Hot Hobbies & Toys How-Tos

How To: Do different kinds or balloon twists

Mike Floyd demonstrates how to twist balloons into amazing shapes in a simple, and straight-forward manner. Inflate Balloon about 3/4 of the way and tie end. Next, make one twist at mouth of balloon, which creates a "sausage" twist and sections the balloon. All other twists will stem from these twists. Hold each section of balloon, and twist the longer section at about the same length as the first "sausage" twist you created earlier in Step 2. Now fold the 2 smaller "sausage" twists over the ...

How To: Make a homemade squishy stress ball

In this video, they will show you how to make your own homemade stress ball. They show you all the materials that are needed and all the steps that you have to take. You first need a balloon and a to attach it to a funnel. You then fill the funnel with flour and push the flour through the funnel with a pencil. You would then tie the balloon and personalize the stress ball by making it a face. This is how they show you have to make your own stress ball at home.

How To: Make miniature tacos

This great video from Garden of Imagination shows you how to create mini tacos from polymer clay. Perfect for your dollhouse, or dolls, these detailed miniature gems are deliciously real look but only mini. This excellent video shows you everything you need to know to create your wonderful mini tacos for your dolls taco night. They take some time and patience but everyone will be raving about your special mini tacos out of polymer clay. They look so real almost good enough to eat.

How To: Whistle Like a Train

By following this tutorial, you can learn how to easily make a train whistle sound using only your hands. You can replicate the sound of a train whistle by simply folding your hands and adjusting for the airflow as you blow on your thumb knuckles. This is a very easy trick to learn, so with just a little practice, you can use the train whistle to play with your kids, call them to dinner, etc. It's a great trick for somebody who has difficulty with conventional whistling.

How To: Make a pentakis dodecahedron out of balloons

The amateur shows how to make a pentakis dodecahedron of balloons. This balloon has 90 bubbles and is made out of six balloons. Its a good balloon exercise to do to challenge your balloon making skills. On the shape there are either six or five balloons meeting in one space. It is a shape of a sub divide pentagon. On the top is a vertex and coming off the top is a face. This is the kind of balloon you should make to practice your 3-d skill making.

How To: Take apart a laser pointer

Have you ever had a combination of extreme boredom and an unrelenting curiosity? If so one thing you may have attempted to do is to take apart or "de-engineer" a common office laser pointer. In this online video we are shown how to take apart a cheap laser pointer. It should be noted if you are going to attempt to do this you should only try it on a laser pointer that is inexpensive so your loss will not be great if you should make an error.

How To: Make miniature Valentine swirl truffles

This video teaches the viewer how to make miniature Valentine swirl truffles. The most important thing to be kept in mind is that the two colors of clay being used should be of contrasting shades. The author of the video takes the viewer through a detailed, step-by-step process of making miniature swirl truffles out of polymer clay. According to the author, one can use translucent clay sheets too, but that is not a very good idea because the translucent one gets visually overlapped by the dar...

How To: Make a miniature cream puff

The people at Garden of Imagination demonstrate how to make a miniature cream puff. Using a mixture of polymer clay, clay icing, pastel paints and a variety of tools, including a paintbrush, a scalpel, and tweezers, a miniature cream puff is born. This mini item is perfect for any number of occasions. When used in combination with other mini foods and pieces, it makes a cute and cheap decorative item. Creating a tiny and affordable State Fair has never been easier!

How To: Use a polymer clay extruder

This video host explains how to make different shapes and size of polymer clay and also show that the new extruder is better and less effortless than older one. The host shows a sample how to make a colorful square rod with two types of polymer clay. She also gives some useful tips on how to make different clay shapes and stuff. She also shows which equipment are necessary to make a square shape multicolor rod. If you are looking for ideas to work on with your polymer clay, this video is for ...

How To: Use Aqua Sand

This video explains how to set up an Aqua Sand gift box. The first step is to place the mold into the tank, and then fill with water. With a half-full bottle of Aqua Sand, by placing the nozzle face-down to the bottom of the tank and lifting upwards, you are able to create colorful towers. You can create multi-colored towers by starting with a wide base, then changing colors as many times as you wish while you move upwards. Users can also fill the mold with various colors of Aqua Sand, add de...

How To: Whistle like a horn with two hands

This video is all about how to whistle like horn with two hands. Its a very simple technique that will take few seconds but, require careful practice .In this video we are shown that first just sit in a relaxed manner and now just take your two hands as punch and join them in the direction, where thumb is leave a slight space and take near to the mouth and now just blow air with full force as much you can apply . It will not work in just one time but practice will make it perfect.

How To: Make a pinewood derby race car with Lowe's

In this instructional video brought to you by Lowe's, a leader in the home improvement retail business, host NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson, demonstrates how to create and customize a pinewood derby car with the help of a Dremel tool. New and experienced enthusiasts in the pinewood derby arena will appreciate the level of detail and tips found in this video. Whether you are building a car for yourself or your kids anything you could want to know about creating a pinewood derby car can be found ...

How To: Refill your RC truck shocks with shock oil

To refill your RC truck shocks the first step is to remove the shock with an alarm key located at the bottom of the shock. The next step is to pull the spring back and remove the lower joint and spring then remove the cap screw and be careful, their might be some oil still in there. Fill all the way up to the top if you want stiffer shocks and pump the shocks a few times to eliminate bubbles in the oil. Then reassemble and check to make sure it meets your needs and you are done.

How To: Make Robinson Couplings for water rockets

Learn to make Robinson Couplings for water rockets with this video tutorial. For this project you need aluminum and a plastic bar. You need to make the inner coupling on the lathe. Machine the aluminum bar to the right size and then cut the thread. Then drill the coupling hole. You then need to make the coupling nut. Then drill a hole in the nut. Next cut the inner thread in the hole. Then cut the nut off. Cut a slot in the nut with a hack saw. Then cut a hole in a bottle cap. Make a reinforc...

How To: Make a matchbox more user friendly

First, take a matchbox; cut a striker off the matchbox; attach a spring to a cut off match stick and shove that through a hole in the striker you just cut off. Then, you take the matchbox drawer, cut a hole in the corner, and stick the striker with the spring stick into the matchbox drawer so when you pull a match out of the box, the match will light.

How To: Build a big ass lava lamp

To create a massive lava lamp, you're going to need vegetable oil, Alka Seltzer, food coloring, and a water jug (a massive jug, like the ones you see in offices). Fill about one fourth up with water, and use vegetable oil to fill the rest. After filled, use an entire bottle of food coloring. After the food coloring floats to the bottom of the oil, take the jug to a safe area with some kind of light shining through the jug. Finally one by one drop the Alka Seltzer (about 34-36) into the water,...

How To: Make a balloon flower vase

In this video you'll learn how to make a balloon vase. These are fun balloon vases to hold your balloon flowers. The design of the vase in the video is based on a truncated triangular prism, but with a few added bubbles to make your vase a bit more stable. You'll go step by step on everything you need to use and how to properly twist your bubbles to make your super cool and fun balloon vase. This is a good video for more experienced balloon artist, but beginners are always welcomed to give it...

How To: Do a basic balloon twisting

Ever wonder how clowns or magicians make all those balloon animals? This video shows you a very basic balloon twisting technique. You'll learn how to hold and twist a balloon quickly and easily. Mr. Floyd, takes you through every step from inflating your balloon, to properly holding your balloon to achieve the best possible balloon animal. After watching this and with some practice you'll become a balloon artist in no time. This is perfect for beginners, or just looking for a refresher course.

How To: Easily make a rocket engine

This intense video shows you how to make a rocket engine. Quick and easy to follow put to some great rock music. You learn every step and every tool you need know and use to build your very own rocket engine. You'll be lighting her up and watching her fly in the sky sooner than later, with the pride of building it from scratch.

How To: Make a working "robot" model hand

In this four-part science tutorial, learn how to make a model of a hand that works like a real hand: with tendons that move the fingers. This is a great tool to teach kids the body's inner workings. Part 1 includes an introduction and parts 2-4 include the step-by-step instructions to contruct this learning tool.

How To: Make a balloon Spider-Man

Michael Floyd shows how to make his version of Spiderman using three balloons. Spiderman is copyrighted so use this balloon creation only to show friends or family. This balloon creature has a lot of steps, but it looks really cool if you can finish.