by Dot – Dabbled.org

I am the self proclaimed queen of making faux shrinky dinks using #6 plastic… the the point of collecting the stuff (to-go boxes, lids from the bakery, whatever) and keeping it around the kitchen should the need to make something plastic ever arise.   So the other day, when we needed a piece of clear hard plastic as part of our “Rubber Band Powered Hot Wheels Car Launcher” (not a Fail!) we figured “let’s do a super large shrinky dink!”

For some background, we planned to use a piece of shrunken plastic as the top to this (where you see the clear plastic we ended up using instead, when this became a Fail).

How to NOT make a shrinky dink.

I pulled out a really large lid I had been saving, I cut it as large as I could, and me and the handy hubby drew cool flames all over it with sharpie markers.  I envisioned a cool flame covered clear plastic lid to our car launcher.

We put it in the toaster oven (it just barely fit) and watched the shrinking happen.

Unfortunately 1) possibly due to the size, it mangled itself and fused together during the shrinking process and  2) it shrunk WAY smaller than typical, so even if it had been flat, it wouldn’t have worked.

So handy hubby just found some scrap Lexan, and used that instead.  Perfectly serviceable, but not nearly as cool!

PS, If you like it, Go Vote for my Car Launcher Instructable in the Rubber Band Powered Contest (it’s the 6th one…)

by Dot — Dabbled.org

Sometimes I just don’t think. I blame it on mommy brain most of the time.

In the hectic aftermath of my son’s first real attempt at age 3.5 to really dye easter eggs “by himself”, I was looking at those lovely dye colors*.  I can’t just pour them out!  They are too pretty!  Maybe we can dye something else?  So I figured why not a “tie-dyed” shirt, a simple version, made by just pouring the egg dye over a tied up shirt, in stripes?  Easy to do, we’re already messy, and maybe (just maybe) if we make a cool shirt out of the deal, he’ll actually consent to wearing a shirt with buttons  (the child currently refuses to wear shirts with button or shoes with laces right now… No idea why.)

Tie Dye Shirt Fail

This was not too difficult, and actually looked really nice.  But I realized, as I started to rinse out the rag I’d used, that there was a small issue.

Now, if you stop to think about the inherent properties of egg dye, you might remember that it’s meant to be used by small children, and parents don’t really want their small children and their clothes dyed permanently.

The rag I’d used didn’t stain.  It rinsed out very cleanly.   Uh-0h.  If I rinse out the shirt, those pretty colors are just going to run together, and/or rinse right down the drain.  Hmm.  Maybe if it dries in the clothes, and it dry it in the dryer, the heat will set the stain a bit (I know this totally works on stains that I WANT to get out!).  So I spread the shirt out, let it dry overnight.  Even the next morning, it’s still a little damp, and I note its still staining my hands.  I wrap it in a towel and throw it in the dryer.  It escapes the towel, and leaves blue on the inside of my dryer.  I clean the dryer as best I can (it’s still a little blue, but maybe that’s from the crayons that went through the dryer mishap, and in anycase, it’s not coming off).  Shirt is now dry.  If you wet it, however, it still drips dye.  And I know the dye needs to be washed out, but I hate to ruin it before he wears it, since he’s actually considering wearing a shirt with buttons!

So this is the plan.  The Boy can wear the shirt one time in its current pretty but fragile state (hopefully he doesn’t sweat in it or get rained on) and then I’ll wash it and see whether any dye remains!  My bet is that some dye will remain, but it will be very washed out and pastel, or muddied with the blue.   (I’ll update when it’s done!)

*I have to add, I’m embarrassed to say that I actually did not do any of the really cool dye ideas I posted about on my blog, just used the storebought because we ran out of time!

By Dot at Dabbled

Hiya, Dot here… Hopefully we can include food fails here too… here’s one I figured I’d add to start things rolling:
I had this great idea for Macadamia nut brittle hearts. The sugar mixture is ready to pour out when it reaches a ‘light amber color’, right? Hmm, apparently my idea of light amber color was a little different than the recipe’s. (I guess it’s time to invest in a candy thermometer.) The first set I poured up basically never set — the syrup was still syrup!. I tried again, and that was still not right–solid, but very soft. I tried reheating, and came out with my final product (One set is sticky beyond belief, the other is burnt!)

Hmm, well… They’re pretty!

Actually, there was nothing wrong with the idea (just my execution of it). Use a good peanut brittle recipes, and follow the instructions. Just use a candy thermometer to ensure you pour out at the right temp, and you should be fine. Pour into heart shaped molds (silicone is nice) instead of out on a sheet pan.

Plus, I was cleaning up the sugar syrup out of the saucepan, and figured I’d just throw some more water in there, and boil it, then pour it out and wipe down the pan. Easy peasy, right? Unless you get distracted and forget about the pan. Till all the water boils out. And the little bit of sugar left has baked itself on to the bottom of the pan, and all over the glass lid. The clear lid was literally brown/black, where you couldn’t see through it, and the burnt on sugar was melded to it. I really wish I’d taken a picture.
–good news though — I googled for how to clean burnt sugar, and amazingly, in boiling a mixture of water, baking soda and a drop of dishliquid cleaned all the gunk of the lid… it just flaked off like old paint! (takes a while, though, and minimal scraping with a butter knife occasionally)