| How to Stretch Canvas Shoes Posted: 27 Sep 2018 05:00 PM PDT Canvas shoes are comfortable, cheap, and versatile. However, they can be narrow in the toes when you first buy them, so breaking them in takes effort and patience. You can stretch canvas shoes with DIY methods such as using heat, stuffing them with newspaper and socks, wearing them around the house, using a stretching device, or taking them to a cobbler. If one method doesn't work, try another until you find one that makes your shoes fit right. EditUsing Heat to Stretch Canvas Shoes - Microwave canvas shoes for a quick way to stretch them. Put your shoes in the microwave on high for no longer than 30 seconds. The heat from the microwave will make the fabric more malleable to your feet.[1]
- Make sure there are no metal pieces in the shoes before putting them in the microwave. Make sure the eyelets in your shoes aren't metal, too.[2]
- Take the shoes out of the microwave and put them on right away while the material is still warm. Walk around with them on for a minute.[3]
- After a minute, they'll start to cool down, so take them off and put them in the microwave again for 20 seconds. After 20 seconds, wear your shoes again, and they should be widened enough.[4]
- Use a hair dryer on the shoes while wearing socks. The heat from the hair dryer will soften the fabric for stretching. While wearing thick socks, put your shoes on and aim a hair dryer at them for 20-30 seconds.[5]
- Keep the hair dryer a few inches from your feet so as not to burn yourself.[6]
- Try the shoes on without the thick socks to test their fit. They should be looser.[7]
- Use steam to soften canvas shoes for stretching. Steam will relax the shoe fibers and make them more malleable to the shape of your feet. Boil a kettle of water and hold your shoes over the steam for 3 to 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn yourself.[8]
- Try the shoes on and flex your feet around in them until the fabric has been stretched wide enough to accommodate your foot.[9]
EditStuffing Canvas Shoes to Stretch Them - Stuff your shoes with bags filled with water and freeze them. As water turns to ice, it will expand in the tight areas of the shoes and stretch the material. Fill two small zip-lock bags with water and seal them tightly. Place the bags in the shoes all the way to the toe area, and put them in the freezer overnight.[10]
- Take the shoes out of the freezer, and try them on to test their fit. Repeat this process if necessary.[11]
- Stuff newspapers into the toes of your shoes to widen them. By wadding up and tightly packing newspapers into the toes of your shoes, you should be able to create some wiggle room for your toes.[12]
- Leave the newspaper in your shoes over night to give it time to stretch the material, and then remove it in the morning. Repeat this step if there's still not enough room.[13]
- Stuff a ball of socks in your shoes to widen them. Similar to the newspaper, socks can also be used to stuff your shoes and widen them overnight.[14]
- Pack the ball of socks tightly to ensure the toes of the canvas shoes receive a good stretch overnight.[15]
EditStretching Shoes Professionally or Manually - Wear your canvas shoes around your house if you can. By wearing new shoes around your house, you can break them in while doing daily tasks and sitting at your desk.[16]
- Starting in the morning, wear the shoes with thicker socks and go about your day performing daily tasks such as doing the laundry, cleaning, or watching T.V.[17]
- Flex your feet to create more room in the shoes while you wear them around your home.[18]
- Use a ball and ring shoe stretcher to widen problem areas. This should provide immediate results, and this type of stretcher can be left in your shoes overnight.[19]
- Decide which area of your shoes needs the most stretching, and place the ball inside the shoe with the ring on the outside.[20]
- Put the arms of the stretcher together over the area of the shoes giving you the most problems. You should see progress immediately, but you can leave the stretcher in your shoe overnight to make sure it makes enough room for your feet.[21]
- Use a two-way shoe stretcher to stretch the whole shoe at once. If the entire shoe feels too tight rather than one area, a two-way stretcher widens and lengthens the entire shoe.[22]
- Shoe stretchers come with bunion plugs that can be attached to enhance stretching in extra tight areas.[23]
- You should spray a stretching liquid on your shoes prior to using this device.[24]
- When the solution saturates the fabric, turn the knob of the stretching device one full turn every 8 hours. You may leave the stretcher in overnight.[25]
- Go to a cobbler for a professional shoe stretching. A professional can use a shoe-stretching machine to either widen or lengthen your canvas shoes.[26]
- Cobblers charge between $10 to $20 to stretch your shoes. It's also one of the safest ways if you don't want to be bothered with a DIY method.[27]
- If you don't have a microwave, do not use the oven as a substitute. Ovens are hotter than microwaves and will melt your shoes.[28]
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| How to Grow an Onion from an Onion Posted: 27 Sep 2018 09:00 AM PDT Onions are as simple to grow as they are delicious to eat in a variety of dishes. And, as long as you have another onion on hand, you don't need to grow them from a seed. By chopping the bottom of an onion off and planting it in soil, you can grow your own onions from cuttings. With patience, time, and plenty of water, you can grow an onion from an onion in 90-120 days. EditPreparing an Onion Cutting - Chop the onion about from the bottom. Place your onion on a cutting board and, using a sharp knife, cut off the bottom and remove the outer peel. Your onion piece should be about long to grow a healthy onion.[1]
- If you're growing the onions outside, start your cuttings in early spring. For onions grown indoors, any time of the year is fine.
- You can use most onion varieties, including grocery store-bought onions, for growing more onions. This technique works best if you work with a fresh onion that has not yet gone bad.
- Leave the onion bottom out to dry for 12-24 hours. After chopping the onion, discard the rest of the onion and place the bottom on a flat, dry surface with the cut side up. Let the onion bottom dry out for up to a day until it is calloused and dry to the touch.[2]
- If not discarding, you can use the rest of the onion for cooking or for compost if you prefer.
- Poke toothpicks into each side of the onion. Divide your onion bottom into 4 sides, and poke a toothpick halfway into each side. The toothpicks should be equally spaced apart so they resemble an "X" in spacing.
- This will allow you to suspend your onion over water while it roots.
- Hang the onion over a small bowl of water. Fill a bowl with water to the brim and place it on a flat surface. Position the onion so the bottom just touches the top of the water, and leave it to grow for 3-4 days. Plant the cutting when it begins growing small, white roots from the bottom.[3]
- The bowl's diameter should be less wide than the length of the toothpicks.
- To help the cutting grow faster, suspend the onion near a sunny window or place it outdoors.
EditPlanting Your Onion Cutting - Fill a pot with well-draining soil. Purchase a well-draining soil mix and a large pot with holes in the bottom from a plant nursery. Fill the pot with the soil to about halfway full—you will fill it the rest of the way when you plant the onion cutting.
- You can also plant your onion bottom outside if your garden has well-draining soil.[4]
- You can test to see if soil is well-draining by digging a hole in the soil and filling it with water. If the water drains in 5-15 minutes, the soil is well-draining.[5]
- Place the onion cutting in the soil and fill the pot with soil. When the onion cutting grows white roots from the bottom, position it in the center of the soil. Fill the rest of the pot with soil over the onion until from the top of the pot.[6]
- Depending on your preference, you can keep the onion cutting indoors or outdoors in sunny weather.
- Water the onion cutting immediately after planting it. Watering the onion cutting helps it adapt to its new environment and grow roots faster. Give your onion enough water that the soil is damp to the touch, but not soaking wet.
- Spray nitrogen fertilizer into the soil after watering it. Onions thrive in soil with a high nitrogen content. Spray nitrogen fertilizer directly into the soil and mix it with your hands to give your onion the nutrients it needs to grow.[7]
- You can buy nitrogen fertilizer from most garden stores or nurseries.
- Check the label to determine how much fertilizer to spray into the soil.
EditCaring for Your Onion - Give your onion about of water per week. Onions need plenty of water to stay healthy and grow more onions. Check the soil every day—if it feels dry to the touch, water your onion until it feels moist.[8]
- Weed your garden regularly, if outside. Onions have a hard time competing with invasive plants, and weeds can steal their water and nutrients. Check your garden often for weeds and, if you notice any, pull them right away.[9]
- Avoid spraying weed killers around the onion, as most herbicides can kill both weeds and garden plants.
- Check for small insects or other pests on your onion as well and, if you see any, spray the onion with a non-toxic, plant-friendly insect repellent.
- Fertilize your onion every 2 weeks. Fertilizing your onion plant regularly helps it grow large, healthy bulbs. Spray the onion plant at least twice a month with a nitrogen-rich fertilizer until the onion plant's bulb starts to poke from the soil.[10]
- When the bulb starts poking out of the soil, stop fertilizing the onion until you harvest it.
- Harvest your onion when it forms flowers. When your onion starts to grow flowers, it's ready to harvest. Loosen the soil around the onion with your shovel and pull the onion by the base of its green foliage to pull it out of the ground.[11]
- On average, it takes onions grown from cuttings about 90-120 days to grow a new bulb.
- If you initially grow your onion in a pot, you can always transfer it to your garden outdoors later on.
- As long as you care for your plant, your onion cutting should produce more onions as long as an onion grown from a seed does.
- If your onion seems limp, discolored, or otherwise ill, it may have a plant disease. Move your onion away from other plants and discuss its symptoms with a plant nursery worker to determine the best way to treat the disease.
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| How to Choose a Camera Posted: 27 Sep 2018 01:00 AM PDT Purchasing a camera is a big decision. The first step in choosing which type of camera to purchase is to decide on a realistic budget. Then, select a camera type. The main types are: DSLR (digital single lens reflex), point-and-shoot (also called "compact") and mirrorless. Each type has its own advantages, based on what type of photography you plan on doing with the camera, and how often you'll use it. EditSelecting a Price Range - Decide how large of a budget you have for the camera. This is a good way to gauge what quality of camera you will be buying. Larger, fancier cameras with high resolution images and interchangeable lenses—like a DSLR—can cost over $1,000 USD, while cheaper point-and-shoot cameras can be as little as $150 USD.[1]
- A budget capped at $500 USD, for example, already excludes many cameras, and can help make your decision for you.
- Consider how often you'll use the camera. The best camera for you will vary based on whether or not you'll use the camera daily, monthly, or only a couple of times annually. The more you use the camera, the more it makes sense to invest hundreds of dollars in it.[2]
- If all you need is a camera for vacation snapshots, then a cheaper model might be better for you.
- If you'll use the camera at least once a week (whether as a hobbyist or for professional purposes) consider a more expensive mirrorless camera or a DSLR.
- Or, if you'll use the camera frequently, but photo quality isn't a high priority, you could purchase a mid-range compact camera.
- Think about in what contexts you'll use the camera. A camera that's great for studio portraiture will not be a great camera to take on a hiking or backpacking trip. If you're planning on traveling with your camera or shooting outdoors, buy a camera that won't break the bank to replace. Likewise, if you're planning to shoot only high-quality indoor photos, opt for an expensive DSLR or mirrorless camera.[3]
- As a general rule of thumb, smaller, more compact cameras and cameras with fewer removable or interchangeable parts are best for traveling with.
EditSelecting a Type of Camera - Purchase a DSLR if you're a serious hobbyist or a professional. DSLR—or digital single lens reflux—cameras are what many people think of when they picture a camera. DSLRs comprise a body and detachable lenses. This type of camera takes extremely high-quality pictures, which can be enhanced to tremendous sizes. They're not cheap though: a good DSLR can cost around $500 USD, while professional-quality models can cost over $1,200 USD.[4]
- Buying a high-quality DSLR allows you to purchase a variety of lens types—for example, wide angle, macro, or fish-eye—without having to purchase a new camera for each lens.
- Select a DSLR for complete control over the process of taking photos. With a DSLR, you have total control over the photograph. You can adjust the shutter speed alone, the aperture alone, change the ISO speed to whatever you want, or just use it like a large point and shoot. Unlike point and shoot cameras, you can use interchangeable lenses. This means that you have a wide range of lenses to choose from, depending on the manufacturer.[5]
- The downsides of DSLRs are that they are heavier and more expensive. They are also less practical to carry around.
- Buy a point-and-shoot if you'd like a cheap camera that's easy to use. Point and shoot cameras are just what they sounds like: you point your camera at the subject, zoom in or out, then press the button to take the picture. Such cameras require very little effort on the part of the photographer. They typically focus themselves and adjust themselves to light conditions.[6]
- One downside of the point-and-shoot style of camera is that, if you have any desire to capture fast moving kids or pets, the shutter lag of a point and shoot will make it impossible.
- Opt for a point-and-shoot if you want a bare-bones, inexpensive camera. Point-and-shoot cameras lack many of the bells and whistles of more expensive DSLRs. There are usually no manual controls, so have relatively little control over the output image. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing: point-and-shoots produce good pictures and are good for casual, occasional photographers.[7]
- This type of camera also has the perk of being small: most point-and-shoots can easily fit in a small backpack or purse pocket, and many could fit in your pocket.
- Point-and-shoot compact cameras range in price from $200-400 USD.
- Buy a mirrorless camera for portability and relatively high quality. Mirrorless cameras can be substantially smaller than DSLRs, since their internal structure is different and they don't have a light-bouncing mirror structure. While these cameras don't offer image qualities quite as high as DSLR cameras, they still produce high-quality photos. Interchangeable lenses are another perk, which allows users to use different lenses in different settings.[8]
- Mirrorless cameras have various other names. Most frequently, they're called mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras (MILC).
- MILCs start in the $300-400 USD range. Professional-level MILCs can cost as much as $4,000 USD.
- Select an analog (film) camera if you'd like a cheap, high-quality option. Now that a good number of hobbyists and professionals are going digital, film cameras have the advantage of being extremely cheap compared to a digital camera of the same quality. Film cameras do not have the same issues with visual noise as low-range digital cameras, though of course you get grain from the film. Nearly all film cameras are SLRs, and their quality is comparable to that of DSLRs.[9]
- Of course, using an analog camera brings many other expenses with it. You'll need to pay for film and for developing costs, unless you know someone with a darkroom and are prepared to learn how to develop your own B&W film. Developing film can get expensive if you're taking lots of photos.
- You can find decent, unused film cameras for $200 USD or less.
EditComparing Cameras in Person - Visit your local photo store and ask to try out some cameras. Once you have a rough idea of the type of camera you want, visit a photo shop and handle the cameras. With digital cameras, you can even snap a few shots right there in the store and see how you like it. It's important that you like how the camera feels in your hands, and that it feels natural to hold and shoot.[10] Consider:
- Is it too complicated? Will you avoid taking pictures because it's a pain?
- Feel the weight. Is it too heavy to carry around while on vacation?
- Ask friends or family members if you can try out their cameras. Especially if you're considering buying a $1,000+ USD camera, it's wise to try before you buy. Ask someone you know well if you can borrow their camera, and shoot a few dozen photos. Make sure you like the degree of control the camera gives you, as well as its size and feel.[11]
- If you know someone with a camera similar to one you'd like to buy, say something like, "Hi, I'm considering buying a camera just like yours, but would like to try out some of the features before I make the purchase. Would you mind if I try out yours for a couple of days?"
- Select a brand of camera to purchase. Most of the major camera brands—e.g., Camera, Nikon, and Fuji—all produce high-quality cameras. If you're purchasing a cheap point-and-shoot to use a few times a year, any brand will be fine. However, if you're buying a pro-level camera, you should do some research to figure out which brand—and which specific camera—best suits your needs.[12]
- Review the camera listings on various brands' websites, or speak to the sales staff in your local photography store to see which specific brands and cameras they'd recommend.
- Don't forget to get camera accessories. A carrying strap or bag can be a lifesaver when you're carrying your camera around a lot. You also might want to include a good-quality scanner in your budget.
- If you are not sure about making photography your hobby, get a point and shoot with advanced options. They are not as expensive as a DSLR, but do give you the ability to experiment with different settings.
- Buy plenty of memory for your camera. It's cheap. Don't buy a small amount and resort to deleting pictures on the camera to make room. Furthermore, deleting pictures can corrupt the card. Format the memory card each time after you upload them to your computer.
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