DIY Life

There is something about the hand print gift. Maybe it is because it is so overdone that it has become kitschy, like every mom must own one. Probably it is because the size of your child's hand is frozen in time, a special keepsake of your growing child at the given age of the hand print.

If you find the hand print gifts charming, I've gathered a sampling of hand print projects that are slightly more unique, and dare I say upscale, than the typical hand print wreath. You know you've got one.

This easy hand print hand towel is made using towels you buy at the store and fabric paint. You can add the child's name, date and other embellishments and you've got a real keepsake here, and a usable one at that.

As the days grow longer and the weather starts to warm, kids across the nation go outside to play, and to get rid of their cabin fever from the long winter we all had.

Chances are that they will be dragging you outside with them! Instead of just pulling up a lawn chair and watching them run in circles, why not have a little fun with science and get them thinking as well as playing?

I am going to cover two different activities best done in the great outdoors that are sure to peak the kids' interest as well as show them a good time. These are easy to do, and it is easy to find the materials needed to get the jobs done! Now buckle up and let's get this science bus on the road!

Got no tools? Need somewhere to hang your photos, notes, calendar, etc.? Not allowed or unwilling to put holes in your wall with push pins? Don't fret because I've got a fast, slick way to make your own magnetic, wall-mounted bulletin board using no tools!

Ingredients:

- Thin sheet steel purchased from the local home center's duct work aisle (for larger pieces) or roofing aisle (Ask for tin shingles- they are not actually tin nor are they shingles, but then a monkey wrench has nothing to do with fixing simians either).

- Spray adhesive- Choose wisely here. 3M makes 3 commonly stocked strengths 45, 77, and 90. 45 is the lightest strength and the best chance of being able to be pulled off the wall with little to no damage. Use 90 and removal will require a wrecking ball.

-Spray paint- Get a primer for metal and a top coat. I recommend using product labeled as "appliance" enamel. This stuff can take a beating without showing it, but the colors are limited. Choose which ever color you need/ want, but make sure it is a semi gloss or hi gloss as the finish on these is more durable than matte finishes.

- Molding- This is an optional extra, but can really put a polish to the project.

We use magnets in our everyday life, they hold notes onto the fridge, pick up metal parts that dropped in awkward places, they are even used in some high security keys. We have also seen two different types of magnets, permanent magnets such as your fridge magnet which is always magnetized. And electromagnets used in applications like junk yard car cranes which can be turned on and off as needed.

One interesting application of the electromagnet is creating a magnetic levitation device. This is where a magnet is used to lift an object towards it but does not let the object touch the magnet. There are a few ways to do this but here are the operational steps for one of the simpler methods.

1. Power is applied to the electromagnet, a metal object will now be attracted to the magnet and want to move towards it.
2. A sensor is then used to detect when the object that is now moving towards the magnet is too close.
3. The step 2 sensor now causes the magnet to turn off.
4. Since the magnet is now off the item falls away from the magnet.
5. The sensor now detects that the object has fallen away slightly and applies power to the electromagnet again (step 1)

The sensor is generally an IR sensor which consists of an infrared LED and an infrared transistor. The LED sends out IR light and the transistor looks for the presence of the light. These sensors would be setup so that they look at each other creating a beam, this beam would be located directly below the electromagnet. Any object that gets too close to the electromagnet would then block the beam of infrared light.

Magnetic Levitation devices are available for purchase, but there is no fun just buying something when you could make it yourself! The video above demonstrated a device built by JHLI. He doesn't go into the details of building one but have a look at this site that describes all the steps needed to build your very own.

Want to make a homemade gift for someone but you're short on time or money? Here's a quickie craft that doesn't require special skills or talent but yields an impressive finished product.

Materials:

• Page Pebble stickers (found in craft stores and scrapbooking shops, available in different shapes and sizes)
• Old magazines with interesting images
• Magnets (no bigger than diameter of your Page Pebbles)
  

Is your refrigerator boring? Marble magnets are one of those fun, simple craft projects that have become very popular in the last few years. They've shown up on plenty of craft communities, shows, and books, sometimes with a theme. Once you learn how to make them, you can churn out a nearly endless variety, and you can also find other ways to use the pictorial marbles. But there are a few potential pitfalls in the process, so it helps to have someone show you how.

First of all, what are they? Flat glass marbles, sometimes called half-marbles or cabochons or glass pebbles, have long been sold to line plant pots and fish tanks. At some point, someone noticed that the marble acts like a lens if you place it over a picture or printed design. Eventually, people started gluing these pictorial marbles to things, particularly magnets, and an endless craft trend was born.

They're a great project because they're easy and inexpensive, but also relatively unique. They make good gifts: you can tailor them to the recipients' tastes, and they cost very little to make, so for $10 a teenager can cover presents for a whole group of friends.

To learn how to make pictorial marbles for magnets and other projects, join us after the break!

I was hesitant to post this tutorial, seeing as how it could get your utilities turned off if you were caught doing it, but I thought it deserved a little attention if for no other reason than to illustrate an easily fixable vulnerability in the way utility companies currently read meters. To be completely honest with you, I'm not 100% sure how, or even if this project works. Luckily for us, however, we have some fantastic readers who will (and should) quickly jump in and let me know what a dork I am for believing that something like this would even work in the first place.

So, with that out of the way, let's look at how you can "supposedly" cut your electrical bill in half by creating some sort of weak electromagnetic field around your meter.

Materials

1. Copper wire (apparently any gauge will work)
2. Two magnets (one significantly larger than the other)
3. Electrical tape
4. Plastic cup
5. Enough distilled water to fill the plastic cup
6. Saran wrap, or other plastic wrapping
7. Rubber band

Tools

1. Wire cutter / stripper

Time

Less than 15 minutes. This one's definitely a quickie.

Last week, BoingBoing posted a reader's comments about a "DIY bike noisemaker" he'd seen. The apparatus involved a piece of metal, which was wired to a nine-volt battery, which was wired to a small speaker. The metal piece picked up noise from passing chunks of magnet or metal attached to the bike's spokes.

No, I haven't figured out how it's made. I've been scratching my head ever since, with the nagging feeling that both Mr. Wizard (R.I.P.) and my fourth-grade science teacher would be very disappointed in me.

Something electromagnetic is probably going on with this bike noisemaker. I'm not sure exactly what. I suspect that the things wired to the spokes are indeed magnets, and electromagnetic waves, sort of like radio static, are generated as they pass by the needle that's wired to the battery, then sent to the speaker and broadcast... but I don't know for sure. Any other ideas?

This was an impetus to find out more about bike noisemakers, which are actually required in many areas.