Monthly Archives: May 2007

by Nelia

Home repair

Well, it seems we are going to have the house painted before i expected. My goal was to gradually work thru it this year. Now it seems we are going to hire it done.

We have long intended to have someone texture the ceiling with a deeper texture to hide the uneven places where it has been patched. Now all of a sudden Luke has decided that he is tired of looking it, and we are going to have not only the ceiling textured and painted, we are going to have the walls painted as well, right now.

I did not understand the sudden rush, and was a little dissappointed, actually, that i would not have this year to do it myself, but now i understand the rush.

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by Ramona

Book I just read – Hiding the Elephant

OK, this is sort of in response to Mom’s post about how we don’t post much. She’s painting, I’m reading. I did make a new category, though, with the thought that as I finish a book I’ll put something up in this category saying that I’d done so.

Just finished “Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Imossible and Learned to Disappear”

Thought it was going to be a history of magic book, and it sort of was. It was the history of magic leading to the trick of hiding an elephant. Imagine that you just saw a historical special on this trick, and you turn to your friend, the expert magician and magic historian, and say ‘how did they come up with that trick?’ And then he answers you. Exhaustively.

Of course, the author knows what he’s doing, so he picked the right trick to explain. Explaining it takes you through 100 years – mid 1800s through mid 1900s – I’d say the full era, though not the full history of magic. And also of course, the author knows what he’s doing, so he doesn’t actually explain much of the details of the trick (or any of the other tricks leading to the elephant). But that’s ok, as he points out that the story and the magic is in the performance, not the mechanics. Many of the tricks premiered in science lecture halls on the interesting properties of optics – the same mechanism was either scientific lecture or magic, depending on whether the presenter was a scientific lecturer or a magician. And besides, as he points out and the extensive notes show, if I’m interested in how it was done I can find that out.

So, 300 pages and 100 years of interesting people. A cultural biography from a new perspective (new to me, anyway). It might have been better if I’d been a little more familiar, with the time, the topic, or the characters. But it is a well written book, easy to follow and be interested in even when you’re not all that familiar with the topic.

Hiding the Elphant on Amazon

by Nelia

the blogs and painting

I enjoy the family blog… I enjoy my blog too. I wish we all wrote more often. When i look, which is almost daily, it is always disappointing to find nothing new.

Is that because we all have nothing blog-worthy going on? I suppose that is why i do not write more than i do.

Hmmmm so what is going on here that i could write about. I am painting my sewing room. Yes, i know, i have been painting my sewing room for the last couple of months. But i now have my sewing table back in place and that is a good thing. I do not have the work table yet. I am still in the process of painting it.

Speaking of painting, i learned a few things about paint, most from Pat and most after making a mess of things first. I think i will list things i have learned while painting.

1. I found that spackle now comes in a tube which makes filling holes in the wall very neat, tidy, and fast. When you remove the lid of the tube, you expose a pad which surrounds the hole where the spackle comes out. Place the center hole against the nail hole, squeeze, and drag the pad across the spackle to smooth off the excess. Very simple and the hole is filled without any excess spackle left on the wall around it.

2. To fill cracks in the wall, fill the crack with paintable silicone seal. (It also comes in a small tube.) The silicone seal will bond to both sides of the crack and if the crack is caused by the house shifting, it will flex a little as the crack widens and shrinks, unlike spackle which will crack as the house shifts.

3. One should not mix Kilz with other primers. Actually, what i have when i did that is usable. but i have to keep stirring it because it separates.

4. One should not mix flat wall paint with any kind of gloss paint. It might seem to mix ok, but it will not bond well to the surface. However, it is ok to mix different glosses, semi gloss and high gloss for example. It will not really gain you anything, however. I thought perhaps if i mixed them i would tone down the gloss of gloss and strengthen the semi gloss, but the gloss stays about the same. All you do is weaken the high gloss.

5. High gloss paint has a very strong finish. It is hard to strip. However, interestingly, it can be sanded. If you sand semi gloss, the paint will ball up and clog your sandpaper and make a general mess of things. If you sand high gloss, it powders like bare wood or polyurethane.

6. You can find environmentally friendly strippers. They work slower, but do not have the toxic fumes and can be cleaned up with soap and water.

7. The strongest paint finish possible is made by mixing oil base high gloss and polyurethane. You can mix it up to half and half. The paint won’t cover worth a hoot so you will have to apply several coats, but it will give you a very strong paint. You can also cover paint with polyurethane, but it may slightly yellow the color of the paint.

8. Semi Gloss paint cures to its maximum strength in about 2 weeks. High Gloss reaches maximum strength in about 1 week. So, even though the paint on a shelf is dry to the touch, you should not put anything on it for a week or 2.

9. When texturing, it is a good idea to thin the drywall with paint instead of water. The texture will bond to the wall or ceiling better and it is stronger. Also it requires less paint to cover it as it is not as porous.

10. There is another tool i like… a small paint roller made of high density foam. It is supposed to leave a finish as smooth as a brush… It doesn’t quite, actually, but it is much smoother than a regular roller and it is much faster and easier than a paint brush, and it is possible to paint a large item (a door, for example) completely before the paint dries so you can roll the roller the entire length and leave a more even finish.