Today I want to talk about two different things, The Day of Decision rally and some fun summer time crafts.

Hello all, Helpful Hank here,

Today I want to talk about two different things, The Day of Decision rally and some fun summer time crafts.

Day of Decision Rally

A week ago Tuesday I went to the day of decision rally. You can catch my video of it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np3C0eGFOHM there were about 200 some people at this rally and it struck me how the continued message was do not give up hope.

Forty years after Stone Wall we as a glbt community still struggle for complete acceptance and equality. While we may never gain total acceptance we can gain total equality. As I listened to the last of the speakers a young woman got up to talk about how she woke up that Tuesday went to school and found out around second period that she would not be allowed to marry the person she loved when one day she found that person because she was a lesbian. I thought about the message that this ruling was sending our youth. Our glbt youth, our straight youth, our questioning youth. We are telling them that some of them are less than. No one should have to grow up feeling less than. We are teaching these kids that they do not matter. Is this the message we want to send our youth?

It doesn’t matter what ones religious view or affiliations are when it comes to civil rights, marriage is a civil matter and whatever religious aspects we bring to a marriage ceremony are our own by choice.

Summer craft fun
I like those vintage t’s that are so popular right now and I got to thinking to my self I could make one of these. So I went over to Michaels Art supply and picked up a Blank template for stenciling (they come in packs of three and run about 3 or 4 bucks) a package of Iron on transfer for transferring images on to cloth.

I bought the blank stencils to create original designs and the iron on transfer pack (They run 8 dollars or more depending how many are in the package.) to find images I could use from the internet.

I headed home with my items and set out to take some old gray t-shirts and give them new life. I washed and dried the t’s. I got on-line, did an image search for vintage tee-shirt slogans, and didn’t find a whole lot. So I did a regular old web search and I found many sites that sell them. Most of these site have pictures of the slogans so I choose the ones I wanted to use, I saved the pictures to a file I then opened the picture up in a picture editing program and reversed the image so it could be viewed correctly once transferred. Then I printed them out on the photo transfer paper. I laid out my t-shirt on my ironing board placed the transfer on top of my t-shirt. I then placed an old towel over that. (This helps prevent you from any burning.) Set your Iron on its highest setting without being on a steam setting. Iron over the transfer pressing down firmly. Once you have ironed over entire stencil let cool. After things have cooled peel one corner slightly back to check and see if the transfer has set, if not then go over it again with the iron. Once your transfer is set starting at one of the corners and peel off the backing and you have a vintage t-shirt and you have saved yourself a bit of money.

Creating a stencil, to stencil a shirt is not as difficult as it sounds. The tools you will need is a blank stencil sheet an exacta knife (Folks, please be careful when using any knife but exacta knifes can cut your fingers real easy so be safe and remember this is not to be used by children.) Spray adhesive a cutting surface and, your image. For my image, I chose an ornate cross I found on line by doing an image search. I save the picture to my files then printed it out. Once I had it printed, (Making sure it is the right size for my blank stencil.) I sprayed my adhesive on the back then placed my image on the blank stencil making sure that there are no bumps bubbles or creases. (It will dry quickly.) Once my image has set on the blank I take my cutting surface place it under the blank and using the exacta knife I cut around my image about a ¼ inch from the lines of the image. I leave four uncut areas at the points of the cross so it is still attached to the stencil sheet. I then go back and cut around the image again still leaving the four uncut areas. This time I cut on the actual out line of the image. Once your image is cut out, you can peel your paper image away from your stencil

Once I have done all my cutting, I simply pop out the pieces that I have cut away and I have my stencil. Now that your stencil is done, you can use it for a variety of applications, whether you want to use it on a wall Muriel or on a piece of clothing. Note that when stenciling less is always more. What I mean by that is to keep your stencil brush on the dry side. Once you have paint on your brush tap it down on a surface to take off the excess paint. Too much paint and it bleeds through. Lightly spray the back of your stencil to adhere it to the surface you want to stencil.

Creating transfers is easier then making a stencil. Stencils can be used for a variety of projects; transfers are a little more limited. You can however use decal paper instead of transfer paper and create your own stickers, which can be fun for the kids.

While make stencils can be fun, adult supervision is needed if kids are going to be making and using them.


Well thank you for reading my column. Any ideas comments or questions can be sent to askhelpfulhank@gmail.com.

One Final not here, incase you haven’t heard, the State of New Hampshire has now passed into law Marriage Equality for same gender couples. That now makes six (6) states. We only have 44 more states to go.

Today’s tips and hints: don’t immediately through out your junk mail. Find the usable coupons and use them. If you have a fire pit or a chimney type burning pit, you can burn the discards. (Avoid burning on windy days as sparks can fly.

Helpful Hank is written by Russell E. Bertlow © 2009 All rights reserved. No portion of this blog may be reprinted in part or whole without the express written permission from Russell E. Bertlow.