What is the best way of sticking card to a book front?

You don't mention the thickness of the card. Thinner stock will be more likely to warp. Regardless, my solution, where glue choice is concerned, would be to use PVA based glues. This can just mean many of the commercial white glues (Just not the ones necessarily marketed to kids or the inexpensive ones). They are good for paper crafts and are economical so can be an easy go to. They can also be forgiving for mistakes because you can just use some soap and water to clean them.

If you have some available some other choices would be cement glue or even something simple like Mod Podge. Careful that the former is vented properly during application before and after (it stinks). The ladder might not hold the test of time depending how you use it but I have plenty of crafting projects still holding up for several years now.

As far as making sure it does not warp I would suggest using an acrylic spray on both sides of the card. Let that dry before you apply it to the book. That should discourage warping and seepage if the glue ends up being too concentrated in one area.

With all things like this I would encourage you to test it out before doing something you might not be able to undo.


How can I blend soft pastels without removing too much colour?

I'm not sure why it is lightening: is the paper showing? Does the paper have enough 'tooth' or grip to begin with? How hard are you pressing into the paper and pastel? I've found gentle pressure with fingertip is enough. With softer (more expensive pastels) they tend to be the easiest to blend. If you have not tried a high-quality pastel like Schminke, then you are in for a huge treat: they have a creamy soft consistency, which make blending a real joy. Just buy one or two and see.

I have sometimes used a piece of soft foam to blend soft pastel as well, but this tends to drag the pastel off, the reverse of what you want. Perhaps try a few experiments on a scrap piece of paper (the same paper as the actual work).

Several other things to consider

Have you tried layering, using a fixative or hairspray? This allows you to keep working on an area, after the paper is 'full' of pastel. Once the pores or 'tooth' of the paper is filled, it will lose its gripping ability. This approach allows you to keep building layers.(Although it will slightly darken/flatten the luminous quality of the soft pastel.)
Sealing the surface is also useful for adding a final highlight when there is already as much pastel as the paper can hold.

For something different/fun, mix pastel with oil

I have also used linseed oil to mix colours with on the paper itself: pastel is after all, mainly pigment. This eventually seems to dry out or spread itself through the paper.


I tried the instructions from your pattern as written, and it gave me a single hole with a string running across it. That string would be a problem in a real mitten, but it might be okay for a decorative one. Presumably the pattern will have you pick up stitches around the edge of the hole and knit a thumb. I have no idea how you're getting 3 holes. Please add a photo of that, and maybe we can give you some more customized troubleshooting.
A normal way to make a thumb opening is to bind off stitches on one round. On the next round, cast on an equal number of stitches. So for your pattern, it would go like this:

Thumb round 1: Bind off 3 sts, knit to end of round
Thumb round 2: Cast on 3 sts, knit to end of round

After the main part of the mitten is done, you would pick up 6 or 7 sts around the edge of the thumb hole, knit several rounds to make a tube, then decrease with one round of all k2tog, then break yarn and draw it through the hole.


Husqvarna Viking 2000, on the off chance anyone knows the specs of the drive belt

According to sewingpartsonline.com (not an endorsement) the Husqvarna Viking cog belt (short 9 1/2") part number is 4111940-01:

  Guaranteed to fit Husqvarna Viking Sewing Machine Models:
   #1+, 100, 1020, 1030, 1040, 105, 1060, 120, 1200, 1250, 150, 180, 185, 190, 2000, 2020, 3230, 3240, 4020, 4030, 5220, 5230, 5430, 6010, 6030, 610, 6170, 620, 6230, 6240, 6260, 6270, 630, 6360, 6370, 6430, 6440, 6460, 6470, 6570, 6690, 90, 95, Classica 100, Orchidea

This is my best guess based on my best effort at searching. Please verify your belt matches this description.


Can you use Poster Paint for fantasy miniatures?

I strongly advise against using poster paints for miniature painting.

Poster paints are described as (emphasis mine):

  a distemper paint that usually uses a type of gum-water or glue size as its binder. It either comes in large bottles or jars or in a powdered form. It is normally a "cheap" paint used in school art classes.

With the correct primer the paints should be able to stick to the miniatures, but in contrast to acryllic paints they stay water soluble after drying. They are vulnerable to moisture and abrasion and rub off while handling the miniatures. A protective sealing coat could help, but any sealing (either spay or brush-on) is a liquid, which starts dissolving the paints again. You'd need to very carefully spray several thin coats of sealing or you risk your paints bleeding and loosing details.

The biggest problem, though, is the quality of the paints, more precisely the pigment density. Poster paints are usually cheep and intended for kids to paint on paper. You can have a whole lot of fillers and just a tiny amount of (expensive) pigments in those paints, because all they have to do is cover a white piece of paper with a colored paste.

In miniature painting, you want to apply coats of paint as thinly as possible to preserve all the details in the miniature. You may want to layer different colors or highlight a detail on a dark background. You need paints with a high pigment density for this job, or you'll be forced to literally cover the miniature with a colored paste, just to paint a white dot on a black background. That's usually the reason why dedicated paints for miniatures are as expensive as they are. They contain much more pigments than your average hobby paints.


"usable" is relative.  I bought a perfectly functioning dremel-like tool off of AliExpress for under $30 and it came with bits for the activities you describe above, as well as a 3ft flexible shaft attachment.  It took weeks to get to me but works great, however I am constantly aware that if it should break, I'd be on my own.  Overseas support lines are beyond my patience threshold.

This is not an endorsement.  I'm not even providing a product name or a link.  Just offering a source for what you are looking for and testimony about my own personal experience with that tool.


If you put clear tape on frosted glass it becomes see-through.
You could try that if it's meant to be a momentary peek-though situation.

Or you could mostly frost it with white alcohol ink.
Just leaving enough of an open lattice to achieve a veiled appearance.

I'd think a decent way to accomplish that would be to
put on some gloves, wad up a small piece of fabric,
wet it with the alcohol ink, then dab it on the glass.
Practice on a scrap piece of clear plastic
a few times to get the technique down,
like from a 2-liter bottle that you cut apart.

I remember hearing about see-through concrete that had similar properties: link to article


What is the difference between these watercolor papers?

Gelatin used in paper is made from animal hide cooked down into a gelatin form, while starch is made from wheat and chalk. So for a cruelty-free/animal friendly option, people do prefer to use starch over gelatin for paper-making.
Because starch kind of puts a layer/barrier on the paper, it helps with the watercolor not saturating the paper and absorbing into the paper, which can be beneficial.


Mixing Winsor & Newton Pigment Markers & Copic Markers

About damaging the Markers.

I don’t see how you could, at most, just clean the tip afterwards if you use both types toghether. Just keep in mind, according to Amazon

  a smooth surface is important so as to no damage the nibs.

About using both types together.

The Winsor & Newton Pigment Marker page only states

  Can I use Pigment Marker with other media, like water colour or oil?
  This is not recommended. The binder used in the formula of any given paint will block the Pigment Marker nib. However, Pigment Marker works with graphite pencils, and further experimentation is always encouraged.
  Will Winsor & Newton Pigment Marker™ work on standard bleedproof marker paper?
  Bleedproof paper is designed for dye-alcohol markers, which are extremely fast-drying and bleed through paper. Pigment Marker does not bleed through and is slower-drying; therefore, performance will be compromised due the paper’s high absorbency.

Since you should not use the same paper than the alcohol based markers the point is inferred.

The Blick seller of the W&N markers  has definitive specs:

  Usage Note — Do not use with alcohol-based markers

However i found a Customer Review on Amazon

  Fantastic. I use this marker with alcohol based markers like copic/prismacolor as a way to add strong highlights. The texture of this marker is basically a paint consistency, so I have to be careful when using it this way. It works well for what I need, blends beautifully. Would recommend.

So, maybe you can try dual using the markers in non-essential works.

However, my advice would be not to do it. Even within the same medium it is often problematic to use different brands because of the myriad of proprietary chemicals that could potentially interact.


Acrylic paint is becoming oily when drying

I don't think anything is wrong with your paints. I have experienced it as well at times, even though I rarely work with acrylics.
Acrylic paints go through different stages when drying, slowly forcing all of their 'volatiles' (water and co-solvents) out. But even after drying it will hold a relatively large amount of water, that can still increase and decrease:

  a level of incomplete coalescence causes acrylic films to be somewhat
  porous, leaving channels that run along the walls of the hexagonally
  deformed particles. These pores are then passageways for water to move
  in and out of the film.

This occurs more prominently in environments with higher humidity, since the evaporation process will be inhibited. This inhibition might cause water escaping from the paint to remain on the outer film of the paint.
Another possible cause is condensation: the water vapour of the humid environment turns to a liquid state as it meets the water escaping the paint film.

As for the differences in the forming of a wet layer on the skins of the various pigments, I think they might be attributed to them reacting differently to temperatures, or altering drying times. More likely, however, is that the batches have varying proportions of water, pigments and additives.

The quote was taken from this page on justpaint.org. It offers a good overview (of the different stages) of drying acrylic paint.


Lickable glue for handmade envelopes (gum arabic)

tldr; Classical envelope glue is made with gum arabic and yellow dextrin. Both gum arabic and yellow dextrin are dissolved in hot water. To prevent rot, refine with copper ions and a drop of clove oil. Apply to paper.

100 ml distilled water
10 g gum arabic (powdered)
25 g yellow dextrin (or 20 g tapioca starch + 10 g sugar)
1 drop clove oil

You can purchase gum arabic online or at better art supply stores - take whatever form you can get. If it is in crystal form (semi-irregular rock-salt size) crush it with a mortar and pestle.) Use only distilled water. A copper pot is not absolutely necessary, but copper ions are antimicrobial and antibiotic. Clove oil can be replaced with peppermint oil or left out if you do not plan to store it.

Crush the gum arabic with a mortar and pestle and then soak overnight in a copper pot with 50 ml of the water. In a glass bowl, sift the dextrin (or starch and sugar) into the remaining 50ml of water and mix until the water is cloudy and no clumps remain. Heat the water and gum arabic mixture, but do not bring to a boil! Add the drop of oil and gently whisk in the dextrin with a stainless steel hand whisk. Continue whisking until the solution gels. Remove from heat and pour into a clean and dry mason jar.

When cooled, brush thinly onto your paper envelope and let dry (or use a blow drier to speed the drying). If it gets too thick, thin with distilled water. Keep cool and in a dark place. Do not freeze, use within 6 months.

Bonus: To make yellow dextrin, spread 500g of tapioca starch out on a dry and ungreased cookie sheet and put in an oven at 200 °C. Stir it with a metal spatula every 10 minutes until it has all turned a golden yellow colour. Remove from oven and let it cool down, then put in an airtight container.


What is the name of this 3D object creation technique?

This is a relatively new trend in graphical design which is known as low poly design or low polygon design. If you google "low poly design" you'll find plenty of tutorials on how to produce such pictures by yourself (e.g. this one). In (very) short, you take a picture, triangulate it and generates the polygons out of your the induced mesh. Clearly, this is all done by computer. (Somewhat this remembers me of the painting style named cubism.)


What are the different methods of knitting with two needles?

The German method is also called Continental Knitting.
It is a method of knitting with 2 needles, and a type of style of how you hold your yarn and needles. You would hold the yarn in your left hand and your right hand will be on your working needle.

http://www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/the-knit-stitch-continental-continental

Another style is called English Knitting, also known as right-hand knitting or throwing. The yarn is carried in your right hand instead.

http://www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/the-knit-stitch-english-english

So, the main difference between the two is the way the yarn is wrapped around the right needle before it’s pulled through to knit a stitch. The choice between them though is merely preference for the most part as they both create the same resulting fabric. But here is more detailed post explaining the differences:

http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/02/english-vs-continental-knitting/

As for French knitting, as far as I know it is a type of tubular knitting, not 2 needles, which requires a knitting spool instead.


How to wind a hank of yarn without a swift?

The method I have used all my life involves two people.
One holds the yarn on the wrists, moving the hands such that they assist in unwinding and keep the yarn organized, the other does the winding of the ball and pulls the yarn from the partners hands, gently as not to disturb the lot.
I have used a one person version of this myself, it takes some practice and I think it requires the training of having been person one as well as the other in the two people method.
Hold the yarn on your arms about elbow level, making sure that the winding off side is on the outside and the top, bring your hands together while keeping enough tension on the yarn to keep it in place.
Now start winding, undoing one loop of the yarn at the time at most, to avoid tangles.
The method my grandmother would use: two chairbacks.
Put the yarn around two chair backs where the chairs are back to back, move the chairs away from each other till there is just enough tension to keep the yarn in place. If the chairs glide easily over the floor you may need to put something between them on floor level and if they tip backwards put something heavy on the seats.
Or if your chairs and skein sizes allow, turn one or both chairs so the seats face each other.
It will work easiest if you have an eye above the chairs to pull the yarn up from the chairs, but if needed you can work your winding above the backs.
Some extra twisting or a little untwisting of the yarn is to be expected, (which depends on the lay of the twist in the yarn and the way you unwind) but in twisted yarn it will not be much and might be taken up by how you wind your ball.
In the comments @Not The Face mentioned a niddy noddy. I have never owned or even used one, so I am not sure how easy it is to get a skein onto one, specially if the skein has not been made on it. But I see that there are niddy noddies which can be adjusted in size and those might be useful for bought skeins.
And I am also not sure how easy it is to use one to unwind when alone. But it would keep the skein in place when you unwind.
Checking out videos about making your own niddy noddy, I also found videos about making or using your own skein winder and swift.
I have not tried any of them, I mostly included them as proof that the information is there on internet.


What is the Best Material for Chrome Guitar Pick Guard?

I'm looking to cut a piece of metal in the shape of a pickguard, then have it professionally chromed

The chrome will go away quite fast, considering the abuse it will have to take - regardless how kind and attentive you are while playing the guitar (also depending how much time you play that guitar, and the material and quality of the pick itself). Unless you "professionally chrome" that metal every few months / years, the base metal will be there smiling at you all the time.
My best advice is to use stainless steel - it is metal, it is strong, it looks like chrome and it does not need any chroming. It might be more expensive for the beginning, but it will need zero maintenance afterwards.

A cheaper alternative is to use copper or aluminum. They are easier to find (I saw aluminum sheets myself quite often in generic home-repairs and gardening shops), easy to cut and polish, easy to chrome. Aluminum also is very light, it will not break the back of the player with the extra kilograms. Brass also comes to mind, as a base material.


How can I splice the tail of my tie and have it not look terrible?

You need to stiffen the fibres so that the thread does not tear though them while you are sewing.

Clear nail polish

I ended up buying a small container and applied in all along the edges of the tie tail. About a 1/4 inch all around.

After letting it dry it gave something for the thread to hold onto. Made it loads easier to get cleaner results.


What is the name of these "offset" nibs and pens?

It is called an Oblique Calligraphy Pen. It is used because it makes it much easier to hold the nib pointing in angles that are otherwise very hard to achieve if you're right handed (oblique angles):


How much thread do I need when cross-stitching a pattern?

From my knitting experience, the empirical way to find out would be a swatch - make N stitches, then rip it out. Measure how much thread you used and divide by N to get a rough estimate of thread per stitch.

If you want to calculate it from first principles, you also need to take into account the fabric count. For example, 14-count Aida has 14 holes per inch. That means each "X" is made inside a block which is 1/14" on each side. So the diagonal of the square is then sqrt(2)/14 inches, so an X is 2 * sqrt(2)/14.

Of course, you aren't just stitching the front of the "X". This is where the way you arrange stitches makes a difference. You may want to adjust this based on your method, but for contiguous areas I usually end up with a couple horizontal lines on the back. This corresponds to another 2/14" of thread (edges of the square your "X" is stitched into).

Putting it all together, for a fabric count C and number points N:

N * (2*sqrt(2)/C + 2/C)

As you note in your question, I would of course add more length depending on how complicated the areas are, and to allow for weaving in ends.


Clear Gesso: Does it produce a translucent foundation layer?

I've used the clear gesso with pigments to create underpainting. Clear gesso mixed with acrylics can achieve a faux watercolor paint effect. (I found an example YouTube video here.) I personally did this a little differently. I mixed the clear gesso with the paint in a little cup and added a few drops of water. I dipped my brush in the paint and painted over dry gesso. (It had a similar effect, but I had more control.)

To answer your question; It is definitely translucent upon drying and would make it more difficult (but not impossible) to achieve an even-toned background. If that is what you are going for, I would definitely stick to the white gesso. But, give the clear gesso a try. I highly suggest experimenting with it!


How can I build and attach new plaster hands for a statue?

Your intention to salvage the statue is well placed. However, as already stated in a comment, your biggest enemy here is the fact that the structural integrity of the statue is affected, and therefore not reliable.

Before fixing the details, you should make sure that the statue can survive the repairs, instead of completely collapsing together with said repairs.

To verify the extent of the structural damage, you should carefully remove everything that can be removed - as in "disassemble the statue". You will understand better the skeleton it was built on (I see some wood "stick" inside the arm). Make lots of pictures, number the fragments...

Be sure to have good glue, compatible with the material of the statue.

And I would fix the base, before anything else. Otherwise, the base will allow the entire statue to be destroyed at some time later. Even a small accident will render all previous work useless, while trying to fix the base.

Bottom line: this appears to be a not-so-easy task. Even if it is not worth hiring a professional to do all the work, you may still contact a local professional for some advice - he will be able to see what cannot be seen in a picture.

Disassembling should not scare you too much - the statue needs a new layer of paint anyway - at least after de-molding and removal of exfoliated paint.


are there any resources I can use to find design principles for comfortable seating?

Here are a few to get started:

Must-Have Measurements for Comfortable Seating

With a little work the drawing above can be turned into an algorithm.
The key variable will be the dimensions of the person sitting in the chair.

Another useful drawing:

I found the picture here but I don't think this is the original source.

From Concept to Comfort: Build a Casual Chair
Good article describing the process from ideation to finished product.

Summarizing:
 1. Ideation
 2. Sketches
 3. Prototyping
 4. Testing
 5. Adjusting (iterate steps 3, 4, and 5 until happy)
 6. Build final version

The steps are not unique to chair creation. This process should allow you to build experience, gather data, and derive the information you seek.

Other resources:
Standard Dimensions for Furniture Design


Does this type of hemming have a name, and is it fixable by hand?

The "Stitching" on the edge of your sleeve, is actually a strip of fabric, that was folded around the raw edge of the loden cloth, and sewn to the loden cloth.

This strip of fabric is called "Binding". (it's not piping, because there's no cord running through it. The puffiness comes from the thickness of the boiled wool loden cloth inside it).

The binding on your coat has a knit construction, making it flexible.

If I wanted to fix this coat by hand, I would find some yarn (worsted wool, cotton, or synthetic) that matches the binding (yarn comes in a great range of colors and weights) and sew it over the binding with a close-set blanket stitch. The blanket stitch creates a binding, because it wraps around the edge of the jacket. So it will cover the frayed part of the old binding.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/0a/d3/91/0ad391d598c823cf864f51ff6f30edfc.jpg

Blanket stitch is easy to learn - find a youtube video. Use a heavy crewel embroidery needle.

Fiber choice - For durability, avoid rayon. Nylon and polyester are strongest. Choose yarn or binding that is smooth/firm/tight rather than fuzzy/soft/loose, for dirt and abrasion resistance. (cuff is subject to dirt and abrasion). Avoid eyelash, chenille, and other novelty yarns. Worsted (tightly twisted) wool sheds dirt.

Binding examples

Jute foldover braid
http://www.dritz.com/quilting-sewing-supplies/home-decor/decorative-accents/trims/44220/
Foldover braid https://www.vintagetrims.com/collections/braid-flat
Knit wool binding
https://www.etsy.com/listing/485483369/12-wool-ribbon-126-yard-knitted-ribbon?ref=market
Worsted wool twill tape http://www.wmboothdraper.com/TapeLace/indexwithnav.html?tapelace.htm
Bias tape http://www.joann.com/wrights-x-wide-double-fold-bias-tape/prd34710.html
One way to attach bias tape http://sewtospeak.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-attach-bias-tape-with-mitered.html

Yarn examples

https://www.craftsy.com/knitting/supplies/patons-classic-wool-worsted-yarn/46556
http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Brava_Worsted_Yarn__D5420219.html


Should 300 GSM toothed water color paper be used for pencil colors?

A lot of color pencil artists use watercolor paper for their work because solvent blending is less likely to damage the paper from any moisture that may be added and the paper can take a lot of abuse since it is so sturdy. However, most of the ones I follow use hot press rather than cold press or rough.

It's true that you want tooth, but cold press or rough has a lot of tooth and it can be really tricky to get color into the valleys of the surface. This may lead to needing a lot more pressure to fill and wear harder on your pencils, requiring more frequent sharpening to maintain a sufficiently sharp point.

Still, not all papers are the same, so if you have some and want to try it, you may appreciate the look you get and prefer it. In the end, there is nothing that says you can't!


Cracking on surface of oil painting. Is there any other way to salvage an oil painting?

As far as I know, in restoration craquelure will often be 'fixed' by concealing it.
After applying a layer of varnish to facilitate the removal of retouches like these, the cracks will simply be painted over with corresponding colours.

Of course, this is usually done with older paintings, that no longer heavily react to both inherent and external factors, but even if the craquelure shows up again, using this procedure the retouches can be removed and the process repeated.


What specs should I look for in a hobby milling machine?

Most hobby machine tools are made by a couple of Chinese manufacturers (notably Seig) and branded by the importer. However, while the basic machines are pretty similar the detailed specifications do vary and some brands will make a few key modifications and may provide more rigorous quality control.

One thing to bear in mind is that, while you can do a lot with a fairly flimsy lathe, milling machines tend to need to be a bit more robust to be useful, unless you are only ever working with very light materials.

There are a lot of very good hobby forums and blogs  which specialise in getting the most out of economy machine tools and these are well worth a look and often have long lists of modifications of varying complexity to improve their performance.

The budget imported machines tend to be fundamentally sound but often lack somewhat in attention to detail in their design and construction so you can get a lot of benefits from a few simple mods.

It's also worth pointing out that the machine itself is the bare bones of what you need and so it is wise to set aside a reasonable budget for tooling and accessories. For milling work holding is particularly important ie how you attach the work to the bed and things like indexible rotary heads can get quite expensive.

I would also say that on this sort of micro scale for hobby work I wouldn't necessarily consider a milling machine to be essential and you can do a surprising amount (as well as achieving good dimensional accuracy) with good quality hand tools.

So my advice would be to set up a workbench and start with a hand tools and learn what machines you really need. I would also recommend that you read this book despite the title it covers a huge spectrum of metalworking  techniques with an emphasis on basic traditional techniques.


How can I make yarn from an old t-shirt and does the material matter?

It depends on what you're making with it.  When you're dealing with seamless T-shirts, I'd start at the bottom.  Cut the hem off, then go around and around cutting about an inch (2.5cm) in one continuous strip. You can put a little mark on your finger to indicate the measurement so you don't have to draw all those lines, and it won't need to be absolutely exact.  Don't bother with the neck and sleeves.  If you want some uniformity, you'll need to play with different widths.  You'll need narrower strips for heavier fabric.  Maybe make some test strips with the sleeves and make some samples before you start into the body of the shirts.

The fabric is going to curl onto itself to form a strand instead of staying a flat strip if you stretch it at all.  If it's thin it will probably just do that anyway.  And that might be a good thing.


Why are there air bubbles in my tubes of watercolor paint?

Initially, the gushing of the paint is due to the small amount of water that generally is part of the product's formula. This quote from handprint.com explains the reason and effect:

Paints are manufactured with excess water in the vehicle, as this reduces the viscosity of the vehicle and decreases the amount of time (labor) and electrical energy necessary to mill the paint. This water mostly lost through evaporation during milling, but also after milling when the paint is left to sit and age or stabilize. Some pigments or fillers absorb water very slowly, causing them to expand: these are the paints that "explode" or squirt from the tube when it is first opened, because they were not aged adequately before packaging.

The amount of water involved varies from pigment to pigment (some need more grinding or more aging), and brand to brand (due to production techniques).
I would ascribe the air bubbles to an unsophisticated production process, though, in which the tube is not completely filled or improperly sealed.
Oxygen could have formed due to ongoing chemical processes inside the tube, but that should also have been considered before packaging.
As for subsequent - and erratic - eruptions, apart from pressing the tube by hand when opening it, which can be avoided, I think this can only be ascribed to changes in atmospheric conditions: temperature or air pressure, of which the first seems the most likely culprit: a rise in temperature would increase the pressure inside the tube.
To be thorough: I don't suppose the tube was stored somewhere where something could have been (temporarily) put on top of it, or where someone could have 'played' with it? That would make for an obvious cause as well :)
Bottom line: always open tubes above your palette so whatever comes out can be used.


Can these tree trunks be used for a small table?

Yes, you can - Absolutely! As @Henry Taylor suggests: it would be a good idea to kill off parasites, termites, etc.

If you cut or sand-down the ends, be sure they are level so the top of your table is not at an angle.
You can choose to coat the top with a urethane coating, or just lay a piece of glass, plexiglass, or polycarbonate over the top so you have a smooth top.
If you wish, they also make great planters. You can carve or gouge a hole in the top; drill a hole for water to drain from, and either put a pot in it with flowers or just fill it with dirt and directly plant something in it.
Also, if you plan to use it for a bedside, or end-table next to a couch or bench, you can use something like a brass, or copper tube and wire-up a built-in lamp.

Best of luck @rbhat!


I'm not an expert on this technique, but this Instructables may be of help:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Iron-on-Transfers-for-T-Shirts-Tote-Bags-and-Oth/

Here is the section on making transfers for dark fabrics that seems to overcome your problem of not being able to use white in your image:

Iron on Transfer Sheets for Dark Fabrics
"If your shirt or fabric is black, dark gray, dark blue, or another dark color, you'll want to buy iron on transfer sheets for dark fabrics.  They are thicker and have a white backing, allowing the use of white and light colors in the image or design.  The major downfall of this type of transfer paper is that with the background appearing white, you cannot have part of your image appear clear... so you must carefully cut around any letters or other design elements or have a solid background as part of your design."

Additionally, here is a YouTube video showing the technique for tranferring onto dark fabrics, with links for buying the paper.
(note: Epson also makes and sells transfer paper for dark fabrics.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi_2X8sKifY
"In this tutorial we cover the ways to use and the applications which transfer paper for dark fabrics."

Sources for the paper:
UK/International Store - http://goo.gl/MkeowS
USA Store - http://goo.gl/S0eIFJ


Is coconut shell good to produce charcoal for drawing?

I am sure that will work just fine.
It does depend on the type of shape you want, as the structure of coconut shell is not optimal: it is naturally curved, making it hard - if not impossible - to get nice straight styluses out of it, and it might splinter more easily when exposed to high temperatures, because of the inherent tension.

  Does the material that we use to make the charcoal decide its tonal
  character?

It does, but not a lot. Different source materials have slight differences in pigmentation, texture, and strength. Generally, types of wood are used, of which willow and grapevine are the most popular types for drawing. You will notice larger differences between charcoal and charcoal pencils, than between types of wood.


How to dye or tint epoxy resin to produce translucent colors?

You need something that's soluble in the liquid epoxy, or possibly a liquid that's miscible with it.  Water isn't miscible with epoxy, and if you try too hard to mix it you'll produce cloudiness. I suspect that rules out acrylic paints as well.  Typical solvents don't dissolve epoxy; some may be miscible.  I'm not sure what the liquid phase is to investigate solubility.

Powders in general - unless you want a glitter or speckle effect - are unlikely to work however fine you grind them.

There are specific dyes for epoxy (Amazon example), and this article also recommends alcohol inks - you can try making your own from old marker pens if you just want a test batch, though I'd use solvent-based markers to start with (such as Sharpies or cheap equivalents).  It would appear that alcohols mix with the solvents used in the epoxy components and in fact can apparently be used to thin epoxy.

You may have a little more trouble getting bubbles out than normal - a vacuum system is one way to help with this, but thinning should also help.


The case components are each molded as a single piece, not glued from flat sheets.  They're dirt cheap to purchase already made; you'll go through a lot of work to make one from scratch.  Consider just buying one (or a package of them when they're practically given away on sale).

If your goal is making one from scratch, solvent welding would be the way to do it without marring the plastic with excess glue.  The edges to be joined need to be very smooth and mate together well.  Typically, the edge of one piece is butted against the   face or edge of another piece.  A micro-pipette is used to allow capillary action to draw a tiny amount of solvent into the joint (which requires good mating for capillary action to work), which chemically welds the surfaces together.  Lucite objects are often assembled this way.

I've had good luck with this product available from Micro-Mark, I assume you can get the same or similar at hobby stores or from a retailer like Amazon:

The solvent needs to be appropriate for the type of plastic you're using.  The applicator is a glass capillary tube with an extremely fine metal capillary tube attached.  You dip the applicator in the solvent and the solvent is drawn into the tube.  Then you touch the tip to the joint and solvent is drawn between the mating surfaces (and nowhere else).


You will find a number of kite forums on the internet. Common to many is the consideration that one does not fly in areas known to have substantial air traffic.
This includes airports and hang gliding (and paragliding) sites.
Adding tails/ribbons to the line will not increase appreciably the visibility of the kite line to pilots, but it will increase the drag both for gaining altitude and for retrieving the line. Birds may be the only entity that would benefit from flagging the line. In the past years of kite flying, I've only had line contact one time, at the beach, by a seagull and it tumbled a bit and continued on its way.
You may want to consider to ask a moderator to migrate your three questions to the engineering SE as it appears to fit that category better than Arts & Crafts.
Per the suggestion of another answer-poster-person, my comment to attach a battery operated/powered emergency strobe (typically 360° visibility) will improve the visibility of a kite. Aircraft have beacons for this reason and pilots will react more effectively to such a lighting device.
Image from Amazon:


Create a head bust (maybe plaster or paper mache)

Decide which media you desire to use. A good choice for a beginner would be the inexpensive medium of Papier-mâché, a composite material of paper pulp and binder. One can use newspaper, shredded office paper, cardboard, just about anything cellulose.

As the link suggests, you can create using the strip method, but for your sculpture, you'd want an armature (structure) on which to base the primary form. Additionally, it's advantageous to use chopped pulp to build up the design shape before applying the strips.

Think of molding clay over an inverted funnel. The funnel reduces the amount you have to "fill" while providing a basic shape. The chopped pulp would be the clay that shapes the curves and bulges of the head, while strips of paper provide a closure of the more coarse pulp, allowing for a smooth finish overal.

It's typical that a sophisticated creation will have a sealing coating of paint, glaze or similar, along with painted features not visible in your Blender creation.

I'm confident you can find many videos regarding this type of sculpting.

The above is what I consider to be the least expensive option. One could certainly create the head with modeling clay that does not harden, or use a polymer clay that can be carefully baked to be permanently hard. Neither of these would be inexpensive, but the results could be more detailed.

As you already have the creation in Blender, you could also have the model 3D printed. Unless you own a large printer, it would be chopped into pieces, printed and glued together. 3D printing services exist which will create this plastic model, but for a substantial cost.

Our makerspace promotes sharing of services of this sort. I have in the past taken another member's creation, chopped it into six pieces (in Meshmixer) and printed the individual parts.

Once the model is printed, it can be sanded and painted and used as-is. It could also be used as the primary for a silicone mold, which would allow you to resin-cast multiple copies if so desired.


What do you need?
You can make rings out of all metal that can be bent by hand and all that can be hammered into shape.
Wire comes in many sizes. Unless you have a hobby involving metal wire, you will likely not stock it. But a good metal shop will have a few kinds and can often order more for you.
No tools to bend:
The 'easy' way is to have wire which is very soft, the disadvantage is that it will not hold shape will when you have your ring.
Hammering and heat/cold treatment will improve that but it is a lot of extra work.
Clamps needed:
For a cheap and easy ring, get metal that can not be bent easily, get a wooden dowel (or a round metal bar) and fix that into a clamp on a workbench.
Also clamp one end of the wire, it can be in the same clamp if you can get that working, but if needed you can do it with a second clamp.
Now take the long end of the wire and pull it round the bar, till you have a round turn and a bit, that is until the wire lays next to itself for at least a few mm and it does not spring open.
That will make you a ring which will have an opening, which can be closed by soldering or left open, specially if the ends are made showy.
Now you can saw through the wire, close the ring into a circle and solder that shut. (Check with the supplier of the wire for what you need to solder it, as different metals need different kinds of solder and chemicals to make them work.)
If you are an experienced metal worker you can keep the ends longer than just touching and shape them with whatever you want. (Or you can introduce extra materials like beads or stones, or lumps of metal molten to the ends.)
No thick wire?
With thinner wire you can do a series of full turns, solder them all together and have a ring that is wider than it is thick.  A more involved way to make a ring out of thin wire, not for beginner metal workers nor for beginner knot tyers if without an experienced coach, is a Turks Head Knot. Here you find instructions for string. Search results for rings, most in silver and gold.
No wire?
Flat metal can be cut to size, hammered around the dowel and then soldered.
Heat treathment (Warning, dangerous hot metal and fire danger):
Place your metal on stone that can take the heat and apply flame till the metal is red hot. Let if cool down naturally/slowly for a soft metal that will take further work.
If you have a fire that is hot enough, like when you burn coal to heat your house, you can use that. Even a barbecue at good working heat can be hot enough.
Cool it down as fast as possible by letting it drop into cold water, and it will get harder and less likely to bend.
No heat?
Hammering will make metal harder but also more brittle and more likely to break if you do it too much.
Which metal?
If you can afford it, silver will give you very nice results, also because the result will be real jewelry. I fear that gold will be out of reach for a while longer, it is rather expensive.
I had nice results with copper to play with but it will colour your skin and you should be aware that it has health risks.
When you buy metal and solder and so on, discuss it with the staff in the shop (if they are knowledgeable) or research on the Internet whether the metal can be used for day to day wear.


Do I have to lower the foot and needle when my sewing machine is not in use?

This is akin to the advice, "Don't run with scissors".  As rebusB points out, it isn't a necessity for the machine to work.  It's because undesirable things could potentially happen, which can be easily avoided.
The undesirable things aren't limited to accidental damage when moving the machine.  The machine could be bumped or experience mechanical shock from things that happen when you are not intentionally moving it.  When the needle is all the way down, not just the needle, but the internal mechanism, is the most protected.
It also protects the user and their fabric from accidental damage.  People tend to focus on the specific thing they're doing and have minimal awareness of the surrounding environment.  If they aren't paying attention, they could accidentally snag the fabric or potentially stick themselves on an exposed needle.  If the needle is left covered inside the machine, the user has to explicitly move it into position to start sewing, which makes the state of the machine something they are focused on.
The odds of any of the possible undesirable things happening are low, and the results aren't catastrophic.  Still, they can easily be avoided by doing something that takes no real time or effort, so why not use the safest practices.


Trying to turn a vintage wash basin into a vessel sink. How can I get rid of this standing water?

If you don't object to a transparent substance in the bottom of the basin, you can use acrylic casting resin, aiming for a product which specifically advertises itself as clear, as some of the available casting resins are not.

Mixing the product per directions and pouring it into the basin with a bowl under the drain will allow you to place the exact amount, while the excess runs into the bowl. Ensure that the basin is perfectly level prior to the pour for what I hope is an obvious reason.

It's typical to subject casting resin to a pressure pot to remove bubbles, but that's not necessarily practical in this situation. A heat gun (preferred) or hair dryer will help to clear bubbles.

As a possible bonus, you can mix a small amount of glitter or similar decoration if you wish to add a different touch, although that's not consistent with the flower motif currently in place.

This may not be suited if you intend to use abrasive cleansers on the surface, but they can be polished out with appropriate abrasives and plenty of labor.


Bend it around something like steel pipe ( a mandrel).Clamp one end of the rod and the pipe in a vice and pull or push the rod around ; you can use a hammer  It does require a sturdy vice. After the first bend rotate the pipe and rod into the vice jaw to make more bends such as 180 or 360 degrees. Once you practice it is easy; i have made about 25 copper "S" hooks with 270 degree bends on each end; using about 3/16 ' wire. OR, the tools should work well.


Is there a way to emboss paper without using any tool or machine?

Weight. Like a flower press.
You could put the paper you want to emboss between books with the motif or design touching the paper. You could use wood to protect the books.


So the main considerations for storing oil pastels are:

The individual pastels are kept separate, so that they do not bleed into one another
They are kept reasonably cool (room temperature, ~20ºC is fine)

If the latter is a problem, just keep them in the fridge (although you'll want to allow them to warm up a bit before using them).

As for the former, if you've lost the original packaging, that is a bit of a pain. Artbin make art supplies storage boxes of many varieties, there will probably be at least one type of box that fits your needs. There are also plenty of places that sell slightly more expensive wooden pastel boxes - these might be overkill though.

In a pinch, the tray from a box of chocolate fingers might do too.


How to draw human body in chest/collarbone area?

I think the main reasons the curviness seems lacking is because the contrast is too high or uneven, and your hatching doesn't follow the curves of the body.
The quite abrupt ending of the shading on the breast(s) - the upper part, that seems to be erased with a kneaded eraser in a dotted way, and the dark area of the person's right breast (image 1) - gives the idea there is a sudden concavity or bulge where the transition should be smooth. Curviness, plumpness or fleshiness are all about smooth transitions.
Also look at the curvature and the colour value of the sternum in the original image: it's not as bright as the highlights on the sitter's breast, and there is a gradation from right to left, where it is partially obscured by the right breast.

Image 1
The shadow on the left shoulder has its darkest shade in the contour, close to the light, while the original has a quite even cast shadow, and the rest of the shadow seems flat because it seems completely independent of the shape underneath it (image 1).
I suggest following the lines of the body while hatching, and initially only focusing on the shading that is a direct consequence of the local shapes - the shade underneath the collar bone, the even subtler shade in the depression of the tissue between the arm and breast, and the shade on top of the shoulder (very hard to see here, but compare it to the original):

After these have been shaded satisfactorily, the cast shadow can be drawn on top of it, evenly, so the underlying structure will remain visible.
Treat the entire body as the one single entity it is, and shade accordingly: note the lightest parts (the faces where the light hits at such an angle that it bounces directly towards the observer), and the darkest parts (that are opposite the light source or obscured by other parts or objects), and shade these all evenly.

Some additional remarks:

The sternocleidomastoid muscle seems a little misaligned: in your drawing it seems to originate at the sternum on the left side (of the person in the picture), while it should originate at the right side.
Make it a habit to look at the shape of areas between forms, as they will often give evident clues of how the shapes on both sides are related.
For example:

The shading on the face is very well done, because there is an obvious visual transition between the shaded and lit part of the face.
The shading on the person's right shoulder is also well done, but to emphasize the light hitting it, I suggest making the edge of that well-lit part a lot lighter - unless you plan on making the background darker. Contours are imaginary help lines and don't really occur in real life. They should almost without exception be as light or dark as the shape it is the edge of (they seem to occur in photographs sometimes, but that has to do with the way light is captured and/or the compression of images).
Consider working with charcoal to (partially) circumvent the problem of hatching (depending on the quality/type of charcoal and paper), as smooth transitions will be a lot easier to attain.


I tried an experiment on a square of random tan felt I had sitting around. I chose the letter B because it has a good mix of straight and curved lines, so I could also get an idea of how easy a particular marker was to use.

Clockwise, from top left:

Permament Marker (Sharpie)
Washable Marker (Faber Castell)
Fabric Marker (Marvy)
Fabric Paint (Tulip)

Permanence: The washable marker easily transferred color from fabric to finger. To my surprise, even the permanent marker could be smeared if rubbed with a thumb. The fabric paint and fabric marker didn't transfer color to my fingers, though.

One additional note: Because of the nature of felt, the surface threads can be rubbed around in such a way that the letter looks smeared -- even the fabric marker version. The fabric paint, however, also "glued" the threads in place and so the letter couldn't be distorted.

Ease of Use: This was sort of a tie. The fabric paint was the easiest, because I only needed one pass for each line I made. However, the felt really wicks up paint, and so it took a couple attempts to figure out how much to apply (a thin paint line expands and becomes thicker as it dries). See the purple blob to the left of the letter? That was attempt #1 :)

Bleedthrough: Fabric paint and permanent marker showed through the most; all could be seen to some extent, though.


Recycled Wool Felt

It looks like.

Original image from www.360felt.com


How to free this sewing pin from the finished shirt

Try crushing the glass head with a pair of pliers. If you're lucky, the metal head inside the glass is small enough to be removed without opening the seam.

If it's still stuck, cut the head of with wirecutters like Henry Taylor described. Keep in mind that the needle head may rust after being washed several times. You should tuck the left-over head into a corner that's as invisible as possible.


What criteria should I be considering when looking at a second hand sewing machine?

Basic requirements

For a basic sewing machine that does hems and maybe some simple garment sewing... I'd look for:

Basic stitches - running stitch, zig zag, blind hem stitch
Adjustable tension - to accommodate lighter fabrics
Adjustable stitch length
Reverse (almost all modern machines have it, it's just handy)

Choices

If you want to sew buttons you also may want to know how the button holing works.  Technically you can make a button hole with what I just described, but many machines have slick ways to make the process easier or to make the button holes come out nicer.  If you think button holes will be a frequent task, make sure you like and understand how this feature works on this model.

Bobbin winding - every machine will have a way to wind the bobbin, but how easy/hard it is can be a real point of satisfaction for the user.  Make sure you like and understand how this process works.

Needle threading - most modern machines have a light near the needle to make this easier.  But also - how do you thread the machine - it's always more than sticking the thread in the eye of the needle.  If learning to thread the machine makes you want to cry, this is not the machine for you.

Bobbin winding and needle threading are steps you'll do almost every time you sew (sometimes more than that!) so if you hate the steps or find them really hard, it's worth it to keep looking.

Similarly - every machine will have a presser foot and a way of lifting/dropping the needle - there's no right or wrong, but it's a comfort issue... like going on a test drive of a car.

Quality checks when buying

Be sure you can sew with the machine.  Unless you really like a good mystery, get a test drive of the machine.  Not only does it clarify the choices, but it lets you make sure the machine works.
Know and check that you've got all the feet and any other parts - check online what the model was sold with.  Be sure the parts are there: presser feet, button holing add-ons, the foot pedal controller and all wires, darning plate and any add-ons, spool pins or other add-ons for holding various types of thread and bobbins.  Personally, I wouldn't sweat a missing instruction book, but I'd verify I could get a copy online if I were a more novice seamstress.
Look at the shape of the machine - it should have a regular and even hum and the needle should go up and down easily without breaking, or slipping gears.  The needle should be able to catch thread in the bobbin easily, and not slam into the darning plate.  Changing settings should produce an obvious change in the outcome when sewing.


A retracting telescope typically has 3 or 4 segments that retract into one another,

although the insecure pirate may feel the need to get a longer one.

The key features of the section diameters is that they slide easily past one another but will not fall apart when extended. In other words, you need a "stop" that prevents the larger segment from completely sliding off the next smaller one that's inside.

Assuming you have a method for building that stop, the tubes should ideally have a diameter difference of 1-10mm. A set of tubes with larger size gaps can still be used, but the extended telescope might look sloppier (the cumulative gap will cause more drooping, as in Jack Sparrow's overly long telescope above).


That looks like lichen.  On plastic, you can probably remove it with just soapy water and a bristle brush or nylon scrubbing pad (but don't use something abrasive enough to scratch up the plastic or it will provide more surface for the next round of it to adhere to).

It may help to first spray the lichen with vinegar, full strength with a little added soap as a wetting agent.  Wet the lichen well and let it dry.  Give it a few days for the lichen to die, then clean it as above.  I've also had good luck spraying it with household (sudsing) ammonia at the concentration recommended for cleaning, then giving it a few days before washing.  For really stubborn cases, do either treatment regimen and if some remains, repeat with the other (but don't mix vinegar and ammonia to try to combine both in one treatment; they will neutralize each other).

If you have a pressure washer, that should remove it with no special treatment, but start with a lower pressure (wider angle) nozzle and some distance to use the minimum pressure needed for cleaning without damaging the plastic.


How I can design a skirt pattern without taking measurements?

You cannot trust those chart sizes because of a phenomenon called "vanity sizing".
Once upon a time women's clothes where all tailored to fit the individual person or altered (if bought second hand). When industrial mass production set in, manufacturers wrote a measurement into the garment to make it easier to find one that fits. That number was usually the hip measurement for skirts or the bust measurement for jackets and dresses.
Over time women became conscious and self-conscious about their sizes. Small numbers were fashionable and big numbers meant you were chubby. So manufacturers started writing wrong numbers into their garments, because they actually sold more if their customers where happily surprised to still fit into a size S.
Even today those sizes are just a recommendation and different manufacturers use different measurements for the same size.

What you should do is:

Find a skirt or pair of trousers in your sisters wardrobe that fit her well.
Neither the fabric nor the waist seam must be stretchy, or you get wrong numbers.
If possible, make a friend wear this item while you measure around the waist (smallest part) and the hip (widest part) and the desired length (traditionally to the top of the knee).
If that's impossible, lay the item flat on a table and measure the waist seam. Then look at your table of common sizes and find the corresponding hip measurement.
If you cannot find any suitable garment to take measurements, try to find a belt that she usually wears. Measure from the tip of the needle to the hole that is most worn out. You need a little extra length (2 cm) because belts are usually worn very tight.


Cuff strategy to maximize longevity of pants

I've never seen the book you mentioned, but it seems to me that maximizing the amount of material in the cuff would maximize how many times you could make repairs.

Assuming that the pants are bought with deliberately too long legs, roll the fabric into the leg space to create an extremely tall invisible cuff.  Pin that cuff in place at a more normal 1/2" to 3/4" height.  This should create the first (most interior) hem.

Now fold the excess fabric from just above the pins and pull it down so that it once again extends out the bottom of the leg opening.  Darn the top of the interior cuff in multiple places to keep your toes from catching it when putting on the pants in the future.  Recover your pins

Next, fold the downward pointing excess fabric (outward this time) to wrap up over the first hem and cover it with another layer of cloth.  This will form an exterior cuff which may still be taller than normal, but will be shorter than the previous interior cuff, because some to the fabric is now trapped inside the pant leg.

If you still have a enough excess height to reach the leg opening again, pin and darn the new cuff at the normal height, then fold the remaining excess fabric outward and roll it downward and then back into the leg opening.  This will form a second interior cuff which you will again need to pin and darn carefully to avoid snagging toes.

If you do not have enough excess height to create a second interior cuff, fold what excess height you have, inward so that it tucks into the newly created exterior cuff.  Pin and darn the top of the exterior cuff at a few points to hold it in place.

Here is a rough diagram of what I am talking about...


Wittling a spoon or butter knife is not that difficult, but a 5 prong fork might be a challenge.  A two or three prong design would probably be easier.

As for "duplicating" the particular style and design of the Ozark Trail products, that would depend on the skill of the wittler.  The products that I have seen are plastic and factory smooth.  Personally, if I went to the trouble of hand crafting a set of cutlery, I would want it to look a little rough as that adds a little character to the result.


Are all ruffles gathered, or are there different types of non-gathered ruffles?

There are many ways to make ruffles, but some of them are out of fashion now. Ruffles went through several hundred years of development and changing fashion, and sometimes went by different names, depending on the construction method and where they were attached to the garment.
The most common ruffle (today) is a long strip of fabric that is gathered along one long side. Stephie has already listed various ways how to create them. Pro tip: If you sew 2 gathering stitches in parallel and pull both of them, the ruffle will be neater and easier to attach to the straight fabric.
If you sew your gathering line in the middle of the strip of fabric, you end up with a double ruffle or frill.

A ruffle that is not gathered can be achieved by cutting a big circle, spiral or halfmoon shape from fabric and sewing the inner edge in a straight line to the piece of clothing. Since the inner circumference is smaller than the outer one, the fabric is longer on the outer edge and falls in waves. Technically this is called a flounce or circular ruffle.

Image source
You can achieve a very similar effect with knit fabrics. Knits like jersey are stretchy, so by stretching the edge of the fabric while hemming it, you automatically create a ruffle.
To create a jersey frill, cut a long strip and stretch the fabric along the short width while feeding it into your machine. This automatically gathers the center of the strip. Have a look at this video tutorial.
Historically, there were also pleated ruffles, but they are not very common anymore. Knife pleated ruffles can be made relatively easily on a sewing machine and there are even special sewing foots that automatically pleat the fabric while it's sewn. Box pleated ruffles are a little harder to make because (as far as I know) there's no way to automate the pleating (at least not for a hobby sewer). Often these are simply called pleats.

Knife pleated ruffle, image source

Box pleated ruffle, image source
As with the gathered ruffle, you can move the gathering line to the center of the fabric to get pleated frills.
One very special way of pleating is the cartridge pleat, which is most prominently seen in historical ruff collars. If you make your pleats very small and tight, you end up with a ruffle that stands perpendicular to the fabric it's sewn to (if it's sewn in the correct way).

Cartridge pleats, image source


If you want it to hang vertically you will need to do a fair amount of reworking of the setting, this is complicated by any soldering runs the risk of damaging the stone.

If you just want to extend the chain it is probably just as easy to buy a new chain of the correct length and do a direct swap. You can get a huge variety of chains from jewelers supplier or indeed ebay for not too much money, indeed just a waxed cotton or leather thong might be just as good with this piece.

If you want it mounted vertically you will need to cut off the existing rings and file them flat to the mount and then add a new ring at one of the narrow ends.

Here you have two practical options, first to get a blank silver mount of the right size and shape and glue the existing piece on with epoxy or you could wrap the whole thing with silver wire to create a sort of 'cage'.


Which steels are most suitable for knife making?

Looks like there was already an answer here, but there are a lot of variables not considered:

If you are going to send out your blades for heat-treatment, then any steel with medium carbide volume is going to be fine. These include the simple carbon steels, from 1070-1095, O1, A2 as well as stainless steels like AEB-L (Sandvik 13c26), CPM-154, S35VN. Note that CPM-154 and S35VN are both higher carbide volume, but made with a powdered metallurgy process, which reduces the disadvantages of high carbide volume. I would avoid the super wear-resistant or ultra-tough steels, as they are more specialized and you've asked about general use knives.

For most people who don't want to maintain carbon steel, I'd recommend CPM-154 or S35VN. If you're going to the trouble to MAKE a knife, don't start with performance and market-limiting blade steels like the 420 series or 440C. Yes, you can make a very good knife with them, but you're starting with an unnecessary disadvantage only to save a few dollars in material. Most of the cost of a custom knife is labor.

For carbon steels, I'd recommend 1084 if heat-treating at home for stock-removal blades, and 80CrV2 if forging at home.

The poster below makes some good points - I answered with steels available in North America. Steels available in Europe and elsewhere will be different. I believe RWL34 is very similar to CPM-154 (or is it 154CM? powered or not is the difference).

I've spent months on ocean-going ships with my 154CM blades (that I made), and no corrosion problems. Of course I wasn't processing fish in the Bering sea...  A small amount of maintenance will go a long way.  Just keep it clean and put it away dry. If corrosion-resistance is a priority, be sure to use (or specify) the lower tempering range, not the secondary higher range, which reduces corrosion-resistance in many high-alloy steels. Nitrogen-heavy steels win in this category, but some (like H1) are not hardened in the traditional manner, and may be harder to manage for the home craftsperson.


How can paper be glued to cardboard without creating wrinkles?

Use SprayMount, or similar - it is formulated for exactly this purpose: fixing paper to cardboard.

What you do is place your artwork face down on a piece of newspaper, spray a single, thin coat on the back, then place it onto the cardboard. It dries almost instantly, so there is no wrinkling, while still giving very good, invisible adhesion. There are some varieties which are repositionable/removable too!


Estimating the amount of wool stuffing needed for a project

It seems, from casting about online, that the use of wool stuffing for refurbishing furniture cushions is somewhat outmoded, even for a restoration project such as yours where authenticity is desired. Other than several blogs mentioning wool when discussing the pros and cons of various cushion materials, especially those which are emphasizing natural furniture materials for health and green reasons, there is not much expertise being shared online on this topic...

I did however stumble upon this most wonderful site, which just might be the ultimate source for your specific question on quantity estimate: Home of Wool.  They offer wool stuffing and batting, as well as custom wool cushions and mattresses, not to mention their shop bursting with cool stuff made of wool and other natural fibers.  I am certain these friendly people would very happily assist you on your quantity question.

Foam Order is another source for organic wool batting, including one manufactured with cotton backing.  (They do not offer wool stuffing, though. They do discuss how to fold wool batting for the stuffing of a pillow, however, which sounds intriguing...)

Lastly, I will just throw in this little tutorial on how to stuff a cushion with wool.

And of course as you pointed out, there are wool battings available at Joann.

Happy reupholstering!


The pink color of the mixed red and white is an optical illusion, similar to how inkjet printers create all the colors from inks of three primary colors by printing combinations of tiny colored dots close together.

The color in paint is particles of finely-ground pigments (colored powder), suspended in a liquid that dries into a film.  When you mix red and white paint, you get a suspension of red particles and white particles.  There is a mix of those particles on the surface of the paint.

The red particles reflect just the red light.  The white particles reflect all the colors.  The individual particles are too small to differentiate with the naked eye.  What you see is a blend of the light reflected by the different particles on the surface.


Are there cases where we do not reverse stitch when sewing?

To understand when to use backstitching, you need to understand the purpose of it in the first place. It's not just "a thing that is done," it is a technique to "lock" the stitches in place on a seam. To illustrate this for yourself, get some scrap fabric and stitch two pieces of it together along a straight edge. Backstitch at one end, and just stitch off the edge on the other, trim the threads, then attempt to pull the fabric apart at the seam on both ends. You'll see that the end you didn't backstitch will pull apart much more easily, while the end that is backstitched will hold more securely.

Cases where one would expect to backstitch the seams are primarily in structural areas; finishing (top) stitching is also frequently backstitched to prevent the stitches from pulling out.

Similarly, you'll need to understand the purpose of the zigzag stitch. In most cases for home sewing, the zigzag is used to help prevent fraying in woven fabrics; because it's not structural, there's minimal benefit to backstitching at either end, though you may find it easier on some fabrics that are more prone to fraying to start on the fabric and backstitch to the edge before going forward in order to help prevent the fabric from being pulled down through the throat plate.

For further information, I would highly recommend taking a beginning sewing course that can be tailored to your knowledge level. Online tutorials and videos are only marginally useful when you don't have the basic experience expected from them.


If cost control is important to you, and if you have access to an ink-jet printer instead of a laser, then you might want to try using the left over wax backing sheets from standard printable mailing labels like Avery 5160.

The ink jet ink doesn't dry as quickly as normal on the waxed paper, so right after printing, you can flip the paper over and press it against any flat surface.  The still wet ink will quickly leave the wax and settle upon whatever you have pressed it to.

It takes a little practice to learn to apply it without smudging, but I've used the technique multiple times and have gotten some excellent (and a few horrible) results.

Here is a link to a more detailed description of this technique, along with a few others on WoodenPalletProjects.com.


What are the advantages of a lapel "coat stick" pin over other pin styles?

The ones you call coat stick pins have a much longer pin and will therefor stay upright much better than the ones with a shorter pin.

The top kind, with just the short pin and the butterfly clasp will turn around and you will have to position the items on the front in such a way that it can be seen in any position and is likely not suitable for the kind of work you mention.

The second kind, the safety pin with or without a locking mechanism, will stay in the position you pin it on. But with only the short length, it is likely to lean away from the fabric you pin it on. This is more a problem with light fabrics and loose clothing, like women often wear, less with mans suits.

As I started out, the third kind, with its longer pin has a much more stable ground for the pin and will allow for less movement of the finished product.
But still consider the lighter fabrics and possible movement of the garments.

For boutonnieres to be worn on a suit coat, I would personally prefer the last kind.
For a boutonniere to be worn on a shirt, blouse or dress, I would prefer the second kind, the locked safety pin kind, and design the arrangement such that the weight of the flower drops down from the pin, not being above the pin at all.


If each statue is 1.25x as large as the original, its volume will be 1.25 cubed, or a little over 1.95 times the volume of the original. If you can find out the weight of the original and the specific gravity of the stone of which it is carved, you can calculate the volume of stone in the statue and use that to calculate how much concrete you would need for a statue having almost twice the volume. I'll defer to the concrete experts about particulars on that subject.


Do kilns get hot enough to fire their own bricks?

Firebrick are thermally stable for the temperature range they are specified. However , some materials may cause chemical changes in certain types of fire brick and develop lower melting phases. I am thinking of glazes dripping onto brick.  The normal Nichrome elements will not do this. Also silicon carbide elements will not deteriorate the brick.


I'd like to create the textures of sand and water in this photo I took at the beach

You have three distinct layers there. From bottom to top, layered like a painting:

The opaque sand layer;
the shadows of the waves;
the waves themselves.

If wanted, you can have an underpainting that shines through.
Now, going back reversely:

As for the layer of the waves, the most pleasing effect would be for it to be translucent, so I suggest glazing this last layer using oil paint.

I find that the shadows of the waves - the second layer - already resemble water colour, and, as this a perfectly fine (although outmoded) underground for an oil layer, it would be a practical choice, as well.
Since you might be working with oils, the medium you're working on should be properly prepared, using gesso or skin glue (with chalk).

The layer of sand can be achieved in a multitude of ways, but, if you want to have some texture, it could be nice to add real (very fine) sand to the preparation medium of your choice, to make it feel a bit more organic.

Something important to take into consideration (which you hinted at with your suggestion to use 'stamps'), is that the second and third layer are - naturally - quite similar.
If you'd print the photograph to scale, you could use carbon paper to trace the wave lines. This will give a much better and convincing idea of the interference than when you approximate these by hand. It will also give you a good blueprint for the second wave layer.


Copying a large plaster tile by latex moulding it; is my plan correct?

You're on the right path; the only things I would change in your plan would be not to remove the latex mould (often known as a print mould) before adding the supportive plaster mould (known as an overmould or mother mould). Shawn Thorsson's blog has a good tutorial on one piece moulds - he works in silicone rubber and plastic, but the principles are the same.

Plaster* and latex don't stick together much, so you shouldn't have any issues without applying talc or another release agent as long as you let the plaster dry for long enough, but there's no harm in applying one - the Hirst Arts website has a good guide to them.

Both latex and plaster do shrink a little, so consider applying multiple coats of latex to get the correct thickness when building the mould. Since you're doing a one piece mould, you can deal with the plaster shrinkage by over filling it and then scraping off the excess. Once again, Hirst Arts has a good tutorial on casting one piece plaster moulds.

*Admittedly my casting experience is solely with dental stone, which may be less 'sticky' than drywall plaster. Your mileage may vary.


Is it okay to cast off for neckline near crosses (cables)?

Looking at the photo of the front, there is a crossing in the cable just two rows below the cast off/pick up for the neck.

I would go with the pattern, and see how the stitches work out in the casting off.
When you see them pulling so much that you do not like it you can unpick that bit of casting off, drop all the stitches of the cable, let them run down to just below that last cross and pick them up in knit without the twist. A crochet needle and a (short) cable needle will make the picking up easier.

Alternatively, you can just forget to make that last crossing, (not following the pattern,) but do so on both sides of the front and/or back, not just on the left or on the right (easy mistake to make.)
You can make the last crossing on the front but not on the back, if you think that is best.


How can I keep my paint brushes long lasting?

Awaiting more specific information, I can already tell it's best to rinse your brushes directly after every use. Whether it's oil or acrylic you're working with, the brushes can easily be cleaned with a little soap and water. I use general hand soap bars for this - nothing fancy: don't be persuaded by the overpriced "artist soap" (but more on that later on).

I leave my brushes in a jar with soapy water at all times. I fixed a spring on top of the jar to hold the brushes, so that the bristles don't get squished as they dry, preventing deformation.

You can adapt the spring from a spring holder like the one here:

Using a jar instead of a tin allows for more soapwater, slower evaporation, and fewer refills.

When the paint has dried up already, I usually either soften it up again in that same jar - but you have to wait for days if not weeks (depending on the size of your brush) - or use a small hammer to hammer the paint out (this I only really do with acrylic paint). This is bad practice for high-quality brushes, but with those you wouldn't let it come this far in the first place :) And, nevertheless, a usable bad-quality brush is still better than an unusable high-quality one.

  What are best types of paint brushes?

That is a different question altogether, but, in the light of your main question, the brushes with the greatest longevity are usually those with plastic (nylon, polyester) bristles, as they are less easily damaged.

Natural hairs usually paint better (depending on the paint you work with, your style, the size, etc., and high-quality acrylic bristles are improving), but they are more susceptible to degradation, as organic fibers tend to be, so you have to make sure you take good care of them.

If you're starting out with painting, I'd suggest using hog hair bristles for oils and synthetic brushes for acrylic paint. They are both cheap and relatively resilient, and abusing or losing them while getting used to the painting process won't be the proverbial end of the world.


How do I make a finished hole through a lined jacket?

Expanding my comment into an answer upon further consideration:
You're right to be concerned about punching through both outer and lining material and joining them with a grommet. The lining is intended to be able to shift as you move separately from the outer jacket, and the grommet would add a small point of stress. I would also worry about the lining fraying out around the grommet.
Instead, I would unpick and resew one of the seams of the lining. Jackets with linings attached at top and bottom are often constructed by leaving the back center lining seam unsewn until the end. The jacket is turned right-side-out through that opening after being sewn to the lining inside-out, and then the lining is topstitched closed (hard to find a photo! See the last image in this bag tutorial). If that is your jacket's situation, you'll have a natural way to get inside the lining.
If not, I would still go in via unpicking a seam. A seam ripper / quick unpick is easiest, but you can be careful with some pointy scissors or a new razor blade as well. Avoid stabbing through or cutting the fabric itself (of course!). If you're getting in through a seam that is not topstitched (that is, all stitching is invisible from the outside) is helps a lot to pull the fabric on each side taut away from the seam, to whatever extent possible.
In either case, to sew it back up, I would use matching or slightly-darker thread and a small, close whipstitch. You can hide the ending thread tail between the jacket and lining by stitching down right next to your knot, into the space between the lining and jacket, and then coming back out a little ways away. Trim your thread and let it disappear inside.


What are these colored tabs in my art supply kit?

You probably have the 101-piece set, the 126-piece set doesn't appear to include any supplies that look like those.

Here's the product image of the 101-piece set, for reference:

This set contains, among other things

  12 oil pastels
  12 soft pastels
  10 watercolor cakes

Based on the product image, the oil pastels are likely the items shown leaning in front of the bag in the center, with the blue and white wrappers. They should look and feel kind of like crayons. I've only seen these sold in cylindrical form which also matches with the photograph.

So instead, your first image would be the soft pastels. They usually come in rectangular form, and feel like chalk.

The second image is most likely the watercolor cakes. Although the colors and amount seems to differ from the product page I found, this is the only type that makes sense. The cakes are compressed pigments which you use by adding water (typically by mixing on the palette).


Well, yes you can... lots of people dip dye pumpkins using food coloring, though the outer skin of the pumpkin will not absorb the dyes as well as the flesh of the pumpkin. If you want to enhance the dye absorption on the surface, a very light sanding with a fine-grained sandpaper to lightly score the surface will probably help there. As you have the small ones to test, I'd test both scored and not to see how it works out.


How can I fan out my magazine tree more evenly?

If you are willing to do the whole tree one more set of folds, you can fold the pages into narrower triangles which will each be thicker and as such will fill out the tree more.
It might be best not to do all pages but skip three and do it a second time for the middle of the three left if more work is needed.

This will alter the look of your tree, making it narrower, or making it less even all over.

An alternative that does not change the part of the tree you see is to add a trianglar block in the back, to fill the hole.


Is Soda Ash used in Tie Dying septic safe?

Most of the resources that I reviewed agree that the amount of soda ash used for home dyeing is safe to pour down the drain. However, I agree that it is important to take extra precautions with a septic system. So I checked the Dharma Trading Co. website (a great resource with lots of detailed info about dyeing fabric and fiber),

  One environmental consideration is that if you have added Soda Ash to your dyebath, then it's alkaline (high pH) and can be neutralized by the addition of a little white vinegar (low pH). If you used vinegar or acidic acid in your dyebath, you can add some Soda Ash to neutralize the acid.

They go on,

  Highly acidic or alkaline waste water maybe could upset the balance in a septic tank. We have pH test paper you can use to test the pH before flushing it down the drain.

So, I would recommend testing the pH of the leftover liquid, and, if it is overly alkaline, treating it with some white vinegar before you pour it down your drain.


What is a stretchy cast-on for top down socks?

The long-tail cast-on is a sturdy one, excellent for when you need structure, but not so much when you need stretchy. Better choices, in turns of stretch, include:

cabled cast-on (super easy)
tubular cast-on (to go with 1-1 ribbing)
rolled edge (easy, durable, and would let you still use the long-tail method)

The links are for TECHknitting, but these are well known techniques and a web search will bring up lots of resources for any of them.


I fixed it after studying it a bit longer. Here's how:

First, I noticed that the dog feed makes these four basic motions over and over:

Up
Back (away from you)
Down
Forward (toward you)

Second, my wife clued me in to the fact that the dog feed should not move the fabric while the needle is down.

Now, these two things are probably very obvious to everyone on this site, but not to someone like me with very little exposure to sewing!

I loosened the relevant parts so I could freely spin the bottom shaft independent of the top shaft. Then armed with the above two pieces of information, I put the needle at top dead center and the dog feed at the threshold between its motions #1 and #2. Then I tightened things down so that the top and bottom shafts were locked together again. I spun the hand wheel to confirm the needle was never down during the entire duration of the dog feed's motion #2. That put the needle in time with the dog feed.

Next I needed to put the spinning bobbin holder thingy (what is that called?) in time with the needle. I did that by loosening the grub screws that tie its rotation to the bottom shaft, then I rotated the hand wheel and turned the bobbin holder thing until the eye of the needle was just below the pointy hook bit of the spinning bobbin holder thing on its way up. Then I tightened those grub screws. That put the bobbin holder in time with the needle.

A quick test with power applied confirmed the machine was happy enough with my timing. I reassembled everything, got my wife to teach me how to thread things up, then impressed her with a working straight stitch! It sews a straight stitch forward and backward just fine.

The machine also needed the dog feed to be realigned a little bit because it was impacting the plate, but that's not really relevant to what we're talking about here.

Unfortunately I didn't see any timing marks anywhere. Had there been timing marks I would have tried to make sense of and use them. Also, while the gouge marks in my picture would have made it possible to tell exactly where the pulley had been before it slipped (thanks for that idea, @fixer1234!), that knowledge would not have helped because I had already taken off the timing belt between the top and bottom shafts--doh!

Disclaimer: neither my wife nor I have any idea if the machine is correctly doing any of the fancy stitches, because neither of us really know how what they're supposed to look like lol! All I can say is the machine didn't lock up or catch on fire when I tried a zig zag pattern. All it did was pull the fabric together which might be normal, or maybe the tension was wrong?


Can large pieces of slipware be dried without a kiln?

Making a piece out of ceramics, you should use plaster for the mold as it draws out the moisture from the clay slip, and you will not  need to  wait a  long  time to get the thickness of your  clay.  If you use a rubber mold, the moisture has to leave the clay through the  air, which is very slow.
Raku is a way to fire the clay, so unless you want a hardened piece out of the clay, I would not fire it raku style or otherwise.
If you are wanting to make a bronze piece, why use the ceramic as part? You can make the finished piece in several parts of bronze or clay.  The pieces  can  be  combined  afterward; molded clay glued with slip, or welding or soldering the bronze.
Another way would be a breakable mold for the entire piece, where you break the complete work out of the mold in one piece.


Will a die cutter work for intricate 'lace style' cut outs in paper?

The Cricut and similar machines such as the Cameo Silhouette use very sharp knife blades mounted in a manner to allow the tip to rotate to follow the direction of movement.

They are nearly perfect for the pictured type of work. You may find it necessary to experiment somewhat to get ideal machine settings for your specific paper type, but that is easily accomplished, generally speaking.

For fine detail such as in the photo, you'd likely keep the travel speed on the low side. If it takes you three minutes to successfully cut the card instead of two minutes to gouge great tears in it, the difference in time is minimal.

The limitations of such a device are more based on one's ability to locate suitable designs on the internet, or to create one's own designs using the bundled software.

More deluxe versions (higher prices) usually mean the software accepts input from a greater variety of image formats.

The typical hobby cutter uses a plastic mat with an adhesive covering similar to very powerful Post-It note glue, which eventually wears out. Also, if one uses incorrect settings, the blade tip cuts more deeply into the plastic mat, leaving gouges that will later affect the craft results. The mats are more-or-less expendable, but not inexpensive, typically in the $15 and up range. It's far better to know your settings well, and save a dollar in the process.

The adhesive is quite strong, as it has to withstand the knife trying to move the paper off the mat. One should be prepared to use a tool to release the item from the mat, rather than peeling it by hand. Thinner materials are especially prone to ripping. Some of the cutters include such a tool, which resembles a tiny pancake flipper.  A quality palette knife may not have as thin an edge but can be used.


What medium should be kept beneath the paper for papercutting?

Self healing cutting mat

I use this for all my craft cutting. You want to be sure that the surface you are cutting on is completely uniform so as to not cause your cutting hand to hesitate or jump. These mats are for just that.

Also has the added feature of not cutting up your parent's table. They are usually textured on both side to prevent both the mat and the work from moving around. This also allows the mat to be flipped over and use the other side thus extending the life of the mat. It will eventually wear out though.

You can usually find these in a variety of sizes to suit your need. Some companies make ones small enough that you can keep in a book if you travel.

There appears to be, or at least used to be, a small mystery about what these mats are actually made of. One manufacturer describes it as:

  unique composite PVC vinyl material


Exposed to the public it will take a lot of abuse . So it needs to be as strong as possible. Use the hollow mold but put a steel rebar armature /core into it before you pour in the concrete. Use lots of rebar and lots of cement in the concrete. I have seen solid concrete benches destroyed in Cook Co IL and other places.


What adhesive should I use for Carbon Fiber and Painted metal?

I would recommend two-part epoxy resin, and the addition of a pin. Basically you would:

pre-drill a hole through the tube and the cap
mix the resin
apply resin to both the inside of the tube and the cap
join the two pieces with a nut and bolt

EDIT
Looking at your pic again, I see that there is a place for a screw to lock in the cap. Maybe take it to a hardware store and figure out if it’s an M4 or M6 and use the screw instead of drilling again...


How can I pre-wash/dry bolts of fabric in a way that will prevent the cut ends from unraveling?

To prevent fraying, use a z-stitch (zig-zag stitch) with a standard sewing machine or serge the ends of the fabric before you wash it.
I've recently read a lot of guides about washing fabric before sewing and, while they often disagree about whether washing is necessary or not - generally depending on the type of fabric and the end use, the one thing they pretty much universally agree on if you are washing fabric, is that if you want to prevent fraying, stitch the cut ends. Some sites don't seem to be bothered by fraying and recommend simply cutting the strings off afterwards but this seems like a great way to get your fabric tied up in knots.
One guide notes to consider the weave tightness:

First, remember that fabrics will fray depending on how tightly they are woven.  Loosely woven fabrics like Linen and some cottons can fray a 1/2 inch or so.  But some cottons and polyesters with a tighter weave might only frizz out on the ends.  And knit fabrics won’t fray at all.

Other common notes are:

wash the fabric in large pieces rather than small ones as the small pieces can be sucked into the machine's agitator
wash the fabric in the same method you plan to wash the garment - so (as an example) if you're planning to dry clean your wool, dry clean the fabric rather than machine washing it.

As a note, with all methods, your results may vary. This quilting site has a forum with a topic where many quilters are discussing preventing fraying and the results are mixed.
Different methods mentioned include clipping the corners, using pinking shears, sewing/serging, and simply not doing anything at all because fraying is inevitable... so the top suggestion is to always make sure you have extra fabric to allow for losing an inch or two to fraying.
Here are a few of the comments I thought seemed helpful:

auntpiggylpn: I also tried the "Clip the Corners" method and my fabrics still frayed, didn't seem to be any less or more than if I did nothing to the edges. This was also LQS type fabric. I tried the pinking shears trick and it didn't stop the fraying. I've also sewed along the edges prior to washing but it still frayed. Some fabrics don't fray at all and then some others I will loose at least an inch off the total cut. I ALWAYS was in cold on a delicate cycle and only put in the dryer until damp them iron. sorry, I don't have any positive answers for you!!
MaryAnnMc: I agree, everything I've tried still frays. But I've decided to stick with pinking: it does cut down on the fraying considerably, and I can always tell which fabrics in my stash have been washed. that alone is a good reason.
M.I.Late:I also just let it fray and just rip off the threads. When I wash fabric, I open it all the way up. I find that some manufacturers don't get it rolled on the bolt completely straight. So, I open it up completely, wash and dry it, refold it so there are no diagonal waves when held selvage to selvage, (I usually lose 1-2 inches here - but it has been as much as 3.) Then I trim it with the rotary cutter and iron it and it gets either used then or stashed for future use.
bearisgray: I finally learned to either serge the raw edge or overcast the raw edge with a long, narrow zigzag stitch before washing. I lose - at the most - about 1/8 inch of fabric when I zigzag the edges - none when I overcast if I remove the stitching.


How can I improve my control over spray paint?

Spray painting needs some getting used to. With these cans, you have to work quickly, and use smooth hand gestures. Mind as well, that they are used to paint large areas by default.

For your purpose, I suggest you buy cans from the Montana Gold line.

  Montana GOLD is the perfect tool for all artists and creative workers.
  The specially developed low-pressure system guarantees maximum
  accuracy to meet the highest requirements while giving professional
  results! High-covering and quick-drying acrylic lacquer.
  source

The change in coverage between different types of nozzles can be significant, too. That all of them don't work well for you, probably is a sign that you bought a wrong set - these cans are perfectly fine for (relatively) detailed work. Naturally, a stable and sure hand will also have a huge impact.
I'd suggest you look into the different cap levels by Montana, as demonstrated in this video. Here is a chart showing the same differences in their levels system:

Of course, other manufacturers will have different and specialized nozzles, as well. I suggest you compare whatever brand you can get your hands on, and see for yourself which work the best for you.

As for some tips:

After use, turn the can upside down, and spray (unto something that is allowed to go to waste) until only the gas comes out. This will clean both the nozzle, and the tube of the can.
Additionally, clean the nozzles directly after use. Here is a good way to do so.
I have only rarely used spray paint for detailed work in the past, so as to working techniques, I cannot really give any - except the general rule that practice makes perfect: keep experimenting and your technique (and fun) will improve.


Is epoxy a reasonable adhesive choice for repairing pottery?

epoxy seems like a reasonable choice

Epoxies are really versatile and can give very strong results. It would have been the first thing I considered as well.

since there are some gaps of around 1mm width

Likely not an issue but most glues need perfectly mated surfaces for good adhesion. There are expanding glues, like Gorrila Glue, but most? epoxies are not meant to fill gaps. As long as there are sufficiently mated surface area this would be a non issue. If you do end up gluing it, think ahead of how the project will be sitting as it dries. Epoxies and take several hours to cure. If something shifts during that time you might be stuck with it (Ha, I made a pun)
I am glad to see you already took some precautionary thought when it came to temperature and toxicity. I would have asked other wise if you had concerns about food safety. Some epoxies are food safe once cured and most have varying temperature tolerances. Read your product documentation carefully.
I used a cheap 2-part epoxy to repair the handle on my pottery mug that broke in 4 places after I accidentally threw it of my work desk.

Part of the handle shifted while curing, as I can see a crack (not very visible on the right hand side of the photo) that should not be there, but it has held strong for over a year now. The "crack" you see in front is a void because I could not find the chip the came from there.


How to know if brush contains hog/pig hair or not?

USE
Hog hair or hog bristle brushes are stiff, strong, and durable. Having frayed ends, the bristles are usually not appropriate for watercolouring, as they aren't able to soak up a lot of water, but they are sometimes used for adding texture or scrubbing away faulty layers of watercolour.
Exactly because they don't absorb a lot of fluid, they can be used well with oil and acrylic paints, as you can more easily move paint around. With their rough ('flagged') ends they don't allow for much precision, hence they are often formed into larger and rougher brushes, and can be used for covering larger areas, for grounding, or for more expressive approaches and impasto techniques.
However, by whipping the brush the ends will fray more, making the hairs softer, allowing them to be used for softer brushwork or even blending. This softening naturally occurs the longer you work with hog hair brushes.
IDENTIFICATION
To identify these brushes - which is not easy - you can look at the colour, and the structure of the hairs.

As organic hairs, they are usually quite easy to tell apart from synthetic ones (unless the latter are made to imitate animal hair), as the shafts are a lot more 'noisy' (see images below), both structure- and colour-wise.
Synthetic brushes also tend to have tops with much straighter cuts:

Another, surefire way to distinguish organic hairs from synthetic ones is to burn them: organic hairs will burn as separate threads, and have a distinctive bad smell, while synthetic hairs will melt together and smell of chemicals.

Hog/boar bristle brushes are (almost) always a broken white, and don't have a strong sheen to them, especially when compared to most synthetic hairs.
Sometimes a streak of black paint is added to make them look like badger hairs:

source

As mentioned before, hog hairs tend to fray at the tip, and this is visible in the brushes as having a distinctly diffuse tip, more so than with ox hair, for example:

edited from original

The hairs are also quite inexpensive, so the brushes are usually on the cheaper side of a producer's brush spectrum.

There aren't any clear-cut differences with other organic brushes, so I hope this is sufficient information to help you distinguish hog hair brushes from others.