Plant Markers from plastic bottles

Nowadays, shampoos, hair oils, perfumes, talcs, lotions, what have you, all come in such plastic packing [as in picture above] and make way into our homes.  Once empty, a vast majority of them find no further use or reuse and have to be discarded.  But some good ones are suitable for other purposes after the original content is used up.  

I have seen many people use old Venetian Blinds for labeling their plants in the garden.  Since I cannot find the blinds here, I thought of using the spray bottles to label what I planted/sowed where. There will be so many such containers that may be handy too.  

Next time I cut up a container, I will think of more artistic patterns. There is one here that got the shape of a carrot and one like a necktie.  There will be so many options if we use our own 'recyclables'.

[Names are written with Sharpie pens.]

I hope you also noticed the 'bed dividers'.  They are granite pieces I gathered from the stone-slab cutting shop - they throw these waste pieces out in a pile for the landfills. I brought in a few and used it like this, since I cannot even think of wood on the soil due to termite menace. 

I have some spare blanks now.  

When I write the name on the top, I can still cut up that written portion later if I want to use it for other names in the next season, but the label will be slightly shorter. Squeeze the maximum out of it! 

Upcycling a Roly-Poly Bell

I have posted a replica of this piece in Mysorean Musings blog also.
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In the mid 1960s, my grandfather handed over Twenty Rupees to his 'junior lawyer', Srinivasachar who was going to Madras [now Chennai] to bring some good toys or play things for my young brother.  Twenty rupees was a substantial sum in those days that could have got some really good toys but Srinivasachar returned with two Roly poly toys for a little fellow who had long outgrown the type of toy, despite knowing how old this boy was!  What a silly selection from him, the elders used to remark.  Even I thought so at that small age! The dolly toys went up into the showcase right away.  They were only taken out and given to little babies for playing when they visited our house.  The above is one of the two surviving toys, and was useful when babies of our own arrived, more than 25 years after Srinivasachar purchased.

The bell tones from the toy as it went 'weebly-wobbly' impressed me for their absolute pleasantness.  I badly wanted to see what was producing those bell tones inside.  I held it up against strong sunlight with a hope of seeing its shadow in it but could not.  The two 'hemispheres' were joined together, but it was out of my limits to attempt to open and close back. The only option was to break open, as was my wont.  

My joy knew no bounds when there was a crack near the joint, after many years, in the late 80s.  It did not matter how it developed, but it was a great delight to me.  Since there were two roly polys, I did not mind breaking one to satisfy my long standing curiosity!  Finally I gave in to the temptation.   What a joyful experience it was to break open with my own hands and lay them on the ting-tong mechanism!  In fact, I wanted to see this from the day it came!!

Picture: Beautiful!  It is something similar to those from a jukebox!

The ring is suspended in the centre to strike the steel wire-gongs when the doll changes its angle even slightly.  Different lengths will produce different frequency sounds. Absolute melody!

Now what to do with it?  It would not work outside the sealed doll!  So I wanted to do something just to bring back those bell tones.  I found that a packing cardboard cylinder made a perfect fit to this.  I closed its two ends, suspended the striker ring at its proper place and lo, ting tong was back, albeit with softer sound due to the cardboard.  

Roly poly bell was now in a different shell! 

After a few years it was baby time.  I discovered that the baby was also attracted to this sound.  So I suspended my new cylindrical creation to the cradle in such a way that when the baby beat her legs, it was serving like an alarm bell.  In this picture [click on it to magnify] it is kept on top of the cradle in idle position. This is the only photo I have.  It has to be left freely suspended outside to 'activate'.  This was another project I enjoyed thoroughly.

Someone gave her a new roly poly for her first birthday and this produces even better sound.

I am again curious to know the difference in technology from the 60s to the 90s! 

May ting tong ting tong.

The beautiful and meaningful song ಆಡಿಸಿ ನೋಡು ಬೀಳಿಸಿ ನೋಡು ಉರುಳಿ ಹೋಗದು from the movie Kasturi Nivasa features this weebly wobbly toy.  See this clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhuieInmdIU

Baby Net Bed and Vice Horse Table

In the early 60s, my uncle was running a book circulating library in our locality.  It was just a shed-like single room.  It had a wooden board hung outside.  The library was situated on Jayalakshmi Vilas Road.  The library had to be closed down in the mid 1960s mainly due to his own poor health. He eventually died in 1967.

This board lay around here and there, on top of book almirahs, etc. and of no use.  It was in the store room when I picked it up for my small wood projects which I had started to make in the late 80s. 

The  board is beautifully painted and is made of a single-plank of wood.

It had border beading which I removed.  From waste pieces of wood I gave this board 4 legs.  A short table was now ready.  It is just about 15 inches high and is very convenient to sit and do certain small carpentry works. It was a perfect extension for a low cot which I was using for some years.  The cot was a foot short in length which this new table made up.  Whenever I needed it for work I was taking it out from there.  

It serves as a very good 'Horse Table' as it is called.  It became a "Vice Horse Table" after I fixed a vice to it and has become a very important thing in my 'workshop'. 

Now the second part of this post.

The long and nice border beading pieces of that board came in useful for making a Baby Net Bed which I made in 1994.  

Hanging Net Beds for babies were new at that time.  I wanted one for our little one, but its price tag was a wee too much.  Why not I make one at home?  I knew the materials like tape, zipper and net were available in shops and I had the necessary cloth at home.  I had mentally copied the design and bought the materials. The border beading was just perfect for this - see them protruding a little bit in the picture below - I did not want to cut it down. There was not much trouble in finding the two other shorter pieces to make the rectangle frame.  What was in the market was of metal.   

Left: Baby in the net; Right: Taken out now, for sharing it in this blog.

It was fun making it and it certainly costed me less while I used some available materials at home. 

The little one enjoyed its time in it with no hassles of insects while it also served as a cradle. 

There are several attractive varieties available in the market now.

Vintage Dog Chain repurposed

My grandmother used to tell about Jimmy and Tippy were two pet dogs that were with the great grandfather's family in the 1920s and 30s.  It was in the house which he built in 1911 and the family stayed till 1950 before renting it out.  But in my time in that other house there has been no pet animal with us.  I moved back to that, now 102-year old house in 1998, where Jimmy-Tippy ran around and got chained at times.

Among vintage junk, I had found the rusty dog chain from those days.  There was an instant fondness for its snap hook.  Since there was no intention of having a dog, I wanted to find some other use for this strong chain.  

There was a need for my travel suitcase to be chained during the rail journeys - as they are done here - because of thefts happen at night esp. in normal sleeper bogies [not much in higher class compartments]. So passengers prefer to secure their important luggage with chains for which the Railways also have provided rings under the seats to lock them. 

I was using a cheap chain for my travel which was not strong.  Now this rusty dog chain was all set to be converted into my travel chain.  Neither the snap hook nor the T-handle at the other end were useful as a travel chain.  So I cut them off. I had my sturdy travel chain ready! 

It has traveled with me on several journeys since I made it ten years ago.

But what was to be done with my favourite snap hook?   It was just the perfect key-less locking arrangement on the inside latch of our main door.  Jimmy-Tippy hook is useful to this day, this way.

Picture of it with latch open. 

Close-up of snap hook:

Countering mosquitoes, 'Dinuway!'

I made a Mosquito Masher, the only one in the world [I claim!] which is very handy but this post is about another method I resorted to counter mosquito menace indoors. 

All pictures here are taken by me. Click on them to get a magnification.

We do not feel the prick of these Aedes mosquitoes [Asian Tiger Mosquito], but the poison it injects will make us scratch the area for a long time, which can drive us crazy esp. if we are doing something that demands high concentration and focus.  I'm getting pricked in the garden by what we call commonly as 'garden mosquito'.  They are active in daytime.

Swat!

But how often can we do that and what is the success rate?  And where is the patience?

They know where to prick, even through my pyjama fabric. Below is a good macro shot I got of a Culex mosquito.  See its bulged belly full of MY blood.  I allowed it to have its fill for this photo.  

Swat again!

The latest swat, an Aedes which causes a rash. 

These are some of the larger mosquitoes in my garden - not as bothersome as the two smaller varieties above. They live more on plant protein.  See this collage of  7 images:

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In my college days, the mosquitoes waited for my legs to come under the study table, to suck blood.   My exposed feet were vulnerable and the pyjamas covered only up to the ankles. The attacks used to be so disconcerting, why during study, even at other times also and even now, while at the computer desk.

Its favourite areas for attack besides feet are back of the arm, under the sleeve and at the neck which exposes on bending the head to read a book on the desk.  Of course, --clap-- one wafted across the monitor - missed - they look for exposed areas of the face/head too.  

During one of my cricket tours, I asked my senior team-mate [a sort of 'know-all'] Mr.Krishnaprasad, why mosquitoes preferred the feet or back of forearm.  "They like dark and shadow areas" he said.  Indeed, he was right.  Now I can vouch for that as well after observing for a long time since, besides the fact that these blood suckers also like other exposed areas which they feel right to prick.  Sitting at the desk did not end with college days, so the botheration persists.  Now we have computers at home where we spend quite a bit of time, putting the feet under the dark space under the table. How about laptops? 

I have tried mosquito repellent creams, vapours from a medicated mat or smoke from a medicated 'coil'. But I needed to find a cheap and effective way to keep the blood suckers at bay, at least not disturbing my feet and arms.  I used my sports socks to good effect but needed something more comfortable and easy to remove and put on, to cover at least up to the shins.  I also later discovered that my old torn pyjama legs would help.  It did.  I had put velcro at the knees to prevent them from sliding down and closed the bottom to make it like a bag. So my legs were in these 'two bags' while I sat at the desk. 

There was always scope for improvement.  I wanted my track suit upper to be sleeveless.  So I cut off the long sleeves [see me wearing on such shortened thing here].  I made two other suits like this.  Last week, when I cut off a pair of track bottom at the knees to make them shorts [see me wearing it here, cut off], I found the answer for my improvisation.  

I joined this and a pair from another track upper sleeves I had cut off.  

This is what I got now. 

The light blue will be on top and I can pull it up to the knee and even walk around too.  Now I can sit without disturbance at the feet.

What about the arms?  Another cut off pair of sleeves..... You can clip it there............ [if you are not wearing a ready full sleeve shirt!]

The following option was not feasible!  *Smile*

 I also keep these alternatives handy just in case:  Mosquito Repellent Coil or Sprays [seen in picture] or Cream [not in pic]. 

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Let me show you some mosquito larvae in my garden - they find stagnant water somewhere.  I change water in the barrels when it matters.

For mosquito net is the best option for sleeping though. This is a vintage cot, more than 120 years old in my estimate. You see net frames were designed even at that time indicating that the 'skeeters' have been bothering humans all along.

My witty friend Papacchi used to tell he used to sit on his cot and allow the skeeters to come near him.  Once they were there, he would bring down the net and kill them since they could not escape out. 

Another witty colleague used to tell when he bought mosquito repellent creams he did not know that it was to be smeared on our skins.  He thought mosquitoes had to be caught and cream applied to them, so they would repel away! 

Blood donation is an important service that helps save lives.  I sometimes stayed in my relative's house in Bangalore where huge mosquitoes were abound [1980s] in that then new locality [Padmanabhanagar].  In the mornings, my bed would look like some murder had taken place but I was alive.  All the beds in Chandu's house was like that!  What a job it was to wash those blood-stained sheets!  I was fond of saying that 'I donated blood' when I stayed there. I have not seen anything like it any time. 

The word "mosquito" is Spanish for "little fly," and its use dates back to about 1583 in North America (Europeans referred to mosquitoes as "gnats"). Mosquitoes belong to the order Diptera, true flies. Mosquitoes are like flies in that they have two wings, but unlike flies, their wings have scales, their legs are long and the females have a long mouth part (proboscis) for piercing skin. ["HowStuffWorks.com]

Clock into photo-frame

Employees were given a memento to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of formation of our HQ. It was in the form of a clock, so horribly designed that its dial was dark blue and and hands, black.  Visibility of the hands / time was very difficult. I tried painting the hands yellow which did help, but the clock itself went kaput in less than a year.  Several colleagues also had the same complaint!  What a shame for such a commemoration! 

I threw away the clock in disgust, but retained the frame - actually better than the clock!  I cut up a Master's picture and replaced the clock in the frame. Lo, I can still use that commemorative clock's 'remaining portion', which was otherwise junk. 

A Chair made by me

Simple upholstery, simple design and shape of an old, sturdy sofa set in my workplace front office found my profound liking.  Its back rest and seat were 'softly firm', just ideal for comfort. The set must have been in use here for may be 40 years and it has not asked for any repair till now!  See recent picture of me enjoying the comfort of that chair.

In our house, except for the reclining chair there were no other chairs to lean back and relax. The other half a dozen chairs were higher with their backs also straighter.  I wanted to make one because and also wanted to feel how good it is to make it myself!

Some left over teak wood pieces from a 1989 cot-project [made by a carpenter] seemed to just right if I made the chair.  So I set about this project without a second thought and took a week's leave from work.

I noted down the sizes in my rough drawing. The left overs were insufficient and so I bought the remaining ones from a timber merchant.  I got the L-grooves cut in a nearby saw mill to embed the plywood.
I now had the time, drive, design, tools and materials.

Planing took a long time because this was the first time I was taking such a big project!   Then, I sawed the pieces to size and joined them.  The portions for the back and seat were first made and when I looked at it, something was wrong, weirdly wider than I had intended! Since the dimensions were only in the mind having failed to measure the width of my office chair with a tape, this silly thing had happened!!  The only option now was to cut one side and join again!  Phew!  So I cut a good four to five inches off!  Extra work!  Height was not a problem as I had got a guide-measure from the one at home.  Intentionally I reduced the angle for the back to my chair. 

What a seasoned carpenter could do in a day, I took 4 days. I realized how important proper measurements would be when we begin!   There were no electric tools at that time, easily available or affordable. 

The first person to sit on the new chair was my tiny daughter.  Though I had a film camera at that time, it did not occur to me to take pictures of it.  The little one's gaping expression "what is he doing to me?" is in memory.

Here are two images of the chairs side by side:

I got two cotton pillows made after sanding and applying two coats of varnish.  The chair now looked royal! This project gave me great pleasure. I showed with pride to most visitors who would not believe.  "YOU made it?", was the expression that usually followed!  [And also I have made several other little things from smaller pieces of wood, but they will be in another post.]

Gopinath, who was a wonderful family friend and former tenant, lived in his own house after his retirement just a shout away.  He would drop in every now and then and admire this chair.  He had named this as "Maharaja's Chair"!   It was looking slightly wide even after I had reduced the width!  He always used to say that it would properly fit the Mysore Maharaja, who was a very fat person!

My grandfather receiving a trophy at Mysore Sports Club, 1966 [?], from the Mysore Maharaja [Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar].  See what Gopinath meant!

I have spent many hundreds of hours on it, mostly listening to the radio beside which I had kept.  It turned out that the 'extra' width enabled me to even sit in my favourite posture, sitting cross-legged and my knees rested on the arm-rests!  No photos of me. My children too enjoyed this chair, which had become my very favourite. 

In 2009 due to property division, pressure for space was created.  Suddenly there was no proper room for this chair and some other furniture as well.  The best was to shift them to 'Anandavana' where regular spiritual and social activities of World Teacher Trust are conducted.  A new set of pillows were made for The Maharaja's Chair, there.  The Masters give their talks seated on it.  

The Grand Master on it, 2012. 

Latest picure, taken after another group talk.  2014.

This is the best satisfaction after making the chair, seeing spiritual maharajas sitting on it and giving discourses! 

Batting Gloves Re-palmed!

Early in my cricket career, I did not have my own pair of batting gloves but used the ones from our club kit. They were not in good condition and our club could not afford to keep good ones either. It was in the early 1980s.  

Looking back, I shudder to think about how in our youthful exuberance courageously faced good fast bowlers who operated with the hard, new cricket ball up the batting order with very poor physical protection.

In 1982, my friend Girish Nikam had given me his batting gloves as he did not need them anymore.  I was batting in the top order at that time.   It was only a slightly better pair than the ones in our team kit.  I was using it in a match and to my bad luck, the ball rose suddenly and broke the ring finger.  It happened at a crucial time that put me out of action for 6-7 weeks and cut short a season that had begun well.  With it I had to miss out on the Under-25 Mysore Zone, a crucial tournament that is often a launchpad for talent to go higher. Just by coincidence, the accident happened on the same day when Hindi film actor Amitabh Bachchan also sustained a serious injury while shooting for the film 'Coolie'. 

I continued to use Girish's gloves as he had by then stopped playing active cricket.  This picture is taken at Poona in 1986 and I think I am wearing those at pre-match practice   My confidence had regained to some extent, post-fracture.

Around 86-87, I happened to notice a pair of junked gloves under the spiral staircase in our club secretary's house where all our club/team's cricket paraphernalia used to be kept. The pair was of good quality leather, having good padding on the fingers and thumb.  It had been discarded because its leather palms had been badly tattered and worn out.  It was the personal pair of one of my team mates, David Purushottam.  Our club secretary agreed to my request to take them.

I had heard of batting gloves being 're-palmed' at some cost.  Why not I repair the pair myself?  What you see this picture is the third re-palming [cotton cloth] I had made.  The pieces were hand sewn on to the gloves.   They used to last well and helped me play with comfort and confidence.  I later added an extra  piece of hard foam to the first two fingers of the right hand, a spot susceptible for taking blows. This came in handy a few times as it took a few blows and absorbed the impacts very well and saved me from injury.  You know, the cricket ball is very hard and approaches batters at great speed. 

The repaired-pair had become more popular than my self-stitched caps I wore for the matches!  I stopped using them after I got a top-class pair from another team mate J.Srinath, who went on to play for the country.  I'm still using them 14-15 years since I got them, though I bat lower in the order, but protection is a must anywhere.  A helmet is another need these days and I want to do something what Mike Brearley of England or our Sunil Gavaskar did in designing their own skull protection caps, some day.

I was not alone in doing such things!

I came to know that Jack Russell, one of the best wicket-keepers of England, used to repair his wicket-keeping gloves himself.  But then I was already doing that - I had  stitched a crude pair of cotton wicket-keeping gloves just for kicks before I played any real cricket in the mid 70s!  Russell's love for his cap and his painting talent is legendary.  I wish we had met!! 

Recycling old broken pots

The neighbour has many big clay pots, many are in their balcony garden.  They had discarded a couple of cracked and broken pots outside their house.  They looked strong enough and their bottom quarter were still in tact.  Why not I use that as shallow pots?  I brought them in with the help of cousin Subbu and while they were being carried, I felt the weight! They appeared old, good and strong.

In this picture, I had already worked on one, by breaking away the damaged portion carefully. 

Trimmed the second one too.  Where I worked and the tools I used are visible.

In a short while, two sturdy shallow pots were ready. They can be used either for growing the smaller rain lilies or for starting seeds. I further trimmed the broken pieces which will be useful for covering the drain holes in the pot, before filling with soil. I have already reused smaller broken pots into rain lily holders.

Tea coasters of wood

Looking for some small projects of wood, I came across on Pinterest dot com, this:

I had been cutting the long branches from the Almond tree to firewood size from my friend Ramu's hand saw.  

Take a close look at the beautiful teeth and smile!

The above is a larger mature branch.  While cutting this I saw a nice shape and 'rings'.  Why not make a tea coaster I thought.  I cut one slice to see how it would be.  It came with perfect and uniform thickness with no slant!  I did a few more having enjoyed that feel!!

The tree branch was pruned only two months ago.  Moisture in the branches takes more time to dry if not cut.  So I kept the slices in the sun to dry.  

I hung-stored the remaining portion of the branch in the '7' position in the picture below.

When the slices dried, the wood shrunk and the bark in some places got detached.  So I removed the bark.  I sanded both sides with 180 and 320 paper.  I tried colourless polish, but was not satisfied. Leaving them as they are would be nice I decided.  Here it is.

After I had made, I saw in an exhibition [north-east bamboo craftsmen] such coasters etc on sale!  See picture. 

My thanks to Ramu for making this pleasure project possible apart from the tree-branch cutting one which was more important.  Also hats off to German quality product, 'Wolf -Garten' pruning saw!