Caps I stitched

Seeing my great keenness and skill with tennis ball cricket on our street in the early 70s, Dr.Shivaram who was in the opposite house gave a woolen cap that he no longer needed.  It was of Mysore Medical College and black in colour with an embroidered logo on it, like this:

I was over the moon wearing it and felt like an international cricketer!  Looking at my head shadow in the sun with the cap on thrilled me no end!  The skull cap with peak was something fantastic.  That was my first cap which I used for a long time.  It lasted even a couple of seasons into my league cricket which I entered in 1978-79.

I used to see old cricket pictures in magazines.  One particular picture impressed me.  It was of Dr.W.G.Grace. He belonged to the late 19th century and an amazing personality.  It was a fashion in that era to wear such skull caps. The unique striped pattern was striking!  

"WG" - see his cap. [Image from the web]

I had also made a drawing of WG copying it from the sports magazine in 1977-78.

In the mid 1980s, I began to play tennis also.  So I could not wear that black 'doctor cap'.  Pictures of tennis players sporting white caps in the sports magazines impressed me.  I thought why cannot I make one myself so that it helps keep the sun out while I played cricket also.

We have a sewing machine.  I learnt sewing skills by observing my mother.  I had even attempted to stitch two cotton shirts for myself!  They had come off reasonably well.  I was wearing them too.  I had also learnt to repair/alter my dresses when it was needed. With this background, I saw the possibility of cap-stitching.  The main thing was the proper shape and peak.  For the peak I had found an old plastic file in my workplace. It did not have the required stiffness but it served the purpose for my trial.   The black doctor cap had got worn out and too ragged for use.  I opened out the seams and separated the pieces for my 'standard model'. 

A new white cotton towel which was not in use was chosen to cut for my first trial cap.  There it is:

Since it turned out well, I wanted to try with better cloth.  My late grandfather's coats were chosen as they were no longer required.  One was a beautiful cream coloured thick woolen coat.  There were two other striped sports blazers from Mysore Sports Club that were of my grandfather who was its founder member.  Pictures below.  Observe the blazers. One of them may be from the late 30s and the other from late 40s, in my guesstimate.

My father wore it a few times for special occasions such as these above.  You can spot him there!

Both the striped blazers had been hit by silverfish, but not the cream one.  Yet, I decided to cut all three.  I found that two caps were possible from the undamaged portions of the striped coats, something like WG's.  It came out so well that it remains my favourite since almost 30 years!  Here it is:

I wanted to achieve the shape of the famous Australian 'Baggy Green' for my cream cap.  

I could not achieve it and ended only in the normal shape.

The back elastic is 'gone' now - so it looks weird here.

In the following slideshow you will see most of the caps I still use.  I gave away a few in the early stages.
I am glad to have recycled left over pieces of cloth in this manner!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13R9D5cKdHI&feature=share&list=UUxvABuHdux16tcq46MziJHA
Click link.

Many good caps came to me thereafter.  But I still enjoy wearing the ones I made myself. 

Electroscope - Static Electricity

In one of my Science classes at high school, the teacher had shown a lab model of Electroscope. [Click on this link to know what it exactly is]  It was a gold leaf electroscope. He rubbed an ebonite rod on a piece of woolen cloth and held it on the electroscope.  Lo, it made the two leaves inside the sealed jar repel! That was the simple lab demonstration of the static electric charges.

[Web-grab image from 'Museum of Technology']

I was impressed by this mysterious phenomenon called static electricity from the plastic/synthetic comb at home where we did 'magic' to the wonderment of our grandmother!  We made little paper pieces move and stick to the comb!  It was thrilling to fool her. 

Small plastic covers were also used for this 'magic', for fun. See this link where [click] you can relive your younger days!  It is pleasing to know from that link that I had made similar ones in 1973 itself, particularly the electroscope! 

TV screens, among myriad items produce it. If you just google 'static electricity', you will be amazed at the long list of available information on this curious thing.

You can experience a shock about 8-10 Volts and that is about the amount of current that zaps across.  It was funny when my colleague demonstrated and startled me with two plastic chairs.  I saw the spark zap across from the 'charged' person to another as the fingertip closed in on the other person.  It can be quite a prank!

Some synthetic dresses, especially a fabric called Terylene which was a fashion in the late 60s and early 70s also produced static electricity. I used to wonder why shirts of this fabric gave a weird feeling to the hands as we brushed them against while walking.  Even while removing it, esp. in the dry winter months, it used to get attracted to our skin and make our hair on the hands stand on end! The plastic wire bags that my aunt had woven also gave this same experience. 

So when the lessons on Static Electricity were made in the class, we used to listen very curiously! 

Why not I make one, just for the heck of it?!  It serves no purpose at all, yet, it was another little project I thought. "Scientific temper!"  Around that time, my grandfather had been afflicted with 'neuritis' after he exposed himself to cold winds traveling in a bus to Bangalore and had lost sensation in his fingers.  So, 'Neurobion' was prescribed to him. The capsules came in little bottles with a rubber stopper.  An empty one suited my project. Since I could not think of gold leaf at all, I used aluminum foil from a tin can.  A brass pin from a broken electric plug came in handy to fix it to the stopper and hang the foils with a thin wire.  I used my comb to see if it repelled the foils.  It worked! The foils reacted slightly. That was enough satisfaction, even though it is the most useless thing! 

Rustic Garden Board

There was a small wooden staircase on the open balcony having 5 planks for steps.  Two were missing and the rest were rickety.  It was a risky affair to step on them. We had to jump down or climb back, with the support of the old and shaky wooden handrails.  You cannot blame the carpenter because it bore the brunt of all weather since 1911 without a break.

Redoing with new planks was a costly affair.  So, I removed the planks and built the steps myself out of bricks and stone slabs [see picture below]. This was some years ago when we moved in to live in the house built by my great grandfather in the year mentioned above.  It had been rented out from 1950 to 1997 to the same tenant.  Tenants cannot be expected to take care of these things!

Seen in this picture is what I built after removing the planks.

These teak wood planks were now useless for any other wood work.  I had kept them aside along with other junk, instead of using them as firewood, but that is not the mentality of 'junk accumulators'!

In the meanwhile, I had come across a nice gardening website, Dave's Garden, where gardeners had shared their pictures.  It was about creative use of old wood.  They were used as name boards and nicely displayed, as if it was old.  Rustic.  After seeing such pictures, I thought there was a new project for me to do at home with these.  

What to engrave on them?  It is two feet across. To imitate 'Dave's Garden' I thought of 'Dinu's Garden'.  The letters were 'one too many' for that width and needed to be shortened.  So I remembered another word from my younger days when I used to read a lot of wonderful comic stories of The Phantom.  In one of them, there was 'Isle of Eden'.  Here, The Phantom had kept his pets - tigers, lions and many species of animals all living in harmony.  The word 'Eden' seemed to fit in to the width of the plank. I wanted it to sound like Dave's Garden [DG], due to my obsession with it, but in the end, it turned out to be 'Dinu's Eden'. The engraved portion was painted with 'poster colour' for visual effect.

This is in the garden which has shifted now.

This was placed in the new yard on the other side of the plot.

Googling to link Phantom's Eden, I am glad I found this place where you can read the entire comic - Isle of Eden.  [click on the link]. In fact, there is a great fan following of Lee Falk's Phantom, even now!  

My carpentry skills and some patience came in handy.  Patience, because the surface of the plank is so brittle that it had to be engraved very carefully, lest the wood chipped away. Cutting the letters was a precision job.

Close up showing wood surface

Fortunately, it came off well, much to my delight.  "Dinu's Eden" is where many critters and creatures live in harmony, like in Phantom's Eden, if not tigers, lions or elephants.

Some photos.

This board will take another place as more changes have taken place to this side of the yard and is now having a smaller garden area. This is a picture from the recent archive. 

Some changes can be seen to that part of the yard here.  

It has been exposed to the vagaries of climate all of its hundred years. It should last for some more years since it is now not facing the sky.  It will be put up once the reshaped garden gets ready. 

Foam Roller for Paint Jobs

A part of our old tiled roof had been plastered with lime mortar some decades ago to prevent rain leakage through the tiles but the surface had developed cracks.  Rainwater was seeping into our room through those cracks. Filling the cracks with cement securely did not help. The surface was rough.  So, I decided to try painting on the surface to reduce absorption of water through any tiny crevice there may be.

Like all tiled roofs, this was also sloped.  I had to precariously sit on top of the 'cap tiles' to paint.  My hand's reach was only a few feet. The paint tin had to be held in one hand.  A rope was secured from the protruding rafters below at both the ends so that I could rest my feet on it for grip and paint the full area. That was the actual project.

In shops, I had seen a foam roller. I thought of using such a roller instead of a brush because of the rough surface. It would also mean that the sponge passing on it with some pressure filled the tiny dents.  The roller foam was a new thing here at that time, about ten years back.  It was slightly over-priced, or so I felt.  It set me thinking.  I decided it was a tool 'makeable' by me, using odd materials.

Web-grab image to show how neat the 'ready made' products can be.

I dove into my favourite place... where else, the junk pile!  All this project needed was 4 items and I knew I had them all.  Somehow, we junk-lovers can memorize the items! I found the right thickness and density of foam, a left over piece of something I had done before, a stiff iron handle from an old broken plastic bucket and just the right talcum powder box [cylindrical, empty]. I had the adhesive [rubber based] to stick foam. Materials on hand, this project work began. It took me less than half an hour!

First, the foam was stuck on the side of the powder box and its sides carefully joined with adhesive and also stitched for additional support. I made two holes at the ends of the two sides of the box to hold the handle for the 'roller'.  The handle was properly bent to suit the purpose and inserted into the holes. After the adhesive was dry, presto, the roller was ready for use!  Here is mine.. looks crude, yet, it works!  After all, it WAS junk!

I did a trial run with water on a wall to get a feel of my new tool.  It was fine!  Then I painted that roof surface nicely as it did not demand any precise finish due to its location. But the purpose of painting that part served well for some years.  I gave another two coats after some months.

This painting work is visible from the sky!  See this screenshot Google Earth image - white area inside the red rectangle indicated - click on picture to enlarge.

We no longer live under that very roof, but on the other half of the plot, under the long tiled roof you see there.

The crude faom-joint on the roller that produced lines was not a matter to worry in this particular project. For other works, all it needed was some light brushing to even out the visible lines.  This roller will help me to apply paint to the surface easily and quickly!  I like this roller! It saves a lot of time.  I used it last week to paint the inner walls of the new underground sump and finished the work in a jiffy!

Some pictures now.

Full view of house 2009.  The white roof can be seen.

Another closer view.

Another view. The other side of the slope also has this plaster. 

Lamp shade from a bowl

 I wrote about one Dr.Rama Shastry in my previous post about a Chess board.  Whenever I went to him to play Chess, my attention used to get attracted towards a lamp he had fixed at the edge of his vintage desk that had 1000 draws [exaggerating].  It was a simple lamp with a bulb holder, which was also the clip, something like what we see on writing clipboards.  The shade was adjustable to any angle and without the bulb it was a separate unit.  I found it very very interesting.  It used the curvature of the spherical bulb for tilting to any desired angle as work was done on a desk.  It was a fantastic little lamp that tickled my ingenuity!

I wanted to make one like it for my study table too!  There was a corner shelf fixed to the wall above my study desk and the location suited for using it. The advantage of this lamp was that it asked no space on the desk as table lamps do, but all it wants is something to cling on! 

Dr.Shastry's model was an old factory-manufactured unit and I needed something similar.  So I picked up a clip from a clipboard that was discarded.  Removed the two rivets from the old board, fixed the clip to another customized piece of hardboard.  Then, I fixed an old brass bulb holder to it with small nuts and bolts and a hole for the wire to pass through. 

This became my favourite lamp for many years until I found that it was no longer required for the desk.  I made a hole in the hardboard and hung it above the sewing machine for additional lighting.  It is still in use, 36 years on.  In the above picture, I have made a shade out of a discarded aluminum rectangular bowl. This was the second such shade.

Let me tell how I had made the first one.  There was an old ceramic coated bowl lying in the attic/store room along with other junk. I thought this was the most suitable one, even if I made a hole and damaged it. The spring-clip fixed to it will cling on the bulb and the round shape of the bulb will make it tilt to any direction and the spring tension will make it stay there.  That is the beauty of this design!  The shade must not be too heavy otherwise, it will tilt down by its weight.  That was the right weight too.  

I made the spring from a damaged bicycle wheel spoke I had in my tool section. I made an 'eye' to fix it with a nut to the bowl on the inside.  Ordinary metal wires will not suit for springs.  

This was one of my many enjoyable little projects that is serving me well even today.

Some more boards for games

I had written in an earlier post how I made my Scrabble Board and letters. This one is about a few other things.

A thought had zipped past like lightning many decades ago..... oooh, I'm that old to speak of  past decades, eh, eh??... about me making a carrom board!  It was a highly impossible project to even think of with no material, no tool and no resource.  Yet, I still wonder why that crossed my mind, despite we having a nice vintage carrom board with wide pockets.  Anyway... and for good, that thought never again returned!  May be, may be, the background for that was from the early 1960s when I had seen my senior friend opposite our house, Ganapathi having drawn carrom board lines on the floor with chalk, using seeds and some bottle caps as a striker!  They did not have a real board.  Yet, they still could play their own brand of carrom!  

Let me tell just a few words about this Ganapathi. He was a genius according to me. He used to make his own thread/rope to play the top - it was short and thick. The shortness of it used to win him games as quickness to play the top was a key factor to decide the winner!  He had 500 marbles that he had won from friends who played on the streets and footpaths. I used to envy his talent because I could never win against him, any game.  He was always the winner in street games.  In gulli-danda also he was an expert, not so much in street cricket. May be I will have a separate post on this fellow, later.

Let me share what I have made as I grew up to high school and during college days. Street children used to gather and play various games, both indoor and outdoor in those days. There were many games and many children too!  The street was abuzz with activity, unlike now. Come summer holidays, it was only play, play and play. I would like to emphasize that they were days when even the 'Calculator' had not been seen here!

My grandfather had bought me a 'Chinese Checkers'   It was a very interesting game. The 'original' board was torn out due to frequent use as it was made of cheap cardboard and fitted in a square box.  So I made one myself, taking a thick file of cardboard from my grandfather's office.  Drilling holes in it was very tricky.  I had by then, made my own hand drill, copying it from a carpenter who had made windows for a new room. The holes had to be smooth to insert and remove the coloured plastic pegs during the game. Finally, it came off nicely and we played many games thereafter also till the time we grew old for it.

I have been playing Chess since about 1970 or so.  Then towards 1977, I was playing a lot of Chess games with my classmates, street mates and particularly one old man by name Dr.Rama Shastry of the famous "Liver House" [our opposite house].  He was a brilliant player and I had the good fortune of defeating him only once. It still remains one of only two feathers in my chess cap. The other was defeating Masood Hussain [brother of old classmate Zakir - both sons of the famous historian Prof.B.Sheik Ali] once. Masood was also a fine player.  When I visited his house now and then, these opportunities for playing chess used to arise. It was a learning experience.  It was much before the TV a.k.a. Idiot Box era, so people had lots of nice things to do, really!

Dr.Rama Shastry had his chess board entirely lined with cloth to increase durability, while it made the black and white squares still visible.  He had drawn lines in pen to demarcate.  Paper boards used to wear off quickly.  What he had made was like the plastic lamination we use these days.  So I wanted to make one like his.  The cardboard chess board we had at home was smallish and it was cumbersome to arrange the wooden chessmen on the small squares.  It was from him that I learnt that the white square at the corner had to be to the players' right side.

There was a rattan stool that had a square top. I had a few pieces of hardboard left over from some of  my father's 'renovative' projects. Two of them suited the top, without too much cutting.  There was some black paint and some white paint and there was my will, time and material for a chessboard that would last long and take wear and tear also without losing its utility as a stool. Once painted, I fixed the two halves on the top and there it was!  The players could sit on opposite sides on smaller stools and play.  

When I see the date I've painted, I can't believe it was almost 35 years ago!

For other traditional games, the floor or even some paper or cardboard was needed to make a board.  Without a piece of chalk or something to write on the floor, we were lost when we wanted to play the game of 'Chowka Baara'. So I had made two boards - one having 5x5 squares and one with 7x7 squares.  The former was most popular. I had used a cardboard that came with the packing of one of my grandfather's new shirt!  It is still there I think.  But here is MS Paint drawing to show the 5x5.

[This is a web-grab image]

This is my 7x7 board.

The Cowrie Shells [brown ones] used as dice.  For the 5 square, we use 4 shells, for the 7 square game, we use 6 shells. Observe the wear and tear of the shells - they have been used for a number of years!

PET bottles for rain water spout, etc.

Recycling PET bottles can be fun, if only we have some plan for it. I had the need to turn the rainwater down spout to suitable angles which the ready 'L'bow, 'T' or '45 degree' units do not fit in.  So what I did?  I took my favourite 'black scissors' and cut the right size circular hole or openings at wanted places.  Of course, I had to mark the exact place and shape with the pen to cut.  I first cut well inside the line because the joint has to be 'unloose'!  The bottle must hold the pipe firmly.  Tight fitting, in simpler words. 

The greatest advantage with these bottles is that you can use it to the angle you desire.  I have used the bottle here because I did not want to cut the pipe length that was already there.  That way, even if it is removed, the pieces are not wasted.  If I had cut the pipe and took it to the edge, I could have used a ready L'bow but I did not want to buy a new one - I did not have it with me. The vertical pipe rests on a wooden piece on the balcony floor and so it is steady.  In addition I have also tied a piece of wire to the parapet to hold it firmly in place.

These bottles are very useful collection 'pots'.

I have used a bottle cut at both ends and a hole in the centre to fit the pipe to act as an L'bow.

Cutting the bottles is very easy, provided you are careful enough to make a neat and slightly 'inner measurement' cut so that a pipe can be properly inserted.

Here, the spout from the old balcony was of zinc and it had rusted away over nearly a century [that's how old the house is].  It was so brittle.  Connecting an 'L'bow or pipe to it was out of question.  So, I have placed a large bottle which was cut to custom requirement and placed there to collect and divert water through the pipe into the rain water filter. See picture below.

 Old asbestos pipe fitted to the balcony terrace, unusual size which is too large for the 75mm or too small for the 90mm 'L'bow. So, cut up a bottle.. 

 A large bottle to collect - like a funnel.  I had also put a piece of sponge into it, but it soon got clogged - too much dirt comes down from above our house which is on the main road which is busy with heavy traffic.  So, fugitive dust is too much load for the filters.  Removed the sponge as this rain waterwas collected only for flushing bathroom or toilet. 

Large bottle again, I used before. Crude methods, but it suited that place, which is now demolished and renovated.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I have used the bottle for other purposes also.  I had to find a way to clean the dirt without removing the water from the large barrel.  So, I chose a 500ml PET bottle [soft drink] that has a smooth surface without ridges and squeezable.  Some bottle designs wont suit this purpose.  Cut a hole in the cap to tightly pass a semi-stiff pipe into the bottom of the bottle.  I use this to suck up dirt from the bottom without emptying the barrel.  First squeeze out some air, hold it squeezed, insert the bottle into the water, suck up the dirt from the bottom slowly releasing the squeeze.  We can make designs in the dirt also there!   In fact, this is like a laboratory wash bottle.

This is an old picture.  When the bottle cracks from repeated squeezing, replace the bottle!  I have replaced 4-5 in as many years. Some are durable.

This is the latest one in use.  See how dirt sediments at the bottom and how it looks when disturbed and shaken.

The bottom half of a cut up bottle can be used for many many things. I've used one to fold and store digital camera cables.  We can also make rings to hold in folded cables.

One of the most interesting applications of the bottle I came across is this 'Water light bulb'! Watch the two and half minute video. Another person somewhere has 'repurposed' a bottle into a broom. [click on link on how to make it].  'Repurpose' is a new word that has started to get popular!

This image did the rounds on e-mail - bottle slippers used by African tribals.

Necessity is the Father of Creativity!