ToolGirl

How to hang artwork in less than a minute with no measuring

Hang & Level tool is too cool!!
For more great tips on how to hang pictures visit the Hang & Level site at:
http://www.hangandlevel.com/

Hang & Level - How to hang a picture without arguments or irritation

A brilliant invention from Canadian decorator Liette Tousignant. --->

See the video here!

I first heard about this tool from alert reader Wayne Thurston: 
Mag,  I recently came across the most invaluable tool for picture hanging.  I spent almost 20 years selling, instructing and consulting to the picture frame industry and, now in retirement, have finally found the best.  You can view it on the company website (western Canada)  It's wonderfully called, "Hang & Level", and as advertised, "Marks EXACTLY where the nail goes". Check it out, I use it and it's the closest to perfect I have found.  Wish I had invented it.

I've had huge fun with this tool since I took Wayne's advice and got mine at Canadian Tire ($19.99).  The Hang & Level enables you to effortlessly hang pictures, photos and art objects in a fraction of the time it used to take. You don't need pencils, measuring tapes or swear words. 

To use the Hang & Level, choose the object you want to mount. Hang it on the perky little hook (or the double hooks for heavier objects) on the front of the Hang & Level tool, then hold the tool against the wall.  Raise it to the height that feels right. Then, lift the artwork off the tool and push a small ‘button’. The button, carries a sharp metal spike, which presses a beautiful little divot into the wall surface, marking the precise spot where the nail should go.  No pencils, no measuring, no name calling. 

For gobs of picture hanging tips, visit the Hang & Level web site.

See Mag's video here!

How to Engrave Designs on Glass

(this is a glass that my friend Sue made using a Dremel for the first time!)

A Blast from the Glass

DIY Engraving

My coordination has been a bit off since, oh, puberty. Even now that I've entered my supposedly mature years I’m still a spiller and a breaker. When I go to friends’ places for dinner, I request plastic drinking vessels. People resisted this at first, thinking I was exaggerating. But they’ve learned. I have UASS. (Upper Adulthood Spiller Syndrome).

My own glassware is a ragged collection of mismatched pieces; the type of assortment one usually reserves for the cottage. Only I don’t have a cottage. (We spillers live the cottage lifestyle with or without beachfront real estate, because we never have full sets of anything.) 

But I’ve discovered a great method of bringing uniformity to my snifters, goblets and highballs: Glass engraving, a totally enjoyable pastime. You don’t need to be particularly artistic, because if you’re not confident with freehand drawing, you can just trace paper patterns, photos, quotations, leaves, flowers, fabric or wallpaper through the glass.

How to Setup and use a Delta Lathe.

Keith Potts gives me a primer on my new lathe....

Wood Turning

Lathe Bloomer
Going with the slow

I’m changing. Perhaps it’s the dawn of maturity. After many years of wanting to rush through everything, and I mean everything, I’ve started to realize that speed is overrated.

The faster you go, the less you notice, and you suddenly hit the realization that you may have missed sucking the marrow out of the bone of life (to use a disgusting medieval image of ill-mannered revelry). 

If you rush something, you don’t really experience it, and then you wonder why you can’t remember details about things you thought you cared about while you were doing them.

I’ll tell you why you can’t remember.  You weren’t really there at the time.  You were busy leaning into the future anticipating getting everything done.  And now that you’ve got so much done, how do you feel? (Pop quiz) 

How to get the look of a stone fireplace in one weekend!

BRAND NEW VIDEO - Mag ambushes a friend and does a complete makeover on her fireplace!  (This video features a sweeping cinematic score that Mag created with her GarageBand software!)

How to make easy sterling silver earrings

Hearts and Crafts

Do-It-Yourself Bling
One day, I lost an earring to the sucking vortex of the toilet.  After the shrieking stopped, I vowed to cheat the toilet gods forevermore.  I’d make my own earrings, so whenever I lost one I could replace it.  No more orphaned bijoux, no more toilet-centric anguish.   

I was further inspired by Ann Wylie-Toal, a designer and artist living in Flesherton Ontario (www.awtdesigns.com).  I visited her studio and in 7 minutes flat, she whipped up an amazingly complex pair of gold wire earrings for me. Ann has a 3-D aptitude to rival Leonardo da Vinci’s, but I didn’t realize this until I decided to make earrings for Christmas presents.

Green, Sustainable and Eco Friendly Flooring

 

Guilt-free flooring

Modern flooring is veering away from synthetic carpets and vinyl.  This is largely because people keep hearing about all of the potentially harmful compounds resulting from the manufacturing process.  Who wants floors that will be off-gassing dioxins, lead, cadmium and phthalate plasticizers for the foreseeable future? 

And while most of us aren’t rabid about using exclusively green products, few people enjoy hearing that 5 billion pounds of worn-out carpet are discarded in North American landfills every year.  And that stuff doesn’t break down, ever. So ten thousand years from now, future humans will be able to mine ancient landfills for synthetic carpet fibers to use as home-heating fuel in their ultra-low-emission furnaces.  Oh wait, according to global warming experts, no one will need a furnace by then.

Find Furniture Plans Online

Wood That I Could!

It’s that time of year when meteorological anguish compels many Canadians to attempt woodworking projects.  Maybe you got some new tools for Christmas, or perhaps you’re just seized with the nesting urge, but I’m betting that in the past week you’ve thought of at least one home improvement project you’d like to accomplish.  And now your only question is, “Is there some relative I can foist it on?”

If you come up empty on that one, your next question is usually, “Well, how hard can it be?”

ReStore Salvage Building Materials

Salvage-Ho!

A heap o’ cheapo building supplies
Canadians are starting to feel the pinch of winter.  I know, because I’m getting letters from every province, from every age group.  People are starting to plan their spring renovations now. 

And just like old-timers can predict weather patterns by the foraging habits of rodents, I can predict that 2008 is going to be a big year for being handy. 

My correspondents seek sisterly advice about cottage renovations, basement remodels, kitchen upgrades and exterior touch-ups.  The home improvement bug is clearly out of the larvae stage and starting to think about reproducing.

For example: 

Dear Mag, 

I own an old park model trailer that I will be painting this year.  I want to replace the existing decorative shutters with wooden ones. Something very simple structurally but with a cut-out design (ie: trillium, bird etc.) in the centre of the shutter. Do you have any suggestions?