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Of late my crafting hobbies have gone into severe decline. I no longer write a weekly DIY project feature, and recent events have necessitated a speeding up of my housebuilding to the detriment of other activities.
I haven't stopped altogether. Lately, I've revisited crafty projects I've tried before - with mixed results.
Years ago, after some success cutting wine and beer bottles, I wrote a column chock-full of ideas for utilizing the cut bottles.
This time I attempted to cut at least a dozen bottles, and only consider one a success.
I’ve saved a ton of bottles, and thought to turn some into vases and drinking glasses.
First I tried cutting bottles in half with a tile saw. Many bottles cracked. Some cut just were I wanted them to, but ended up with chips all around the edge which I couldn't smooth out (I tried a glass grinder, dremel and sandpaper).
Next, I grabbed a glass cutter and a bottle. I scored the bottle carefully once around, then alternated pouring hot and cold water over the scored section.
A couple of the bottles broke in unplanned ways, making them jagged and not useful. But most simply wouldn't break. I looked up tips, and found to change to less extreme water temperatures, for a controlled break.
I tried this, and then tried the opposite, using boiling water and an ice bath. Most bottles withstood these attempts.
Next, I tried dipping a string in acetone and wrapping it around the bottle, then setting it on fire before thermal shocking with cold water. Unfortunately, I only had synthetic yarn on hand, and it didn't burn as well as a natural fiber string would have.
Since it burned a little around the bottle, I went ahead and plunged into cold water. The bottle stayed intact.
Next, I tried scoring a bottle, and then applying flame to the score before quickly cooling the bottle. The bottle still held strong.
I was surprised that all this thermal shocking resulted in almost no breakage.
My final attempts, with a different glass cutter, had a slightly higher breakage rate, but none broke fully along the score, and some just wouldn't break at all.
I'm quite perplexed by this failure. Now I will likely just thrift any vases and water glasses I need.
For my next craft, I decided to make glue, for some fully compostable paper crafts. Following an online recipe, I mixed a cup of water with a tablespoon of vinegar, and brought it to a simmer on the stove.
To that, I added a combined half a cup of water and half a cup of cornstarch (thoroughly mixed), and stirred until it thickened. The recipe said it would take five to seven minutes to thicken to a glue-like consistency, and more cornstarch could be added if needed.
Within seconds of adding the slurry to the warm water and vinegar, I had a thick gel. I pulled the pot off the stove, and transferred the white gel to a jar, worrying that it had thickened too much.
Later that day, I used some and was surprised by how well it worked. It took time to dry, but held my paper project together right away. I applied some with a table knife, then switched to using my finger. My daughter tried it on a different craft project, and said that while it obviously dries slower than hot glue, it worked better for her than other crafting adhesives.
After all my failed bottle cutting attempts, I needed this crafting win.