USB Charger Lamp

Behold, the multipurpose USB Charger lamp!

I've been slowly gathering the parts for this lamp for a while. I'm really into how it came together. It took a bunch of tries but ultimately I figured it all out. There might have been a bit of a mess in the meantime, but it all worked in the end.

The most important parts for this project are USB receptacle and the 3 wire cord. I found them at my local hardware store and they are available on Amazon as well. It's important to use the right USB receptacle for this lamp, if you are going to charge smart things with it (iphone, ipad, smart phones, etc). Some of them are the wrong amperage and can damage your device or just not work at all. 

If you aren't comfortable with wiring, this might not be a good first-electrical-project, but it's a really fun one if you are familiar with wiring.

Here is the basic diagram for a lamp with a USB changer, plug and light switch. In this lamp, the switch only turns the light off and on, the USB and plug are always powered. Be sure to use a single pole switch.

Putting it all together looks like this awesome beasty.

Persimmons and Home Canning Basics

I have the pleasure of working with the Portland Fruit TreeProject throughout the year. They are a great organization, which organizes harvest parties for the large amount of fruit trees in Portland. Groups of volunteers harvest ripe fruit and a portion is donated to the Oregon Food Bank. Volunteers also take home a portion of the fruit, as does the owner of the property/fruit trees. On top of the harvest parties, they also organize canning and cooking classes to help people with ideas on what to do with… we’ll say 30+ pounds of Persimmons, for instance.

Enter Heather and Jason! We joined with the PFTP to teach a Persimmon Preservation class. We did a demo of one of my favorite persimmon recipes, Persimmon Chutney. It makes a great addition to a holiday gift basket and goes well on all sort of things. Jason prefers it on pork while I prefer it on a nice curry… or a spoon.

To help with the class, I put together a handout. Who doesn’t like a good handout? It includes three persimmon recipes as well as a basic guide to home canning. Credit where it is due, the basic guide came directly from My Pantry Shelf. It is incredibly well written and a great guide.

The three recipes are:

Persimmon Chutney

Persimmon Jam

Persimmon Cookies

Granted, persimmon cookies aren’t a canning thing, but it you have persimmons, you should 100% make these cookies. They are soft and chewy. On top of that, the bizarre science experiment that is persimmon and baking soda brings me a weird level of joy.

The long road to nowhere

While I was making my concrete crafts, based on my Pinterest pins, I discovered that one of them went to a website in ... a language I don't speak. Which was fine. I do my best worked based on pictures only. What makes me extra sad are the Pins that go nowhere, which happened today with a pretty ring that I need and will find.

Since I deal with negative emotions in a way that you might be familiar with by now... I made this:

Concrete Candle Holder

I thought I’d start the Pinterest Battle off with a personal challenge. I rarely do poured mold items. I love sculpture, but rarely actually do them. I wanted to get over some of my fear and develop a new skill a bit. Concrete seems pretty approachable, after all.

I was directly (P)inspired by these concrete candle sticks. Once I practice a little more, I aim to add textures, like this leaf imprint. I absolutely want to get to where I can confidently make some weird shapes. This is absolutely a craft where practice makes perfect.

I got some Quikrete. I chose the brand mostly just because it came in an easy to carry little bucket. They make all sorts of types from patch, to spackle, to quick-set concrete. Make sure you actually get concrete as spackle is crumbly.

Something you need to know about me, I love math problems. I thought I was being all smart, basing the amount of mass (concrete) I would need by filling the mold with water and measuring the water. I then based my concrete to water mix on that. My particular concrete mix was 5.5 concrete:1 water. My first attempt (Edit: pictured at the end) required 2 cups of concrete (mixed). So, I went to the board – this is how my mind works:

Lesson Learned: 2 cups of dry concrete powder, mixed with water – reduces in mass by about half. So, if you need 2 cups of mixed concrete, start with about 4 cups of dry concrete powder. ALSO – when pouring a mold like this you will want to add about 30-40% more liquid to the mix. It will take longer to set, but you’ll actually be able to pour it and work with it.

(Lesson I’m not learning right now: I’m not sure if I should be saying Mass or Volume. I’m going with Mass. It feels right.)

Once I mixed up the concrete, I poured it into a Tupperware bin that was sprayed with regular cooking oil. I then pressed some tea lights into it, as well as some glass votive candles. These were also sprayed with cooking oil first, to ensure they didn’t fuse with the concrete. To dress it up a bit, I pressed glass into the concrete (not sprayed).

After a couple of hours, when the concrete did not move when poked, I removed the glass votives and tea lights to allow for even drying.

The concrete will take a couple more days to fully cure, but I removed it from the mold this morning to get the final shot. It had been in the mold for about 48 hours. It holds together and I give it an A for effort. It’s not really my style, but it was a great first (technically second) try. I will be playing with concrete again. I MADE STONE!

Edit: So, we took the first concrete attempt out of the mold last night. I had thought that I made the walls way too thin and it would crumble. As it turns out, I didn't and I love this one! It was made with a quart sized soup takeout container and a large plastic cup. I covered the plastic cup with saran wrap, which I don't recommend at all since it fused into the concrete. Other than that, it's super neat looking. 

All Hail, Attempt No. 1!