Community Pitch

If you have been to any small town or village, chances are that you will find the local handicraft shop selling antlers. Though antlers are sold as souvenir items, you could purchase a few antlers to make a chandelier by yourself. Before you set out to buy antlers, a little bit knowledge of antlers will help.

Antlers are bones that are shed by deer, moose or elk. At the end of mating season these animals automatically shed the antlers and grow new ones. The shed antlers normally collected by the people and sold in the local market. Antlers are mostly used for decorative purposes and for making chandeliers besides of course being used for medicinal purposes.

While buying antlers, make sure that you buy in lots of same size. Though no two antlers will be the same, you can find similarity in shades and sizes. Antlers shed by female deer are smaller in size. Since you will be trying out this project for the first time it makes sense to buy smaller antlers which make a nice small antler chandelier.

Antlers need to be thoroughly washed. You get a lot of protective paints or varnish and coatings. Normally people use polyurethane for durability. Earlier on people used oils as coating for antlers.

The other items required for making your chandelier are – a base, wires, couple of screws, candle holder or lamp holder and light fixtures.

Now building a chandelier is easy. The best way to design your chandelier is to imagine a flower arrangement. Similar to arranging flowers, you can arrange the antlers into a harmonious bundle using your creative imagination. You can drill small holes into the antlers at the bottom and pass the wire through to arrange them in the order required. You can use screws to fix them wherever required. The wires can be soldered and finally fixed to the base. Your design after fixing to the base should be sturdy and strong.

The rest is easy. Fix the bulb holders and light fixtures into place and do the trials. Lastly, find the best place where you can exhibit your small antler chandelier like your trophy. Light up and enjoy your creation.

As consumers become more environmentally conscience, they seek out new ways to enjoy their hobbies in a green way. Gardening might seem like a very green way to help the environment and have fun at the same time, but certain practices can be changed for the better. For example, using a push mower instead of a gasoline mower is one smart decision. Withholding toxic pesticide for a more natural remedy is another. Lots of people trim their plants and mow the grass, then proceed to dump the organic waste into the trash can. This waste can be recycled in a composting bin and doesn’t have to be thrown out.

The Earthmaker Aerobic Composter provides a way for gardeners to create natural compost to use as plant feed. Compost can be made from any organic substance such as grass clippings or kitchen waste. Inside the warm confines of a composter, organic products degrade and rot, changing into compost through a chemical process. This process can be sped up by tumbling the waste around to introduce oxygen. The Earthmaker system makes this easy by providing a three- step chambered system which moves the waste using gravity. In each chamber, the compost is in a different stage of decomposition. By the time it reaches the bottom chamber, the compost is ready to be removed.

Compost is removed from the handy door at the bottom. Compost is moved through the system with a agitator handle which users move back and forth. Gardeners never have to come in contact with rotting material. After a couple months in the startup phase, the Earthmaker can produce up to ten gallons of compost a month. This is an incredibly earth-friendly way to obtain rich compost which can result in better plant growth. The best part is that it can be done in the comfort of your backyard.

Another great composting method utilizes  wormeries which use worms to speed up the break-down process.

I’m a self taught guitarist (as are a great deal of guitarists). The guitar is wonderful in that people can pick it up and learn from books or the internet, as opposed to instruments such as the violin or piano, where it’s not nearly as easy to do that. However, if I could learn the instrument again, knowing as much as I now know, I’d progress much faster.

A friend of mine recently took up the guitar for the first time and asked for my advice on what instrument he should buy. The following is the advice I gave him, and I think it applies to a great many beginning guitarists.

There are a huge range of guitars of on the market, all of different types. The right type for you really depends on what kind of music you’re going to play, where you’re going to play (are you a bedroom-only guitarist or a regular performer?), the sound you need, etc. It can be tough for even an experienced guitarist to choose his (or her!) next instrument.

A lot of beginning guitarists are learning because they want to perform like their favourite bands, which are invariably some form of rock bank. There’s no problem with that; it’s clearly a great thing to emulate your favourite music and it means more people decide to learn the instrument.

But there is a problem: When they’re trying to copy their favourite band, the beginning guitarist often goes straight out and buys a new amp and electric guitar. I have another suggestion:

When you first start to learn, don’t rush out and buy an electric guitar. Instead, choose an acoustic or (if you want) a semi-acoustic instrument. If you try to learn (as a complete beginner) on an electric guitar, it can be especially frustrating when you can’t produce a good “clean” tone. And, if you’re unable to do this, it can be harder to learn solid technique.

In addition, electric guitars, due to their low action and easy-to-play necks, are usually slightly easier to play than their acoustic equivalents. When you’ve learnt a little about the instrument, this can be a good thing.

However, the issue with this is that, by learning on an easier instrument, it will be harder to then play on a more difficult instrument. If you’re going to learn the guitar and really want to master it, you should be prepared to play a range of different music and learning on a slightly more difficult instrument will help you do that in the long run.

If you must buy some form of guitar that can be amped, try an electro acoustic guitar. They’re very similar to acoustic guitars, with the small difference of having a pickup built in. This allows them to be connected directly to an amplifier.

Semi-acoustic instruments are a little different – they’re more like electric guitars, but with hollow bodies so they can be played even when there’s no amp.

When you do go out to buy the guitar, if at all possible, take a guitar-playing friend with you. There is no such thing as a best acoustic or best electro acoustic guitar, so the best way to choose is to try them out. If you don’t play yet (or play a lot yet), it’s best to take somebody who does play so they can demo the guitars for you.

If you don’t already know anyone who plays the instrument, try to choose a smaller music shop rather than a chain. In my experience, most small music shops are run by music enthusiasts who are often more than happy to give a beginner a live demonstration of the guitars they sell. It’s usually a lot harder to find this personal touch in a large store or chain of stores.

Collectibles from the kitchen are a huge favorite on sites like eBay and in collectibles shops anywhere.  Vintage salt and pepper shakers are one of the more popular items that fall in to this category.  We all have our own special memories of growing up and thoughts of the kitchen are inextricably tied to them.  The kitchen and dining area, for many people, is the main gathering place for a family that spends much of the day on separate adventures.  Meeting at the dining room table is a way to share and bring the family together.  Many collectors choose to focus on items that they remember from their own childhood.  If there was a shaker collection, it probably fascinated you as a little one.  These are a great c0llectible for people who want a little piece of their memories displayed without taking up an entire room.

Even though the new Cricut Expression Machine is packed full with amazing new features, there are still a couple cons about the beautiful machine.

To start with, the price is a little high. The machine itself is about 500 dollars. Not to mention, all the carriages and designs you will want to buy later on. Granted, if used enough, the machine will pay itself off. Though if you don’t have 500 bucks to spare, this could be a problem.

Also, the fact that the machine is quite a bit bigger poses a problem for some users. If you intend to use the machine for scrapbooking parties, or basically taking it any where with you, the size will make this a little challenging. The more mobile and smaller machines, such as the Cricut Personal Cutting Machine, are made with convenience in mind. So if you plan on toting your machine around with you, looking into this smaller machine may be a better choice for you.