How To Make Pin Darts

Pin darts are easy to make and can provide hours of entertainment. Follow these steps to create your own pin darts.

Materials

• Thread – you can use multiple colors
• Straight pin – It needs to have a head but it doesn’t matter if it is flat or if it has a ball on top. Needles won't work and neither will t-pins.
• Scissors
  

Instructions
1. Wrap the thread around three fingers about 40 times. You can use multiple colors for a more colorful dart. If you happen to use multiple colors, don't worry about tieing the thread together -- just start wrapping the new color.

2. Remove the thread from your fingers.

3. Twist the loops half of a turn so it makes a figure 8.

4. Pinch one of the loops so the center of the figure 8 is adjacent to your fingertips.

5. Wrap the center of the figure 8 with thread 10 times.

6. Push the straight pin half way through the center of the figure 8.

7. Fold both loops of the figure 8 toward the back of the pin.

8. Starting about 1/8” from the center of the figure 8, wrap the thread around the pin, securing the thread to the pin.

9. Wrap the loops 20 to 40 times, depending on the look you want. Cut the thread leaving 6 inches or so for your to tie it, and then cut off the extra.

10. Put your scissors through the thread loops and cut them.

12. Straighten out the thread. The loops won't be perfect, so there will be lots of different lengths. Use the scissors to even them out.  Also at this point, slide the thread back as far as possible against the head of the pin. In the photos below you can see how the pin portion becomes longer. It is easier to do step 8 if there is more of the pin to pinch while wrapping it.

 

 

12. Put your new dart in a straw, point the straw at a bulletin board, thenblow into the straw with a short, hard, burst of air.

There are obvious safety issues here. Don't ever shoot darts at people or pets.

You can make a collection in no time.

Games

Take 5 sticky notes and write different point values on them. Stick the notes onto a bulletin board. Everyone shoots their darts at the board. Points are awarded if they hit one of the sticky notes. Do 10 rounds.

Draw a target on a piece of paper. Write point values for each circle in the target.

Mark lines from varying distances from the bulletin board. If you can make the dart stick in the board from the closest line you get 1 point. From the next closest line is 2 points, etc.

See how far away you can get from the board and still make the pin stick.
 

Cheeto Plaster Mold

In our last project we created a plastic mold of the perfect Cheeto. In this project we made a plaster mold using the plastic mold we make previously. 

For this project we used the following materials: 

• File folders (Dad's go to craft supply)
• Molding plaster powder
• Duct tape
• Plastic mold

The first step of this project was to create a circular cylinder in which we could pour the plaster. We cut strips 2 inches wided out of the file folders and wrapped them around a peanut butter jar. We made two just for added strength, and wrapped one around the other.

Then we used duct tape and taped the file folder cylinders to the plastic cheeto mold. We coated the mold with a quick shot of cooking non-stick spray to help separate it from the plaster later on.

We eyeballed enough plaster powder into a paper cup and mixed in enough water until the plaster was the consistency of pancake batter, and poured it into our mold. Then we let the mold sit for about an hour.

When the paster was hard, we removed it from the mold.

Last of all we painted the plaster with acrylic paint. 

This was a fun project. If we were to do it again we would make a few modificaitons. First, we wouldn't have used so much plaster. It is much thicker than it needs to be. This just adds extra weight without being very useful. Also, the file folders weren't such a good idea. They got soggy and didn't make a good edge for the plaster. It would have been better to coat the inside of the file folders with duct tape before taping it to the plastic form.

We have also decided that we could make smaller cylinders and make Christmas tree ornaments of the Cheeto mold. Then we could have a Cheeto Christmas to complement our Cheeto Summer of Fun.

Cheeto Plastic Mold

Suppose you found the perfect Cheeto and wanted to preserve it. We decided we would experiment with plastic molds and make a vacuum mold of a Cheeto. We got the idea from two of our favorite project sources: Instructables and Kip Kay.


For this experiment we started with:

• A plastic peanut butter jar
• An empty soda bottle
• An empty plastic milk
• Duct tape
• A piece of wood larger than the peanut butter lid

To start our project, we drilled holes in the top of the peanut butter jar lid.

We drilled lots of holes until there were holes over the whole surface.

We cut the top off a coke bottle. This makes a good funnel that will make it easier to connect the vacuum. Then we traced the bottle top onto the side of the peanut butter jar and cut a hole and cut well inside the line.

We put the bottle top through the hole in the peanut butter jar and used duct tape to keep it in place. The bottle should be much wider than the hole so it doesn't come out.

For the last piece of our contraption, we taped a vacuum hose attachment on to the bottle. The tapered end of the bottle makes it easy to connect.

Next we found a piece of wood that was bigger than the peanut butter jar lid. We traced the lid on the wood, and cut the hole out. Then we cut a side off of a plastic gallon milk jug and stapled it over the hole. (We used a staple gun not a paper stapler.)


We put a Cheeto on top of the peanut butter jar, then put the plastic in the oven at 300 degrees four about 2 minutes. The plastic started to melt and burn at that point. We took the plastic out of the oven and placed it on top of the Cheeto and peanut butter jar and turned on the vacuum. The plastic was sucked down around the Cheeto to form a mold.

Here was our final mold preserving the perfect Cheeto.

If we were to to do the project again we wouldn't have made quite so many holes in the top of the lid, and we would have made the holes cleaner. Our mold is bumpy around the Cheeto because of many of the holes touched each other, ripping the plastic and making the surface bumpy. We would also use a heat gun rather than putting the plastic in the oven. We could have used the heat gun to reheat the plastic while it was over the Cheeto to get cleaner and more defined edges.

What can be done with a Cheeto with the mold?

• Make a Play Dough Cheeto
• Fill it with plaster to make a permanent Cheeto
• Fill it with melted chocolate to make a chocolate Cheeto
• Fill it with fondant for a Cheeto cake decoration
• Make a bar of soap the shape of a Cheeto
• Fill it with wax to make a Cheeto candle

Feel free to leave a comment and let us know other ways we might use our Cheeto mold, or other Cheeto experiments we might try.

Cheetos as Sidewalk Chalk

Today in Salt Lake City there is a Chalk Art Festival. Artists are using chalk to make drawings of superheros on the sidewalk. That lead us to today's Cheetos experiment. Do Cheetos make good sidewalk chalk?

We approached our empty driveway canvas with a bowlful of Cheetos and a headful of ideas. We set to work drawing...

This wasn't so much of a scientific experiment, but more of a "what if." We learned very quickly that lots of Cheetos are needed to make a drawing as they practially discintigrate in contact with the cement. Most of the drawing was done by the oil in the Cheetos than the coloring.

Observations: Cheetos do not make good sidewalk chalk. For future attempts we will probably follow Silvia's instructutions to make sidewalk chalk with plaster and use Cheetos as the coloring.