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Hack Apart a Highlighter to Create UV-Reactive Flowers [Science] - How-To Geek ETC

Hack Apart a Highlighter to Create UV-Reactive Flowers [Science] - How-To Geek ETC
College students have long been hacking apart highlighters to create glowing bottles of booze to line their dorm room walls. Far more interesting, however, is the application of the hack to flowers. Many of you may remember a science class experiment from years gone by where in you put food coloring in a beaker and then some freshly cut white flowers; returning to the experiment a day later yielded flowers colored to match the dye you added. This little experiment relies on the same technique, only instead of blue food coloring the flowers suck up UV-reactive highlighter dye. Check out the video below to see the experiment in action: Have a fun science experiment to share? Make Flowers Glow in the Dark (with Highlighter Fluid and UV Light) [YouTube via Make] Jason Fitzpatrick is warranty-voiding DIYer and all around geek. Related:  Miscellaneous

Top 10 Space-Saving Household Projects Whether you live in a tiny apartment or just have too much stuff, there's likely a lot of space you aren't using, like your walls, your ceilings, or the nooks and crannies in your furniture. Here's how to use it most efficiently.P 10. SExpand If you're in an apartment, you probably don't have a lot of great places to store your bike outside, and it can take up a lot of floor space just sitting around. 9. If you've already exhausted the storage nooks under your bed, the ceiling is ripe with unused space. 8. If floor space is at a premium, you can maximize it by moving those bookshelves up onto the wall, freeing up the floor for storing other things (and making it easier to clean). 7. Whether you're trying to pack light for a trip or just fit as many clothes into your dresser as you can, proper folding technique is key. 6. Most animals are pretty small, but it seems like their stuff takes up as much space as yours. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Got any clever space-saving tips of your own?

Geek Crafts | Where geek and crafts collide Mason Jar Key Hook Hey guys! Hope you all had a great Wednesday I have a fun project to share today! I started with a 1×8 board from Lowe’s that I cut to about 2′ long. I used a different paint method on this board and I love how it turned out so I am going to share it with you in my next post. I also purchased 3 hooks and a pipe clamp from Lowe’s. My next step was attaching them to my board. Then it was time to attach the clamp. I used a 3/4″ wood screw to attach it to my board. Finally, I added to picture hangers to the back of it and hung it up. I love it. I’m thinking these would be super cute hand towel hooks for the bathroom. Thanks for stopping by! I will show you my new paint method in my next post so stay tuned. ~Whitney

DIY Rotating Bookshelves, Staircases and Trap Doors Man makes trap door bookshelf – And teaches you how! Ever seen those hidden bookshelves in the Munsters or Scooby Doo? Always wanted one of your own? First up, we have two awesome rotating bookshelf tutorials. Popular mechanics has a neat article about a mechanical engineer who started a company which specializes in installing secret passageways. Related Tutorials: I'm Hanging Printer by Marc JuHyun Cha Free Up Your Desk All said and done, printers are a nuisance on the desk! They take up too much space and hold elegance to ransom with their unruly wires. The ‘I’m Hanging Printer’ is the proposed solution by designer Marc JuHyun Cha. In his words, “this looks like an art object when it hangs on the wall. Designer: Marc JuHyun Cha

DIY Shibori – HonestlyWTF Today marks HonestlyWTF’s four year anniversary. Four years! To celebrate, we’re revisiting the very first tutorial we ever featured on the site: shibori tie dye. Lauren and I first discovered shibori after discovering an old photo on the web. The idea of recreating an ancient Japanese dyeing technique inspired us to spend an entire weekend experimenting with our favorite deep blue, indigo. After dyeing just about every white article of clothing in sight, our blue stained fingers excitedly uploaded the tutorial – we couldn’t wait to share it with our 30 readers. You’ll need:an indigo dye kitnatural fiber clothing or fabric2 5 gallon bucketsrubber glovessmall wood squaresrubber bandstwinea PVC pipea long wooden sticka drop clothrubber glovesscissors When choosing fabric or clothing, it’s important that made of natural fibers. Itajime shibori is known as the shape-resist technique. Fold it again in the other direction – again, like an accordion. Wrap the twine around the fabric.

Booze it Up! 13 Rad Recycled Bottle Crafts & Projects Got a recycling bin full of glass bottles? Why waste them when you could have a new table lamp, candle holder, shelving unit, hummingbird feeder, glass countertop, building block – even a whole glass-bottle house? Reuse beer, wine and liquor bottles for these 13 fun and creative crafts and upcycling projects ranging up to a recycled bottle home and garden. Wine Bottle Table Lamp (images via: wit and whistle) Turning any wine bottle into a table lamp is as simple as drilling a hole and inserting a strand of lights. Wine Bottle Candle Holder (image via: design sponge) How simple and elegant are these DIY wine bottle candle holders? Wine Bottle Shelves (images via: renest) Would you ever have thought of using wine bottles and slabs of wood to create a shelving unit? Bottle Trees (images via: recyclart, metaefficient, examiner) Turn your holiday tree into an ode to beer (or perhaps just a sparkling green alternative to a living tree) using reclaimed empty bottles. Beer Bottle Drinking Glasses

stencil with freezer paper (harry potter tee) Yes, I am a nerd. I came up with a brilliant idea for a Harry Potter t-shirt and I couldn't resist. "Expecto Patronum!" However, you can make whatever kind of design you want with a freezer paper stencil. It doesn't have to be Harry Potter related. (Although it would be awesome if it was.) I learned about the joys of freezer paper back in my early college days. Basically, freezer paper is backed with a plastic coating that will stick to soft surfaces when ironed, but it peels off cleanly and easily. To make a sweet t-shirt you will need: paper & pencil a t-shirt an iron a piece of cardboard or poster board fabric paint & brush Start by drawing your design on some regular old paper. My design kept getting bigger, so I taped two sheets together. Next, place your design underneath a sheet of freezer paper and trace it neatly with a sharpie. The marker gives your lines greater width making it easier to cut them out and paint them in later. Important: Set these shapes aside.

Memorable Ways to Repurpose Old T-Shirts – Crafting a Green World Sewing Published on June 18th, 2010 | by Wenona Napolitano We all have them- those t-shirts we just can’t let go of. It could be a concert t-shirt from your favorite band, or a college shirt that remind you of the good ol’ days, or maybe it’s one of your child’s tiny tees that they’ve grown out of. But they don’t have to. If you have some craft and sewing skills you can turn your old t-shirts into upcycled, repurposed and memorable items. Like a pillow. There are instructions all over if you need them and Savvy Seams has a nice tutorial to turn a t-shirt into a zip off pillow cover to put over a form. Maiden Jane has a fancier tutorial for creating a pillow with the t-shirt and other fabric. If you have quite a few t-shirts you’d like to save, consider turning them into a quilt. I am considering collecting some of my kids old t-shirts and creating a quilt for each child. Goosetracks offers free DIY t-shirt quilt instructions and if you’re a non-sewer they offer quilt making services as well.

keep it modern” » Cuttin’ glass and takin’ names My latest Modern DIY came from pure curiosity. I had read about bottle cutters on different sites and forums and thought that could be pretty fun. I live in a area where there are a lot of wineries so that means there has to be plenty of wine bottles laying around. I personally don’t drink wine but was easily able to get my hands on some. The directions that come with the kit are pretty strait forward. Now that you have a cut bottle you have to deal with the sharp edges. I really don’t see these being used for drinking glasses. Photos by Kim Fetrow Finished Object: Recycled Magazine Butterfly Collage « Peacock Chic I love magazines. LOVE THEM!! I go the bookstore on a regular basis to find new ones that peak my interest. Don’t let me start another hobby because I will have acquired every magazine about the subject in order to saturate myself with information. Last year I signed up for 4 magazine subscriptions in an effort to curtail my investment in individual magazines and curb my visits to the bookstore. However, when I saw the The Butterfly Project at LollyChop via Craftzine I knew that at least a small part of my magazine collection (read: very small) would find new life via a pretty display of color. I bought the frame from JoAnn’s and my BFF allowed me to use here Martha Stewart punches that she bought from Micheal’s so I did not have to buy a set of my own only to use one time which would have negated the whole reuse effort. The project actually took me a few days to complete. …and agonizing over proper placement and color combinations…LOL. All in all a fun, quick, crafty reuse project.

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