One thing I like about Japan is that houses are not used as a speculative asset. Commercial real estate more so, but homes are generally built to be lived in.

Culturally, it’s less common to buy a home and renovate it - you typically do this if you don’t have any money at all because homes don’t appreciate in value and you can get older homes for cheaper. Typically what people do is buy a property that may have an older house sitting on it, and they’ll tear it down completely. I think part of it has to do with building codes (everything must be brough up to the newest siesmic standards. But also, culturally people generally want a home that is made just for them and fits their needs. It also helps that the zoning laws are much more friendly compare to western nations. You can build a home just about anywhere and even attach a business to it. It’s not uncommon to see barber shops, cafes, doctor’s offices attached right to a new house or just be part of that residence (say, business on the bottom, living on the top). New construction is easily permitted if space allows. My neighborhood is undergoing a massive change with construction popping up everywhere. It seems every week I discover new housing going up just by walking around the neighborhood. Construction is fast too. Framing is done in 1 or 2 days, foundation takes about a week, and full construction usually takes about 5 months, but I’ve seen homes going up in less time. Custom homes takes longer, but that’s understandable. Generally, homes are smaller - mostly due to space constraints in urban areas, and costs in rural. Land is affordable, but it can get quite pricey with custom plans. But, if you are moving from a costly area elsewhere like the US or particulally one of the coasts, it would seem incredibly cheap to build here.

Hello beautiful community! Here I want to show you how I make my cement containers, I am an apprentice so write to me if you have any suggestions (these are still trials because I want them for my brand of candles and there are several tests that a container must pass due to heat). They can also be used as a container.💛

⚠️Please note that cement containers cannot be in contact with food⚠️

Materials

Essentials:

1️⃣White Cement (can be gray or any color you want).

2️⃣Water.

Complementary:

3️⃣Balance.

4️⃣Silicone mold (you can replace it with two glasses by stacking one on top of the other).

5️⃣Silicone spatula (you can beat with anything you don't use in the kitchen).

6️⃣Protection (you can wear a flannel over your mouth and glasses).

7️⃣Coconut wax and thermometer (you can skip this but it will be a little rough).

First Step: protection⚠️

This is something that I have had to repeat to myself many times because sometimes I skip this first step and at night when I am about to sleep I feel a terrible allergy in my eyes. So use what you have at home.

I take off the protective equipment once I have finished cleaning everything that is filled with cement. And this is how my face is left with a few marks but free of heavy damage.

Second Step: prepare the mixture🥄

We mix the cement with water, the quantities depend a lot on the type of cement, normally I use 30% to 50% water per cement. For this mixture use 250g of cement and 125g of water. The ideal is to have a consistency like the one in the photo that is thick but spreads easily.

Third step: pack in the mold 👀

We package the mixture on the mold and remove the air so that the container is as uniform as possible and let it dry on a surface that is smooth and level.

Fourth step: unmold 💛

To unmold the container, it must have dried for at least 36 hours in dry weather. I normally wait 48 hours to avoid damaging the container. Then we put the container on a rack to finish drying for 5 more days.

Fifth step: sealing 🔎

We preheat the oven to minimum for 5 minutes, then with the oven off we put the container in for approximately 3 minutes (it is important that it is a short time so that the container does not break). This is so that the wax can melt on contact with the container. , the ideal is for the container to reach a temperature of 44°C (so that it feels warm and you can hold the container in your hands) then we use a cloth to rub coconut wax over the entire container until we have a texture that we like.

This step is to give a smoother texture to the container and so that no residue is felt on the hands.

If you want, you can paint these containers with acrylic paint. I was inspired by my favorite tree, the Araguaney.🌳

Writing about the process of how to make my containers makes me give it more value than what I give when I normally make them. In the cost structure that I put together, I had set a very low price because the materials are cheap, but the reality is that it takes a long time. and patience to do them and today by making this post I give a little more merit to my work. Thanks for reading and for being there💛

#DIY #Art #doityourself #artstr #plebs #plebchain

ya se dió lo que daba... bienvenido al atípico bearmarket :peepoLeave:

Do a lot of people in your local network in Venezuela know about Nostr and use it to communicate with each other and spread news?

57 year old guy here. Not a boomer, I'm GenX.

You do not have to be a coder, or write software to participate in the Bitcoin Ecosystem.

Do what you like to do! Because, you can just do stuff. You don't need permission. 💪🫂

as devs, we sometimes forget that not everyone understands english. We should make an effort to make freedom tools accessible to those that need them the most.

🇪🇸 🇩🇪 🇨🇳 🇯🇵 🇹🇭

With AI, getting basic translations is simple (of course, the natives will have to fix where the AI messed up)

Nostr achieved so much in so little time. Ya'll are too close to the metal. Step back. Zoom out. Appreciate what we have and where we are.