Make Stuff with Your Kid

These crazily feathered arrows are called flu-flu arrows.  It’s just fun to say.

First, lets gather up the things we need to get started.

We have the started book (still clipped together), some heavy thread, and a heavy duty needle. For this tutorial, I am using red thread and a curved needle because I think they are easy to see. You do not need a curved needle. I would probably use a large straight needle if I was doing this any other day.

Start the first stitch in the top hole. I go in from the face of the book first, but it really doesn’t matter. You can adjust the last stitch at the end.

I probably pulled out 2-3 feet of thread or so to get started. That should give us plenty of extra.

Pass the thread around the spine of the book once, then around the top. It should look something like this picture.

After you have gone around the spine once, and across the top, come down the front of the book into the next hole. Take the thread through the second hole and around the back.

Continue down the book until the front looks like this.

The back should look something like this picture.

Work your way back up to the top hole, filling in all the spaces where there is no thread. After one good pass, the book spine should look something like this.

Follow your exact path back down the spine of the book until there are two strands of the binding string everywhere and you are almost done!

When you get back to the top hole in the last pass (last pass meaning you have two strands of the string everywhere), flip the book over and pull the last strand of thread to the back of the book. Pull the strand from the front under and around the threads coming out of the top hole and tie a square knot.

You are in the money!!!! You own a custom hand-made book!

Bust out your pen and get to it! Tape in some pictures. Draw a picture of your foot. Write a letter in it and mail it to me. Whatever makes you happy.

This is a great project because the pages can be blank, or anything special you already have.

Click on any of the pictures to make them larger and clearer. If you have any questions, email me at jim@makestuffwithyourkid.com.

Happy making!

It is easy to make Japanese style sewn bound books. You can make them out of any leftover paper you have around or super beautiful rice paper from the art store. I dug out a topographic map from a great hike I took and used it for the front cover. I used a thicker piece for the back page. Using stuff like a map from a trip you took can make a book like this really personal. I think that this one will become an album for pictures from that hike.

I got out my trusty paper cutter and cut front and back cover pieces to 5 inches by 7 inches (scissors do this just fine, but I feel all fancy since I have a paper cutter…). For the inside pages of the book, I used some nice stationary that I got at a garage sale. It takes fountain pen ink really well and that is what I am hoping to use to write in this book. You could also make books filled with drawings that your kids have made or other paper things that you want to keep.

The next step is to mark the paper where you want to make the holes for the binding string. I fold a piece of scrap paper that is one inch wide and as long as the height of the book. (1″ x 5″ for this example) This piece of scrap will be a template for the holes to sew through.

Here is how you lay out the marks on the template. Measure in from the ends 3/4 of an inch - both top and bottom. Then I divide the leftover space evenly. for this pattern (5″ x 7″), the end marks are 3/4 in from the ends and the two middle marks are one inch in from the end marks. I think that the most important thing when you are laying out one of these books (and you can make it any size you like) is that you first measure the outside two holes and make them equal. That will give the book the right look. If you click on the picture, it will enlarge so you can see the template better. If this is just totally confusing, email me at jim@makestuffwithyourkid.com and I will send you a template you can print.

Next, press the fold of your template paper against the left side of your book cover and make a pencil mark where each of your template marks is.

If you are making more than one of these, the template really helps speed things up and makes all the books uniform. If you plan to make a bunch, I would even make this template out of something heavier than the note card I used for mine.

Once you have the hole positions marked, stack your front cover, inner pages, and back cover together. Clip the book pages together with binder clips. This will keep things from slipping around while you punch the holes through the pages.

I use a small finish nail and hammer to make starter holes for the binding string.

Make sure you are on a sturdy surface and most importantly, do put some backing material behind the book. You might get in trouble for nailing your book to the dining table. (Even if it is really pretty…)

You can start sewing at this point if you like but I think it is a little easier to sew the book if you enlarge the holes just a little bit.

If you have a power drill (and a REALLY good backing) you can use it here.

If not, you can wrap the end of a drill bit with tape to make it easy to hold. You could also hold onto the drill bit with some vise grips.

In this picture, I am hand twisting the tape wrapped drill bit through holes I already made with the finish nail. If you go to the hardware store, ask for ‘6 penny’ finish nails. They are about the right size.

Once the holes are all enlarged, we are ready to start that really cool looking sewn binding. At this point, your book edge should look something like this:

In the next post, I will show you the sewing pattern.

I have been missing for a few days and apologize.  My day job has consumed most of my energy.

Here is a pic of the style of book that we will make this weekend.

p.s. Something knocked the mosquito trap over and licked it clean. (gross!)  I will refill, put it up on a shelf and post how that goes.

I should be able to get a new post up this weekend with a project to make with your kid but I thought I would give you a pic of something I have been doing for myself. A friend recently got me interested in target shooting with a bow and arrow. I did this some with my dad and my uncles when I was younger but haven’t thought about it in years. In normal fashion for me, I have to make all the parts myself.

Here is my first arrow:

The most fun part of this was making a jig for making custom dowels. The shaft of the arrow was a piece of an old Douglas fir 2×4 that I had in the basement. I can post a pic or instructions of the jig if anyone is interested - just send me an email at jim@makestuffwithyourkid.com

See you this weekend.

I read about this last year sometime and have been wanting to try it ever since.
We are going to make a mosquito trap from an empty two liter pop bottle, sugar, warm water, and a packet of regular bread yeast from the grocery store.

First, a trick to draw a straight line on a cylinder:
Push the cylinder (pop bottle in our case) into a corner. You can hold the pen in your hand or tape it to a heavy book if you need. Press the pen against the bottle and spin the cylinder while keeping it trapped in the corner.

Stop and feel really smart for a minute for knowing the line trick, then, (all careful like…), follow your really smartly drawn line and cut the top off. I am using a utility knife but you could use scissors or anything that will suit.

Once you have the top cut off, set it aside but don’t throw it away. It will go inside the bottle but turned upside down.

Next, off to the kitchen for the filling.

Mix 1/4 cup of sugar with 2 1/2 cups of warm water. The water should be warm but not hot.

You will need a packet of regular bread yeast to add to the water and sugar mix.

Stir the warm water and sugar until mixed and add the yeast.

Pour all this nastiness into the pop bottle and put the top part of the bottle in upside down. (Take the cap off first)

That is it. Put it outside somewhere shady in the evening and wait. The mosquitoes will fly down in thinking that the gases coming off the yeast concoction is some tasty kid to bite. They will fly in but not be able to get back out. I just put mine out in the yard. Email me and let me know how yours works.

(jim@makestuffwithyourkid.com)

Thanks for playing!

So, I had a bunch of part cans of spray paint around in the basement and I got rid of three of them painting this boat…

For the base coat, I emptied a little can of red spray paint.

Once that dried, I put a couple coats of yellow on one side and a few coats of blue on the other and here it is. (Guaranteed the fastest boat in any bathtub!)

The high powered engine is the rubber band off a bunch of asparagus. (Even boat builders need to eat their veggies.)

Thanks for sticking with me through this project. If you have a specific project you would like me to make or if you have any questions or would like plans of this boat to print, send me an email at jim [at] makestuffwithyourkid [dot] com. I can also get you more information on the more complex boat pattern from the first post.

-Jim

Last time, we had just started drawing our boat pattern on a board. Now we will finish laying it out. When you are done, it should look like this picture.

If you want a full size pdf that you can print, cut out, and trace on your board, email me at jim [at] makestuffwithyourkid [dot]com.
After you have everything drawn out, go ahead and cut out the boat and paddle pieces with the coping saw.

Before you cut out the pieces, think about which parts you are going to leave and which parts you are going to remove. It is really easy to cut off a part that you meant to leave on. I have a lot of experience at this… A trick to help you remember what to leave is to draw squiggly lines on the parts that you want to remove. Be careful when cutting out the notches in the paddle pieces to keep them tight. The notch should be just barely wide enough to allow the other paddle to slide into it. If you have any question, cut tighter and sand until they go together. It will be much harder for you if you cut it too large.

Here is a shot with all three pieces cut out.

In the pic, I have placed the paddle pieces so that you can see how they will be assembled.

All that is left to do is sand, finish, and start playing.

Any sandpaper made for sanding wood will work fine but I think that one of the best inventions of all time is adhesive backed sandpaper.

As you can see in the picture, I tore a piece of adhesive backed sandpaper off my roll and stuck it on a scrap. For me, moving the boat over the stuck down sandpaper is easier than the other way.

Once you have sanded off all the pointy ends and sharp edges, you are ready to assemble, paint, and play!

Put a drop of glue on the inside surfaces of the paddles where they will touch and press them together.

Right now, I am going out to paint the boat with spray paint.

Tomorrow, after the paint dries, I will put up a pic of the boat all finished.

This last week, I got really interested in toys that you could take to the pool. I made a couple of these boats (seen above) and they are a blast.

The only problem was that I used quite a lot of expensive tools from my wood shop and I wanted to find a way that anyone could make a working toy boat - so here we go.

You need a four dollar board that you can get at the hardware store or a hobby shop. (I bought this 1/4″ thick piece that is 2′ long and 4″ wide in the bin at Cottin’s Hardware.) and an eight dollar coping saw like the one in the picture and you are in business…

The first step in laying out the boat is drawing a curved bow (or front end of the boat) on our new board. In my shop, I had a paint can that was about the right width but you could use anything that is near 4 inches. If you are feeling adventurous, you could also mark out a more traditional pointed bow like the boat at the top of the page.

When done, this particular boat is going to look a little like Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder.

marking bow of the boat

In part 2 of this post (coming this Saturday), we will finish marking out the pattern, cut it out, and assemble it.