Many hobbies involve building, carving, or wood burning which require speciality woods. These hobby and craft woods are available for just about any purpose. Hobbyists may choose from balsa, basswood, plywood, walnut, cherry, maple, among others for their project needs. Sheets or strips of these fine woods are available in thicknesses from 1/32 " to one inch, and in widths from 1/16 through six inches. You may purchase either sheets or strips.

Balsa is the most versatile of the hobby woods. Native to South America, these sixty foot trees are grown on large plantations. The wood is lightweight and strong. South Americans have been using balsa for boat and raft building since antiquity. Anyone who can recall Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki adventures will know of his successful attempt to reach the Polynesian Islands from South America on a balsa raft.

Balsa's fine grain combined with its strength and light weight have made it valuable for a great number of uses. Its heat retention ability has made it useful for insulating refrigerator and ship holds. It is used in aircraft to reduce vibration. Surfboards and life preservers have also been manufactured from balsa wood.

Crafters and hobbyists will find balsa very easy to cut and carve, making it ideal for a multitude of projects. It can also be painted or stained any color the hobbyist desires. Its greatest value for hobbyists is undoubtedly in the construction of model airplanes. Free flight , control line, and radio control aircraft are all made primarily from balsa wood. Other uses for this versatile wood include model boat building and dollhouse construction, as well as many other craft projects. Model railroaders can use balsa for scratch-building houses and other structures, bridges, and structural support for scenery.

Basswood, or linden, is another wood crafters and hobbyists find very useful. This North American wood is grown primarily in northern Michigan and Wisconsin. Heavier than balsa, it shares many of it's characteristics - close-grained, strong, and lightweight. Basswood's hobby uses mirror those of balsa, but its heavier weight limits its use in building model airplanes. Because it carves easily, it is the premier choice for both beginning and advanced woodcarvers. Novice wood burners will also find basswood friendly, as it burns well. Like balsa, it is available in strips and sheets. Additionally, specialty shapes for dollhouse building include molding, siding, and roof shingles.

Special project needs may require the use of hobby plywood. This extremely high quality plywood ranges in thickness from paper thin 1/32 of an inch to 1/4 inch. Birch is the wood used, so it can take any stain desired. It is very durable and suitable for many uses.

Other woods are available for specialized hobby projects, including walnut, maple, cherry, and mahogany. Twenty four inch lengths include both strips and sheets. The maximum width for sheets is four inches.

Basswood and balsa are the most commonly available hobby/craft woods. Other types may need to be special ordered from your local craft or hobby shop. Check out the selection today for all your project needs.

Have you ever watched a metal craftsman in action such as a Blacksmith at a country fair... most people watch in awe as the Blacksmith carefully heats a piece of iron in a charcoal forge before placing it on the anvil and then proceed to hammer it into all kinds of unique shapes, it all looks pretty simple doesn't it...and the Blacksmith would probably tell you that it's not that difficult to hammer & shape things from red hot metal simply because it is quite fluid.

He's right you know, generally all it takes to work with metal is a small amount of knowledge & instruction, and some solid practice, and before too long even a novice will be producing good quality metal craft items.

But there is a lot more to metal craft than just blacksmith work.

While you can't deny that blacksmithing is a lot of fun, and a skilful worker can make many practical and ornamental items. With a little practice you could also produce beautiful iron work, simply by using basic skills & equipment.

In the early days the blacksmith was one of the most sought after "skilled" workers in the village.

But you know, you can take the art of blacksmithing another step. You could use the forge to melt metals.

What if you created a small charcoal fired furnace using your existing forge, it wouldn't take much work to build up a simple circle of bricks on the forge hearth to form a deep bed of charcoal so that you could produce a bed of red-hot glowing coals which will produce a large amount of heat. Enough to heat and melt aluminium... maybe even bronze.

Of course a crucible is required to place the scrap metal or ingots in for melting purposes,and the crucible needs to be buried in the bed of coals so the heat of the charcoal will do its work for you.

All you need to do now is to apply a gentle blast of air from the forge bellows to begin building the heat in the charcoal, and the crucible with the scrap aluminium, or home made ingots will quickly melt in the crucible.

Most hobby workers use a small electric motor attached to a blower to produce the correct amount of air blast, but for the moment, the manual operation of the forge bellows will suffice.

High quality hardwood grade charcoal will produce a high amount of heat, in fact you'll notice with the added heat the alloy ingots will soon start to melt, and once that happens the pool of metal in the bottom of the crucible rapidly promotes the total melt.

Once the metal has all melted, it is ready to pour into a sand mould. The idea is to prepare your sand moulds well before the metal has melted, so that everything is set up and ready to go. Once the methods & techniques are learnt, the whole process is quite easy and straight forward.

Any practical minded person could do it.

We have many people visit our web site: www.myhomefoundry.com looking for information about metal casting... lots of people around the globe are involved in metal casting, it can become quite addictive which is not surprising, when you realize all of the things that you can make.

For the home engineer, inventor & project builder, hobby metal casting could be just the thing, if you want to create your own special castings at almost zero cost, i.e. once your mini foundry is established.

If you take your time to build all of your equipment properly, it should last you for many years.

To find out more about hobby metal casting and how you can employ the methods & techniques to build & create your unique projects, visit our web site to download a free ebook to begin your understanding of this intriguing metal craft.

Are you going to a Christmas party? Do you need a novel fashion accessory to complete you outfit? This sparkly tinsel accessory costs a snip to make and can be worn as a hat or a wig. It can be made with as many or as few colours as you wish, so that it will suit any Christmas outfit. If you don’t fancy the full version, make a smaller version and wear it as a hair accessory - Put your hair into a 'bun' style and then cover it with your tinsel hair accessory, very cute for younger disco divas.

To make a tinsel hat/wig all you need is... Some tinsel in whatever colour your choose, 4M is more than ample. A stocking or a tight leg and a needle and thread.

Start off by cutting the toe from the stocking and disregarding it. Pull the leg part of the stocking over your head so that it sits comfortably in place. The finished hat/wig will end up being a little smaller, pull down the stocking an extra few centimetres, maybe so that it covers your eyebrows.

With the stocking still on your head (You don’t look silly at all Ho Ho Ho!) Tie a knot in the surplus stocking hanging at the top of your head. Make the knot small, neat and tight and very close to your head, mid your hair though. This is the base of your hat/wig.

Pull the stocking over a football. This keeps the stocking taught, as it would be on your head.

Starting at the knot, stitch and secure a length of tinsel to the stocking. Working in circles around the knot, tack the tinsel to the stocking. The stitches can be roughly 3 to 4 CMS apart. If the hat/wig is to be one colour, continue working round in circles until the stocking is covered.

For two colours, join the second length of tinsel next to the first and take it in turns with the colours to make circles. The tinsel will spiral down the stocking. Continue in this way until the stocking is covered in tinsel.

Did you know that in the old days wigs were not just worn as a fashion accessory but they also hid skin diseases and head lice - Yew!

Hobby crafts are big business and none more so that the handmade greeting card. Its popularity knows no bounds and many of us are making a beeline for this great way of getting started in new ideas.

The true crafter may well turn their nose up at anything that diminishes original creativity and turn instead to the craft kit. Why? Because they are an excellent way into new card craft ideas.

Handmade cards have much to recommend them to a wide range of people:

1. You may be a first time crafter hesitant about what to do and how to do it
2. Perhaps you're confident in one craft and looking for a new project to test your skills
3. As a seasoned crafter you may like 'time out' to try a new product by a new supplier
4. If you're a teacher, a craft kit can give you an idea to share and a chance to practice first
5. You may know someone who'd love a craft kit as a thoughtful gift

They'll be many other types of people and reasons for choosing crafts and that perhaps is the professional craft suppliers' problem. It's because craft kits and handmade greeting cards are so in vogue that there are so many places to buy them. After all, the kit has much going for it:

1. All the essential specialist materials are ready to go
2. Instructions are included
3. Photos on the finished article are included
4. There are possibilities of trying more ideas
5. The creators are usually experts in their field

Opting for an off the shelf kit rather than giving in to one's own freedom of expression may seem an easy solution but 9 times out of 10 it isn't. Why? For the very reason that craft kits are so popular.

The world and its wife can put together a craft kit, but it takes careful thought - and practice to come up with a winning way of presenting information.

Just take a moment to think of some of the craft instructions you've read lately - or in the past and ask yourself some important questions:

1. Where they well written?
2. Was the layout easy on the eye?
3. Did you get a photo with the instructions?
4. Was the project easy to scan?
5. Could you get a feel for the project is a short time?
6. Where the instructions small enough that you could follow them?
7. Where they written 'from the beginning' with nothing left out?
8. Were all the materials listed?
9. Was there an idea of what next and how to take things further?

You may think I'm picky but then I've eaten, read, slept and taught craft for many years. With 20 years experience as a craft teacher I've read far too many craft instructions that have left me puzzled. Honestly, some would leave you wondering if they were talking about the same project.

Not all kits come with good instructions. Making a handmade greeting card from printed instructions can be fraught with difficulty.

If you're investing some of your cash into card crafts then you deserve to track down a publisher or supplier that really will deliver what they say.

One of the joys of finding a greeting card kit that you like - and are successful at, is that usually, the company can offer you a range of other projects. That's a real bonus. Having found a style that you're now familiar with, feel free to indulge yourself in other ideas.

Kits can be a relatively cheap way of getting started in a new technique, or extending confidence you already have.

But be hesitant and check out a Company's publishing power and writing prowess. Take some time to get comfortable with a style, layout and vocabulary that you are happy with. We don't all want brevity, neither do we need pages of instructions.

The real art is in giving enough information to give you confidence in the project - and the instructions. You want to be able to trust that they will lead you to the finish without giving up.

Good instructions should give you bite sized steps that you can then apply. Too many new steps in one block can be too much to get our head round - so we hit overload. And we often blame ourselves for our inadequacies - rather than the kit.

Those who write instructions have a lot of answer for and a lot to live up to. If they've laid their cards on the table, you should be able to too, with a successfully completed handmade greeting card at the finish.