DIY Life

In the past there were only a few choices for fence materials. You could put up a stone wall, block wall, brick wall, wrought iron, wood, or chain link. If you got creative you could combine a couple materials and get a fence/ wall by putting wrought iron on top of a brick base or wood panels between pilasters of block or stone.

Today the number of choices and alternative materials has exploded. Plastic, aluminum, and man made stone have given the homeowner a plethora (see, a college education can pay off!) of choices to choose from.

I am going to try to sort through some of the more popular choices for you based on affordability, difficulty of installation, looks, and durability. Hopefully this will make your choices clearer and easier to make.

Recently, we talked about screen printing: the versatile medium in which you can create anything from a simple t-shirt to a complex, multi-layered fine art print. Screen printing is easy, if you pay attention to detail, but people sometimes avoid it just because it can take up an inconvenient amount of space.

Another way you can screen print at home is with a small machine called a Print Gocco (pronounced go-co, not gah-co). It's made only by a single company, Japan's RISO, and uses proprietary supplies. It's compact enough to use in even a very small apartment, so it's a great solution for people with limited space... as long as you don't mind that it makes small prints.

Over the last few years, Print Gocco has become one of the most talked-about tool for artists and crafters. You can join me after the break to read more about it!

I have to admit that silk-screening, AKA screen printing, is a craft that was once a little bit mysterious to me. One reason it confused me for such a long time is that the tools and terms used in it are specialized: if you aren't a silk-screener already, or being directly taught by one, it might be difficult to figure out what "photo emulsion" is and how it works. (This is probably the case with most printmaking processes!)

However, screen printing is really not difficult at all. Join me after the break to learn about several methods. This article is the first in a series: next week, we'll learn all about the compact Japanese screen printing system called the Print Gocco, and we'll even use it to make a nifty holiday card.

Have you heard of furoshiki? These traditional Japanese square cloths are getting a lot of attention lately, as a "green" alternative to wrapping paper and plastic shopping bags. Furoshiki means "bath spread" -- in feudal Japan, they were used to bundle and protect people's clothing at public bath houses, but over the years, their standard use has been to tie up any bundle you can imagine (they've even been used as baby carriers). The word is pronounced something like "f'-ROHSH-kee".

The term is a general one, not referring to any particular size or pattern, though most are around one-and-a-half to a little over two feet on a side. They usually have a printed pattern and a stitched hem around the edges. Unlike wrapping paper, which is often too creased and weak to effectively reuse, furoshiki can be part of a gift, and can be used again and again. They can also be tied up in various ways to make an "instant bag."

See much more about furoshiki, including diagrams, videos, alternatives, and places to shop, after the break!

Wondering what all these buttons and text do in DIY Life? Wonder no more! Let's take a look at our top 5 features... Be sure to check out our How to use DIY Life video as well.

1. Categories and Tags
You may access categories at the top of the page. Click on "Tech" and a drawer will open, revealing all the tech categories. By clicking on those words, like "electronics," you'll see a page with only posts in that specific category. This is nice when you just want to see posts about knitting, or drywall or robotics. Browse around!

The tags, on the right, a little further down, are words each blogger adds when they write a post. Think of them like keywords, and this list will change once in a while (unlike categories, which are hard-wired). Click on a tag, and you'll find posts with those tags-- even if they span multiple categories.

Keep reading to learn how you can see fresh, hourly updates by category or tag, how to leave comments, how to search the site, and what reference pages we have available (hint: see area 5 there).

I know some of our readers are right now thinking, "what in the known world is a DIYer?". Well, in short, it is anyone who is a do-it-yourself-er, meaning you find ways to do thing yourself instead of paying for it or being creative when no traditional solution exists. If you have ever built a bookcase, put in your own wood floor, remodeled a bathroom, raised plants, or built your own house, you are a DIYer.

You might wonder at the term DIY'er in our context, not just those who do home improvement and woodworking, but also anyone who knits, crafts, does scrapbooks, or science experiments in the backyard with (or without) the kids, tries to boost their PC's wireless signal or build a summer air-conditioning unit for your home without conventional means.

DIY'ers like you can be found in the wild today, often constructing a rock-wall for cheap landscaping, fixing a garden hose with duct-tape, and hunting their own food in the jungle (okay, not that last one so much). Everywhere you look these DIY'ers are busy hacking life and making things better (sometimes worse). DIY Life is here to help you find your DIY self, and become a bit more handy, learn a new trick or two, and in general have a better life that you can make with your own two hands. This is what we mean when we use the term DIY'er, in case you were wondering.

In the coming days, we here at DIY Life hope to give you an inside look at the essence of being a DIY'er and what it truly means to have a DIY Life, so stay tuned. Oh and if the picture is fuzzy, please feel free to whack your computer a bit, because after all, you built it yourself, didn't you?