rest from there.

I put the main clock mechanism through the hole in the middle of the saw. The only thing extra I need is a washer from my hardware bin before putting the nut on. I screw the nut on tight by using some needle nose pliers, and make sure the hanger is aligned with the 12 on the clock.

This particular kit, the hour goes on first, then the minute, then a nut, and then the second hand pushes in.

One double A battery and my clock is ticking. I set to the time and it's been 6 hours and it is still right.

DIY Compost bin

I have been trying to get up the enthusiasm to make a rolling bin with a trash can but my neighbor gave me this nice rolling plastic bin with  a lid on it like you see used by maids or prisoners for laundry.


Bilbo (my dog) got skunked again last night, the fourth time in two months ,and I have been thinking they are getting drawn by the compost I throw out in the berry patch. Besides, fertilizer can always be needed even if it takes a year.

I took off the wheels since I will use that for something else. And although you can just drill holes in the bottom and put dirt in there, I decided to cut off the whole bottom and sink it in the ground. I used a jigsaw because my boyfriend had the sawzall but actually, the plastic cut really well. I wore my respirator since plastic fumes from the heat of cutting are very bad for you. Although, like I said, it cut with no trouble so I might not have needed it.

I picked an out-of-the-way but sunny location for my compost bin. I dug a hole for it, and the ground here in Crestline is very soft and easy to dig since it is so fertilized by pine needles already.

Compost needs sun, moisture and oxygen to decompose fast. The bottom cut off should let worms and bugs help me out too.

The sunny location and the lid will keep it like a greenhouse, and I've been  told adding a cup of water when you add the already moist compost will keep it humid to decompose faster.

For oxygen, and also so rain will go in, I drilled holes in the lid, I think they are 3/8 of an inch but you could drill more of smaller ones instead.
I back-filled around my bin just  a little so nobody or animal will break an ankle but not enough so the sides come in.


When it gets a good layer of compost, I will use my shovel or pitchfork to stir it around and do that every time it gets a good layer of compost.

The other good thing about cutting off the bottom is I will be able to slide the whole thing up if I need to instead of trying to lift a heavy bin of dirt, but this is low enough I can shovel straight out of it.

Compost doesn't stink unless you are right up in it or don't have any air holes but I still put it away from my house since the gnats love it.

Butcher block cutting board

I had some leftover scrap wood from when I made my kitchen countertops. I used the very same technique on the countertops as I did on this butcher block cutting board. The only difference is I used epoxy on top of my counters and vegetable oil on the cutting board. All the wood for my countertops and this cutting board was what other people would consider scrap wood, and small lengths of 2x4s.

I first gathered all my wood that had a width of at least 1 and a half inches. It is nice to use a mix of different colored wood. You can buy butcher block of all one color. The mix makes it look high quality. I have scrap douglas fir 2x4s, redwood 2x4s from my neighbor that had rotten ends, and a few awkward pieces of walnut.

 I used my chop saw to cut the ends straight and the bad wood off. Then I set my table saw at 1 1/2 inches and ripped my 2x4s and every piece wider than this.

Now I arranged the pieces. With nice square wood it is easy but with my scrap wood, some of them did not fit tight against some so I had to keep rearranging the pieces. Also, 2x4s have rounded corners which can be used at the ends but not great in the middle.

With my pieces in place, I put pencil lines across the breaks. This is where my dowels will go to hold the cutting board together so just one in each piece, some on both sides offset is good enough. My first try at my counter, the glue was not enough so dowels or biscuits are needed.
You can choose to number your pieces here too to make things easier but I just drill one row at a time.

Find something to use as a guide to drill the holes. The holes can't be too close to the top or bottom and need to be the same on both sides for the dowel hole. Pick a drill bit slightly larger than the dowel and drill at least half the dowel width into each piece, on the ends I drill about 60/40 so I don't drill through the ends. I also rotate the drill a little to widen the entrance of the holes to have a little wiggle room when clamping.

Test all the pieces with the dowels for fit as you go.

Now use waterproof wood glue to glue a light layer on all the wood attaching to other pieces and some glue down in the holes. The glue sets up quickly so you better have checked everything for fit first.

Now use two long pieces on the ends to clamp across the whole cutting board. I used one across the width while using my other one to clamp and unclamp every row across the length to tighten the pieces together, then put both of them across the width on each end and used a hammer to get any ones that came out of place back in line.

The next day, I unclamp my piece and use my t-square to mark my cuts to get the cutting board square. I use a skill saw to cut the two ends. Then use an electric hand planer for the two other ends and both the top and bottom. It takes a while doing many shallow passes but I don't have a drum sander.  If the pieces were all the same, it would be easy, but these pieces are very uneven so I have to plane a lot off to get to the lowest piece and be straight all the way across. I router the edges with a round edge bit on both the top and bottom all the way around.

Now, I fill the gaps in my wood with colored sand. Another option is coffee grounds. With a putty knife, I push the sand into the cracks until they are full and sweep my excess back into the jar. I put a snail trail of glue over all the cracks and just use my finger to spread it across the gaps.With a wet rag, wipe down the excess.

After letting that dry, I sand everything with 400 grit sandpaper. Now it is done, and I just rub cooking oil all over it to finish it.

Wild strawberry jam

I have a patch of wild strawberry in my backyard. I have been anxiously watching the plants grow, get flowers and then tiny green berries. Then I started munching on the first red ones. Then I had enough to put in my cereal. Now it is peak season and I gathered two cups in a day. That is the perfect amount for one jar of jam.

First pick off the tops and any other twigs, etc that got in the strawberries. Now wash them.
Since wild strawberries are so tiny, there is no way to cut them, just throw in a pot while they are wet. Add sugar on top.

Turn the heat to low and let simmer until the strawberries get juicy.

Turn the heat to medium and stir until all the sugar is mixed in. Stir until the mixture in nice and bubbly.

Now stir again and leave alone, uncovered, for fifteen minutes.

Stir it when the time is up, it just be the right consistency now. Let it cool.

Add a little lemon juice to help it keep. Spoon into your jar and put the lid on. Refrigerate.

I didn't add enough extra sugar to account for the lemon juice added so mine came out not as sweet as I like my jam but you could omit the sugar and make straw-lemon jam. My boyfriend is a fan of lemons and straw-lemon jam but I eat more jam than him and I like it sweet.

The consistency of fresh home made jam is what appeals to me, over the store bought Jell-o consistency.

If you love to gather like me then you will love this quick easy recipe.