What Projects Would You Like To See?

8/11/2017

This entry is a re-post from 2014 because I would appreciate your input and suggestions. Should it be crafts, science, or some bizarre idea? I would like your thoughts and welcome guest posts. I know that many of my readers are creative and I want them to share as well. Please take the time to write a comment and we can provide open source ideas together. Thanks, Ken.

Over the past four years I have posted a variety of projects and information that I thought may be useful to my readers/viewers. Some have been very well received as was the “Anodizing Aluminum without Battery Acid” and it has been translated into at least 15 languages around the world. The post on “Reusable Molding Material” also received many comments and community response. Also, the “Static Electricity Detector” was read frequently. But others either have generated none or very few comments. So, I am not sure if my efforts are wasted, no comments necessary, or useful in any way. So, I am reaching out to you for some feedback and direction.
Despite the fact that I maintain four separate topic pages, the Science and Technology page is my main interest. I have been pursuing what I hope will be interesting, entertaining, and informative posts. But it would be helpful to know if you want chemistry, crafts, physics, electronics, or other types of projects. So, I would appreciate the time it takes to write a short comment to guide me in my choices of science topics.
Some of my projects take time to research, develop, and test. I try to offer some originality and versatility and I frequently have failures. (Don’t we all?) I could copy other sites but there is little value if the project requires no thought process. I usually have some pretty bizarre ideas and they may fall outside of what you may want. For example I am working on an infra sound project, (sounds below human hearing), and a silk screen photo emulsion made at home. But maybe you want something else and I could use the feedback to craft new science fun. I am also open to guest posts if you have a project that you would like to share. Leave a comment and I will post my email so we can chat! Thanks, Ken…

19 Comments

David Powell

8/12/2017 05:22:58 pm

I enjoy ALL of your posts. Until now I didn't know you had more than one blog, so I will definitely add the others to my RSS reader.
I am interested in electroplating, molding, and all aspects of DIY stuff. I prefer text over videos, but both are good of they don't exceed my attention span.

Sorry, pet peeve alert - I think "bizarre" is the word you were looking for. Unless of course you are selling stuff. :-)

Ken

8/13/2017 09:04:46 am

Hi David,
I always appreciate correction and I fixed my aversion to vowels. I am working on plating plastics with unusual seeding techniques but have had several failures. I am also planning on a clear molding material that will qualitatively determine CO2 in the air, but that is still in the planning stage. Thanks for your input, Ken.

Mark

8/14/2017 06:48:40 pm

Hi Ken, I hope it's okay to post this here. I appreciate the site and your sharing of information. I found your recent polymer clay tutorial very helpful. I now have my Kaolin clay, plastisol, etc and I'm ready to experiment and hopefully help the process along if possible. I had a follow up question. Is there a way to contact you directly? I provided my email in the header area, and can provide my phone, facebook info whatever is easiest. Thanks in advance - Mark

charlie

8/22/2017 07:06:01 am

Ken, I stumbled upon your web site when I was looking for reusable mold material. The post and the comments were very helpful. Thanks for your labors! I went on to read the info about polymer clay and found it equally intriguing. Like you I'm interested in materials, process and ways to reduce cost. The silk screen photo emulsion project is one I'd like to hear more about.

Ken

8/23/2017 11:08:18 am

Charlie,
Thanks for the input and I will get in gear! Sometimes I need a push xD. Ken.

Don

1/8/2018 07:41:46 am

Hi Ken,
I just found your YouTube video on polymer clay. Excellent, it was the first I've found to make actual polymer clay, not a substitute. I often watch The King of Random, who until recently, had good posts and projects. He did a project on smoke bombs made from household materials which looked like they worked well. But soon did another one, much more complicated, saying that he wasn't happy with the last. I'd now just be appreciative of a colored smoke bomb recipe that the author knows will work. In other words; researched and tested, lol. If you know of one, or have the time, many thanks. If not many thanks anyway, for the clay and whatever else I stumble across here.

Kaye

1/17/2018 03:49:19 am

I just found your website and video’s yesterday, and I’m so intrigued and appreciative of your obvious curiosity, and your willingness to unselfishly share your knowledge with others. I personally am very interested in your molding technique, and I’m searching for an economical way to make my own molds with good results for using with epoxy resin projects. The resin is pretty expensive, but I figure there is no way around that expense so making my own molds would be a great knowledge to have, but it would also allow my creative genius to flow. 😉 Just kidding about the creative genius, but I would love to be original at least. Thanks for all you do!

Ken

1/19/2018 04:26:05 pm

Hi Kaye,
If you need free flowing liquid to make mold there is no substitute for RTV silicone but if you can use something that forms a silicone mold that is less fluid then there is an alternative. It is not my idea but I have used it many times. Let me know what you make molds of and I can search for a video for you. Thanks for the kind words, Ken.

Margie

1/25/2018 08:51:38 am

Hi Ken
I have been looking at your various posts on polymer clay. I want to make my own clay and in turn go into business making memorial things
( rosaries, braclets,ect.) from flowers. I will incorporate the flowers into the clay. i was wondering if using other recipes of clay i could substitute the White Kaolin clay in place of the cornstarch. I am doing research to find something that would be durable . Don't want to offer customers something not reliable.
also do you think baked clay would be stronger than air dried?

Bob

2/12/2018 05:37:38 am

Hi Ken and whoever might read this,
I arrived here after searching for information about mould making.
[I'm not sure that the warm caustic in pre-cured soap I am making would happily sit with a gelatine mould - but I'll try anything and hopefully learn from the experience.]
I have been exploring soap making and am interested in making my own custom decorated soap molds [as cheaply as practically possible].
I'm also interested in information, experimentation, whatever for methods connected with re-using waste home cooking fats and oils as soap making ingredients.
[Laundry soap formulas, toilet soaps, etc.]
At home we fry our chips [potatoes, french fries] in a pan of oil or dripping [tallow]. When we renew this periodically there is quite a considerable amount of waste - using it to make soap seems like a practical and 'green' idea. [we also save waste cooking oils for the same purpose.]
I put this [recycling of used cooking fats and oils] forward as a subject worthy of discussion, experimentation and learning.
I am at an early stage in my encounter with the soap making process.
Looking forward to any comments.
Bob

Ken

2/16/2018 10:21:42 am

Bob,
As far as the molds the cheapest would be the 100% silicone caulk/cornstarch method. Although not pourable it makes very flexible and useful molds. Do a search and you will find lots of information and methods.
The waste oil is another question as high temperatures degrade most oils and filtering is not enough to reuse. Quantifying reactive oil is an interesting question and I will do some research and perhaps a project. Thanks for the post. Ken.

Tosa Puvapiromquan

6/5/2018 02:10:28 pm

Hi Ken,

I appreciate your sharing of knowledge and found you a couple months ago when looking up how to create my own embossing powders. I still haven’t tried it but now that I saw the polymer clay post, I’m going to have to try both once I’m able to free up some funds. I am very much looking forward to your photo emulsion results because I’m interested in making my own photopolymer letterpress plates and photopolymer rubber stamps. I think (hope?) there may be a segue into my curiosity from yours. Now, generally speaking, I’m interested in material science, diy anything, and cost reductions, especially in being able to scale up a project that is currently cost prohibitive. For instance, before your tutorial on embossing powders, I would never have been able to make my own embossed wallpaper, but now, provided I can find an inexpensive source for acrylic floor polish, I should be able to make enough to cover an entire room with an embossed, upscycled wall covering. I recently made my own gel press plate from unflavored gelatin and glycerin as a plasticizer, but I think if I had a different polymer in there, it may be made more durable. But using gelatin is nice because when it does get deformed, it’s easily remade by melting in the microwave to be remolded.
Anyway, enough chattering. Thank you for your blog. I look forward to whatever you come up with next. It’s sure to be insightful.

Ron

11/8/2018 09:22:53 pm

Hi Ken, thank you so much for sharing your incredible knowledge! I am interested in making geode and would love to know if there is any way of making Glitter at home. I also watched quite a few of YouTube on how to grow alum or borax crystals but I'd appreciate very much if you can find a good way of coloring them. Thank you

Rachel Wells link

3/21/2019 05:58:25 am

Hi Ken,
I make lamps and lampshades.
Premo Accents Polymer Clay is one of the materials I use,
and you are right itis very expensive.
I custom color my PC with alcohol inks, to match a lamp shade, a lamp base etc. I also use Premo Accents Translucent
clay often, on sale it is $16/lb.
Is there a plasticizer, and other ingredients,uncolored, that could make a translucent PC.
Premo cures at 275 degrees for one hour.
Thank you for your wonderful Youtube channel.
I am a subscriber

Kris

7/3/2019 02:57:17 pm

I found your videos and blog just recently while looking at embossing powders. Love the way you think and share all your experiments. I am also very interested in your silk screen photo emulsion to use in DIY craft stamps. Seems as though everyone is moving to the photopolymer plates. Thank you for all your work.

Chante Hayward

7/6/2019 07:11:33 pm

Hey, Ken.
I only just discovered your work and loved your polymer clay tutorial. Very informative and helpful. Thank you. Now I'm kind of wanting to know how to make plastisol ink... Any chance you could show us that? I enjoy learning how things are made.

Ken

7/7/2019 09:30:36 am

Chante,
It is a challenging and costly process but I will see what I can do. Thanks for the comment. Ken.

Ben

10/2/2020 08:09:47 pm

I am just looking around on your blog here and wanted to tell you how great your video on anodizing was. It really solved my problem of wanting to anodized some things but not wanting battery acid laying around. I occasionally machine things out of aluminum as a hobby and since finding your tutorial I bought a dc power supply and really got your method working well. Now i don't have any hesitation when it comes to anodizing. I have seen your video and blog linked in multiple places pertaining to anodizing.
Thanks again.

Art Place

3/27/2021 10:38:53 pm

Hi Ken Just started making moulds so that I can create perspex letters to go in the light boxes I make. I found your 'you tube' on the gelatin method very well done and it was most gratifying that it was done by a real scientist, who knows his stuff. Thank you so much!
I wonder if you know of a method whereby you can change candle wax into a much harder wax, so that you can use it for moulds or for carving into. Like silicon Rt , the hard wax is incredibly expensive so the price precludes it's use for an artist such as myself. Thanking you in anticipation Hope you've had your jab! Cheers Art

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