Merrik

Happy Birthday Roo, Yer an inspiration Have a fantastic day

might be worth taking a look at compupic pro from www.photodex.com Been using it for years now. can get a large photo croped, basic adjustments & tuning and then saved to a useful web friendly size in about a minute. Cheers

Another possibility might be jewellers Draw plates. Some examples here They are used for reducing the diameter of wire. The only issue would be there are probably far more holes than would be required, however the D shaped and Square hole plates might produce some interesting effects. I made a hardwood drawplate for finishing some round chains made using various techniques as it maintains the shape of the wire whereas a metal plate would eventually flatten the outer surface of the wire.

In MS Word you could try using the "WordArt" function. This is available in the Drawing Toolbar and usually looks like a capital letter A (blue in colour) slightly tilted. If you cannot see the Drawing Toolbar click the "Tools" option in the top tool bar then choose "customise" make sure the Drawing Toolbar option is ticked and then come out of the menu. Your drawing tool bar should be visible (usually at the bottom of the screen). Hope this helps

no worries..... hope it helps. Will be good to see how it turns out if it works

just a thought as i`m not sure it would fit with the overall aesthetic of the design but how about a patch, possibly tooled, cut to match the slots overlaid before the strap is fed through. Might mean additional sewing to secure but could a "reinforcement" piece or "scuff protector". Not sure but maybe it could even be inlaid. anyways... just a thought from someone without a scooby

I have to say Steampunk has def got my interest piqued! I never realized it at the time i read it but the book "The Difference Engine" by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling falls into this category. The Wikipedia entry even states It is a prime example of the Steampunk sub-genre. Link is HERE I seem to remember it being not the easiest of reads at the time but will definitely be giving it another look soon.

Ray, I was born in Rhodesia and subsequently teethed on biltong, droewors. Think industrial tree chipper with added drool! I also used to source it from retailers in the UK, which has become much easier over the past few years as the SA shops have boomed. However i stumbled across a couple of sites about making your own and i have been ever since. It works out so much cheaper and is surprisingly easy to do. If you want more info then feel free to PM me. Cheers

worried?

Hey Ray.. I`m pretty sure Oreo's are far more common in the UK supermarkets now than they were a year ago. I seem to remember a recent ad campaign with a kid explaining to his dog how to eat them. Ya might want to keep an eye out for stores like "sweets from heaven" in the big shopping centers. I know there are a couple down near me in lakeside and bluewater for example ( i think there might be one on Telford High street). Then import and stock a huge range of US sweets and stuff. Also the jars of marshmallow and varieties of peanut butter.

On the marmite thing.... Go easy. I think often folks can get put off first time by using way too much. Suppose it is a bit like getting used to Chilli peppers. Also there is the whole hot toast vs cool toast thang. Hot buttered toast makes the marmite a bit trickier to spread evenly and often leads to too much being slapped on to get good "coverage". Cool toast is easier... cool enough to soften the butter but not melt it... much easier to spread.. it mixes in with the softened butter and, i think, tastes a little "softer" than on hot buttered toast. How much to use to start out with? erm... hard to quantify it but summat like 1/2 a (flat) teaspoon? probably a bit less. think of it more as a flavouring to use sparingly than a spread like peanut butter or jelly (or jam to us brits). Some trowel it on.. others use a tiny bit. It`s just finding the right amount for you. Final thought... there is absolutly no comparison between marmite and vegimite IMHO. Brits usually cannot stand vegimite and are a amazed that it not used in colder climate as an enviromentally friendly petrochemical free alternative to bitumen. Aussies generally feel the same way about marmite. (there are however, as in all areas of life, exceptions to the previous statement) All Hail Biltong ! King of the dried preserved meat stuff!

indeedee! If you have seen any Mythbusters episodes where they mess with magnets (climbing metal ducting is as example) then you`ll get a good idea. found out about these from a local scrap merchant. I asked him for a large powerful magnet. He replied.... do you want a large one or a strong one? then produced one of these little suckers and told me they came from old military computer tape storage units but could also be found in hard drives. If you do not have a old drive to rip apart or are looking for something more suitable for hidden fasteners you could try evilbay. Last time i looked there were plenty of sellers. Search for either Rare Earth Magnets or Neodymium Magnets Should find all sorts of shapes as sizes. Anything from 8mm round disks to large blocks that will hold 250lbs. Just don't fingers between large ones when they jump as they seriously nip. Also.... slide the wee beasties apart.... don`t try and pull they apart or off a metal surface. <h1 class="itemTitle"> </h1>

Stunning work! That is really really nice. Not an artistic bone in my body so i think i will probably stick to braiding for now and leave the carving to the experts! Re: thief knot vs reef knot. I think i remember reading somewhere (probably the Ashley book of knots) that sailors used the thief knot to detect if someone had been in thier bag. The thief would usually do his work in the dark and would think the knot used was a reef knot and therefore re-tie it as such. On a reef the the short working ends leave the knot on the same side.... the thief knot's short working ends would leave the knot above the stnading end on one side and below the standing end on the other. (see pic below) Not sure if that helps or makes any sense.. but hey ho! enjoy!

Hiya, </geek mode on> Here is a picture of some of the magnets i have liberated... yes... i seem to have a fetish for the damn things. As for the tools to remove them... usually a cross head/posi/philips screw driver and a number of star drive heads. The set i have has T4 thru T10 + T15 and T20. Dunno if the larger automotive ones use a similar size notation but these are the smaller jewellers/watchmakers sizes. There are usually posi/cross heads around the lid but look out also for stealth screws. Often there will at least two (star drive screws) hidden under small round lables that match the metal top... Once the lid is off you should see one or more "platters" (good coasters), the read/write arm and the magnets. It is usually possible to remove a couple of screws and pull the top "bridged" magnet. You may need to leverage as it's pull will not want to let it shift. Then it is worth looking on the side of the Read/write head spindle. if there, is remove it. There is also usually a small plastic doofer that stops the heads moving too far in one direction or another... this will probably just lift out. Now you should be able to swing the heads clear of the platter and lift it off it`s shaft. Look under the housing and there may be a screw to release the bearing the head spindle was mounted on. If not it could be knocked out. Got a few stashed which i might use in a lace splitter/beveller. Remove the small screw keeping the platter(s) and the spacers in place then lift them out too! You could also turn the housing over, remove the PCB underneath then knock out the platter spindle. Older models may even have a platter spindle and bearing in a housing that can be unscrewed and removed. I had this and used it as a base for an anemometer for my kite flying. </geek mode off> Enjoy!