Hot Hobbies & Toys How-Tos
How To: Make a miniature medieval flail
In this video, we learn how to make a miniature medieval flail. You will need: glue, string, scissors, drill, paper, cardboard, paints, masking tape, electrical tape, plastic chain (optional), a brush, and a wooden handle. First, crumple up a couple sheets of paper to make it into a ball. Wrap masking tape around it so it keeps its shape. Next, wrap your string or twine around the ball several times at various angles, tying it each time at the bottom. After this, tape it again with masking ta...
How To: Clean a hummel figurine
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to clean a Hummel figurine. The materials required for this task are: light fluid or ammonia, warm water soft cloth and a toothbrush. Begin by mixing the fluid into some warm water and dipping the cloth into the water. With the wet cloth, apply it onto the figurines and rub it gently. If you can't remove the stubborn spot, use the toothbrush and clean in a back-and-forth or circular motion. This video will benefit those viewers who collect Hummel figu...
How To: Make an Internally Lit Ice Sculpture with LED Lights
Why not make the best of an icy cold winter day and make something even cooler? In this tutorial, you will learn how to make a natural ice sculpture in your yard and light it up with LED lights for a cool, nighttime effect. You will definitely have the best house on the block once you start lighting up your ice, so check this video out and get started! This project is super quick and cheap to create, too!
How To: Remove money from the cash box in a slot machine
If you have a casino, or maybe just a single slot machine, chances are you're making money. But how do you actually get the money from the slot? All of that cash will sit in there for ages if you don't retrieve it, and it could cause a malfunction if not removed in a timely manner, because of getting too full. This video will show you how to remove money earned from the cash box in a casino slot machine. There's two ways to access the cash box in a IGT S+ model slot machine, so check them bot...
How To: Modify a Duncan Reflex Auto-Return yo-yo
Your brand new Duncan Reflex Auto-Return yo-yo may be great, but it could always be greater. That's why you mod it.
How To: Make a simple balloon cat
Learn how to make a simple balloon cat in a few twists of a balloon in this free ballooning tutorial. For cat lovers and children of all ages - This balloon creation is sure to please. Your Balloon Man, Mr. Fudge, is full of balloon tricks! Be sure to find other balloon videos on WonderHowTo from Mr. Fudge teaching everything from animals to planes! In a few twists and a few ties, you'll be an expert balloon artist in no time!
How To: Make a simple balloon snail
In this video, learn how to make a balloon snail! This snail is a perfect addition for a street entertainer act or someone who does birthday parties. Bring the snail to your next party and hopefully make some extra tips! Your Balloon Man, Mr. Fudge, is full of balloon tricks! Be sure to find other balloon videos on WonderHowTo from Mr. Fudge teaching everything from animals to planes! In a few twists and a few ties, you'll be an expert balloon artist in no time!
How To: Make a simple balloon parrot
In this video, learn how to make the perfect pirate costume accessory: A parrot out of balloons! Make this balloon animal and wear it on your shoulder to complete that Pirates of the Caribbean look you were hoping for. Your Balloon Man, Mr. Fudge, is full of balloon tricks! Be sure to find other balloon videos on WonderHowTo from Mr. Fudge teaching everything from animals to planes! In a few twists and a few ties, you'll be an expert balloon artist in no time!
How To: Paint a Water Drop Effect on Your RC Cars
In this tutorial, we learn how to paint a water drop effect on your RC cars. This is very easy to do but very easy to mess up as well. Make sure you are careful while you are doing this so results come out well. First, grab your color change paint and spray a coat of it on the car. Let this dry, then grab a spray bottle of water and spray water onto the paint on all sides at different times. Then, take your paint and put a light spray over it. Once finished, let dry and do a heavier coat (aro...
How To: Build a mini fridge
In order to build your own mini fridge, you will need the following supplies: a heatsink, a cardboard box, a petier unit, popsicle sticks, standoffs, an AC adapter, scissors, and on/off switch.
How To: Do a kickflip on a fingerboard or tech deck
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to do a kick-flip on a fingerboard/Tech Deck. Begin by setting the fingers into a Ollie position with the middle finger on the tail and the index finger behind the bolts of the board. Pop the tail down and slide the middle finger on the edge of the board. Tilt the board forward and towards you. Users should catch the board with the two fingers in mid-air, and do not wait for it to land. This video will benefit those viewers who enjoy playing with fing...
How To: Make a really good paper airplane
This video shows you how to make a very good paper airplane, that will fly in the air for about 10 seconds before it falls. Start by folding your paper in half length-wise, and then at one end fold triangles from the corners into the middle. Then flip your paper over, and fold the same corners in again, so that your paper looks like a taller point. Take the last 3 inches of the point and bend it into the middle of the paper, creating an X out of the folds. Then fold it all in half so that you...
How To: Clean dirty pennies with ketchup
In this video, Josh shows us how to clean dirty pennies with ketchup. You will need, a timer, ketchup, a dirty penny and a penny. First, pour ketchup into your cup or dish. You don't need a lot of ketchup into the cup, just enough to cover the pennies. Next, push the penny into the ketchup so it's fully covered. Now, set your timer for 2 full minutes. When the timer goes off, take your penny out of the ketchup. Place the penny onto a paper towel and wipe it off until all the ketchup is gone. ...
How To: Make a self-moving tractor from a spool of thread
Learn how to make a ‘Spool Tractor’ using common household items, as demonstrated in this video. You would need the following items to make it:
How To: Make a Sparkler Rocket
Cut cardboard into 8" long x 3" wide strips. With cardboard down on a cutting board, place 1 AA battery on one end.
How To: Make a mini strawberry cane for a dollhouse
This video is about how exactly to make a mini strawberry cane. Strawberry canes are sliced into small individual slices to look like tiny little strawberry slices. This how to video is made by Garden of Imagination. This cane is made using many different colors or polymer clay. Making a strawberry cane is much more time consuming than many other canes. You can use these strawberry slices for things such as a mini cake for doll houses. These pieces are normally glazed when on a final project....
How To: Make a mini Christmas log cake for a dollhouse
Here is another video by a woman named Angela on how to make a miniature Christmas log cake for a dollhouse. The first thing she does is roll out a sheet of brown clay with a pasta maker on a setting of 4. Then she rolls out a white sheet with smaller setting of 6. Use a razor blade and cut some straight edges. She layers the brown and white layer and rolls them together. Cutting off the ends she has now created a log cake. Use these ends for slices of the cake for dolls. She then uses a pepp...
How To: Make mini polymer clay X-mas star cookies for a doll
This video shows how to create mini decorated Christmas cookies using polymer clay. They are about the right size for a dollhouse. She shows the process of cutting the clay out in both colors, using a star stencil for the cookie shape and also the frosting. Make sure to have the frosting piece be a little bit smaller than the cookie so that it appears to be sitting on top. She also shows how to place the decorative silver pieces onto the clay. She explains how long to bake these pieces, and a...
How To: Make a working mini chandelier light for a dollhouse
Garden of Imagination demonstrates how to make a real working miniature chandelier light for a doll house. We need some cord wires, beads, an electric bulb of 12 volt and plugs.
How To: Easily make a rocket out of trash
Hacker Daily teaches you to how to make a rocket "outta trash". They take a bunch of everyday materials (paper towel roll, body spray cap, paper cup glue gun, scrap cardboard and a model rocket engine) and create a rocket, by first cutting cross hairs in the bottom of the cup and gluing the rocket engine inside. The video than tells you to insert the paper towel roll trough the bottom of the cup. Than they tell us to glue the body spray cup on top of the "rocket". After adding fins the rocket...
How To: Make fairy wings
Feel like getting crafty? In this 8-part video tutorial, learn how to create the perfect pair of mini fairy wings, approximately 6 inches wide. Also included within these videos is how to make realistic-looking bat and dragon wings. To complete this project, you will need cellophane, plastic coated wire, acrylic paints, polyester glitter, and a glue gun. Add these wings to a doll or a wall craft for the perfect mystical embellishment!
How To: Make an astrojax
Headline: Make an astrojax Description: Here you can make an astrojax which is a cross between juggling and a yo-yo.
How To: Make a nut and bolt keychain
Project 4 of the Popular Science 5 Minute Projects with Craftsmen Tools is a Nut-and-Bolt Keychain. Downsize your pocket cargo with a custom-fit keychain. Editor Sean Captain ditches the ring and uses more tool than necessary to trim a small bolt to just the right size for his set of keys. (For a slightly different take on the project, see the site that inspired us: carlitoscontraptions.blogspot.com).
How To: Bind to return an unresponsive yo-yo
Everybody had a yo-yo at one point in their life; some when they were just little children, some when they were bored teenagers, some when they found the kid inside of them they never knew of, and even some when they felt retirement was just not very fun. It just goes to show that the yo-yo is not going anywhere anytime soon. Who could ever believe that a toy consisting of two equal disks made of plastic, maybe even wood or metal, with an axle and string could be so damn pleasing, so much dar...
How To: Construct a Korean fighter kite with your kids
This creative kite is perfect for high flying! Watch this instructional how to video to learn how to build an intermediate level Korean kite. For this project you will need: rip-stop nylon, bamboo sticks, cloth tape, double stick step, scissors, magic marker, yard stick, toothpick, string and fuzzy string. Have fun creating your kite with an adult helper.
How To: Make a larp shield out of foam and cardboard
This tutorial shows you how to make a fun boffer shield out of foam and cardboard. You'll need four pieces of corrugated cardboard cut into 18 inch diameter circles, a craft razor, spray adhesive and paint.
How To: Do a Jacob's ladder string trick
Learn how to do Jacob's ladder with string. You will be able to amaze your friends!
How To: Make a hanging shampoo bottle for the shower
Just put a bottle upside down in a net and cap it off with a hook.
How To: Make balloon hats
In these videos you’ll learn how to make balloon hats from an expert balloon artist. Malik Haddadi demonstrates techniques for basic balloon hat construction, and how to make variations like a crown, jester hat, cowboy hat, baseball cap, and how to make characters like an alien, bunny, a flower and more.
How To: Customize a Monster High Mermaid Doll - Sirena Von Boo
This tutorial will show you how to customize a Monster High doll using a My Little Pony Equestria Girls Mini. Watch this video to see how it is done. When you are done painting your custom doll, add a thin layer of Mod podge to seal the paint.
How To: Build a '60s Mack F Series Cabover Conversion Model Truck
A series on how to build a Mack F series cabover conversion model truck at 1/25 scale. Part 1
How To: Make Doll Tables
How to make simple doll tables using cardboard and craft sticks. Easy and cheap to make.
How To: Make a Simple Pop Pop Boat
This video tutorial shows you how to make a simple pop pop boat (putt putt boat) out of house hold items. Very simple and easy to do.
Meet Tanky: The Super Smart DIY Tank Robot That Can Map Its Own Surroundings
There are plenty of tank robots out there, but how many of them can recognize 3D objects and map their environment? Tanky, the tracked mobile robot, can do all that and more while rolling around on his bicycle chain treads. Created as a Master's thesis project, Tanky is made almost entirely of parts you can find at your local hardware store. It was built in two "layers" with the motors, electronics, and batteries on bottom and the processing unit, a laptop, on top. The motors came from cordle...
How To: Sculpt Your Spare Change into a Badass Miniature Jet Fighter Plane
What are you going to do with all of those Euro coins you still have from that trip to Barcelona with Grandma Margie? Instead of keeping them in a drawer and counting down the number of days until you can afford another trip, try something creative—take on this awesome miniature plane build.
How To: Build a Simple High-Powered Water Rocket Launcher
There are plenty of things you can use at home to make your own rocket, like sugar, matchsticks, or even trash. They may not be as impressive as a real rocket, but they can still be a lot of fun. In this video, How To Lou shows how he made a high-flying water rocket out of some basic materials like PVC and a soda bottle. As Lou points out, the bigger your soda bottle, the further it will go. He used 1/2" PVC pipe, valves, and connectors, as well as some brass adapters. He added an air compres...
RoboDoc: A Kid-Friendly DIY Robot That Makes Doctor Visits a Little Less Scary
Remember going to the doctor when you were a kid? If the word 'traumatizing' comes to mind, you'll love the RoboDoc by MarkusB, a robotic doctor that makes checkups a little less scary (and a lot more fun) for kids. It all started when Markus took his 14-month-old daughter for a checkup. The finger clip that the doctor used to check her pulse terrified her, so Markus decided to build a heartbeat monitor just for kids that's much more likely to make them laugh than cry.
How To: The Dark Knight's Bat and Tumbler Vehicles Come to Life with LEGOs
If you've finished building your Curiosity rover and are wondering, now what? Perhaps it's time to move onto something a bit more... mobile?
How To: NASA Engineer Shows You How to Build a Mini Curiosity Mars Rover Out of LEGOs
You might have seen our post on this last week: It's a working reproduction of the Mars Curiosity Rover made with LEGOs, but it's a bit complicated for anyone without a decent amount of robotics knowledge. Plus, you need to have some Mindstorms NXT and TECHNIC parts lying around. If you want something a little simpler than programming a working LEGO rover, you could always build a scaled model of the MSL out of regular LEGOs. Not only is this easy to build and looks great, but the step-by-ste...
How To: Convert 2D Photos Into 3D Models
The video below demonstrates how you can convert you 2D Photos into 3D Models using 3Defy. You will need to follow these steps: