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Soap Making as a Hobby is a Great New Skill

6th April 2022 by UBee

Soaps are so taken for granted that we hardly pause to think more about how they are made. The general feeling is that the entire process is far too complicated, industrial, and way out of being made a hobby. In reality, soap making is a simple process, and there are ready-made melt and pour type of kits available that allow us to make soaps with our own chosen colours, fragrances, herbal ingredients, and shapes.

Soap making can be pursued as a hobby and can even be turned into a small home based business. All it takes is an interest in the making of soaps, and some diligence in the whole process.

Soap is a simple mixture of oils and caustic soda (lye.) The resultant liquid when left to solidify forms soap with a lot of glycerine, hence also called glycerine soap. The industrial soap manufacturers remove excess amounts of glycerine and use other ways to make the soap soft and mellow.

The oils used in soap making are common oils like palm oil, coconut oil, olive oil, grape seed oil etc. The caustic soda used should be of industrial quality.

There is some amount of heating involved in soap making, and this therefore requires caution. The exact proportions of mixing oil and lye should also be known beforehand.

A melt and pour soap making kit can introduce a novice into soap making. Simply buy the kit and follow the instructions that come along. Once you are familiar with this process, you may consult other sources and can try making soap oneself.

Everyone of us wants to have a herbal soap, one filled with natural oils and fragrances. Children are delighted with soaps of various shapes such as animal figurines. Pursuing soap making as a hobby can allow you to make soaps as exactly as you want them to look and smell!

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Pocket Watch Appreciation- A Skill and a Hobby

30th March 2022 by UBee

The history of the pocket watch is often overlooked in significance because of the many other inventions that were taking place. However, the pocket watch provided us with the first portable clocks giving us the power to know what time it was wherever we were. The pocket watch was a device that was very rich in the 16th century and only the high class could possess.

In the 16th century clocks were produced using springs instead of weights, signifying the transfer from clocks to watches. These old pocket watches were the first timepieces that could be owned by the public. Owning a pocket watch signified the status, wealth and power of an individual.

The 17th century made pocket watches even more desirable with a new look to the figure. The watch had changed from its original box-like look to a new rounded and slimmer case. Craftsmen began working ever so hard to create designs on every pocket watch made.

In 1675 some watchmakers discovered the importance of a spiral spring. By attaching the spiral spring to the balance, the accuracy of the pocket watch increased greatly. It was now possible to tell time by the minute as oppose to being off by a few hours. With this new discovery, the minute hand was born on the pocket watch.

The 18th century saw added improvement to the pocket watch with further development and more added features to drive up the price. Oil had become a popular method to lubricate and smoothen the movement of the hands of the watch. Jewels had begun to be used for the bearings in watches while diamonds were used on the high-priced watches. This shot the cost up to again give the rich the power to show their wealth and status.

In the middle of the 18th century another hand was introduced to show the increased precision in time. It was only a matter of time that a third hand would be added seeing that we were aware of time down to the second now. This allowed people to know the exact time of day it was through their pocket watch.

The 19th century brought several famous pocket watch makers that increased the value of the watch. Having multiple watchmakers added the competition to the quality of watch they sold, including how much they sold their watches for. The quality of watches sold was now better than ever with much more reasonable prices. The 19th century signified the peak of the old pocket watch.

As time passed further inventions were taking place and the invention of the wristwatch soon took the place of the pocket watch. While some old pocket watches are still around today, the wristwatch is the dominant choice of time now. Today old pocket watches are more of an antique collection than anything. While the pocket watch has served as a useful tool throughout the years, it now rests as solely a collection item that helped lead to the development of the wristwatch.

Stamp Collecting A New Skill

15th March 2022 by UBee

Collecting stamps is a great hobby that people from all over the world enjoy. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old. This hobby is not only fun, interesting but you can also learn a lot. There is a whole wide world collecting stamp community for you to be part of. The key for collecting stamps is the variety you can collect. In this case you can certainly say more is better. If you are new to this hobby you have must realize that you have to have stamp collecting supplies ready before you start your collection of stamps.

Here is a list of supplies that you will need for your hobby. Stock books, stamp hinges, stamp tongs, magnifiers, glassing envelopes, blank pages, drying books, perforation gauge, water mark detector, stamp mounts, stamp catalogues, binders and of course stamp albums. This may look like big shopping list but there is no reason to be panic. Not like many other collecting hobbies, this hobby doesn’t have to be expensive at all. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on expensive equipment and supplies. There is of course a list of items no stamp collector can do without.

Let’s start with the one item that collectors cannot do without and that is a stamp album. The stamp album keeps your stamps safe while at the same time it enables you to organize your collection and to display your stamps in an attractive manner. Look for something that is high in quality. What you should look for is an album that contains plenty of space for your stamps and have strong bindings with thick pages made from good quality acid free paper. Another smart item you cannot do without is a stamp hinge. A stamp hinge is a small, folded, rectangular piece of paper or glassine coated with a gum. One end of the hinge is gummed onto the back of a stamp and the other end is gummed onto the album page. This helps to firmly hold the stamp on the page. These hinges are very inexpensive and around a thousand can be purchased for a few dollars. Stamp tongs look like tweezers, but these are specially designed for picking up and handling stamps. Tongs are available in both stainless steel and plastic. Either type will do, but make sure you choose tongs that do not have sharp edges, as they may tear and ruin your stamp. If the value of your collection is important to you then a stamp catalogue is a must. The stamp catalogue will help you identify a stamp and will also give you a rough indication of its current value. So, you exactly know how valuable your collection is in the world of philately. What you also need is a magnifying glass. This will help you to examine the inscription and design closely, the feature of a stamp as well as its condition. Also, the magnifying glass would help you spot the creases or printing error of a stamp. All of these factors have an impact on a stamps grade and its value. Glassine envelopes are translucent and available in various sizes. They are useful for sorting and storing the stamps before you place them in the album. You can also mail stamps in these envelopes. Some other gadget you will need is a perforation gauge. It measures the number of holes per two cm length of the perforations on the side of the stamps. Stamps differ in the number of perforations each have, which even helps distinguish between two identical looking stamps and also influence the relative rarity. A water mark detector is useful in detecting forgeries and identifying stamp varieties.

In hobby shops and on the internet all these tools are easy to find. Remember that these tools don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. To start your hobby, you will need these stamp collecting supplies and have fun while collecting.

Making a Collection From Clutter

1st March 2022 by UBee

From postcards to thimbles to salt & pepper shakers, the seeds of an unintentional collection could be right under one’s nose. According to a recent Nielsen survey, one in 10 collectors developed an interest in the hobby by slowly acquiring items over time, and only later decided to establish their own showcase collections.

“My enthusiasm for collecting began as a child with the inexpensive cars my mother would buy me as a treat during trips to the market,” said Bruce Pascal, owner of the legendary Hot Wheels red-lined Beach Bomb, valued at £72,000 at a recent collector’s convention. “When I became an adult, I rediscovered these long-discarded playthings and grew to appreciate the artistry behind them.”

Each year, collectors like Pascal gather at conventions nationwide to show off and trade their precious items. Hot Wheels collecting “pros” provided the following suggestions on how to create amazing collections. These tips are applicable not just for die-cast vehicles, but for virtually everything under the sun:

Craft a theme-Whether it’s based on size, year, location, etc., crafting a theme will help narrow down the “shopping list” when searching for additions to any collection.

Be picky-It’s okay to pass on pieces that aren’t necessarily attention grabbers. Waiting for that personal “wow” aspect really helps to give each piece in a collection a unique value.

Become familiar-Re-search the collection before beginning the hunting-and-buying process. The more knowledgeable one is, the better the chance of getting a great deal on the price (as well as better quality on each piece).

Budget, budget, budget-Along with researching the details on each piece, know what others are paying for it and one’s own personal budget. Bargaining is allowed with dealers, so knowing the cost breakdown on either side will help to “seal the deal.”

So get out the dust rag and start cleaning-there could be many collections waiting to be discovered in the attic alone!

Learn More About Badge and Pin Collecting

28th February 2022 by UBee

Pins are a hot collectible that offer an added advantage over other collections – they are small and do not take up much room. Pins are available in many motifs and themes. Some of the most collectible themes are Disney characters, sports teams, and Hard Rock Cafe. The first rule of pin collecting is to specialize. If you like the Manchester United Football Team for instance, you can start pin collecting with souvenir pins that celebrate this team. And just because these themes are popular doesn’t mean you have to collect them. Be original and collect what you like.

Many pins are centred around modern entertainments, but many pin collecting enthusiasts collect campaign pins from election campaigns. Buttons are a similar item and are collected by many of the same people who do pin collecting. Pins created to advertise businesses and services are also very collectible.

To display pins you have several options. When you wear a jacket with lapels, you can wear a few of your favourite small pins. The same goes for wearing a cowboy hat or a vest. Many pin collectors wear a few on the front of a cowboy hat. Tote bags, purses, and fanny packs are another place where some pins can be displayed.

Of course, as you get into pin collecting, you will soon find that you have too many to wear the entire collection at one time. A bulletin board, perhaps covered with a plain piece of fabric, like dark blue velvet, makes a nice backdrop for a pin collection. The pins can either be pinned into the cork of the bulletin board through the velvet or attached to the velvet first.

Another way to display and store pins is in a notebook. This method works well if you wish to take some of your pins to an event where you can do some trading with other pin collectors. To make the notebook, purchase sheets of hard felt or craft foam. Either punch holes in the side so they fit into a loose-leaf binder, or slip the pages into page protectors after attaching the pins to the pages. The type of loose-leaf binder that zips closed is the best to use for pin collecting.

Sometimes pins get scratched, especially if they are stored in a notebook arrangement such that they hit each other. The scratches can be smoothed over with a tiny bit of liquid car wax. Future scratching can be avoided by using page protectors in notebook collections.

Pin collecting is a very popular hobby. You can find groups of like minded people with which to trade pins, making pin collecting a hobby that helps people make friends.

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