hey there it's Kayte with tested and these are my favorite things of 2020.
first up i have some shellac now this is by zinzer that is the brand that i always go to
normally it is used for you know staining or putting on wood giving it a nice color
it comes in many different shades i go for amber it tends to give this really nice
pretty amber color i almost never just use it on wood sometimes of course that is the case
but usually it's when i'm trying to fake a look especially wood so if you remember i believe we
did a video on model behavior about making imitation wood on foam core painting it on
there building it up it has a really nice way of getting darker in places where it's thicker
so it can really add some looks without having to work too hard also it can give you a bit
of a dimensionality with it so it creates the wood grain as you brush it on i also like to dip
castings in it especially things like skeletons skulls has a way of finding all those nooks and
crannies and giving a lot of depth to it i'm also a little weird i love the way it smells it's kind
of sweet i know it's probably not very good to say you probably shouldn't be sniffing it just saying
but you can find this at any hardware store it's very common it's relatively inexpensive
it also comes in a smaller can if you don't need this much i will say this tends to last me quite
a while so it's a great handy thing i use this a lot all right next up i have glazing and spot
putty this is by bondo brand so it should be pretty uh familiar to anybody who's ever used
a spot filler or any kind of a bondo product the thing that's different about this than say the big
can of bondo is that it comes pre-mixed there's no activating necessary you don't have to mix in the
the special white stuff to it but it is also meant for much smaller applications
now whereas bondo you could have a big dent in the side of something and just really spackle
that in there and fill it up this is a lot more used for things like pinholes tiny cracks
little undulations in the surface of something if you tried to fill something too deep with it
you're going to get some cracking some flaking it's just not going to be very sturdy
but this is so good for really slowly building up a surface if you've got a casting that came out
and has lots of little holes in it this is exactly what you want to be using it's for delicate work
and something to keep in mind is that this dries extremely quickly because it is air dry so only
put the smallest amount you could possibly need down on your work surface and then very quickly
try to get it into where you want to go just like regular bondo if you can take a razor and start to
clean up the surface before it dries completely that's going to help you a lot on the back end
otherwise you can still go back in and sand it off when you're done but again relatively inexpensive
i would say this lasts me a pretty long while but once you open it your shelf life starts to go so
it's good to have a few projects in mind that you could use this for
really good tool here all right next up i have a tabletop game i don't know about any any of
you but i've certainly been doing a lot more gaming at home things that lift my spirits
keep me entertained and possibly keep me involved with friends if i do it online so this game here
is called side effects it's put out by pillbox games who makes just phenomenal games i enjoy all
of them that come out this one is based on mental illness so you get dealt cards that are different
disorders say things like madness depression anxiety gambling addiction so on and so forth
these make up your psyche so these are cards that are laid face up in front of you for everyone to
see if you would like to treat one of your disorders you need to use either a therapy
card or treat it with a medication so if i wanted to treat my madness with a medication
i could try and treat it this way but i have to keep in mind that it's going to open me up to
some of the side effects here this side effect is tremors so if another player then wanted to
dig at me they could play tremors on top of me now i have to to treat my tremors so it's kind of a
fun game there's a little bit of a back and forth there if you really want to take a dig at somebody
there is a you're having an episode card it forces that player to have whatever side effect they have
showing at that time now this game can be fun where you're taking digs at people it can be a
little mean in that way but it's all done with a sense of trying to open up the conversation about
mental illness and shedding a light on that they have a note at the back of the manual here talking
about how much they support better advocacy and availability of mental health resources
they hope to facilitate open and honest communication about these issues and they even
have a list of links for more resources so it's done and fun but with a good message behind it
if you are a fan of side effects i also recommend their new game mud now their
kickstarter just closed uh i'm happy to say it did well above and beyond what they were hoping for
it is a political card game where you are trying to influence an election as a wealthy mogul so
that it comes out in your favor you try and collect voters you sway things you can play
mud cards where you're slinging mud at other people you have scandals it's a lot of fun
now since that kickstarter just closed obviously you can't exactly back it right now but i have
it on good authority if you reach out to pillbox games hello at pillboxgames.com
then you can still get in the door before before that has passed you by next up is actually just
an encouragement to try and support any of your local maker spaces here in san francisco there's
a wonderful place called workshop sf i think they also have a location in pittsburgh pennsylvania
i have been a fan of them for years i've taken a lot of in-person classes with them
and now they're offering online classes so if you have a local place that you know is struggling
please i implore you try and utilize them if they have online classes support them any way you can
if not there is this place workshop and they are doing online classes because they're online now it
means that anywhere across the country you could participate so recently i did a macrame class with
them so you basically have a zoom instructor with other classmates there they mail you your supply
kit and you follow along with them now some of you might be thinking well i'd much rather just
watch a youtube video i could work at my own pace i wouldn't have to you know pay extra money for
that here's a few things to keep in mind one the money you pay goes to support these people who are
making these wonderful pieces of content and just trying to better their community two there's not
a lot of way to overstate how nice it is to have classmates being able to see other people making
something maybe a choice they made it's always giving you inspiration it's teaching you more as
well and three being able to ask questions in the middle of a youtube video is just like that would
be so nice so having someone on zoom that you can just stop and be like hey i didn't catch that can
you can you show me that again or no matter how many times i do it it's just not coming out right
it's invaluable to have somebody there to answer your questions to walk you through it
and at the end of the day you still wind up with a new skill and something probably cool in front
of you that you just made like i said i've done a macrame class i've done a lino cut printing
class i've done air dry ceramics watercolor the possibilities are endless so keep an eye out again
try and support someone local and if you can't support this awesome shop all right my next
favorite thing is actually for another website called bookshop.org now on the surface it might
just look like an online bookstore but the thing that's really cool about this website is you can
choose any of your favorite book shops your local book shops and it will contribute money to them
now it's sort of the same way as if say you go to your local small book shop you want a book
they don't have it they say it's okay i can order it for you this is the system that they would use
that for so they're still spending money in this outside site but they're still going to be making
money off of that so i have a few bookshops that i've been really sad i haven't been able to keep
frequenting even though some of them have reopened i'm trying to be responsible trying to minimize
exposure to anybody so i will take turns a lot of times i'll say okay if if i were going in person
which book shop would i buy this book from so then i go online i search for them i order a book
through their version of bookshop and then i'll go to the other shop and order something else so for
example city lights bookshop in san francisco it's one of my all-time favorite book shops they were
struggling when they first closed for the pandemic we all gave to the gofundme page it really helped
them and you can still order books through them from bookshop.org so i've constantly got a huge
cart going in one of my open tabs saying okay oh i need this book too i need this book too so it's a
nice way to know again you can support any local businesses that are struggling while still being
responsible and still nurturing your need for more books so i highly recommend that think of at least
one local bookshop if not multiple and help them out all right guys those were my favorite things
of 2020. obviously there's a lot of things to be thankful for right now i just hope that all of you
are having a great safe holiday season and let me know what some of your favorite things are
bye