CD Dividers

CD Dividers

I wanted to make some CD dividers for Steph and I's Ikea Billy bookshelf. They sell something just like this (sadly, it's not my clever idea), but I knew it would be quicker and cheaper to just make them here, rather than drive four hours to the nearest Ikea, or order them and pay for the shipping.

Time: 3 hours

Cost: $12.50 (half the cost of a full sheet of nice plywood) at Lowe's.

Witch-gear: 10" Tablesaw, Bandsaw, Drill Press with a 1/2" forstner bit

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What I Learned: You cannot adjust the height of the third shelf on an Ikea Billy bookshelf. It is fixed in place (for stability, I'm guessing). I knew this at one time, because I put the self together, but I had forgotten and just made all three of the CD dividers an arbitrary height, figuring I'd adjust the shelves to fit. Turns out I should have measured the available space and divided it into thirds. I got the dividers home from the family workshop and found out 5/8" had to be taken off each unit for them to fit one-each on the top three shelves.

New Shop Light

New Shop Light

Dad and I put up a new shop light to replace an old noisey one in Mom's study. The new one is nice and quiet.

Time: 0.5 hours

Cost: ~$30 at Lowes

Witch-gear: Drill

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What We Learned: T8 Bulbs are smaller, brighter, and quieter than the regular size T12 Bulbs.

Chevy S-10 Dent Repair

Truck Dent Photos

I borrowed Kevin's truck to help a friend move this weekend, and accidentally scraped the front right corner against a fire hydrant while backing out of the parking space I'd "made" next to his apartment. It dented, and put some large scratches in, the metal bumper, as well as tearing the plastic guard and ripping part of it off of the truck. Rather than get angry, Kevin helped me repair the damage I'd caused....

Time: 1 hour

Cost: $12.89 (excluding NC sales tax) spent at Advanced Auto Parts

Witch-gear: TurtleWax Rubbing Compound, Permatex Permaoxy 1-Min. epoxy, Replacement Nylon Rivets, Duplicolor Scratch Fix Touch-Up Paint

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

What We Learned: According to the touch-up paint catalog at Advanced Auto, the paint code on post-2000 GM vehicles is located on a sticker on the glove box door, proceeded by the letters "L" or "U." At least in our case, that was true. We called home, had mom go out to the truck and read off the letters/numbers on the sticker, and found the tube of paint that corresponded to the four-digit series after the "U." It was a perfect match.

Finishing Touches

Finishing Up Photos

Project: We finished the handrail for the deck, put molding around the microwave, put in a shelf that fits behind a desk, built and installed a dog gate and built a second desk shelf.

Witch-gear: Tablesaw, chopsaw, drill, wood working tools

Time: Weekend

Expense: $50 $25 for plywood, $25 for 2X4s

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Two Ukes and a Double Bass

One day this will be real.
Corrie and I have started an early-90s top forty cover band accompanied by Laurie on the double bass (he may be fully initiated if and when he proves his commitment)

Corrie-Ann Burton: vocalist, soprano ukulele
Katian Witchger: tenor ukulele
Lawrence Martin: double bass

So far our set list includes:

Loosing My Religion REM/Push it Real Good Salt and Pepa (Acoustic Remix)
I Saw The Sign, Ace of Base
No Rain Blind Melon
Whats Going On? Four Non-Blondes
Waterfalls TLC
Kiss From a Rose Seal


kate's first uke, a classy purple soprano from The Duke of Uke
I have since upgraded to a more official tenor with a real steel C string!

Suggestions for early 90s top40 covers welcome (preferably with easy chords; I'm still learning!)

48 Hour Film Project

From 10pm this past Friday till 10pm this Sunday, my flatmates Laurie, Corrie and I stayed up for 48 hours straight conceiving, writing, storyboarding, shooting, logging, editing and producing (with a little micromanaging and arguing and writhing-on-the-floor thrown in for good measure) a 10 minute short entitled: 'Dollface' for the 2 Days Later Short Film Competition 2007.


Dollface from Katian Witchger on Vimeo.

Still image from 'Dollface' (yes, I exported the 16:9 image as .tiff and it squashed it; no, I don't know why; hyperlink to 'know just enough to get you into trouble')

The Challenge: Create a short (no more than 10 minutes) horror/suspense movie using 3 of 6: an axe, a dog, tarot cards, place of worship, a mirror, the line 'did you hear that?' from start to finish in 48 hours.


Link to final project: coming 'soon'
I attempted to upload a 135.5 MB Quicktime file but gave up after 2 hours. Any ideas?

Time: 48 Hours

Cost: 99p (for halloween axe from pound shop in Peckham)

Equipment/Tools Used: borrowed: sony z1 camera kit, macbook avec final cut; kate's: lacie harddrive; directional microphone, cables and tripod with grateful bows in kevs direction; two lamps (inherited from former flatmates); our 'beautiful abode' located in the heart of southeast london: and a substantial amount eyeliner.

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Shed Fix Up

Shed Fix Up - Photos

Fixing up the shed in the back of Mom and Dad's house. Building shelves to hold 24 Rubbermaid Roughnecks (432 total gallons of junk storage!) Also, fixing the broken switch for the light fixture and adding another light on the far end of the shed.

Time: 3 hours

Cost: N/A

Equipment/Tools Used: Craftsman Chop Saw. Craftsman Circular Saw, 2 Dewalt Cordless Drills

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)

Trimming the Hedges

This weekend Laurie and I trimmed the hedges in the front 'yard' to keep up with our dear neighbors Stan and Nora.

We also buried a trash bin full of compost which we had been accumulating since we moved into stave off the foxes...sorry I dont have a picture of that.

(Yeah its not really a project but I have to catch up with Kevin!)

Time: N/A

Cost: $0

Equipment/Tools Used: Shears and trimmers borrowed from our 83 year old kindly neighbor Stan

Level of Difficulty: (What's with the saws?)