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28th March 2008

How to Make a Wellington Boot Rudolf

Want to make a Rudolf wellington boot Christmas decoration unlike any other? A smashing festive ornament, who you can help adoring.

To make a welly Rudolf you will need…
4 pairs of kids old wellies. Unless you are best friends with Snowhite and the seven dwarfs, I suggest that you look for wellies at your local car boot. You can pick up kids old wellingtons for around 20p to 75p. Don’t be afraid to haggle. Try to pick wellies that don’t have a raised image on the side, as this will show up on Rudolf later. I used wellies sized 10, 10, 7 and 3 (UK child sizes) Get what you can but try to get wellies of a similar size.

You will also need…
Thick card (the side of a grocery box is ideal) gold spray paint, string, newspaper, 2 glass stones, a red Christmas bauble, and Evo-Stick timebond adhesive or another glue which will stick rubber.

Firstly, give the wellies a good wash. Glue and paint wont stick properly with dirt in the way.

Arrange Rudolf’s legs.
Use the smallest pair of wellingtons for the forelegs. Stand the boots side by side and make two small holes in both boots on the inside leg part. The holes in the boots need to line up. Apply some glue to stick the boots together and thread some string through the holes to tie the boots together for extra support. Keep the threading and ting of string invisible by doing it on the inside of the boots. It is a bit of a fiddle, but is important.

Use a pair of sized 10 boots for the hind legs. Put the heels together and the toes apart, just wide enough to nestle the forelegs in between. Make holes ready for tying the boots together as you did before and glue the hind legs together at the heel and to the forelegs wherever they touch. Tie the boots securely with string invisibly on the inside.

Leave the welly structure to dry for 24 hours before continuing.

To make Rudolf’s back and tuffty tail, take a sized 10 boot and cut it down the back seam in a straight line. If you use a knife for this part, be very careful not to cut yourself. Cut a triangle wedge from the heel of the boot. This is to remove the stiff rubber that shapes the heel because it is too stiff to work with.

Stick Rudolf’s back onto his legs.
Open the split that you cut at the back of the boot and slot over the tops of the legs with the toe of the back boot pointing upwards. Bring the top edge of the back boot round to the front legs. Make small holes in these corner flaps and in the front wellies at the tops and stick the back boot into place and thread string into the holes that you made and tie securely. These knots will be on the outside of the structure but will be covered later.

The neck and lower head.
With the other sized 10 boot, cut the back seam of the boot again but this time only cut down to the top of the heal shaping. Turn the boot upside down and open the back split, slot the boot over the top of the front legs, with the shaping of the heel resting on Rudolf’s back. Glue into place and anchor with parcel tape to hold the position until the glue dries. You may find that it helps to leave Rudolf to dry for 24 hours on his size. Remove the tape once the glue is dry.

Rudolf’s head.
With a sized 7 welly cut down the front and back seams of the welly to the top of the heel and foot shaping. Cut ear shapes from the two flaps that you have just created.

Cut out two simple but chunky antlers from thick card. Do not put bends in the cardboard structure as you cut the antlers out. Make the antlers wider at the bottom, this help support the antlers later.

Push the antlers into the ‘head’ boot so that the base of the antler touches the sole of the boot. Scrunch up a sheet of newspaper and push it between the antlers to separate them and to wedge them in.

Make tow small cuts to form an ‘X’ in the toe of the boot and cut the flaps of the X away for make a circle ready to add the nose later.

Stick the top of Rudolf’s head to the rest of the structure and leave to dry.
Spray paint the reindeer gold. Read the back of the paint tin and follow the manufacture’s advice of how to use the spray paint. Give the reindeer a coupe of coats of paint and be sure to cover all the nooks and crannies.
When the paint is completely dry, pull the end off the Christmas bauble and stick it into place with the bauble stork pushed through the hole in Rudolf’s nose. Finally, stick two glass stones in place for Rudolf’s eyes.

Rudolf can be scaled up to make a garden decoration by using adult wellingtons. Put a brick or stones inside each of Rudolf’s feet to prevent him from falling over or blowing away in the wind.
Because the dimensions of adult’s boots are different to children’s boots, a large Rudolf’s back legs can be positioned in a similar fashion to the front legs.

Paint and use a small ball for the nose. Half and paint a Ping-Pong ball for his eyes and fashion antlers from Wire coat hangers and bind with tinsel.

S. Roberts write for http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk a free educational resource packed with creative things to do and make including traditional, religious & 21-century activities. Visit http://www.santaspostbag.co.uk/christmas-wellington-boot-rudolf.html to see photos. SantasPostbag is in association with http://www.bigboystoyz.com Together keeping Christmas magical.

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28th March 2008

Useful Information About Postage

Postage stamps were first issued in the United Kingdom (Great Britain). Rowland Hill, a staff member, of the British Post Office was the inventor of the first postage stamp. The first stamp introduced by the British Post Office restructuring, under which it transposed the fee for postage, from the receiver to the sender of the mail, also introduced the 1-ounce mail with flat rate postage, to any place in Britain regardless of the distance. The only nation in the world, which does not bear a name, but always features a photograph of its reigning monarch, on its stamps is Great Britain.

Postage has come a long way since its inception, and is now available in a variety of forms and dimensions. There are also a variety of postage stamps available that depicts diverse cultures and geographical features. Many postage stamps also have birds and animals as their theme. The sale of some postage stamps assist charities in generating funds. There are also postage stamps that are issued in honor of national and international personalities.

The rate of postage often differs according, to the weight of the letter or package to be posted and the nature of the mail. There are postage calculators available that assist people in accurately calculating the cost of mailing letters.

Postage stamps can be either self-adhesive postage stamps or water-activated postage stamps. Postage, by and large has details such as the name of the country, year, and the value of the stamp.

Along with other aspects of postal services, postage art too, has come a long way. From the days of black and white mono-colored stamps, users can now select from a wide range of explicit and unique visual forms. Apart from the monetary value attached to these stamps, they are highly valued and are also a collector?s pride.

Postage provides detailed information on Postage, Postage Stamps, Postage Meters, Postage Rates and more. Postage is affiliated with Postage Meter Tape.

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27th March 2008

Electric Shaver - Bidding Adieu to Safety Razor

Gone are the days when you had to live with the cut and bruised skin. No cuts, no irritations whatsoever, thanks to electric shaver, shaving has never been easy for men who shaved to satisfy their wrongly nurtured & cultured notions of masculinity. Shaving your beard is o more a frustrating and a must-wash-face daily routine.

How an Electric Shaver Works

Electric shavers have a rather simple construction that attending minor things like making a small solder or changing batteries is pretty easy even at home. If you open the back cover, you will see three main things inside. They are

1. A set of rechargeable battery

2. A miniature electric motor

3. A gear train system

And there are two significant things on the outside, they are the switch and the set of blades.

Batteries supply power to a circuitry printed on a fiber glass board called as printed circuit board (PCB) when you switch on the shaver. PCB helps organize circuits without messing up with the moving parts like motor and gears. PCB is an intelligent circuit which decides whether batteries need recharging and if the battery is recharging.

When you start, the motor powers the system of gears which are in turn connected to the blades in a particular sequence which means three gears drive the three blades.

The rotary blades rotate closely within their respective safety cages at speeds variable in two or three steps depending on the model you choose. Since the blades rotate, this type of electric shavers is called rotary shavers. Some manufacturers recommend using their shavers on wet face, but this does not mean that you need to use that foam or lather again. Just soaking the face is enough to moisten the beard. Most other models are dry type.

Who Makes Electric Shavers and How to Buy Them

Even a visit to your near super stores can quickly answer your question. There are numerous reputed models and then there are local and Chinese models available. The top selling brands are easily Philips, Braun, and Panasonic.

Check out the features before you buy. If you are looking for just a trimmer, you need not buy a shaver which hardly helps. Check for battery life & standby time and warrantee. Chargeable battery types will be convenient. Men’s shavers usually have three heads (blades) unlike the women’s shavers which are slightly different in construction. Check for ‘CE’ certification. Buy always from reputed shops. Check whether it comes bundled with cleaning accessories etc.

NamSing Then is a regular article contributor on many topics. Be sure to visit his other websites Shavers, Electric Shaver and One Stop Information.

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