Hiding stains

I saw a cartoon today ("Tiger") in which a boy tells his brother that their mother can get the stain out of his tie, which he concedes is better than his idea of dipping his whole tie in sauce to make the stain less noticeable. This was funny, but I've joked about this for years, and finally decided one day last summer that it wasn't all that bad an idea. If you wanted your most comfortable red shirt with a black stain on it to look good, mightn't it make sense to consider dyeing it black?


We had a lamp with a pink shade that had gotten stained by splashes of oil at some point. I wanted to sell it and knew that the shade would be a problem, but it wasn't worth enough to buy a new shade. So I sprayed the shade lightly with some WD40 oil. After an hour or so, it had soaked in evenly and the shade was once again all one color. It may have been a little darker than it was originally, but that didn't matter. It looked fine.

I had a tie that have been stained over time, and tried staining it with a little oil, but the silk didn't take as kindly to the oil as the shade did, and I just threw it out. This method doesn't always work. But if the item is worth saving, keep it in mind.

This gives me an idea for another item repair; well, upgrade, actually. I have a Santa tie that I received many Christmases ago that used to play carols if you squeezed the bottom end. (Unfortunately, it played them for a minute or two, long enough for the novelty to wear off...but for the first few seconds, it was a source of great amusement for everyone for whom I played it.) The battery wore out several years ago, and I still wear it, but I'm always reminded that it used to play music, and I've wanted to restore it.

Well, I have a set of tiny LED lights that flash when you squeeze an attached button. They came in a card I received several years ago, and I saved them, figuring they'd be good for something some day. We went to a contest last month in which a bunch of couples each decorated a gingerbread house. We were invited to bring whatever we wanted to add to dress up our houses, and I thought of those lights. I stuck them behind the gingerbread tree that sat in the "yard" of the little house, and it looked pretty cool.

Now, I think I'm going to stick these lights into the lining of the Santa tie. They're pretty bright, and I think they'll shine through the silk. Actually, I have a tie with a Christmas tree on it, and maybe I'll set them in behind the tree on that tie instead. That'd look really flashy (forgive the pun).

Of course, the batteries may die on the flashing lights by next Christmas, so I guess I'll just tape them to the back of that tie, and if they're still functioning next November, I'll install them then. Or, if I think of it, maybe I can get a fireworks tie for the Fourth of July and put them in that one.

I love when I come up with an idea like this, because my wife thinks I hang onto much too much stuff "just in case I need it someday", and this is one case of that habit actually paying off. Now if I could just find a use for all the random sized pieces of plywood, pine, maple, MDF and other building leftovers that are in my workshop. I saw a lamp made of 3/4" x 3/4" strips of miscellaneous materials glued into panels that looked really interesting, but that's a lot of cutting and gluing. Maybe I'll use the pieces to build a set of shelves to hold all the other "just in case" stuff.