A suitable adhesive for metal to glass can be found at the auto parts store. It is common to have inside rear view mirrors to fall from windshields.

The adhesive is a small tube similar to that in which toothpaste is sold and an activator swab or wipe.

One must be absolutely certain both surfaces are clean and perfectly flat. Follow the instructions on the packaging and you may get a solid bond.

I have, in the past, had great success with replacing fallen mirrors. The strength of this type of bond is quite impressive. I've also had a failure in two instances, possibly due to poor cleaning and/or poor retention while the adhesive cures.

If you can place the glass horizontal while the bond cures, all the better. Expect to use some form of tape for temporary security during the curing process.


In comic making, what purpose does cutting a single image into panels serve?

The division in panels is used to signify the passing of time, occurring in the direction of reading. This is known as sequential narrative. Whether the panels consist of different images or divide what appears to be a single image, does not matter for this interpretation.
Often when it concerns a single image, this division is combined with text - be it dialogue, description, or thoughts of the person(s) depicted. It can symbolize a lack of physical or emotional change, a stability, solidification, or unyieldingness:

Chris Samnee. Daredevil, issue #25, 2011


Can a damaged sleeve of a suit be replaced?

If you have a good clothing repair shop, they might be able to stop the hole like people used to stop socks and well done it is almost invisible.

A replacing sleeve will almost never work, even when it matches very closely when new, it will likely react different on aging and on creasing and dirt.

A good stop is as good as invisible, but it is very hard to do and requires yarn from the same suit which has aged in the same way as the sleeve that needs repairing. To do it you take out some of the yarn around the damage when weaving in the new yarn, weaving in the same pattern as the original weave.

In the past young girls were taught how to do it and there are beautiful sample pieces in museums, to find a trained girl (or woman or man) now will be very hard.

An easier repair, will only work if the damage is in an acceptable spot, is to place something over it that is very visible. Like the leather elbow pieces on traditional tweed jackets, or sweet flower embroideries on a female garment. So hide in plain view.


How to get a precise "top" of a cylinder?

If you have access to a table saw, you can place the cylinder against the miter guide and carefully advance it into the blade.

For a non-power-tool related option, a hand saw miter box will provide similar, perhaps easier alignment. The typical hand saw will chew up the ends of the cylinder, but here's the good part. Use rubber cement to attach a sheet of sandpaper of desired grit to the side of the saw blade.

It may be necessary to shim the cylinder to place it higher than the saw blade teeth. As you press the cylinder against the front or back of the miter box, you'll also apply pressure toward the sandpaper coated blade. Rotate the cylinder as you sand to avoid irregularities caused by the fore and aft motion of the saw.

It helps if you have three hands and especially if you bolt or otherwise clamp the miter box to a solid surface.

Depending on your skill set, you can construct your miter box, buy a kit or purchase from retail.

I have a hobbyist grade milling machine. I can clamp the cylinder in the vise, true it up to a few thousandths of an inch and mill the end true. That's overkill, and also a power tool option.

A good disk sander will have a miter guide and will be true to the disk plane, but again, expensive power tools may not be your best selection.

If you have the ability to drill a hole to match your cylinder squarely in a piece of wood, you can insert the cylinder and shave away the off-true portion with a plane, or use a sanding block. This last option is the least-tech, least-equipment method one can use, I believe.

EDIT:

Another glance at your images shows that the protrusions on the cylinders may cause some out-of-true results. If you have a continuous line on the side of the cylinder to use as contact point for the miter box, the chance of success is higher. For a miter box to work, you'd have to have two lines clear, ninety degrees apart.

For the hole-in-the-board method, you could get away with slicing into the edge of the hole clearance slots for the protrusions. The remainder of the hole's edges would provide the support and alignment needed for a good result.


What features should I look for in circular knitting needles to make them easier to use with my arthritis?

Longer needs can be helpful for this.

Addi makes a set of interchangeables with 5.5" (approx 14cm) tips (most interchangeables have 5"/12.5cm tips). They are called Rocket Lace Long Tips.
http://www.addineedleshop.com/click_system/lace_click_long.htm

I found the same set on Amazon by searching for "Addi long lace tip circular knitting needles." Amazon also has these needles in fixed circulars. I would suggest starting with just one fixed circular or one set of tips and a cord before buying the full set to see if half an inch is enough extra length to make a difference.


Materials for pictures that change with the direction of sunlight

I think what you are looking for are called “chameleon paints”, but I cannot recommend you use cardboard. It is better to suited to non-flexible surfaces.

Check out chameleon car paint or search on amazon for it. Most automotive shops should stock it.

Another option might be to look for iridescent paints, but they just get a bit shinier depending on the angle that light bounces off the surface into your eye.


If I had to make it, I'd do something like this:

The face has to go on one piece of paper/cardboard, and the lower jaw is a separate piece. The strip of paper that is attached to the lower jaw, will go through the hole just below the face, so you can hold the strip and move it up and down without your hand being visible.
A large chin can cover the hole, when the mouth is closed. When the mouth is opened, you'll see a part of the hole.


Any ways to damping metallic snap fastener domes afterwards?

I suggest concealment. Take a strip of very fine leather and sitch it over the line of metal domes. You might be able to find a cloth that would do the same, but the combination of suppleness and toughness needed would be hard to find in a woven product.


Best resources to learn origami art immediately?

As with all crafts and arts, you can not expect to make beautiful items when you just start. You will have to start with the simple models and big sheets of paper.
Once you have some experience, you will go up to more difficult patterns and smaller paper.

Depending on how you take to it, it might take days or weeks, but origami can be done beautiful with little experience when you work precise and with good paper.

Using a good book or a good website, cheap paper for your first few tries but nice paper for as soon as you are happy you can do the model. Depending on how you learn best, still pictures with how to fold, as in the books, or videos with fold along instructions will work. If you go for one style, try to get a site or person who has done more than just one or two, as while you are learning, following the same kind of instructions is often helpful. On the other hand, if you do not understand the instructions, other instructions for the same item may well help you.
Some websites, (I have no connection with any, I learned my folding from age 4, well before internet was invented.)
Beginners as well as more advanced.
Not as easy but clear indication which models are not starter ones.
You can say that all sites that make you fold a crane as first item are over ambitious.
I am out of the books, as the last one I purchased was 20 years back or so, but I know that if you go to a good bookshop, they should stock some. Look and read, buy a kid book if you can understand what the pictures instruct. You can go on to adult books after you have learned the basics.

There are also many youtube channels and individual videos dedicated to origami. Again I would suggest to start with instructions aimed at children.

While the boxes or packages with nice paper seem quite expensive, you will find that one pack will last quite a few models.

One way to make bigger results of small and relatively simple origami is to put them together and make scenes, birthday cards or pictures. Or to go modular, where you make the same piece over and over and put them together.

If you dream of big and intricate figures you will need to keep improving on what you have learned, using bigger and more difficult models. But do start with baby steps, and keep improving step by step. If you try to go too difficult before you have the basics, you may give up well before you are good enough.


How to tell when I have the right ribbing?

You are asking all the right questions, and thinking about the right variables, so that's a great start.  There a few other things you might consider as well:

Rib knits stretch more than stockinette, but stockinette will stretch.  Acrylic and wool yarns are usually far stretchier than cotton or linen.  A 4x4 rib is stretchier than a 2X2 (for example). In addition to these stretch variables, as you have pointed out, the degree of heaviness of your base skirt will also contribute to the final garment stretch.

Even testing each independent variable (e.g., the waistband rib) one at a time, in isolation of the system, could result in a misleading result.  For your example of knitting a section of waistband with various ribbing, at a minimum you would need to knit each test band the actual length you plan to use since the stretch of the band will change with increased length.  But you will still not really know how the band will hold up under the weight of the base skirt. The rib band might need to be knitted on smaller needles to provide more stability and less stretch.  You don’t say what skirt length you plan to make, but obviously, the shorter the skirt the less pull it will have on the ribbed waistband.

I also think the successful execution of your design depends your body type, e.g., if you are curvy with a small waist you will need to cast off stitches at the waist when you start your rib if you work from hem to waist, or cast on if you work from rib waist to hem.

One idea that might help with your questions specific to the waistband would be to hem the top edge and run a drawstring or wide elastic through it so you can tighten it if needed.

Without making a prototype skirt and adjusting it to meet your needs, similar to making a muslin in sewing, there's no surefire way to calculate the simultaneous effects of all your variables on the final garment.

I suggest looking at knitted skirt patterns to get a general idea of what your initial yarn, needle, rib, etc. variables should be and adjust from there.  For example:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/235805730472519799/

Your project sounds like a great idea, good luck!


Cooking oil certainly isn't a direct substitute for linseed oil. Oils used for paint and treating wood are so called 'drying oils' this means that they naturally polymerise when exposed to air, forming a dry flexible material.

All vegetable oils will do this to some extent but for something like sunflower oil it will take a very long time and you will end up with a gummy sticky mess long before it actually dries. It is also likely that during this time it will end up being colonised by bacteria, turning it rancid.

Also many drying oils are further treated by steaming (ie boiled linseed oil) and/or adding drying agents to speed up the drying process.


Can you bake a sculpture with a copper wire inside?

Copper has a melting point of 1085°C/1984°F which is well above your expected temperatures. There should be no danger of losing structural integrity of the sculpture due to melting of the copper wire.

According to the chart at hyperphysics, copper has an expansion coefficient of 17x10^-6 per degree C. This is 0.000017 or 0.0017 percent per degree C. Only aluminum, brass and silver expand more than copper. If you consider an extreme case in which your copper was formed when the temperature was 200° cooler, this would make the expansion 0.34 percent (if my hasty math is correct). 33 percent is one third. 0.34 percent is one-three-hundredth and that's for a two hundred degree change.

There will be expansion, but I expect that it will cause no impact on the sculpture.


Is it possible to paint an oblique (perspective) anamorphic illusion on a three dimensional surface viewable from all angles as you pass it?

You could make it work from a single vantage point, but not from numerous or continuously changing vantage points.
Whatever shape sticks out from the wall (semicylinder or other), I'll call that the protrusion.  Imagine that it was transparent so you could see through it to the features you need to reproduce, such as the line where the wall meets the floor, or the back corner where the side wall meets the back wall.  From a particular vantage point, you could look through the protrusion to a feature you need to reproduce and direct someone to mark where your sight line intersects the protrusion surface.  If you do that for all of the features, you could use those marks to paint the view.  It will have the right perspective to look like what you see from that position.
When you do that from the hall entrance, the closest half of the protrusion will be visible.  Features, like where the wall meets the floor, at the outer visible edge of the protrusion will be aligned with your sight line to the actual feature immediately adjacent to the edge, so the line would look continuous.  If you repeat the process from the other end of the hall, the other half of the protrusion will be visible.
As you walk from the end of the hall toward the protrusion, the end of the drawn line will no longer match the visual location of the feature, so the line won't look continuous.  From the middle of the protrusion, you can see the entire thing.  From that vantage point, your sight lines to the features are different, as well as where those lines intersect the protrusion surface.  So reproducing that vantage point will yield a different image.
Also, if the protrusion is curved, what looked like straight lines from the original vantage point will look like curved lines from another vantage point.
To further complicate things, all surfaces would need to be uniform colors (e.g., a wood floor would have wood grain detail).  In real life, objects farther away look smaller.  From the hall entrance, when you look through the protrusion to the farthest features to reproduce, any detail or texture would need to be painted smaller on the protrusion surface.  When you walk toward the protrusion, the relative size of those details will become wrong.
Another complication -- even if you could perfectly reproduce the features and perfectly light it so no shadows gave it away (such as where the object meets the wall), your eyes would tell you it isn't a flat wall.  Eyes accommodate for distance (the closer the object, the more your eyes turn toward the center).  It's automatic so that what you're looking at is centered where your eyes discriminate the most detail, and your brain uses it as a clue to the object's distance.  Within a normal hallway, the distance to the object as you walk past it would probably be within the range that your brain would detect a discrepancy if you were looking at it.
Having said all that, if you could make the protrusion really long, so you can't easily see the far end from one side, and if there were no vertical features like a back corner, the only visible reference would be an adjacent portion of the protrusion.  You could map the sight line intersections at small intervals from one end of the hall to the other, and create a "moving average" of the line.  With no other visual reference, it might be hard to notice that the wall isn't flat.


What happened to Venus with a Veil (1531), a possible forgery

It was confirmed to be a forgery.  The most recent news I could find about the story was from 2019, but it indicates that experts had determined that the painting, as well as a number of others sold by Giulano Ruffini, was a modern forgery.

The first painting identified in the case was a Lucas Cranach the Elder Venus, seized by French authorities during a 2016 exhibition of the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein at the Caumont Centre d’Art in Aix. The prince had purchased the work from Ruffini.
Suspicions quickly arose about other paintings sold by the collector. Sotheby’s tapped scientist and art conservator James Martin of the Massachusetts-based authentication firm Orion Analytical to take a look at a purported Frans Hals work, and a painting attributed to Parmigianino. He found both to be modern fakes, leading Sotheby’s to refund the buyers.

When I first saw an image of the Venus With a Veil, I thought it looked extremely familiar and very much like Cranach.  I thought I had probably seen it before, but I am not actually a particular fan of Cranach, and I just happened to have seen a lot of his works at the Borgese Gallery in Rome, which has an extensive collection.  It would actually be quite unlikely that I had ever seen one of the master's more obscure works.
But no, I had not actually seen it before.  I was instead thinking of this Adam and Eve by Cranach.  Compare the outlines of the womens' ears.  They are actually almost identical, much more similar than you would expect two of Cranach's ears to be.  Their foot positioning are also eerily alike.  Although Cranach evidently liked that pose, his other renderings of it were not so similar.


How can I handle the existing thread from a broken seam?

If the ends of the old thread are long enough and strong enough, finish them off as you would the end of your hand stitching.

If the ends are strong enough but very short you can use tricks to tie the ends and tucked out of the way. My most used method is to stick the needle into the fabric close to where the last stitch is.
Then I make a loop around the needle and insert into the eye of the needle, in such a way that the thread will make a knot when the needle is pulled through the fabric. If you have enough length, repeat once or twice, to make a more secure finish.
If it is the last tuck, have the needle go up and down a few times going through the fabric of or near the seam.
You can do this instead of tying onto the new yarn, but your method will also work if the yarn is still strong enough.

I would still stitch the new seam over the old one, making the switchover more secure.

If the yarn is likely to break you may want to replace a bigger part of the stitching, even when the thread is not breaking yet. You can stitch over the old stitching or just next to it, or you can take out the old stitching and replace it with the new seam.


How do I determine what size zig-zag stitch to use?

This is indeed a matter of preferences, although some generic things can be said about it.

The wider the stitch, the stretchier the result. Imagine a zig zag stitch of width 0 (which is actually a straight stitch of course), and the result will be as stretchy as the sewing thread.
As for the length, my advice is to make them not too small in order to avoid wobbly edges. Something else may help here: a wobbly edge is the result of the fabric being stretched while you're sewing. You could stick some tape on top of the fabric and sew right next to it. Beware: don't use duct tape or something with a very strong glue, as you want to remove the tape afterwards without damaging your project!


When you suggest that you are using foam rubber, the term invokes many different types of materials with the same name. The density and stiffness of the various choices provide some challenge to a good design.

The better options include neoprene and also EVA foam. The latter is relatively inexpensive and can be found in the form of floor cushion squares with puzzle cut edges. It is rigid enough from which you can build a box, yet protective enough for your clock.

Additionally, one can find it in various colors, although grey is most common and probably the least expensive.

The foam will melt if you use hot glue to assemble the box. A better choice is a contact cement, specifically a water based product to prevent the foam from dissolving from the cement. Epoxy will also work well, but takes longer to cure.

For a lid to open and close, you can secure a piece of thin leather (long lasting, durable, flexible to one edge and the top or front. Embed magnets in the foam edge to match and you'll have a secure closing system as well.

EDIT: with the additional awareness that the foam is neoprene, I've found there is a solvent based contact adhesive specifically for neoprene. Search for "contact adhesive for neoprene rubber" and you'll have plenty of returns. Amazon lists many and I'm sure there are other sources.

You don't have to have thick rubber to make the magnet idea work either. You can bond a magnet inside a flap of rubber in the box and another flap of rubber in the lid. Use as many as needed to ensure a solid closure.

One might suggest velcro, aka hook-and-loop, but my experience with that material is that it eventually loses grip, as the loops will pull open over time.

Mechanical clasps can be mounted to thin panels of wood which would be bonded using the aforementioned contact cement, but the flexibility of the enclosure may make that too much of a challenge.


How do you make curved folds in origami?

Apart from just carefully folding along the curve with your fingers, following techniques get used:

Embossing the line with a pointed object or (better) a used-up ballpoint pen. Folding along such an embossed line results in a relatively smooth fold even if the curve is complex.
For some models (mostly the organic-looking ones), wet folding can allow very smooth lines to be folded. This is sometimes combined with scoring the paper using your fingernails. Daniel Chang uses such a technique for folding his realistic human faces.
Robert J. Lang famously uses a laser tool to score the crease pattern into the paper. I was able to fold from such paper in one of his workshops and the scored line looks a row of tiny perforations which weaken the paper and guide your hand when you fold along the line.
Some folders (e.g. Ekaterina Lukasheva) use digital plotter-like tools for embossing the paper.

Machine-embossed lines (the latter two examples) are of course much more precise than those made by hand, but even a line manually scored using a ball point pen can be surprisingly precise.


What should I keep in mind for storing wool roving?

When it comes to wool, I think the biggest issue is moths. You don't want the wool to be eaten, so to store it somewhere where the moths cannot come, is a good idea to start with.
Then, constant moderate temperature and humidity sound like a good idea as you don't want the wool to dry out, become less soft, those kind of things. You're mentioning that the wool has a variety of colours, so I assume that it's painted and not all natural colours in different shades of white and brown? In that case, the wool grease has probably been removed, and drying out is less of a problem.
I myself have a lot of raw wool (including grease, dirt, pieces of grass and sometimes a dead beetle) for at least 10 years and I actually never did anything special to store it. The wool gets less greasy over time, but as long as there are no moths in the wool, you can do with it whatever you want.
(P.S.: Be aware that felt is a moth magnet!)


How to make permanent design on my plain white T-shirt?

If you are happy to hand draw, you can get permanent markers specially made for fabrics, which will stay in even if washed often. These also come in many colours and in several surface structures.

Less fancy but often nearer at hand, normal permanent markers, like sharpies. These will fade a bit with washing but mostly good for several to many wash cycles.

If you do not want to hand draw, the easiest option is to print or have printed on iron on sheets. This website has instructions, which include one brand of sheets. (I am not connected to the website and have never used this method and as such do not know which sheets and which printers would be best to use.)
The commercial alternative is a T-printing service, often they start with very small numbers but the price goes down when you get more printed.

More permanent, harder to do yourself and more expensive to have it done:
Embroidery.
Mostly machine embroidery which is done from computer pictures. But you can hand do it with enough patience (and a lot of trial and error.)
You can do hand embroidery as well and I am sure that this stack exchange site has questions about it.


I think the hidden message won't be lost, it will become visible instead.

I don't have any practical experiences after what time the message will become visible, but I'm reasonably sure it depends on the type of paper you used and under which conditions the paper is stored.

Lemon juice as "invisible ink" works by oxidizing the paper, which accelerates it's ageing. Applying heat further accelerates the chemical reaction.

If you put a blank sheet of paper on a hot plate, it will eventually become brown. The parts where you applied lemon juice discolor much faster, which makes the secret message visible. It's not the lemon juice that gets brown, it's the paper itself that does.

If you don't actively accelerate the reaction by applying heat, the lemon juice will react with the paper much slower. Direct sunlight and a hot environment would probably make the message visible within a year. In a cool and dark storage the message could stay hidden for several years.


Acetate is waterproof, and gel pens work by having pigment suspended in a water-based gel. So, intuition is that if the pen applies at all (it may not even grab to the surface), then it would be heavily prone to smearing.

An alternative could be vellum, which is often used just as you described: to trace something on a nice surface that can be used for something else.


Are there any tips as to how to set the tightness of my stiches?

Good quality patterns, especially for clothes, have information about 'gauge'. These numbers will tell you the tightness that the creator of the pattern intended: how many stitches fit horizontally and vertically in a square of 10x10cm (4x4 inches) or 1x1 inch (2,5x2,5cm). Before you start working on the piece itself, you should crochet a sample: a small piece of fabric using the pattern. When you reach a bit more than 10x10cm in size, measure the gauge of your sample and compare with the pattern. Crocheting a sample is especially useful if the pattern calls for a certain brand of yarn and you want to use a different one.

The gauge is partly determined by the weight of your yarn and the size of your hook. All yarn skeins should have labels with information on suggested hook size and expected gauge. This page has a table of all commonly used yarn weights descriptions and their adequate hook size and gauge.

A gauge information may look for example like this:

Suggested yarn is the brand the creator used, but you should be able to use this pattern with any other Aran weight yarn (checking the page mentioned earlier you can see that it's also called Worsted, 4, medium etc.) and a 6mm hook. Your sample should have 12 stitches horizontally in 10cm (4in), but there is no information on vertical gauge. In this case you can just crochet 4-5 rows of single crochets and check if the tightness is good.


Food coloring would be the easiest, most colorful and most common way of coloring eggs.

Alternately and perhaps more traditionally there are a number of natural dyes that come from food stuffs: purple cabbage, red onions, yellow onions, beets, teas. Typically these are chopped and boiled in water with a little clear vinegar in it until the color goes into solution. Then it works like any other coloring... dip, brush, or soak the eggs in it to give them color.


Why do complementary colours desaturate each other?

Just to get some terms defined:
Saturation:

Color saturation refers to the intensity of color. When color is fully saturated, the color is considered in purest (truest) version. Techopedia.com

Complementary color

a color that combined with a given color makes white or black OED

In painting, here's why a color's complementary color reduces intensity (desaturate)

First, each of the six pairs of Complementary Colors always contain one cool and one warm Hue. This means they are the colors with the most contrast.
Each pair of Complementary Colors always contain some combination of all three Primary Colors. For example, in the pair Yellow and Purple, Yellow is one Primary and Purple is a mixture of the other two Primary colors Red and Blue.
When you mix all three Primary Paint Colors together you get a dark neutral. So because Complementary Colors always contain all three Primary colors,  they quickly neutralize each other when mixed together.

From Color-Wheel-Artist.com There are some very good illustrations at the link.
Bottom line: When you mix complementary colors you are blending all three primary colors which reduces intensity/saturation.


Is there any way to preserve oil painted canvas without framing

As has been mentioned in comments, oil paint takes forever to cure and the process can't be hastened. If you need to store it without risk of damage, your only options are hanging, a shelf rack or fixed in a crate/box. As for how long they can be kept unframed, the answer is forever (or as long as the painting exists). Framing does not alter canvas tension or add to frame stability. The frame is an aesthetic addition that can serve as a buffer between the painting surface and large flat surface while stored. Most risks of damage still apply to a framed piece.


What I would do at this point with your gloves, is to take the needle and slide it under that last stitch (I took a close look at your pic) leaving a loop behind, then take the needle and slide through that loop to create a knot, you may need to do this twice. Then, I usually push the needle into the material and leave extra thread inside the work, cutting what is super extra or bothersome.
Create the knot

Hide the extra

These stitches shown here are just so I can show a sample, my stitch work is typically better. Though when I darn, I let it get messy. LOL
happy mending sustainability lovers!


I am currently struggling with drawing and coloring

As Nothingismagick says make sure you're drawing what you see not what you mind says the object is.  And make sure when you "see" something you're really looking at it.  A simple example - a plate is round, that's what my mind tells me.  But more often than not when you draw a plate you're drawing an ellipse, not a circle.

The eye you drew - the white is very seldom pure white.  Think of the location and shape of the eye - the eye is under the brow, recessed so often the white part is shaded somewhat, and since it's a sphere as you approach the corners of the eye they are going deeper below that brow and getting slightly, ever so slightly darker.  And what are the proportions of pupil to iris to white area showing in respect to each other.  You start to understand that by observing, really looking at your subject.

Draw loosely at the start not committing to hard lines - it will look sloppy but you can always erase what you don't want.  I'd use (and I do) simple lead pencils to sketch out drawings.  Whether they are for paintings or just a sketch on it's own.

Draw simple items to start - human figures or even parts of the body are by no means a simple drawing exercise.  Simple still lifes are good starts - to this day I will find myself drawing an apple just to contemplate the shape and how to define the form with shading.

When you want to start drawing human figures/parts search online for the masters and how they sketched items - Da Vinci, Michelangelo it's amazing how they represented figures with simple lines, very few lines in some cases.  Study what they do to represent an eye.  And always notice how form comes from shading - variations of a hue if you're using color.

Also do you have any formal training?  There are tons of tutorials online to help beginners and advanced folks - take advantage of them.  And if you draw something and don't like it try to figure out exactly why you don't like it - then throw it away and try again.  I can literally sketch the same subject 50 times before I approach what I want.

I've been drawing a long time and hopefully my suggestions help.  Good luck and keep trying it will come.


What is required to start sculpting clay (tools, experience...)?

There are a few different options for sculpting materials that fall withing the broad definition of 'clay'

Water based clays

These are essentially the same stuff used for pottery and are widely used for 'fine art' type sculpture. The big advantage of water based clay is that its plasticity and hardness can be controlled according to how wet it is so you can use wet clay  to quickly rough out a form and then allow it to dry a bit to firm up to allow you to refine surface detail.

Their disadvantage is that they tend not to be very string when wet and usually need some sort of internal support armature to support their own weight. You can get clays filled with paper or nylon fibres which are a bit stronger when dry but, in my experience aren't that nice to work with as the fibres can interfere with the surface.

Oil based Clays

Also known as 'Plasticine' common professional brands are Chavant and Monster Clay

These are available in a range of hardness and, unlike some cheaper brands can be used with RVT silicone to make moulds.

These tend to be a bit firmer than water based clay and as such lend themselves well to small, finely detailed models and is also a bit cleaner to work with. It has reasonable strength and tends to be less reliant on internal armatures. The downside of this is that it can be more time consuming to build up the bulk of the model and tends not to be so good for sweeping organic surfaces, although then can be softened a bit with heat and the professional brands can be melted and cast.

These give very good detail and can be smoothed very effectively. They also don't dry out and as such can be worked into and reused more or less indefinitely (although they will gradually decline in quality over time).

Modelling Putty

This includes epoxy putties like milliput these are mixed from 2 parts to a firm putty and will dry hard after a few hours. This has the advantage that they are hard and string enough to be used as a finished piece and a such are frequently used for converting and modifying existing miniatures.

Obviously the downside of this is that you only have a few hours to sculpt it before it sets, although you can still drill, sand and carve it once it has set which can be useful in some situations.

Wax

There are a variety of sculpting waxes available. Their big advantage is that their harness can be controlled easily by both heating and blending different wax grades. They can be both sculpted and carved depending on relative hardness.

Waxes especially harder ones tend to be good for getting very crisp detail.

Tools

There are a few broad categories of sculpting tools

Wax carving/dental  tools : these tend to be stainless steel and are good for fine detail. I would say that a set of these is a good starting point.
Ball stylus tools : designed for creating consistent fillets but can also be useful for sculpting fine detail and undercuts.
Hardwood clay tools :  these tend to be geared more towards larger pieces in relatively soft media.
Silicone tipped shapers : best suited to final smoothing and polishing, specifically in conjunction with solvents and/or lubricants.

etc etc

Tool selection is really a case of what works for you but all of the above are likely to be potentially useful.

Casting

Casting is a whole separate subject in itself....

Silicone rubber is probably the most versatile mould material and is reasonably easy to use.

For small scale casting you are really looking at catalysed or 2 part resins which include Polyester, Epoxy and Acrylic. In general PU resins are a good bet as they cast well, aren't too expensive, have good mechanical properties and are reasonably easy to use.

Figurine casting also tends to use resin with powder fillers added. Different fillers give different properties to the casting.

PVC and ABS need to be extruded or injection moulded and aren't really practical for small scale casting.

General Advice

I would suggest starting out with a relatively soft medium such as water based clay or the softest grades of oil clay. These are easy to work with and will let you 'sketch' figures reasonably quickly to get a feel for working in 3 dimensions. As you progress you may want to try harder grades to allow you to get a smoother finish and crisper detail. As your style evolves you will start to learn exactly what properties you need.


If you weren't planning on painting your carvings, how about varnish?

A transparent and colourless lacquer should be almost invisible after it's dried on the finished product, but will adhere to the soap and preserve your carvings as well as keeping the moisture inside the bar and preventing it from cracking.

From J. C. Rich, The Materials and Methods of Sculpture, p. 357 (emphasis mine):

  Soap is an inexpensive, readily available and easily worked material that is steadily gaining in popularity as a wholesome and interesting avocational carving medium. (See Plate 62.) The major disadvantage of the substance is its marked lack of durability. A work in soap is subject to a degree of physical shrinkage as it dries out and this may result in the development of fine surface cracks, which may in time fracture through the entire piece. As a soap mass dries out there is also a resultant change in appearance, from the soft and attractive surface the block has while it is fresh and possesses an abundance of moisture, to an opaque and dull surface after the bulk of this moisture has naturally evaporated from the mass on exposure to the atmosphere. However, a finished soap carving can be treated with one or two thin coatings of colorless and transparent lacquer, which will serve to prevent the marked evaporation of moisture from the mass. Much of the attractive appearance of a feshly carved block of soap can thereby be preserved, and the permanence of the work substantially increased.

And this tutorial from the LDS organisation website tells you what to do after you've finished the carving process (again, emphasis mine):

  Set your carving aside to dry for several days and then polish it with soft tissue paper, using your fingertips and palm of your hand to bring out highlights. If you wish, you can preserve your carving with a coat of transparent lacquer or tempera paint.

(Oh, and just for fun: Has a prisoner ever escaped by carving a bar of soap to look like a gun, painting it with shoe polish, and then tricking a guard into allowing them to leave the jail; or is this only an urban legend?)


How to remove black glue from Arches paper border?

You will have the same problem with watercolor-blocks that are glued on the edges, only that you see the remains of the glue better when the glue is black. What I usually do to remove the glue is one of the following.

Cut the edges with a sharp scalpel (or another sharp knive) preferably with the help of a metal ruler.
Lay the paper flat on a hard surface and scratch the edges (e.g. with your nails) until the glue is gone.

I dont think there is a non-invasive way to remove the glue, as it is made for holding the paper to the block really tight - even when wet.


How to improve control of hand whilst drawing on tablet?

This might seem like a cop-out answer, but... practice! Practice is the main way for you to improve your control and line quality. I've been using a drawing tablet for 10 years and I still make mistakes.

The key to drawing lines is to use long, quick strokes rather than trying to hold your hand steady while you trace your outline. Each stroke will likely take several tries, so don't feel bad if you don't get it right away!

If you find you need further assistance, software like Lazy Nezumi will stabilize your strokes, giving you much smoother lines in general.

Lastly, as @whrrgarbl pointed out, make sure that your tablet is calibrated properly and that your drivers are up to date.


Appropriate tool for measuring longer warps

Any time you dress your loom (put the warp threads on) via the indirect warping method (measure out your warp via a warping mill or board), you don't need to measure out all your warp threads together. If you are doing a project with 160 ends, you can use a warping mill or board to measure out two groups of 80 ends each, and put them on the loom one at a time. Here is a link to a YouTube video that shows a good way to store warp until you are ready to put it on your loom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ1qNeSYBxs (You can also go to your favorite search engine and search for "how to warp chain" and find similar resources.)

A custom made warping board with extra long pegs sounds like it would be a great thing to have, but if you already have a mill or board, measuring out your warp in smaller groups is one way to make do.


What are the common causes for sticky harness needles?

Oils in the leather can turn rancid with time, thus becoming a plastic, sticky goo that will transfer to the needle as you stitch. With new leather this is not going to be the problem .. but, just saying.

Try treating the needle and first few centimetres of the thread with teflon spray, WD-40, or neatsfoot oil .. whichever you prefer. You can also rub a bit of Ivory Soap onto the first 10 cm of the thread near the needle to have a slipperier wax on the thread.


Food safe, moldable materials are rare in general. The closest thing that comes to my mind is a kind or "organic plastic" made from milk, but it looked hard to work with and I don't know how food safe that really is on the long run.

Take for example a simple porcelain dish: the porcelain itself is porous and would stain with food residue. It's the glaze that makes it food safe.

I suggest using whatever clay is best suited for the style of bowls you want to create, then applying a food safe varnish or lacquer in several coats to seal the surface.


How would I flatten a watercolour mounted on mat board?

So, first, I would probably take it to a professional restoration if there was no way I was willing to risk the painting. Likely to be expensive, though, but the safest approach.

If you want to try to flatten the support, you could try slowly wetting the back of matboard with sponged water, don't soak it, wet it, and then flatten under heavy pressure (carefully, you don't want to damage the painting) for a couple of days. This may bring the matboard back into shape, but it's a bit of a long shot really.

I have to be honest, though, if the work was one that I wanted to preserve, I'd be looking to a pro to do it.


How to wrap the polythene around the crafts to protect them from dust without destroying their appeal?

Wrapping anything in polythene is inevitably going to have a profound effect on its appearance, there is no way around that.

A better solution is to display them in a closed case or cabinet with glass (or similar)  sides or windows, these vary in design from very modern looking all perspex cases to more antique looking wooden framed ones (google 'display case' for countless examples.

There are also other similar solutions, you can get glass or acrylic bell jars reasonably inexpensively.

Two dimensional work can be framed behind glass.


What is the best way to attach backing on a quilt with irregular pattern?

This is a perfect example for 'depending on your taste'.
I agree with you that vertical and horizontal lines don't do justice to the pattern, but then again, others may disagree.
That said, if I were to sew backing, I'd follow (some of) the contours of the cat.

If the backing is black, would it be better to use black thread to go over along the edges of all the pieces when connecting the backing? Or, should i use the same color thread as on one of the neighboring pieces?
If you're sewing with a sewing machine, you can use two different colours of yarn, one for the front, one for the back. When sewing by hand... I'd choose a colour matching the front side for that's the side you see most. And make sure the stitches at the back side are as small as possible so the cat shape would be more apparent than the colour of the thread.

Are there any other (better) ways to do this? Is it possible to not attach the backing at all, other than around the perimeter or would that not work so well?
Depends on the size of the quilt. But since this is a free form quilt pattern, why not attach the backing free form as well? Either by random 'squiggles' or a more regular pattern. Do an internet search for 'quilt free form backing pattern' to get some inspiration. You could also just fill the black background with a free form pattern and follow the outlines of the pieces that form the cat itself. Or use a different (free form) pattern for the cat. The possibilities are endless


It is most likely either an overlock stitch or a serger stitch. These are used to finish edges to prevent fraying and give a professional appearance to a sewn item.

  The overlock stitch is a combination of a straight stitch and a
  zigzag. It sews backwards and forwards in a straight line, but between
  every set of straight stitches, it sews a zigzag. If done correctly,
  this resembles serging, which is how most store-bought clothes are
  sewn. (Yesterday's Thimble)

And it looks like there are a few different overlock stitches on the Brother CS6000i! To get that very compressed look as in your example picture, you would want the stitch length to be pretty short in comparison to the width. As always, experiment with a few sample pieces of fabric before you put your final piece through!


Damage to the leather is just like any other detail. It is created by relief (changes in height) in the surface, so it is rendered the same. Just like the embossed areas of the leather, one side of the impression will capture light and the other will cast shadow.
So to draw scratches etc., you would use light edges and dark edges along the contour of the scratch.
As far as specifically using charcoal versus pencil that is a stylistic choice. If the charcoal medium does not deliver the look you want, then you would probably want to stick with pencil.


Can One Use Nylon Thread to Embroider on Chiffon

This question hasn't attracted answers, yet.  I don't know much about sewing, but I've used nylon thread for other purposes and maybe some insight from that will be helpful.

It is much stiffer than regular thread.  It doesn't like to make tight angles or loops.  It might have a tendency to distort  really thin, soft fabric.  You can get very fine nylon thread that is similar in flexibility to regular thread, but it is almost invisible in most fabrics (it's used for invisible stitching).

If the thread you're looking at is thick, like regular thread, it will probably be too stiff.  If it is very fine, you might be able to embroider with it, but you will need a lot of adjacent threads on the surface for patterns to be readily visible and to fill the space.

I'm not familiar with the art of embroidery, but you might be able to use thick nylon thread just for the surface pattern if you can capture it to the fabric with regular thread.  Those areas will be much stiffer than the fabric, so you might have trouble getting the fabric to fold and shape naturally (it would be like sewing a stiff patch to the fabric).

Also, if any of the embroidered fabric will be in contact with your skin, it will probably be very scratchy.


Are there any good alternatives to Linoleum and Wood for relief printing?

Anything you can cut into can be used to make a matrix for a relief print. Different materials have their peculiarities in terms of work process and result (compare linocutting to woodcutting), so it depends on what you are trying to achieve.

Here are some materials I've tried in the order I'd recommend them:

PLYWOOD
Pretty much like solid wood, comes in large sizes, cheaper than solid wood.
Note: There are different types of plywood, and they behave differently when cut. Choosing some soft wood to begin with may be a good idea.
HARDBOARD
Advantages: easy to cut, cheap, comes in large sizes
Disadvantages: produces a dusty mess, needs sealing, it is somewhat difficult to get fine detail
MDF
Same as hardboard, but a bit heavier
OSB
Advantages: cheap, comes in large sizes
Disadvantages: difficult to cut, easy to slip blade and cut yourself, dulls blades, does not work well with fine detail or on a small scale, heavy, easy to get splinters
Note: Unless you have nothing else to cut, it is really not worth it.


Sharpener for Pastel and Charcoal Pencils

You're on the right track using a craft knife or utility knife. They get you started, but you need to finish them off with another tool to make them smooth.

Make sure your blade is extra sharp. If you have to put too much pressure to cut down the point, you'll be stressing the insides of the pencil. It may not break charcoal this time, but stress fractures could make a future sharpening very frustrating.

Once you've got a suitable length of your charcoal/pastel/graphite, you finish it off with a lead pointer or sanding stone. The only difference between graphite and the more brittle materials, from what I found, is how lightly you need to sand them.

Here's a pointer that's almost identical to the one I have:

You can make one yourself very easily if you have fine sandpaper lying around. It's just several sheets of sanding paper layered, so that you can peel them away when they get worn out. (Don't toss them just because they get dark/colored, as that can be tapped or blown out. I toss mine when they loose their grain.)

You can also buy small sanding stones, which is what they use in this video about sharpening General's charcoal pencils.

By sanding it, you'll be able to develop the exact tip you want. You can make it very pointed and conical, or you can sand it to be a sharp wedge, or whatever you need for your strokes.


How do I know when my sewing machine needs a service?

It never hurts to take a machine that is new to you in for a servicing, because you don't really know how it's been treated, and what it may need.  At that time, it's not a bad idea to talk to the person servicing the machine.  Different models and brands of machines may need different work, and different usage levels and types of projects may require more regular servicing than others.

I'm pretty irregular at getting my machines serviced - and my Viking has held up very well to my abuse.  But it's always good take it in for service if:

thread is getting stuck or breaking frequently
you are breaking lots of needles
the machine's engine does not sound like a regular repeatable sound
you see signs of oil anywhere on your fabric or your hands
the thread will not catch (so the machine won't sew)

Keep in mind that service schedules may not be instantaneous.. at least near me, the folks who can service a sewing machine are getting rarer.  So I plan at least 2 weeks of service time if my machine is acting funny.


creating something like an expanding ring mandrel for my homemade lathe

Making one properly without a (metalworking) lathe would be very difficult.  With one it's quite easy.

This youtube video shows one made from simple hardware, and you could choose an appropriate screw for the shaft to fit your chuck.  But I'm not sure I'd trust its centration (might not matter if you're just using it like the second video link).

It may be possible to replace the chuck on your drill with a 1/2" version.  Then you could buy and off-the-shelf ring mandrel.  1/3" is uncommon, though 3/8" or 10 mm is quite common on battery drills, and I have a hand drill with a 1/4" chuck.


Making 50th Anniversary Invitations - Card Stock won't work in printer

A good scrapbooking adhesive tape, like Elmer's CraftBond Permanent Tape (http://www.elmers.com/product/detail/E4006) will provide strong adhesion without the mess and wrinkles of glue. I recently used it to stick regular paper into a sketchbook (with thick art paper pages), and it was great. No wrinkles, no mess, and very sticky.


What can I use to clear coat tempera or acrylic paintings for a strong glossy look?

You can use glossy acrylic medium. Acrylic medium comes in different bodies (thicknesses) and the heavier the body the deeper the layer will be. There is also acrylic varnish which also offers more UV protection and lets you clean the painting later but will have less body and is potentially more toxic.

Use a soft wide brush when applying and optionally add a leveling agent to help make it smoother and prevent brush marks.

The difference between tempera and acrylic paint is that tempera may remain water soluble after drying in which case it may bleed into anything you coat it with. Test it and if it does bleed you may want to use a fixative before applying the gloss coat as addressed by this question: What can I expect from a fixative? Though with fixatives you run the risk of discoloration and any glossy coating is going to darken (ie. deepen) the colors.


I presume you are talking about model-building. You can try mixing sawdust and sand with some burnt sienna acrylic. Apply it to your surface while the paint is still wet. When the paint has dried, drybrush it with a lighter brown over it.


If you have a vinyl cutter, or are patient enough and talented enough to manually cut out your new brand from adhesive vinyl, there are several which are both dish-washer and food safe.

There are also dish-washer safe acrylic paints but I don't know how food safe they are.


In short, you get the lining out of the way as much as possible. Fold it up as far as it will go without causing the outer layer to wrinkle too much.

The instruction is to sew both skirt layers (outer and lining) to the outer layer of the bodice. The seam allowance gets pressed towards the bodice (upwards, from the finished dress perspective).

There should be a step (not necessarily the next, but probably soon) where the lining gets placed back to the original position again, the seam allowance folded inwards, ironed and sewn down, so that all excess material is hidded inside the bodice part. This makes the seam look nice from the inside as well and is more comfortable than having the seam allowance bits directly against your skin.


Is it possible to combine charcoal and graphite in one image?

Yes, you can mix media. But you need to preserve some of the tooth of your paper's surface to successfully transition from working with graphite to charcoal.
The tooth of your paper determines how well things will catch and hold to the surface of the paper.
As you pass your pencil, or charcoal, across the paper's surface little bits of the drawing tool are abraded and deposited onto the drawing surface. Its the abraded pencil material sitting in the grooves of the paper that form the image. Unlike paint that gets absorbed and wicked into the fibres of the paper the abraded dust particles of your pencil are caught and held by the fibres of the paper. Not absorbed but held in place. This is why very smooth paper doesn't take to pencil very well. A smooth piece of paper won't abrade material off the pencil. No deposited material. No image.
Now the problem with pencils is they are made from a material that can fill and smooth the tooth of the paper quite well. The "graphite" in pencils is made from mixture of graphite and clay. Heavily working your pencil over the paper's surface will cause two things to happen: the tooth of the paper will be worn down and there will be a large deposit of graphite and clay filling the remaining voids in the paper. I have had it happen to me where I have overworked a pencil drawing and the surface of the paper has what almost looks like a mirror finish. The burninshing results in a perfectly smooth surface that nothing can grab onto, not charcoal or paint will stick to these burnished areas.
So in your case if you have been gentle with the application of graphite to the surface of the paper and retained some of the tooth then you should have no worries about working charcoal onto the surface as well.


How do I determine if an origami crease pattern is at the intermediate level of difficulty?

While there is no surefire way to know, some cues may indicate a simpler or a more complex model:

If it's a box-pleating model or the CP is otherwise based around a grid, the size of the grid is usually correlated to the model's complexity. As a rule of thumb, something that uses a 16×16 grid will usually be simpler than something based around an 48×48 grid.
The complexity of line intersections in the CP may indicate how many layers of paper there are in different parts of the model which in turn may indicate the complexity to fold. So intersections where a larger number of creases meet may indicate a more complex model. There will, of course be exceptions, as a simple mountain fold over multiple layers may have the same CP (except for fold orientation) as a complex closed sink along the same line.
Look at the finished model. The amount of detail will often indicate the complexity. Bad surprises do happen, however.
Look around forums for people writing about the model — either the folders themselves or people commenting their work will often mention the model's complexity, especially if it is high. Don't be afraid to ask, either.
Get some experience by folding simple designs first. Even if you do not intend to fold tessellations in the future, they may be a good starting point into Crease Patterns since tessellations are often published in the form of CPs but at the same time the complexity of these CPs is usually much lower than that of animal model CPs. As you gain experience by folding simple Crease Patterns, you will become more proficient in judging the complexity of a CP.


I’d be using tweezers to remove the final remaining thread with a magnifying glass if needed. If the jacket's fabric is synthetic do this more carefully than if it is cotton.

You might need to as a last step, go over it with a green kitchen scourer. This will help remove fibres caught in the actual jacket fabric. Again if synthetic, go gently.


Using SculptCrete/ShapeCrete in a gel-like form?

Both ShapeCrete and SculptCrete (and similar products), are cement-based mixtures that are designed to be used in several ways, including molding it like clay.  To achieve the clay-like handling and ability to hold fine detail, everything in the mixture has a very small particle size, and they may contain some additives (like clays).  If you mix them with the enough water to create a pourable consistency, they can be poured into a mold like regular concrete.  If you use less water to create a very firm mix, it handles like clay.
In the video you linked to, the ShapeCrete people wanted to use the material to replicate a house-shaped tissue box.  This was a novelty item -- a plastic shell in the shape of a house that fit over a tissue box, and the tissues were dispensed out of the chimney.  The goal was a thin-walled replica of that hollow plastic shell.
Pourable
To use ShapeCrete (or almost any cement product), in its pourable form to create a thin-walled replica, they couldn't just plug the chimney and fill that plastic shell as a mold.  That would produce a solid block of cement in the shape of the house.  They would have had to create an inner mold, nest the two, and pour the material between them.  That's a lot of work.
There's a method called rotocasting that creates a thin shell on the inside of a mold.  With something like resin, you can pour a little into the mold, and then keep rotating and reorienting the mold to coat the whole inside and keep it a uniform thickness until the resin sets up.  With cement-based materials, continually moving and mixing it is the way you keep it liquefied, so it doesn't lend itself to exactly that procedure.  With molds of certain shapes, you can spin the form at high speed so centrifugal force holds the cement in a uniform shell until it sets up (a house shape isn't one of those).  You can also use a mold material that absorbs water to pull water out of the cement so it doesn't slump, and build up a shell in thin layers.  That doesn't work with a plastic mold.
The small particle size and additives of this kind of material give it some strength in a thin shell.  The particle size also results in a smoother, more clay-like surface texture than normal concrete, with the ability to hold fine surface detail.  Pouring it into a mold is likely to result in some surface bubbles (which, from a previous question, you happen to want).  If you didn't want them, they can be reduced with gentle blending to avoid mixing in air, and vibrating the mold to help them rise to the top (which is typically not the exposed face).  There are also chemicals that can be added to reduce bubbles.
Clay
The typical way to use ShapeCrete like clay would be to roll it out into a sheet of the desired wall thickness, accurately cut out sections to match the inside surfaces of the house, lay the sections in place, and work the seams to join them.  That's a lot of work.  Some effort could be saved by using strategically larger pieces, even a single large piece, that get pressed into the mold and formed in place.  A thin plastic mold like that tissue box wouldn't hold up to a lot of replications.
Working from a clay consistency will produce even stronger results, the material will be more tightly compacted.  The surface texture will be similar to clay, and without the bubbles associated with pourable cement.
Cement/Sand
A cement/sand mix is commonly used for cement sculpting.  It's a relatively dry, granular mixture that's a little more moldable than wet beach sand that you might use to make a sand castle.  It could be pressed into a thin shell around the inside of the mold, requiring none of the preparation described in the previous alternatives.
If there was any fine, shallow surface detail in the mold (not likely on the inside of a tissue box), it wouldn't pick it up because the material is too coarse.  The cement walls would also need a reasonable thickness; something cardboard-thick wouldn't hold up to handling.  The surface texture will be grainy, like concrete, but without bubbles.
Gel
That's where the gel consistency comes in, and the use-case they were demonstrating in that video.  It provides the benefit of cement/sand in that it saves all of the preparation needed for pourable or clay consistencies for this type of application, and also provides the benefits inherent in the material of strength and the ability to capture detail.
The material can be mixed with an intermediate amount of water to create a consistency half-way between pourable and clay.  It's just solid enough for you to be able to handle a blob of it, form a simple shape that you can hold in your hand, and for it to stay where you put it without slumping.  It is used like the cement/sand mix described previously -- you put blobs of it into the mold and smear and press it around into a thin shell.
The material is strong enough for a pretty thin shell to hold up to handling.  The small particle size will produce a smooth, clay-like surface texture, which will pick up and retain fine detail.  As can be seen from the various videos on the ShapeCrete web site, at least one result had some surface bubbles, but most did not.  So it appears that the gel consistency is in a gray area on the edge of being pourable, where small differences in water content and/or handling could result in it having some surface bubbles.


What is an easy way to waterproof large pieces of cardboard?

Waterproof paint for the flat parts, tape for the edges.

Any kind of spreadable waterproof fluid will do for the large faces of the cardboard sheets. Paint or glue could both work, but paint is probably more cost-effective. There are many types of waterproof paint (acrylic, enamel, anything listed as exterior-grade).

The edges will be harder to deal with using paint. Even if you managed to paint the edge itself successfully, water could still trickle down the corrugated part to the inner parts where your paintbrush couldn't reach and destroy the cardboard from the inside out. But the edges can be covered using waterproof tape. Duct tape would be best for strength and durability, but if you don't want it to be visible and spoil the image of your painted props, you could use a strong clear tape instead.

See also this Quora article:

  There are various ways you could seal cardboard but basically you'll have to cover every part of it that would ever come in contact with water or even humidity, and do that completely and without even tiny gaps.

  So you could seal it with waterproof (or at least water-resistant) liquids, or with waterproof tapes (duct tape, clear packing tape, etc), or by using something like shrink-wrap plastic or other solid but flexible plastics, or with flexible metals like aluminum foil, or even just by enclosing it inside a waterproof acrylic or glass display box or dome.

  The most water"proof" liquids would be permanent paints (acrylics, latex, enamels) or clear finishes like polyurethane and epoxy resins and even less waterproof ones like thinned-down PVA glues** and acrylic mediums, etc.
  (Many other pasty, etc, materials that are thicker or not intended as finishes/paints could work too but they wouldn't usually be as smooth or thin.)

  ** aka permanent white glues, craft glues, etc --Elmer's GlueAll is most commonly used or book binding glue-- and "decoupage mediums" like Mod Podge which are already thinned down white glues


What is a good technique for drilling holes in glass bottles?

This can be done, but the difference can have more to do with the type of glass than the method. From personal experience, tempered glass is inherently stressed and is almost impossible to work with. Areas towards the necks of bottles have similar issues.

I suggest fresh masonry bits for their cost effectivenss. Too slow can cause stress from the pressure of the bit, too fast can create too much heat. Keeping the work cool and lubricated is easy in this case (water).

I have even had some success using a HSS drill bit run in reverse (suggestion from my father). Although, this tended to produce a rougher hole.

To be intricate and fancy (aka small and detailed) I would opt to using something like a diamond burr in a handheld rotary tool, like a dremel.

Let us know how it turns out!


What medium should I use to make an initial design on paper for paper cutting?

A use two different methods to accomplish this:

I will create a template piece out of a stiff piece of paper. This paper has my design drawn on it with pencil or whatever.

Then I cut out the design on that paper.
Once done, you lay the template over your final paper, and secure it with some type of clips. You want to make sure the template doesn't slip around.
Then, you cut out the design just as you would use a pencil with a stencil.
There's no need to create the entire design in your template piece. You can create small pieces, just as you would use a French curve, eraser shield, or stencil.

I simply draw the design in reverse on the back of the paper you're using, if it's meant to be viewed only from one side. Use a light pencil and make your cuts. The final product will not have the lines visible, as they're on the back.

Erasing marks afterwards has not been successful for me. It often leads to tearing of the paper, without erasing much.


You can make sure an equal pressure is applied to the individual papers or blocks while being stored by laying a heavy and flat object like a book or a similar item on top of them. Even if the humidity would otherwise warp the paper, there is no room for that now.
You can try storing your currently warped paper blocks like this for a while, but I doubt they will become completely flush again (they would need moisture so the fibres can expand, and then shrink while the pressure is applied, but the moisture would need a way to evaporate relatively quick or the paper might end up mouldy).
See also the first half of this answer for more information on storing paper.
The already wrinkled or waved paper can be straightened by moistening it and sticking it to a wooden board using water activated tape (see also the second part of this answer). After drying, you can either cut the paper out of the tape borders before using it, or write on it first, so the ink can dry completely without it warping the paper either.


What can I do to protect my hands while felting?

You might consider a small piece of leather.  I've seen leather pot holders that would likely work, but any suitable size piece of suede of sufficient thickness would work.

You could also wear a heavy leather glove on the hand that you're holding the piece you're felting.

(note -- I don't do felting, but I've done plenty of other needlework projects ... including hand-sewing leather, so I know needles don't go easily into it unless it's that thin stuff they use for driving gloves and such)


What drawbacks would there be in drawing miniaturized patterns in a vector-image program and then scaling them up?

Can you scale them up directly and get a perfectly workable pattern just by doing that? Unlikely, unless the pattern itself is particularly simple (a basic skirt or loose-fitting garment).
But can you do it? Sure. You'll need to accept that, once you've got the overall idea worked out, you'll have to make some further adjustments in tailoring after scaling up--your pattern won't be "done" by any means after increasing the size, but you can save some frustration on working out larger elements of the pattern using smaller pieces of fabric and less sewing time before bringing the whole concept up to full scale--keeping in mind that drape and gathers may not always work as well in the small-scale versions and may offer some "surprises" when you scale up.
I don't draft patterns myself, but I'll regularly modify existing commercial patterns to fit what I'm trying to make, and I generally will test the modifications in small-scale first before moving into the full size pieces. As long as you're aware of the limitations of the process, and the adjustments that need to be made when switching scales, it's perfectly doable.


How do animators draw graphics at same place in each frame?

There may be a number of techniques used:
Traditional animations had a complex workflow involving hand-coloured xerographed outlines. Backgrounds were drawn separately and reused (even in multiple films), and individual frames weren't all drawn by the same people.

A quote from the first link is instructive:

  A peg bar is an animation tool used in traditional (cel) animation to keep the drawings in place. The pins in the peg bar match the holes in the paper. It is attached to the animation desk or light table, depending on which is being used.

A hand-made flipbook could just use a makeshift lightbox with a master outline fixed under individual pages held on pegs or even taped into a precise position.

(All links wikipedia, the first in particular is an interesting read)


What paint works for "mock" stained glass?

A very simple approach are Window Colour types of paint (example).

They basically produce removable decals. You can either work directly on the glass or - if bottle design and pattern permit - work comfortably on a flat surface, then transfer it to the bottle. (Or combine both and connect pre-made parts on the bottle with fresh paint.)

Lines / contours are done with opaque paints, they come in "lead grey" explicitly to mimick the lead of stained glass.

It needs no curing, but is admittedly less sturdy than classic glass paint. Otoh, I've had one design on a big jar for two decades now, including the occasional hand-washing. It has so solidified over the years that it is no longer removable.


Why do I keep getting a loop when knitting?

From what you are saying it sounds like you are getting a loop at the end of your run of knit stitches when you go to purl stitch.  If this is the case, I have experimented to confirm the cause and believe you are not bringing the yarn around the needle to the front before you purl.

Do not bring the yarn over your needle.  This could possibly be why you are also getting an extra stitch (11 stitches instead of 10).  It needs to go around it to the front (bring it in between the 2 needles to get it to the front). Knit stitch has the yarn at the back, and purl stitch has the yarn at the front.


How to find the contours of a 3D object?

When I think of "shading with the contours", I think of having your lines follow the perspective contours of the object. So, in a sphere your strokes or shadow edges will be curved, as the shadow wraps around the surface. On a cube, your strokes can be flat and straight.

If you think of your object in wire-frames, it may help to decide which way to place the shading. Keeping those contour lines in mind may help you to visualize when and how much to curve or straighten the strokes or edges of your shading.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to demo this at the time, but I mainly use mental wire-framing as a visualization technique. It's something that came from me drawing box-and-cylinder mannequins for figure drawing.

You can practice visualizing these contours, without doing all the work of shading, with something called crossed-contour drawing. There's a great many search results crossed-contour drawing, so I'd use them! It's one of those things where you have to practice, in order to train both your eyes and your hands to understand what's going on.

If you're having too hard of a time figuring out how to make the contours, you can try finding images of wire-frame models, such as "wire-frame face". You can use these images to see how a wire-frame maps to a real object. One nice thing about this approach is that you can find 3D models for programs such as Maya. These models are intended for sale, but the sample images generally show the fully rendered (colored & shaded) object plus the wireframe of the object in the same position. That direct side-by-side may be very helpful for you.

When you don't have your shading follow your contours, you end up with results like this:

The shading on this square has circular contours, like you'd see on a sphere, so it makes the shape seem rounded or bowed, which isn't the effect you want for a flat plane.

This circle has clear linear gradation, instead of curved contour shading. Instead of looking like a sphere, this looks like a bent coin at best.


What kind of artistic style categorises such paintings?

The artist, Debbie Criswell, calls it Primitive Folk Art.


Is there a way to bond silicone to nylon?

I assume you use a molding silicone or a specialized prosthetic silicone for film and theater masks. The chemical compositions of those kinds of silicone are designed to not stick to anything.
Construction silicone, on the other hand, is designed to stick to as many materials as possible. You could try applying construction silicone to the mask, but I haven't tested if this actually works. There's also the risk that the construction silicone could "melt" through the prosthetic silicone. This melting process usually takes several days to months, so better try it on a waste piece.
A more promising approach is to embed an anchor in the mask where the muscle would be. The simplest anchor would be a key ring or a washer to which the fishing line is already tied. The mask must be thick enough to enclose the anchor on all sides or it might be pulled out. You can achieve a better bond and more natural movements by cuting a piece of mesh (any grid-like material made of metal, plastic or fabric) into the shape of the muscle, tying the fishing line to it and embedding the mesh where the natural muscle would be.


How can I sharpen a round leather punch?

The approach is the same. You remove metal from the outside of the periphery of the punch end, at an angle roughly the same as it was originally.

The contour of the round punch adjacent to the cutting edge looks rounded in your picture. This makes the edge stronger, but makes it trickier to get the sharpening angle right when using a flat stone. The punch won't get sharper unless you remove material right up to the opening, producing a keen edge.

You'll have to pick your sharpening angle (I'd start with 45-degrees) and stick with it until your grinding marks meet the opening. With something like this it's sensible to mount the punch in a drill or drill press and use the stone against the edge while it's rotating. Best results come from holding a consistent angle, which is easier when the drill or other rotating device is fixed to a bench or whatever, not hand-held. I suppose you could try holding the stone fixed and run a hand drill guided by hand, but avoid holding both in hand.

If you're brave and have a steady hand, you could try using the hand-held drill approach against a a bench grinder or belt sander instead of a stone. Only problem there is when things go wrong the go wrong quickly. Might be something to work up to once you've gotten a feel of how it works against a stone.


It seems like every pin/bead is connected to only three opposite.
So I guess the job is to divide the circle into the number of beads/pins and to connect them using only three strings per each :)


How can the colour scheme of this painting be described (in technical terms)?

There's a few things going on in this picture. Since you're asking specifically about the color scheme, which is the selection of colors or the palette, I won't go into the composition/arrangement of the colors.
In short, it's a low saturation, high contrast, monochromatic yellow color scheme. Read on for how I arrived at that conclusion.
First and foremost, this is absolutely a low saturation color palette. That's readily evident when you import the image (cropping out the borders that contain bits of the display wall, in the photo) into a photo editing program or even just Adobe Color.

Here I used Adobe Color to automatically select the dominant colors (under the "Colorful") option, and then I moved one of the selections to pick out a gray color, instead of one of the darker yellows in the top-right. I couldn't tell if the shading in the top right was intentionally or an artifact of the photography/lighting.
Now, we can more clearly see the lack of saturation. So, let's talk about saturation!
Saturation is also known as chroma, intensity, or colorfulness. The closer a color is to being a true neutral (black, gray or white), the less saturated it is.
This is very easy to visualize in terms of RGB (Red/Green/Blue) values. Colors with the exact same amounts of red, green and blue are true neutrals. Any time the difference in amounts between two or more of those values increases, the more saturated the color becomes.

Going back to Adobe Color, we can analyze the scheme and see that for all 5 colors selected, the RGB values all lie very close to one another. And if I switch the analysis to HSB (Hue/Saturation/Brightness), you'll see that all are very low saturation (the 2nd slider bar, or you can look at the exact values).

Furthermore, Red and green are more similar to one another, and always greater than blue, which creates a yellow color scheme.
This gives us a key to to another major aspect of this palette. It is monochromatic, meaning "one color". The colors in this image are primarily various tints or shades (lights or darks) of a low saturation yellow hue.
Now, there may be some artistic discussion over whether or not this is truly monochromatic, because some of the snow/sky and car have slight notes of blue to them, but color theory is not a hard science, and there is always some wiggle room. (It's also hard to say whether or not the blue hints in the whites were intentional. If the artist wasn't using a pure white paint, it might have been accidental. It could also just be from the lighting of the photograph).
One of the last major things I noticed about the colors relates to its contrast. There is almost no use of midtones. Generally speaking, the tone of image is its lighting, or the scale of it's shadows to its highlights. Midtones are thus the colors whose brightness falls between the shadows and highlights.
If you look back at the HSB image, you can see that brightness levels of the light colors are very similar (82, 84, 85), and the darker colors as well (33, 41). There's nothing between them. While I'm sure some could be found with a digital color picker, nothing really stands out as being used intentionally as a midtone. Thus, the image, overall, is high contrast, because there are no midtones to lower the contrast between the shadows and the highlights.


It looks like the zipper tape has frayed, so there's not much left to stitch to. I think the best course of action would be three steps:

Stabilize the fraying zipper tape
Reinforce the fraying zipper tape
Re-stitch the coat fabric to the zipper tape

There are a few ways to tackle #1. I'd probably douse the frayed zipper tape in a significant amount of Fray Check, especially right around the area near the teeth just where the fraying starts. Then, dig out your mini iron, take some fusible web (Heat n Bond) and iron it to some woven fabric to make some stabilizer, or get some medium-to-heavy iron-on interfacing, and iron it to the fraying parts (and about-to-be-fraying parts) of the zipper tape, to reinforce them with extra strength before you try to re-stitch the zipper to the coat.

I'm afraid that if you try to stitch it as it is now, there's not enough zipper tape to hold your stitching, and it'll pull right out again.

Good luck!


What is that dial on top of my sewing machine? What purpose does it serve?

That's a tension dial, for adjusting how taut the upper thread is held while sewing; the adjustments run from 1 (least tension) to 5 (greatest tension), and allow you to adjust the pull of the upper thread against the thread coming from the bobbin. You've already observed this, by noting the loops migrating to the top (too high) or bottom (too low).
Different fabrics will often need different tensions, but there aren't really hard-and-fast rules for this. The typical process instead is to sew a test seam using the same fabrics and check your tension, adjusting up or down as needed until the two threads are balanced. That said, if you're machine basting or stitching a gathering seam, throwing the tension wildly off can make the basting much easier to pull and remove later, as one side will be very loose and easy to break (or pull through the loops of the other side, in the case of a gather).
Note that, while you can also adjust the bobbin tension in front-loading machines, this is rarely necessary and typically only done if something has gone wrong in the bobbin case. Most top-loading machines don't have a way to adjust the bobbin tension. Ordinarily, you'll only ever need to adjust the top thread tension.
Threads Magazine has a good illustrated write-up with information on factors other than the tension dial that may throw off your tension and necessitate additional adjustments.


Here is what I found after researching a bit more:

A waist stay is typically made out of a sturdy ribbon (grosgrain or petersham), tacked at the natural waist. The stay should be slightly smaller than the garment dimensions.

The purpose of the waist stay is to help carry some of the weight of the garment and lessen the strain on the bodice.

Without the stay, the dress is held up by the bodice. A heavy skirt will tend to pull the dress downwards, which is not good for strapless styles!!

With the stay, the dress is "anchored" at the waist (because this is now the tightest part of the dress). The skirt will be secured to the waist, and a boned bodice will also be held up from that point. This lessens the strain on the bodice and zipper (if applicable).

This can help the garment feel more secure and less likely to fall down. It shouldn't significantly change the fit, but should help for wearing over longer periods of time by making sure the dress stays where it's supposed to and doesn't sag.

Some sources:

http://www.lauramaedesigns.com/2015/08/adding-waist-stay-to-garment-tutorial.html
http://blog.gorgeousfabrics.com/2012/04/05/the-what-and-why-of-waist-stays/
https://www.lovelyandenough.com/blog/2015/09/waist-stays-and-weddings


The simple DIY way

Use a ruler along the line to be cut. Use a cutter.

The more professional way

Use a paper guillotine.

.

The advantage of the ruler + cutter is that you can cut lines anywhere, anyhow, even holes. The guillotine will help you get cuts perpendicular to one edge, and the cuts must start at one edge of the sheet.


What clasps are used for closing lockets?

I know what you mean about terminology being the key. My quick pop of research shows me that you might want to use "friction clasp" as the search terms, especially as a number of sites which return from this have direct reference to locket construction.

The publisher of this page attempted a friction clasp closure for the locket and was not happy/successful in the result and created an alternative, which may also suit your purposes.

The selected solution is shown below:

One can see the pin was removed from the first attempt and the hole was not filled in. I believe one can still refer to the solution as a friction clasp, from a mechanical standpoint.

Another site goes into great detail regarding making a locket including the creation of a friction clasp, which appears some distance down the page. It appears that the process results in the rejected design of the first page I've listed, yet I suppose it's personal taste and ability split down the middle:


If there is nothing technically wrong with the grommets then there is probably not enough material in their grip when you are attaching them. Thus they over crimp and split.

You could try adding a washer shaped bit of cloth that matches the diameter of the ring of the grommet to add more bulk, or try not squeezing them as hard. Using a washer of extra fabric will help them last longer as there will be less stress on the t-shirt material at the grommet.


How can I use soft pastels with an easel?

You use a drawing board. When I was in high school we used these for our drawings and paintings all the time whether using an easel or sitting at a table. It allows you to easily move the paper around without touching it as much and gives you something to hold onto. I remember we taped the paper down to the board to keep it in place.

Here's an example of a similar easel on Amazon and it includes an image of a drawing board to illustrate how it's used (it doesn't include the board).


Photo of Ruins, how to Paint it as if it is in original Time period

I can tell you with certainty that architecture like this does exist, is still being built and is pretty common in Europe, for example in Halle or Leipzig, Germany. You can also see examples of it in Normandy (France).

The technique of mortaring brick and coating it with cement or mud is pretty common. I imagine the biggest problem you will have is finding out the color used at the time. In order to keep buildings cool, the southern walls would usually have a light color - as white (a so-called lime wash) was easy to produce - I would go for that, unless someone with more experience in Indian architecture can add their knowledge...


How to keep scratch art paper clean and free of pencil and eraser marks?

I have not done any sort of serious scratch-board art, but here are some suggestions, to answer your two part question:

Use black colored pencil instead of regular pencil.— it isn't as reflective as regular pencil, so you will just barely be able to see it while you're working.

Paint over the nicks/stray pencil marks— If you paint over the scratches and stray pencil marks with ink, it will probably cover it up and not show.  You should try this on a scrap piece of paper first, to be sure.


How can I hide ends that have been woven in on a crochet project?

First it is important to leave a long enough tails so that you have enough to weave in.

I usually just use a plastic needle and work inside and out of stitches to try and wrap around yarn. In the places where I know part of the ends are to be seen you would try to force those on the bottom of the work or where people wont see (like the inside of a hat.) Working into where your row ends also works since it is usually visually different anyway.

I would not weave in one loop at a time but try to pull many stitches close together and try to work the tail into all of them at once. Once I am sure I have covered enough ground I would relax the work and that will pull the tail back into the piece. Then after you might just need to either tuck in that last tuft or cut it off it need be.

Assuming this is something that you want to wash and is made of washable material then you can put this through and it should stay together. Not forever obviously but it won't fall apart instantly if done right.


Permanently mark pin placement for shirt

Sharpie might work, but will have some bleed on the fabric when applied that may cause the mark to spread farther than would be covered by the pins. Additionally, while you want something "permanent" right now, what happens if you lose the pins but still wish to wear the shirt?

Instead of using a permanent marker, I would recommend getting a hand-sewing needle and a bit of contrasting thread (black and white can generally be picked up quite inexpensively). Thread your needle with a doubled length of thread, then, starting from the inside of the shirt, add a single small stitch where you wish to put the pin. Tie the end off, then add a few more stitches (in either an X or straight line pattern, your choice) and tie off again before trimming the ends. This will give you a visual indicator with no bleeding, that will stay as long as you want it to stay, but can still be removed if the pins are lost or the placement isn't quite right.


What materials can be used to fill a puffy jacket?

After asking around, I had suggestions for:

Poly fill
Down
Flannel
Wool
Batting

Poly fill and down seem suitable for very puffy jackets (source), but didn't fit my vision of this particular one - might be too puffy, plus the lining would have to be more complicated to keep it distributed evenly. Flannel and wool would be warm, but they have no fluff at all, and I thought they might make the jacket feel too heavy.
That leaves batting, which has both desired properties: fluffy, and can be easily quilted to only the lining.
The particular material I got was Soft n Crafty 80/20 batting, which is advertised as: low-loft, with a soft drape, and specifically mentions garments as an application! It's just a little puffy, and not as heavy as wool.
I originally came across this in a store, so it was sheer luck to find exactly what I was looking for. Now that I know what it is, the key words appear to be "low loft" or even "ultra low loft" - searching on this gives me more product results, as well as some posts about sewing with it.


Hydrocal/Ultracal (plaster) alternative in Europe

The material you are looking for is sold in europe (or at least in germany) by the chemical name: calciumhydroxid (ca(OH)2. You can purchase it as a paste oder in powder form practically everywhere; your next door pharmacy, home depot store, aquaristic store or online.


Acrylics and model building: is a gloss layer a must-have before line detailing and washing?

Miniature painting is an interesting hobby, but as with any artistic technique, you need to practice and learn.

The answer to all your questions is: Do whatever gives you the result you like best.

You should first paint a small model that's not the centerpiece of your collection, or an old model you don't like best. Use this for practice and try out different techniques.

Any paint or varnish should be thined as much as possible but as little as necessary. On the one hand, you want the paint to be so thin that it doesn't overlay and hide small details, on the other hand, it must be thick enough to cover the area with pigment. I'd say a consistency between vanilla sauce and water is probably ok. If you thin the paint or varnish too much, you need to apply several layers to get the same effect. This is a matter of personal preference. Some people prefer a thicker paint that covers the underground in one single application, others prefer to apply several layers of paint to protect even the smallest details from being covered up. You need to try it out and find your own preference.

Black wash is the most simple way to create shadows and details in all the cracks and crannies. The disadvantage is that it darkens the whole area it's applied to.

One solution is to dry brush to a lighter tone than intended in the finished piece and apply black wash over the whole miniature to darken it.
An alternative is to apply a thin layer of clean water and adding the wash to it. The water dilutes the wash and makes the pigments flow better. The overall darkening effect is lessened, but you might have to apply several layers of wash. A tiny (and I mean tiny) amount of dish soap acts as a flow agent so the pigments flow into the cracs instead of bunching up on the flat surfaces.

But the primary purpose of gloss varnish is to make things ... glossy. It could be that the wash flows better over the varnish (similar to the thin layer of water), so it doesn't darken flat areas as much. Personally I don't apply gloss varnish before a wash, so I don't have first-hand experience.

In the end, it all comes down to your personal preference. If you like a glossy, metallic shine, apply gloss varnish. If you like a rough, dust look, apply matte varnish. If you want to paint a wet stain (maybe oil, fuel, water or blood), apply a matte varnish and then paint a glossy stain over the dried varnish.

A hint at the end: I prefer light primers (off white or light grey) because they make it easier to see small details during the painting process. I tried black primer once but it made the painting process more complicated because I overlooked small details and had to repaint them later.


Different metals have different issues.  For example, aluminum is highly reactive with the alkaline concrete (the reaction is used to create foamed concrete).  Iron rusts and decomposes all the way through.  Besides losing its integrity, the rust can crack the concrete.
Brass is much less affected by the concrete.  The concrete can accelerate development of the patina and pitting on the surfaces in contact, which would not be visible.  This won't affect the integrity of either the brass or concrete.  And concrete covering one portion of the brass won't affect the exposed, visible brass.
Perhaps a more important issue is just that brass tarnishes, even when it's well protected by a finish.  If the finish is at all permeable to air, the brass will tarnish underneath and the finish just makes it harder to polish the brass again.  If you want the patina as part of the intended design, great.  But if you want the brass to look polished, the concrete will make life difficult.  Concrete is porous, and cleaning the brass later will stain the concrete.  You could try to seal the concrete to facilitate cleaning the brass later.
If you go this route, don't embed the brass in the concrete when you mold the concrete; that would make it almost impossible to seal the concrete where they meet (and they expand and contract at different rates).  Instead, mold or drill a hole for the brass.  Seal the concrete, and you may want to seal the brass.  Then put the brass in the concrete.  I wouldn't try to crimp the brass after it's in the concrete, as it will create stress that could break the concrete (it has very little tensile strength).  I would glue the brass in place if it is necessary to hold it there.


Making an Easter bonnet is a fairly common activity for young children round here (encouraged by schools, nurseries).

Decorated planters for spring bulbs (e.g. daffodils) are quite popular gifts, requiring both craft and gardening.

Closely related to eggs is baskets to put them in.


How to get spray paint off of concrete, wood, and metal

Forget turpentine and rubbing alcohol. Whatever you do, you will have to refinish some of the surfaces.

For everything other than the concrete you should be ok with acetone. Use steel wool soaked in acetone to break the gloss of the solid areas of paint (being careful not to scratch the metal and to go with the grain of the wood) and then lots of acetone and clean rags. If the rag isn’t wet anymore, dip it in acetone again. Repeat. Wear chemical resistant gloves and a vapor rated gas mask.

Regarding the concrete: once the paint has cured (24 hours) try to chip it off with a chisel. Use a wire brush as last resort. If you use acetone, you will actually make it worse. Once you’re done, consider renting a floor buffer and use tinted floor wax to refinish the floor. For the walls do a similar preparation and then paint.

Dispose of the rags by bringing immediately to a hazardous waste treatment facility or burning in a safe and controlled environment.

DO NOT KEEP THE RAGS INSIDE THE BUILDING

EDIT:
I found this solvent description:
https://www.paintdocs.com/docs/webPDF.jsp?SITEID=KRI&doctype=PDS&prodno=075577025497

If you end up getting your hands on xylol or toluene - use excessive caution, as the fumes are carcinogenic and the fluid is caustic.


Waxed cotton has the weight and drape. Here's a wiki link https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waxed_cotton

Another benefit to waxed cotton is its ability to "heal". Once punctured leather, pleather, and vinyl will keep that hole. Also waxed cotton would be great as your mockup so you can tailor and make adjustments.


What is this long free arm machine called?

"Feed-off-the-arm sewing machines – A feed off the arm sewing machine’s design is unusual in that its arm bridges a u-shaped bed. Such machines are ideal for seaming the inseams of pants and jeans as well as the sides, sleeves, and shoulders of shirts."
https://www.abcsewingmachine.com/blogs/features/62525253-the-different-types-of-industrial-sewing-machines-body-design