Rainwater collection cup with filter

As an important part of my rainwater filter system, this unit is absolutely necessary to collect the huge flow of rainwater from the down spout while it [the mesh] filters the larger particles.  Others get it fabricated using zinc sheets and soldering the mesh to its brim.  Since my look around for such a fabricator proved futile, I started thinking ways of making one myself, at home.  

There was a stainless steel basin lying in the trunk.  It suited the size I desired.  Its bottom had to be cut up to fix a PVC pipe to allow rainwater downwards [into the filter drum]. Fixing the pipe to the cut bottom was tricky.  What I made was a centre point and a circle to match the inner circumference of the width of the PVC pipe.  I divided the circle into 12 parts.  From the centre point, I cut up the 12 parts up to the circumference and ended up in getting triangle-like shapes.  The pointed ends were carefully bent downwards.  I had sawed thin slits in the PVC pipe to insert these sharp-edged triangles. They were bent back upwards, neatly once properly in place while the PVC got secured to the basin bottom!  

Now the basin and pipe was ready.  I took SS Mesh and shaped it like a cone as you see in the image above.  Folded the bottom of the cone to prevent the wire being pricked and then placed it on the basin and folded it to the edging of the basin securely.  Now the filter is ready!  

The advantage of my project is that the mesh is removable for cleaning the basin's inside whereas the ready soldered mesh cannot be opened. The only tricky part was to fix the basin to a pipe.  Even this came out nice.

I am very happy with the use of this particular item as SS is easy to clean and non rusting, while it has a smooth finish. It was a little project, but a satisfying and a most useful one.  

Lampshades for the Yard

I have no great fondness for ready made downlighting fittings as the really good ones are too expensive if they are available at all, or those that are easily available ones are too crude and ugly.  I prefer the open type.  I needed one for the garden side yard and one for the front gate.  Both of these were made at different times using different things.

The earlier project was for the garden.  The light has to be in the open and it should be taking rain and wind also. I took an old unusable steel vessel lying idle. In fact, these ugly items are gifts given by someone during some marriage or some of their family function, which is a tradition.  For the sake of tradition, such cheap gifts are distributed and they are usually useless items. So I picked up one such among many lying there in a bag for my lampshade project.  I wanted to 'unjunk' it!

Since the light bulb had to be protected from rain, I made a hole in the bottom for the wire to pass, also through a plastic lid to prevent rainwater from seeping through the wire into the bulb connection inside the holder. It worked well when I did this simple project.

The other lampshade I made was about a year after I made the above.  This was a bit trickier, because it had to be hung some distance away from the taper design of the huge gate pillar so that light would get distributed without producing the shadow of the huge cornice of that pillar.  

There were a few ceramic coated vintage iron shades lying in a box. I picked up one of them.  Now, the tricky part. To hang it without using a nail.  I had a junked base of an old table lamp. I used a PVC water pipe and elbow [as PVC can take all weather and also be water tight] for the wire casing. The spring of the table lamp fitted into this PVC pipe also, much to my delight!  I just ran a wire around the top of the pillar, added the lamp base to it and tied the wire securely.  

See that light near the right edge of the frame. This was taken when our Night blooming Cereus was open [last August].

It has been so far good at the rain, but have to see how much swaying in the wind it can handle before the electric wire gets snapped behind the bulb holder. So far so good, almost two years on.  

Rubber Stamping

Rubber stamps used to thrill me endlessly with their impressions in violet colour.  The stamp had to be pressed against an inked pad and then the impression of the matter on the rubber was left on paper. I used to see many rubber stamps and the pad kept in my grandfather's office [advocate] and enjoy making impressions on some waste paper.  This was in my very young days.

Almost 40 years ago, I was in High School. There used to be a classmate by name Shankar Nadig. We were on the same bench. This little fellow was very talented.  He used to show off his skills in class, while the teacher was doing lessons, by sharpening the pencil  with a razor blade in such a way that it looked like being sharpened using a pencil sharpener! We used to look at it in utter awe.  We could not think such a thing was possible. I used to try it at home and even matched his skill.

His use of the razor blade on the pencil eraser to create inverted letters of the name was amazing! All he had in his nimble fingers was a 'angularly' broken razor blade.  That sharp end was to carve out the rubber from the centre of letters like A, B, P, O, etc.  It also was needed to carve out sharp corners inside E, M, etc. It was such a wonderful little tool in his hands!

My theory for most occasions when it comes such things is 'if someone can do it, I too can.'  I also have 'learned a lot from observing'.  Since he was sitting next to me [I was lucky] I used to watch him carve out stamps for other friends who wanted their name stamps.  For this, we bought new erasers [it cost 3 paise each] to get this done.  Mind you, he carved while he listening to the teacher and when 'notes' were not dictated.  But I used to be distracted.  When I showed some interest in carving, he taught me how to carve tiny pieces out and how to carve curves.  First we had to write the name on the rubber - inversely and then cut carefully, leaving equal spaces between letters. A cutting mistake rendered the stamp useless - we had to use it only as eraser.  Using the pen nib, we applied ink on the surface and got the impression to check [proof-read] since we could not get a stamp pad.

I gained some skill by doing quite a few stamps for others as well as for myself.  I really enjoyed doing it while still wondering how the professionals make it using machines.

I've preserved a few slightly recent works.  The first few ones did not survive, but the impressions in this picture below are from stamps carved in the high school days. Upper case was easier, but Shankar Nadig had not tried the lower case letters.  I tried.

I carved out the above two for my vests to mark them as 'mine', because they got mixed up with my brother's. 

This is machine made. My first address stamp, when I had begun my hobby of penfriendship. Got it done at Lansdowne Building here for nine rupees fifty paise. 

I got another one a few years later as the old one got worn out.

I really enjoyed making my own stamps and stamping the name on text books, notebooks, comic books and almost everywhere!  It was fun!

Mosquito Masher

[This is a model presently in use]

Mosquitoes are a menace.  They have great fondness to some people and less to some.  I belong to the former, unfortunately.  My colleague Murthy asks 'Does mosquitoes bite?'.  If we say 'yes', he will argue that they have no teeth to bite, but they 'prick'.  He is right.  It does prick, quite nastily too, to keep us busy for the next half hour, scratch, scratch, scratch. It usually pricks without warning. They are considered an uncontrollable menace.

To get respite from this pesky pest, I have made protective bags [from old pajamas] for my two legs that go under the dark area of the desk [at home].  The blooming mosquitoes seem to know the arrival of the legs there and they love the dark areas. These reshaped, ugly pajama stockings [so, no photo] was a peaceful method to protect my poor legs from being 'pricked' so that I could work more peacefully at the desk. This is a somewhat recent idea. They are being actually used at the time of writing this post! One stocking for each leg.

I had 'invented' a cruel method when I was 14 or 15. The usual method of using both palms to kill them within 'clapping range' was having many failures [empty claps]. I thought of having one hand free while still swatting down a 'skeeter' [slang] successfully. They say necessity is the mother of invention. 

I had seen the use of 'finger cymbals' at temples and by some street beggars who sang and asked alms.  I adapted this idea for my cruel smasher.  The idea was also triggered by a school-day incident where I had smashed a mosquito between the pages of the book I was holding with both hands and reading.  It was slowly buzzing between the two pages of the open book and in a flash, I closed the book!  Yuck!  There was that 'chutneyed' mosquito that blotched a couple of words!  I saw blood.  You know what tigers become after they taste human blood?  Man-eaters.  I turned into a 'mosquito masher'!  That's where it started.  "The killer instinct"! 

Let me show you some mosquitoes on me and in my garden before I go further.

The above five pictures are taken in my garden. These are big mosquitoes as you can see in picture 2. Their pricks are painful only for a few moments. They do not seem to inject any poison, so we do not keep scratching the area which we do when those tiny ones prick and go away silently.  See the blood suckers below, on my skin. They can really 'get under my skin'!  They have, often.. and paid the penalty.

 Who says I do not donate blood?  Look how it has pierced my epidermis.

 Sucking from my finger.

 Prick, but no 'ouch', but later 'scratch'.

I just pressed it with the finger tip and pressed it lightly, enough to kill it for what it did. The sucker's siphon  is still in my skin.

Two different kinds of mosquito larvae in my water lily stone trough.

 See the blood it has sucked up.

Another shot of the pest sucking my blood in the garden. That was its last drink. 

Now let me come back to the masher, the subject of this post.  You now know why they deserve to be mashed!

I had old notebooks from the previous class lying around. I already told that it started when I was 14 or 15. The books had cardboard covers. I separated the pages from the hard covers and my 'weapon' was ready in such a jiffy.  My first ever weapon was ready, but it did not have the handle, though light to handle.  I found that a 'hold' a necessity.  I just stapled strips of flat cotton tape at the right places.  Lo and behold! I could now open the weapon's 'mouth' or close it at will, like a Hippo or a Crocodile!

When I had just invented this contraption, I was fond of showing my neighbours, friends and house visitors.  I remember esp. one of them, Dr.Mysore Shivaram.  He had just completed his degree in medicine.  He was wonder struck as I was very young at that time and had this 'invention' to show.  He asked me if I killed male mosquitoes or female ones.  I had no answer at that young age. I was happy if I mashed mosquitoes.  One mashed meant one less to bother.  Long later I learnt that females need some protein present in the human blood for its reproductory activity.

My cruel, merciless, easy to use mosquito masher can be a very useful weapon in some other ways as well.  It can improve our reflexes and hand-eye coordination and the mashing accuracy is more than 75%.  If reflexes and luck are quick and high respectively, it increases to 90%.  If we catch them at the edge, we can at least break a leg or two - of the skeeter. I will decide to patent this [just kidding], once the rate goes as high as 97%.  I must tell that it also tunes up our 'killer instinct'.  Now don't  think of asking me about these figures. It is a wild guess from the experience of using it for close to 40 years, every now and then!

In the last 3 decades, hundreds of these blood suckers have fallen victim to my quick reflexes *boast* that has also helped my skill in cricket. I had mashed down nearly 40 on a summer night 30 years ago. Some record!  I was patient on them for a long time.  Beware the fury of the patient man!

Existing mosquito population in a certain room can be controlled to some extent, provided you have time, energy and will to use the masher!  This is better than using mosquito repellent burning coils or vaporizing liquids that contain chemicals for all the safe advantages it has. In summer, we can use it as a hand fan also.

I cannot show the misses here, but I can show the mashes ['enlargify' it].

I have stuck white paper on both faces so that they can be removed and kept for 'record purposes'.  Once the 'dark red art work' is beautiful enough, fresh paper can be replaced!

You can also DIY [do it yourself] and enjoy mashing. It does not cost you anything!  It is different from the popular 'potato mashing'. Only difference is, potatoes will not be flying!

'Why does a mosquito buzz only near our ears?' asks a friend.  Because our ears can hear it but our legs can't!

I must say that this is one of my very earliest inventions.. or rather creations.

How all this started, the inspiration behind

Browsing one of the discussion threads on my favourite websites Dave's Garden, one day, the above photo, posted by one 'faywray' caught my attention.  I looked at it once, twice, thrice.... somehow I could not ignore this.  Without the permission from the poster of that photo, I copied it, only for my viewing on my PC.  I found everything in this frame so pleasingly beautiful, esp. the colour choice and design of that house, not to speak of the road curve. My attention then shifted to the greenery around, not to forget that this was in the gardening website.

That thread in that forum was longish where many ideas were shared by this 'faywray'.  Very soon, e-conversation began between this 'faywray' and me, almost automatically, because this person seemed to be doing what I would have done if I had been that person!  She had sent photos of how she made her patio in 8 hours, or wind chimes, or wood projects, or painting, or whatnot!  I used the word 'she' there!  In fact, I had come to know that this was one Mrs. Susan Moore, living half way round the Earth, but not in that house pictured there.  She was living there for some years but had shifted away.

Susan - in short, Sue, is an exponent in 'trash to treasure' projects and things like that. [Brilliant]Women doing things on their own like these on their own is something of a rarity, but she has a Bill [hubby] with her to assist!  I was once joking that Sue would bill Bill with her projects. I started using the word 'project' after we exchanged many mails!  Both of us had our own little projects to share!  My each work of creating something out of useless thing/s was named a 'project'.  Women are fighting for equality with men. But this Susan is not taking part, because she is already there!  She does most projects herself, with manpower from Bill, quite rightly too. Sue would sue Bill if Bill bills for the job assisted!  And there is a 'Will' to do as well.  [Their son!]

Susan once said she dislikes blogging, but had a blog.  http://faywray1.wordpress.com/  Aside from her great skills in almost whatever she does, the writing skills and the manner of expressing is also unique.

She has come up with her new blog 'Redo Redux'. [click on this] where she has started showing the projects.  Those who like recycling and 'repurposing' [this is a new word I learnt on Dave's Garden] things, her posts might be interesting. In fact, her new blog inspired me start my own, to show and document the 'crude little trash to treasure projects' that were done through me. Is it not better than saying 'I did'?  When Sue suggested about a blog, I thought this is a better idea than just posting their photos in a web album [see]. So here comes 'my blog' where I'd put down each one separately about how I went about it.  I hope this will not become a 'junk blog'!

A title was needed. There was not much thought flow, except 2-3.  Redo Redux was at the back of the mind somewhat like a guide.  Instinctively, went for 'Junk Unjunk' and did not want to change, feeling like Steve Jobs.  See how the 'bitten apple' stayed!  After I got the blog address for this, I realized that this is similar to 'lock, unlock', or 'do, undo'........

Thank you Susan.  This post is dedicated to you. I can now try to start documenting.  Of course, not in the organized way you do.  I do not have many 'before' shots to show. The camera only came to me only as recent as 2007, but began to realize the importance of step-by-step presentation much later.