Since the northern lights decided to not show up, might as well show the ones I made as my outdoor lights

Took about 3-4 days of work, over 2 weeks. All recycled stuff, per usual; most got found thrifting, or taken from stuff I already had. ​

The LED lights are the newest things, being some cheapo RGB coasters that I found in the store and noticed "huh these got programable led drivers". I replaced the button batteries with AAA/AA battery packs. Since they're driven pretty hard, they originally relied on a glass being on top of them, but I cut out some glass "heatsinks" to cool them down and it worked great. I also modded the lights with remote buttons, so right under the lip of the lamp I can now turn them on and off instead of dragging out the entire lamp assembly ​

The lanterns were oiled in with a mix of linseed oil and mineral spirit. And all the electronics properly heatshrinked and sealed with nail polish. Crossing my fingers I covered all the obvious wicking points for water. ​

#DIY #FediCrafts #Crafts #KattMakes #Upcycle #Recycle

Continuing on from the whole "how do I make metal polish", I had a lot of coins that now was very clean and shiny, but unprotected from the elements. So I took a clue from what I do with my cast-iron cookware and made polymerized coatings on them using canola oil and a brûlée torch.

You can do this with just about any oil or fat that at a certain heat polymerizes. I will note tho, that if you're going to do this yourself, using linseed oil or some other oil with a low polymerization point (Linseed is at 107°C, while Canola Oil is 218°C) is preferable. It's also so much safer and controlled since then you can heat your piece in the oven and then apply the linseed coat.

I'm happy with most, but I did manage to overheat two of the copper-tin ones. When you heat copper coins a bit much, the tin rises to the surface, leaving colored spots.

Caution: Rags and paper towels full of oil, especially drying oils, is hecking flameable. Do not put the rags in a locked bin or container and douse them properly with water.

#DIY #FediCrafts #Crafts #KattMakes

I usually keep my headache meds in a tin box so I made this fancy during my off time from Fedi. First time doing just about everything but it turned out pretty good ​

Everything is recycled from other stuff too! ​

#diy #FediCrafts #Crafts #Upcycle #Recycle #KattMakes #Altoid #Tinbox