More Paper Nuts & Bolts

We found another site making nuts & bolts out of paper! 

(Who are these people?!)

We found a Japanese website called Soil Shop that gives you the diagram to make your very own version of these badboys!!

There are actual threads!!

The nut even turns on those paper threads.

I don't think these still are considered origami because I think some cutting of the paper is involved so what would they be called? Oh, I know - EXTRAORDINAMI!

Click here to go to Diagram 1 and here for Diagram 2 if you are clever enough to try to make your own!

Origami Bolts & Nuts

David Brill is a brilliant origamist (is that a word?)  He folds some of the most impressive origami - he even publishes the diagrams to show someone else how to fold and recreate his masterpieces.

Check this out!

Why he chose a nut and bolt, we'll never know. 

But I do know that folding the paper to look like the threads on a bolt is really impressive! I think the origami world was super impressed too because lots of people have recreated it - just do a Google Image search of "David Brill Origami Nut Bolt" and you'll see plenty of examples of people recreating them.

You could also:

Click here to see someone named Wonko display a step-by-step of folding the BOLT

Click here to see Wonko display a step-by-step of folding the NUT

OR

Click here to buy the David Brill book that the diagram comes in and try making your own!

It looks too hard and time consuming for me...I'm busy blogging!

Nuts & Driftwood

The author of Home Sweet Homemade.com came up with a great way to weave pieces of driftwood together to make a hanging sculpture.

The author, Diane, didn't want to drill through the pieces so she used the holes in hex nuts and threaded them together basically. 

This would look super pretty hanging in a house on the beach. 

Your ID Please

GREAT TOOL!

Found this cool Thread Identifier over at a site called LEE VALLEY & VERITAS (even their name is cool!) They describe it so well that I am just going to repost it straight from them: 

"The Thread I.D. has a plate tapped for 10 National Coarse sizes (1-64 to 1/4-20), 10 National Fine sizes (1-72 to 1/4-28) and 8 Metric Coarse sizes from M1.6 to M6.0. Each type is color coded for easy I.D. 

It comes with knurled-head bolts in all 28 sizes. This means you can identify the thread of any tapped hole in the range simply by using these bolts to find the exact thread size.

This feature is invaluable when a bolt has been lost and the only way to determine thread is to identify the thread of the tapped hole in the item it came from. It also identifies nuts; you just flip the tapped plate over and find the matching thread on the protruding bolts.

All of this comes in a fitted wooden box to ensure accidents won't damage the thread stock.

Patented. Limited stock."

The only problem with it is that they don't have any more for us!!!!

If the Lee Valley people see this, please make more.

DIY Nuts & Bolts Drawers

I saw this done in a magazine a few years ago and I forgot about it until I saw this on the website  Lansdownelife.com:

Click over to the blog to see the whole list of materials and to get instructions.

I would definitely love this but I think I would prefer using Gr. 8 materials 

because the zinc & yellow would look even prettier.

X Ray Vision

Fasteners are everywhere - even in our bodies, even mine. I am the proud host a two titanium headless screws...that's what my orthopedic surgeon called them, although I would call them set screws but 'headless' works. 

To demonstrate this better, a friend of Freeway's just got a procedure done on his back and he sent us the X-Ray of what his insides look like - and he said we could show everyone.

 It's hard for me to believe that this is someone's actual back, and that this is NOT torture but an improvement!  I'm amazed.

So thanks to the 40 (yes, 40!) screws in his back (and of course the Doctors that put them there and the people who invented the idea), he feels better than before. 

Hex Heads & Smartypants

A great female character is Temperance Brennan from the TV series BONES, named after the main character's nickname. Bones is a forensic anthropologist and the team leader of the fictional Jeffersonian Institute, a federal institution that collaborates with the FBI, mirroring the real-life relationship between the FBI and the Smithsonian Institution. Each week she and her team solves a murder. One tiny detail that is awesome about the show is that the logo for the Jeffersonian (and the show's logo) is a HEX HEAD. I know this is a stretch to put on our blog BUT when I first noticed it, I got as excited as a kid getting cotton candy!

This is the fictitious Jeffersonian logo.

This is Bones wearing her lab coat with the Jeffersonian insignia.

And the show's actual logo includes the HEX HEAD too.

Sometimes, if you pay close attention, she even wears HEX HEAD earrings on the show!

Get Your Green On!

Here is a great option for St. Patrick's Day
(you don't want to get pinched for not wearing green!)

Buy it here!

Or how about this one?!

Buy it here!

Best of Luck Today - Happy Saint Paddy's Day!

The Famous Madonna Bracelets

Madonna has a new album and I thought we should mention her since it is Women's History Month and she's one of the most successful women of my generation. You can say a lot of things about her because she's controversial, outspoken, bold, talented, beautiful and creative but we want to talk about her bracelets! Those famous bracelets she wore when she first showed up on the scene. These!

Remember them? I SURE DO! As a little girl I piled them up my arms. 

Well guess what? They are simply O RINGS, and we sell them.

An O ring is used to prevent the passing of fluid or liquid when you close something. For example, have you closed a jar? Did you notice a rubber piece that surrounds the inside of the lid? That is a basic O ring that seals the space so no air or liquid will get in or out of that jar. They're a great invention because they are a simple and inexpensive solution.

I wonder who was the brilliant person was who said, "Let's sell them as bracelets!"  I wonder if they ever thanked Madonna and Cyndi Lauper (another awesome women!) for making them hugely successful in their new role.

And they are still worn today in lots & lots of different colors and sizes. 

 

Give us a call if you need any O rings.. or if your kids need some bracelets.

Fasteners Hit the Runway

A fella used fasteners to fasten his fashion line!

And we're mentioning it since March is Women's History Month and the clothes were made for women, and of course because fasteners are the fancy feature.

Christopher Kane actually used fasteners to fasten his women's fashion line in 2013. He even customized his wing nuts - wait till you see them.

Surprisingly, it's all downright pretty.

Looks like normal pretty clothes, right?

Look closer - those are fasteners holding it together at the shoulders.

That dress really is beautiful.

This dress is stunning too.

I can't believe I like this!!!!!!

These are harder to see but the fasteners here are made of a clear acrylic.

HE TURNED WING NUTS INTO BOWS!

I wish I thought of that.

See the whole line at Vogue.

Also we tried to find something to buy, just to see how much things cost, and we couldn't find the stuff anywhere. I guess it was popular.

We did find this dress on EBAY new for $399.

If you click over to Ebay you can use the ZOOM feature to see the fasteners up close.

As a woman, who sells fasteners, I approve.