Bike Tool Roll

I've suffered from back pain for a few months, and there's a suggestion that it may stem from my use of a messenger bag continuously for the last 8 years or so. Hence I've decided to replace it.

Of the options available, I found only a couple that I liked. Simple stying for day to day use, and durable materials for the same reasons. A decent harness, and somewhat waterproof were the other requirements.

It also needed to be large enough to to swallow shoes, and a change of clothing in a main compartment, not bulked out with dividers and mesh that will get caught on everything.

In the end I went with a Mammut Courier 25L  - It's only drawback is that it has only a small front pouch, 2 small zip pockets - both inside other pockets, the main compartment, and a laptop sleeve.

None of these will easily hold my bike tool kit as they are too deep, or too hard to get into easily. I saw a Silca tool wrap a few months ago, so I figured that would be a solid solution, keeping things together, and making it easier to find what I wanted if needed.


The design work started with a bunch of googling existing products. At some point I saw a design which had sealed pockets on both sides, while keeping the tool roll closure. This seemed likely to be more secure - I've had some issues in the past when I've made tool rolls for other things.

I made one roughly, shown here, and then made a few tweaks to even it up and make a nicer looking one.













I decreased the overall width a little, so one side rolls over again - this should allow me to tuck a $20 note inside, as well as other very small things.

The final product. It rolls up to be just larger than the tube, and holds a small multitool, a few levers and a tube. 

Disc Dying - Confetti

I've recently taken up disc golf, and most of my discs now get some form of custom dye to make them easier to identify, plus it's fun to make them. 

Confetti Dye

There have been a few of these showing up on Reddit /r/discdying and for sale in various places. They look a bit like the stock Vibram discs, flecks of colour on a plainish disc.

The basic process is a shaving cream dye, but the dye powder is sprinkled on top and left for a few hours. I recently made an order from Dynamic Discs, mostly for some extra putters, towels, minis, shirts and a Birdie Bag for wet rounds, but the shipping was going to be much the same so I added a mixed 10 pack of misprint discs. There are a few nice light coloured discs in there, that while I may not add them to my bag, they'll make for some interesting dyes.

Shaving cream bed

Among these was a pink Lucid Defender - an even more overstable Enforcer, and one I will probably need on windy days if I throw much faster than I currently do, so it's going in my bag. Which means it needs to be dyed. I had seen a few confetti dyes, and wanted to try it out, but most of my dye has been mixed so I had to go with purple iDye Poly.

Sprinkle dye on top. Use a spoon, there is too much on this one

The hope was for a dark nebula kind of pattern on the translucent pink disc.

I started with 90 minutes, but it only left a light dye on the disc.

Just after placing the disc on the dye bed. 

I started again, and left it for 4 hours, and while better it's still not as dark as I'd like.
A few ways to make a more obvious dye would be to:

• use black dye
• spraying acetone on the dye before placing the disc
• increase the time to 12 hours/overnight
• add hot water to the base of the disc. 

There is a light nebula pattern 

Bouldering brush roll

Spontaneous Projects is a chronicle of all of my projects, a reference for me, and a way to prevent others from making the same mistakes.

A development trip out to Pierces Creek these days sees me carrying a ludicrous amount of kit:

• Shoes and bouldering mat
• Chalk
• Camera
• Secateurs
• Wire brushes (at least 3)
• a jemmy
• Notebook and pen
• Maps
• and potentially a chainsaw and fuel

My preferred brushes for the moss covered granite out there are big wire brushes, at only a few dollars a piece, they are cheap and durable, and that rock won't be damaged by any brush. Unfortunately you also need a few thin brushes for cracks and more delicate work, so you get stuck with at least 3 different brushes. They also don't fit into my chalk bag - they must think we all use little tiny toothbrushes.

I've had brushes fall out of my mats a number of times, and the secateurs are also a likely candidate for getting lost on the walk in. Keeping them all together in a roll makes the bundle larger, and makes it harder to forget one. 

I picked up some polyester canvas from Spotlight, and made a basic tool roll which looks cool, but most importantly is functional.

Disc Dyes III

Disc Dyes III
After the success of the last few times, I wanted to push the limits a little more with a few different ideas.

Spin Dyeing

Spin Dye DD Lucid Felon, offsetting the centre along a line

I picked up a record player from the green shed, cut the power cable and supplied it with 12 volts. I mixed my dye jars with 50% acetone, and tried out a few ideas. I think there is some decent potential for a combination of stencils and spin dying, and I still want to find a way to do confetti style dyes, I'm thinking a toothbrush to spray the dye on to a spinning disc, possibly with a fan to help get the streaks to occur. I read on reddit that one guy does them using a shaving cream layer, and then adding the powder from a dye packet, which sounds interesting too.

Spin Dye DD Lucid Verdict, concentric rings

Tri-colour disc dye

Tri-colour stencil, Gold line Lat 64 Fury. 

Latitude 64 - Gold-line Fury. This was a nice white disc, a rather under-stable fairway driver, and one that I tend to use as a roller as well on a few of the Eddison park holes that have low fairways through trees near the middle of the hole. 

It was about the release of the new Star Wars movie, and the hype surrounding BB-8, and I'd seen a few dyes using the droid as a stencil, and decided to follow suit. It turned out quite nicely

DM screen

I'm starting to play DnD again, and among the other challenges including the rule
changes from 3.5E to 5E),and a new group, I'm also DMing, at least for a
little while. I'm starting out with the written adventure 'Mines of
Phandelver', which means I have to have a few things handy as reference
materials, as I'm nowhere near as immersed in the setting as I would be
had I written the setting, which means I'm planning on using a DM screen
for the first time.

In the past I've had a laptop available, for looking up rules and as a
bit of a screen, but the transition to tablets means it's more practical
to use one of those as a rule supplement, and minimises clutter on my
desk. The DM screen is merely to prevent accidental glances at my notes,
and to keep all of my stuff together between sessions, and potentially
conceal dice rolls if need be to keep characters alive, or increase
tension.

Requirements

- folds and stores all the session info
- usable at a 2 page spread
- holds 3-4 A4 pages of notes
- not too high/able to be seen over/knocked flat, I hate DMs that seem apart from the table.

Execution

• I've got a pile of old 1980s Encyclopedias, which I've used for a variety of purposes, and the cover is perfect for this task.
• I removed the pages of the book, leaving the covers and title pages.

• To give the magnets something to stick to, I glued magnetic plates between the title page and the cover,

• The magnets hold papers, my ruler and other things in place as necessary