je suis une giroflée

First you'll need the equipment:

I would highly recommend buying the Cir-Kit Starter Wiring Kit (which can be found at: www.cir-kitconcepts.com, or at your local Hobby Lobby or other craft store). It comes with everything you need, including an instruction manual. I'm creating this tutorial because while the instructions in the kit were handy, the manual was a bit tricky to understand. So hopefully this will be a helpful supplement for your tape wiring adventures!  

You will also need to purchase the lights that you're planning on using in your small space. Make sure to purchase lights for tape wiring, not round wiring! 

Additional tools:

- Rubber mallet (or hammer & a piece of thick cloth, like a sock)

- Tweezers

- Scissors or an Xacto knife

- Small flat-head screwdriver

- Phillips-head screwdriver

- Credit card or other thick plastic card

On to the electricity! Your small space should be prepped first. This means staining or painting the wood. The great part about tape wiring is that it can be painted over, or hidden behind wallpaper. It is much easier to install the wiring before you've put anything in your space. If you're planning on lighting something, light it before you build in it. 

Plan out where you want your lights to go. You can draw lines to follow, or free-ball it if you're feeling gutsy (or in my case, lazy). All wires have to lie at right angles of each other, so don't go drawing any diagonal lines. After you've planned your space, it's time to lay the wiring down. Take your tape wire & lay it down along your wiring plan in your space. The wire has an adhesive backing, so pull that sucker off & the wiring sticks right to your small space. The tape on the top of the wire stays put. 

I'm laying out an initial run before any cross-sections. You want one constant piece of tape throughout your small space. You can later add cross-sections that will lead to the exact spot you want your lights to be. 

Your tape wire should also exit your space. This bit of tape is where you'll install the lead-in wire so you can plug it into an outlet. Tape wire can be cut with your scissors or Xacto knife. 

Make sure your corners are tight! Tape wire should be flat on the surface at all times!

Super flat! Go ahead & run a credit card or other thick plastic card over the wire to squish out any bubbles that may have formed. 

Now that you're done laying the wire down, it's time to install the junction splice. There are two tongs on the back. Insert these two tongs into the exit tape you've placed on the outside of your small space - one tong to each strip in the tape. You can push the junction splice into the wood, then hammer it the remainder of the way in. The junction splice is pretty hardy, so don't worry about breaking it (if you are using a hammer instead of a rubber mallet, place a thick piece of fabric in between the hammer & the junction splice). The junction splice comes with a small screw for additional support. Go ahead & screw this in too. 

Screw the lead-in wire into the plug-in transformer. It doesn't matter which lead-in wire goes to which connection point on the transformer. 

SAFETY WARNING! If you're doing anything to anything, make sure the transformer is unplugged. This is electricity, so be safe about it. 

The other end of the lead-in wire gets plugged into the holes at the bottom of the junction splice, just like plugging something into an outlet. You're ready to test your wiring to see how you've done so far! 

Plug the transformer into the wall. Don't be scared. Now take your test probe & place it above the junction splice, & slightly poke into the tape wire. The tongs in the test probe should touch the inside of the tape wire. If the test probe lights up, good job! It's working! If not, recheck all plugs & make sure everything is plugged in properly.

Now it's time to run the rest of our tape wire. I'm running this tape out into the middle of the box so I can have a light on the floor. Make sure that the blue wire runs over the blue, & the copper over the copper. Also be sure your angles are only 90 degrees - no diagonal lines. This is important to create a constant stream of electricity. Poke four holes in the wiring as shown above. Poke with what, you say?

With your pokey tool! Otherwise known as the pilot hole punch. If you unscrew your pilot hole punch, you'll find a few handy tools: 

Go ahead & poke all your holes along any point where two pieces of tape wire connect, using the hole punch bit.

Now take your drill bit & drill into the holes you've poked, about 1/8th of an inch in. You can see in this picture two holes with brads & eyelets already in them. That's the next step!

Switch back to the hole punch tip, & slide one of the eyelets onto the tip. 

Place the tip of your pokey tool into the hole, & set the eyelet into the hole. This is where a pair of tweezers (& a bit of patience) comes in handy.  If your holes aren't deep enough, hammer the eyelet in the remainder of the way until it lies flat in the wood. 

Place a small brass brad in each eyelet, using your tweezers. Hammer until eyelets & brads are flat in the wood, as seen above. It's a good idea at this point to re-test the current. Instead of placing the test probe just after the junction splice, place it along your tape coming from your newly installed cross-section. Make sure to unplug the adapter when you're finished!

If you're planning on using a lot of lights along different tracks, you've got a bit of work ahead of you. Settle in. I'd also recommend working in a well-lit area, as those tiny bits are hard to see! Repeat this four-hole brad & eyelet process along any tape wire track that goes in a separate 90 degree angle from the original track. 

It's time for the lights! Please ignore those two ugly holes in this picture - the making of this tutorial came with some mistakes on my part! Place two eyelets into your tape wire where you want to plug your lights in, making sure they line up with the size of the plug on your light. You will install these eyelets the same way you installed them on the cross-sections. 

Plug your mini-lights in, plug the adapter into the wall, & stand back to watch the magic happen! 

You can now paint over the tape wire (make sure everything is unplugged first), & finish building your small space. Be careful not to get any wet medium (including paint) along the cross-sections or the "outlets." This includes paint! Remember, it is electricity, so be safe!

First, you'll need a few things:

Something sturdy & pokey (I'm using nail trimmers)

Tweezers

Something thin & pokey (toothpicks work, also sewing needles)

Eggs (use ORGANIC eggs. If you want your shells to stand the test of time, healthy eggs are the way to go. Other eggs will turn a gray-ish color & are more fragile)

A container (for unused eggshell bits, egg whites & egg yolks)

A sink (preferably with a dish disposal, or at least a net in the bottom to catch eggshell bits)

A strong stomach (raw eggs are gross)

Let's talk about using just the shell. In some of my artwork I use the eggshells to contain my miniature sculptures (remember the tiny furniture?). This is easy to do, but requires a soft touch & gentle hand. 

First, take your sturdy & pokey tool (nail trimmers, in my case, although an embroidery needle would also work), and strike a hole in the egg. This might take a try or two. You want to tap the egg firmly, but not so hard that you go straight through the egg. 

Next, use your sturdy & pokey tool to SLOWLY crack away small pieces of the shell. You don't want to rush this. If you try to remove too much shell at once, you'll crack the egg in half. Work above your container to collect the yolk, white, & shell of the egg. 

NOTE: If you're trying to preserve the egg whites & yolks (for the biggest omelette ever!), separate the shells & the innards separately. I really don't like eggs, so I'll be throwing out the whole mess when I'm done. For disposal, you can discard everything in an old milk carton or something with a lid. If you have a dish disposal, discard directly into the sink.

Once you have chipped a hole large enough, you can dump out the innards. They won't really pour out, so what you'll have to do is pull them out. This will be disgusting. To make things easier, use your thin & pokey tool (toothpick) to break up the egg yolk inside the egg. It will slide out more easily this way. 

Keep rinsing your egg as you go. I would not recommend you rinse egg whites or yolks down the drain, as it might damage your plumbing. Once you've chipped away your desired opening, it's time to move onto the inner lining.

In this before picture, you can see the lining sticking out from around the edges of the shell. This lining is what holds the air sac at the bottom of the egg. You can leave the lining if you wish, but for a polished & cleaner look you should remove it. Use your tweezers and gently pull the lining away. 

Done! Rinse it one more time to remove any organic material, then set it out to dry. The shell will not rot or disintegrate, as it it primarily calcium. 

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On to the egg-blowing a.k.a. super gross but awesome in the end!

You'll want to use your sturdy & pokey tool to put a hole in the top & the bottom of the egg. Keep these holes as small as possible. If you are unable to blow the innards out, open the exit hole up a bit. 

Take your thin & pokey tool and break the egg yolk up. This is important! If you don't do this step, you'll be blowing until your face turns blue.

Rinse the egg off to avoid nasty germs, and blow through the smaller of the holes, catching the innards in your container. This will be totally gross, but blow as hard as you can until it is completely empty.

Now go wash your mouth off. Ew. 

Rinse the egg off (try & rinse inside as much as you can), & set it out to dry! Done!

NOTE: When you are finished emptying your eggs, make sure to sanitize EVERYTHING. Disinfect your sink, tools, countertop, & all surfaces where egg might have ended up. Make sure to wash your hands (under your fingernails too), arms, & face.

I'm using Hydrocal White plaster. It's basically a finer version of plaster of paris, and you can find it online for super cheap! I got mine here: http://www.plaster.com/HYDROCAL.html 

For my mold-making structures, I glued wax paper to a heavier paper. I used wax paper to avoid the plaster from sticking to the structure (if you're making larger molds, you can use sheet metal). After gluing the two papers together, I cut them into strips & taped them to create cylindrical tubes for my plaster to go in.

You're also going to need oil-based clay & Vaseline. I had some ClayToon clay lying about from a previous stop-motion project, so that's what I'm using. It's important to use oil-baed clay so the plaster won't stick. It's also important to cover almost EVERYTHING in Vaseline! Plaster is like cement, and once it's down, it's not coming off. 

& of course, you need something to replicate! I made these tiny pieces of furniture out of Sculpy clay, and I baked them with wire inside. The reason for the wire was for ease of handling (because they're so tiny!), and also to create a hole to pour my materials in once my molds were finished. 

I placed my cylindrical tubes into a slab of the oil-based clay, being careful not to leave any openings in the bottom for the plaster to seep out. Here you can see I'm making a mold for a tiny table. I went ahead and used the wire-base to my advantage and poked it into the side so it would sit in the middle of the tube. You want your object close to the middle. You also want to position it in a way where you won't have undercut issues (for more on undercuts and lips, check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qC2huojrk4). Once your object is in place, cover it in Vaseline! You don't want it to stick, especially if you want to salvage the object after it's cast. 

Now it's time to mix your plaster. I used roughly 60% plaster and 40% water. Mix together slowly. You don't want any bubbles. Bubbles will create holes in your molds.

DISCLAIMER TIME! 

DO NOT pour plaster down your kitchen sink! DO NOT even THINK about washing out this tub in your sink, or else you'll be in big trouble! I would even go so far as to say wipe your hands off before washing them! Again, plaster is like concrete, and imagine how terrible that can be for your sink drains!

Pour the plaster SLOWLY into the cylinder! Go slow so you don't get bubbles! I ended up spooning it in. Fill it up so it is touching the object about half-way. Once it's hardened a little (maybe 5 minutes), throw some tiny balls of oil-based clay in the mold. This will create a kind of locking system later when your molds are finished.

Why not make two molds at a time? Or three? I'm making a mold for a tiny chair in the second one. 

Now it's a waiting game. While you wait for your plaster to dry, you can do some light cleaning, pay some bills, get a coffee, or even better, watch an episode of Portlandia! I went with the latter idea.

Your molds will probably be hard in 30 minutes, but you can wait longer if you want. Just make sure the plaster is hard before you continue! It should feel like a rock and be cool to the touch.

Chilly molds, ready to go! Take the little balls of clay out. Now spread Vaseline on everything: the plaster the object, lube it all up. We don't want these babies sticking.

Mix some more plaster, same as before. Pour the plaster on top. I've put a metal wire in one of mine to act as a spout for pouring media in when the mold is done. You can pour all kinds of things in your mold when you're finished. Chocolate, hot wax, liquid sugar, watered-down clay/slip; whatever your heart desires.

Ding! Molds are done!

Take the wax paper off & pull your objects out! If your object doesn't come out, you probably have an overhang problem (sad face). If there are any pockets where plaster didn't form, it means you had bubbles in your wet plaster (double sad face). And if your molds won't come apart, it means you didn't use enough vaseline (sad sad sad). But if you did everything correctly, your molds should be ready to go! 

I'm putting air-dry clay into my molds, as you can see above. If you're doing a more liquid-y substance, you'll want to pour the liquid into the molds and then tape it up so nothing leaks out and the form stays tight. I've taped up the mold in the back here. 

I'm really digging this air-dry clay, because one, I'm impatient, and two, it's easy to carve afterwards if I want to put details in (word of warning, it is very fragile, so handle with care). When using air-dry clay in your molds, you want to press enough clay to fill the indentions (plus a little extra) & then make "hash marks" in the clay. That way when you press the two sides of your mold together, the clay will adhere to itself.  For my molds, I pressed both sides of the mold together firmly so the clay would stick, then pulled them apart to let the clay dry. 

Baby tiny furniture!