Search Results for: label/thoughtstylings/2011/04/making-it/2010/06/the-urban-homestead

829 results

Dovetails by Hand

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Design
8 Comments
...d, outdated hand skills just for the sake of those skills. You can make perfectly serviceable drawers entirely by machine but if you have the time and are making things for yourself not for work, I think doing it by hand is the way to go....

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Introducing #ArtShopaholism and #BiblioShopaholism

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Design, Thoughtstylings
1 Comment
...king a healthy dinner or cleaning the house. #ArtShopaholism: Not actually making art but, instead, shopping and/or obsessing over art supplies. I’ve found drawing useful, but it’s a skill you have to practice in order to get any good at. To counter this I’m only allowing myself to draw with whatever crappy ballpoint pen I have on me. No thinking about, buying or obsessing over having the “right” pen pencil or sketchpad. #BiblioShopaholism: Shoppi...

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Join or Die: Why You Should Join a Club

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Thoughtstylings
4 Comments
...I attended a screening last night of a new documentary, seven years in the making, profiling the work of Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, best known for the book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. I read this book when it came out and it had a profound influence on me, leading to years of joining clubs and organizations. The documentary is professionally produced and features some high level interviewees inclu...

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Haint Blue

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Design, Insects
14 Comments
...sting insects — and restless spirits (“haint” derives from “haunt”) — from making themselves at home in our living spaces. Haint blue is not a single shade of blue, but refers rather to a blue used for this purpose. The actual color could run from soft powder blue to true sky blue to bright teal. While the cool, airy white porch with a blue ceiling speaks to elegant Victoriana, I’ll note that the practice probably does originate in the traditions...

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Timing Sourdough Feeding

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Bread, Food
12 Comments
...ecent sourdough bread: the amount of time between feeding your starter and making your dough. I keep a small amount of starter on hand since I bake, at most, twice a week under normal circumstances (Under quarantine I’m baking a lot more but the reasons for that would be the subject of another blog post). Just before I go to bed, the night before I’m going to make bread, I take a tablespoon of starer and add it to 50 grams of whole wheat flour and...

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