Santa Claw, World's Largest Claw Machine!

I like to think I'm ahead of things and find out about awesome new stuff before other people do. Apparently I dropped the ball on this one. No pun intended and you'll see why!

I was bored, surfing around some blog posts and I found this one from GemCityTiffany, which interested me greatly; a post about the WORLD'S largest claw machine!
Read her post for some great background info and pictures!:
http://gemcitytiffany.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/what-is-the-santa-claw/


So of course, I had to try it myself! The wait times are really long, each time I've been on, the wait time was about 6 or 7 hours, so I would sign on and go about my day. I played unsuccessfully twice, didn't even get close to grabbing anything, then I lost my turn a couple of times because I forgot about it and came back to the computer too late, oops.
So this afternoon I signed back on and just got to play a few minutes ago, let the live feed show (yes, you can watch people as they're playing, it's kind of addicting!) and looked around for which one I wanted to try to grab. Well, the weird thing is that the camera view you see while in line isn't the camera you see when you're playing; instead, you see a view straight down from the claw and another from the side of the machine. It's kind of hard to get your bearings the first couple of times.
But tonight, I centered the claw over one of the larger yellow balls, grabbed, the claw got it and...it got all the way to the area where it drops it down the chute and it bounced off the side and back into the machine. I thought for sure I lost yet again.
Then a video played and it gave me a congratulations message showing that I won!! I was so amazed that they counted that as a win!

Anyway, I will update with the prize that I get (probably a fun bouncy ball!), it should show up in about 2 or 3 weeks. You only get one prize no matter how many times you win and you can only receive your prize if you live within the U.S., but you can play as much as you want!

Go here to play and good luck!:
http://www.thesantaclaw.com/


Photo via thelaughingsquid:

Making of...JRandall Resin Necklaces!

Being a JRandall fan, I wanted to make something for myself and other fans to help spread the word about JRan! Naturally, I figured a resin jewelry piece. I really need to get another mold because these take FOREVER as I only have one square mold and can only do one at a time. Once you see the steps, you'll see why this is frustrating. So, next step for me is to get another mold! The steps below can be used for any paper item you want to preserve in resin.

Step 1- Find pictures you want to preserve in resin. (Since these are printouts on computer paper, I gave them a little more thickness by gluing them to cardstock first.) Coat the pictures, back and front with at LEAST 2 coats of Modge Podge. I did the first two coats, then cut out the pictures, then did the backs and the edges.



Step 2- Mix your resin according to the instructions. I use epoxy resin, so I mix equal parts of resin and hardener. Fill mold just enough to hold the picture in, then place picture in and gently push down to force out any air bubbles. It looks goofy but I have the stir stick anchored to hold the picture down until the resin has thickened enough and I don't need to worry about air bubbles anymore (usually about 4 hours.)



Step 3- Wait...and wait...and wait until the resin cures. If it was mixed properly, you can usually feel that the piece is solid the next morning, but wait at least 24 hours to be sure that it really is cured.


Step 4- I wanted to use a solid colored back but didn't want to wait another 24 hours for the second layer, so I mixed my quick-cure Alumilite polyurethane resin (again, equal parts A and B), with a bit of shimmery white powdered color (I use powdered eyeshadow, works perfectly!) and quickly poured into the rest of the mold. This resin sets up FAST so you have to work FAST. The fun part of Alumilite is that it cures completely opaque and pastel colored depending on the powdered pigment you add to it.

In 10 minutes, the piece is ready to pop out! After that, I superglued a bail to the back and here is the finished piece!