DIY Personalized Surf Wax

Making the rounds on the craft scene lately have been tutorials on how to create custom candles with some Sharpies, tissue paper and wax paper. I thought that was pretty cool, but I thought I would try it with surf wax. This could make a great gift for the holidays!
Just like I said before, I gathered white tissue paper, wax paper, some Sharpies, a bar of wax, and my hair dryer (a heat gun is even better and won't get your fingers hot while holding the wax).

I cut a piece of tissue paper off, bigger than the bar of wax. Since I was using Sticky Bumps, I traced the outline of the two rectangles on the tissue:

This will be the area I can do my artwork. I then cut out the two rectangles and placed them on the wax directly. You may want to cut the rectangles a little smaller to let the wax on the wax paper melt around the edges, but it works OK if you cut them flush. I decided to keep it simple for this example:

Tissue rectangles laid onto the wax

Place a large piece of wax paper (waxy side down) on the top of the wax. Use a heat gun or hair dryer and heat the wax paper while holding it it down and in place. Don't overheat the wax- you're just trying to get the wax on the paper to melt just enough to seal in the tissue paper.
Here it is completed:

Wise surf saying.....

Of course, you can do this by running a piece of tissue paper taped to a sheet through an ink jet printer, and use photos to decor the wax.
Here's a couple more designs I did, one on a candle, and one on another bar of surf wax:

 

After you've made these, you can put the wax back in the wrapper and tape it closed, if you were careful with the wrapper. This would be a neat surprise for the recipient- unless you put some nasty words on it. Don't disrespect the wax that way... be nice!

 

Palm Frond Christmas Wreath

So I've got to break down and accept the fact that it's almost that time. I'm a Summer girl, and in Florida for me, it's hard to get into the Holiday Spirit among the palm trees and the ocean. So, I love to incorporate our natural surroundings to decorate instead of the goofy evergreen pine wreaths sprayed to look snowy.
Last year, I made a Holiday project using palm fronds, so I wanted to do this again since we are getting ready to trim some fronds off our tree to clean up our yard for the Winter. I used cut green palm fronds from our Cabbage palm in the backyard:

Our backyard Cabbage palm

I took a frond, cut the leaves off, and stripped individual leaves for use:

Stripped off leaves



Next, I got a Styrofoam round wreath to use for my base. I picked up a green Styrofoam wreath so that if I made a mistake, the green could show, and it's not glaring white underneath. I also trimmed each palm leaf into a straight strip, squared off at each end. In addition, I'm going to use straight pins to secure each leaf strip as I wrap.

 

First, I took a strip and secured it on the back of the wreath with a straight pin:



 

 Next, I wrapped the strip around the wreath, moving the strip a bit over as I wrapped, securing the end with a pin:

 

 I cut this flush, then overlapped the first leaf onto the next, using the same pin:

 

 I kept wrapping like this, securing the leaves by the straight pins to the back, having the front clean:

Front of the wreath

Back of the wreath

Completed wreath

If you have significant gaps showing, you can keep wrapping more over the top of the others. It takes a while, but this is meant to last the whole season, so take your time.

For a bit of flair, I added a red grosgrain ribbon (best type for outdoors) by wrapping it in the same way:

Plus the ribbon

Next, I made a little bow by wrapping a few fronds like a pretzel, then securing the middle with a twist tie:

 

Finished bow

 

I covered up the twist tie with a ribbon, then tied it around the back to keep the bow secure on the wreath:

Tying the bow, knotting it on the backside

Here it is completed:

 

After a while, the green leaves will turn gray-green, then brown, so it will become kind of an earthy wreath, which is cool. Nice way to start off a beachside Christmas!











DIY Neoprene Headband

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving- there's been waves here all this Thanksgiving week, but it's been insanely windy, making it feel a lot cooler than normal. When the wind starts kicking up, the first thing to bother me are my ears, since when the wind hits them, it feels like it blows through my head *insert brainless blonde joke here*. I could wear a hood, but sometimes it's just a little overkill, and feels a bit constricting.
I have a pair of neoprene shorts I replaced recently, so these are a good candidate for making the headband. They're about 1 mm thick:

I used the back of one of the legs, since this will be a long enough and wide enough piece of neoprene for my big head headband.

Next, I used my rotary cutter to make a 4 inch wide headband. The length I used was about 16 1/4 inches, a snug fit for my bulbous head, but I don't want it coming off in the surf, since it stretches. If you measure around your head, take an inch or two off of the measurement, since different types of neoprene stretch more than others, especially today's modern neoprene.

Mine's 16 1/2" by 4"

Next, I'm going to get out my 4 lb test fishing line/ Fireline and a strong needle, ready to do a simple seam to join the headband:

For the headband, I cut the bottom into a bottle neck shape so it will narrow on the back of my head so I won't have the extra bulk at my neck.

Bottom of the headband into a bottle neck shape.

I used a whipstitch on the seam, quite close together to ensure it won't tear. You may wish to go back over the seam again, to ensure the strength, especially since it should be quite snug on your head.
Here's the finished product on me:

Stylin'.

It's really warm over my ears, and I think it will work to block the wind well. Gotta keep the air in my head, ya know?

Preventing a Pocket Wax Disaster

So yeah, I collect those little toys figurines, what's it to ya?

Looks mean....looks real mean.

Now that's out in the open.....yeah, I'm the creepy grown up outside at the toy machine at Publix, or Walmart, etc. getting my miniature-plastic-vinyl-toy-figurine fix on. The down side is that I'm left over with this plastic container. I thought there had to be something I could do with it.
I thought since these are fairly small these days (much less plastic than I remember), they would make good pocket wax containers. The upside is that you can keep sand and stuff off of your wax, and, if the worst happens, it will protect your boardshorts and washload from partaking of your Mrs. Palmers. If you have multiple containers, use the colored caps to colors code your wax type.
You'll need to cut a piece of your favorite wax- either you can break one off, or you can use the scraping edge of a wax comb to do the trick.

Hunka' hunka' wax

Snap the top back on, and throw it in your pocket- it won't be much bigger than your boardshorts pocket and won't be in the way as you paddle. If you're a dude and worried about a bulge showing....well, you may need counseling.

Easy DIY Sunscreen Safe

Here's a simple little hack to keep your things safe on the beach from prying eyes that I've seen using a wide type of sunscreen bottle like this:

 

You'll want to keep things like you're keys, money, etc., but, the opening is usually pretty small:

so by taking an Exacto knife and cutting away the top except at the lip where it can still attach at the original top:

you can make a wide mouth safe to put your stuff in that nobody will suspect.

If you have trouble keeping the top on, just use a hair elastic, no one will think anything of it:

Super easy!!

Removing Sharpie Art from a Surfboard

As you can probably guess, I love painting on things, especially on boards. But, like others, tastes change, and it's time to move on from the Sharpie'd anarchy symbol on your board that clashes with the pimped out, child safe minivan ride you're rocking these days.
To show a couple of ways of cleaning art or anything off a board that is permanent, I used my beloved 8'6" Natural Art epoxy board. I had a little "tattoo" of a seahorse I had drawn a while back using a Sharpie black fine line pen, and gold paint pen over it. It looks kind of goofy, and I'd like a do-over on it.

A little seahorse, but off center- D'OH!



To clean my board, I got some non-acetone nail polish remover and a "magic" eraser brick. For the non-acetone nail polish remover, you will have to look at the label closely to make sure it says this. Non-acetone nail polish remover is used for women (or men- I don't judge) who have artificial nails. Some types of these nails are fiberglass with a gel coat- sound familiar?- and using regular acetone will weaken the gel coat surface.

Cleaning tools.

I put a little of the non-acetone remover on a papertowel (or a microfiber cloth if you want to be extra careful), and simply wiped away the image. If you have sealant over the work, you may need to use extra to "peel" those layers off. If you have a really stubborn Sharpie paint job, get out another Sharpie and paint over the existing work. The new paint over it will reactivate the old paint and make cleaning it off much easier. Hard to believe, but it does work!

Removing the image

Removed! (Still needs a bit more to get some of the leftovers)

Now, the next thing I can use to clean stuff off of a board is a magic eraser. I love this invention. All you do is get the eraser sponge wet, and it will remove just about anything without chemicals. I have actually used them to clean a nasty, outdoor kept, little fiberglass boat we bought that had marks all over it. When I finished (it did take a while), the boat looked like new, and I actually sold it for about 30% more than when it was bought. Totally worth it.
I used a magic eraser on some black marks I had on the rail of my board that just wouldn't wash off:

After wetting the eraser, it took about a minute of scrubbing to get these marks off, but it removed them cleanly:

Now, after all that, you may want to repaint your board. If you are looking for a way to do that, but that will hold up in the surf, look here. In that project, I did use regular acetone to initially clean the board, but that was to make sure I throughly dissolved any existing wax. Non-acetone nail polish remover would work OK as well to remove wax residue, and really is safer overall for the glass.
So if you repaint your board, have fun and get creative- just don't paint stick figures of each member of your family on it. Save that for the minivan.

DIY Fin Screw Keychain

I lost one of my good Proteck fins the other day. Not because I was busting air, or shredding, or shralping, etc. I had a screw loose in my Future mount and it dropped off. I stink at surfing so much I didn't even notice.
I guess this is a good time to argue at length about FCS and Future mounts- which is better?- but for now, I'll just sit and cry. It was a good fin, and will be missed.
On the positive side, this made me think about holding extra screws just in case I ever catch one out before the fall. I know FCS makes a nifty screw and key holder keychain, but it's a little bulky, and I usually carry a multi size Allen wrench tool anyway since I use a larger one for my SUP. The downside is too, that they don't make these for Futures, as I'm aware.
So, I went to my go to- plastic modeling clay. It does anything and costs a buck a bar.

It's not a turd, just brown clay.

I started by measuring my fin screws. The FCS screws are a little shorter than the Futures screws, so I need to take those measurements in consideration when making the thickness of my holder:

Future Fin Screw

FCS Fin Screw

Next, I rolled off about 1/2 a bar of the clay, and rolled it until smooth into a ball. Then, I used a Plexiglas roller (or you can use your palm) to press it flat into a disc, or any shape you want, as long as it's thicker than the fin screw type you're using. Next, I took a screw (FCS in this case) and carefully "screwed" it into the clay with a key. Stay even and as straight as possible. You are creating threads in the clay to hold the screw in, so don't make a lot of slop:


It's like a fin screw donut.

I screwed the rest of the screws I wanted it to hold into the disc, being careful not to screw too far in and pierce the back of the disc.

After I had all the screws set where I wanted, and left IN PLACE (important!), I made a hang hole with a straw:




Next, leaving the screws in the clay, I baked this clay (FIMO soft) at 250 degrees F for 40 minutes to ensure hardness. I placed it on a cookie sheet on a piece of brown bag paper for the oven:

Ready for the oven!

After removing the screw holder and letting it cool, I made sure the internal threads were set by using my fin key to back the screws out of the holder:

Success!

After screwing the screw back into the holder, I attached the holder to a key chain with the fin key (if you need one), and marked the back in Sharpie marker "FCS" to indicate the type of screws in the holder.
Here's the finished product:


You can use a less obnoxious sized key chain, but you can see that I can hold more screws in this little 1" diameter disc, instead of just the two in the commercial one, and you can still put the key on your ring without as much bulk as the other, plus now you can put Future screws in one you make yourself!
Now I just need to improve my fin installation technique. I least I have them pointing the right way in the box- that's something, right?