365 Day 346

working with tools

Oh my goodness -- I did it all on my own!

I put on my big girl pants and figured this out...measured (yes, measured), sawed, and drilled. It took the better part of the morning (and I hope it is actually turns out to be a workable solution) but I did it myself...no questions, no manuals, no internet searches. Sorry, but I kinda amazed myself when everything lined up correctly -- not once, but twice! (I also measured and drilled for the smaller tomato cage but I prefer the larger one.)

Ha ha...I am actually pretty shaken up now from the intensity and I will be going to take a good long coffee/tv break. My hands and arms need a rest and so do my nerves. I know, I know... I beat myself up/make fun of myself enough about stuff...I have that well covered...oh, poor Took.

How it went:





I measured up thirteen and a half inches from the first ring and marked all of the rods. Then I used that saw (hack saw maybe?) and killed my wrist and cut the rods about three quarters of the way through and then bent them back and forth until they snapped off.

I wonder what I can use the rods for later -- I am amassing a nice pile of them.








I had the cat-creature balanced on each tomato cage and marked where the rods were. The smaller tomato cage has three legs, the larger one has four. I prefer the larger one because it is heavier and a bit more stable.

Then I got out the Dremel tool and hoped that the correct bit was in. I laid the cat-creature on its side on my (recently cleared off) desk and held my breath and drilled the first hole.

Whoa -- stuff shot all over the place and the drill kinda danced a little but I had a death grip on the cat creature and on the Dremel tool (and I was pretty much expecting it) so we all survived.







I had to swirl the drill around a little to make the holes bigger than the bit. They don't all match (and I am trying to get over that) but they all line up!

For the large tomato cage holes I drilled an upper and lower hole. I only did one hole for each of the smaller cage holes -- I figured I could go back and do a corresponding lower hole for each of those if I needed to. I was hoping the larger cage was going to work.










I am just amazed that everything lines up and that I did it myself. BIG confidence booster!










Wow -- look at the cat-creature perched on top of the larger tomato cage...temporarily.

I am going to try and wire the piece to the rods...much later today. After this morning, that should be a piece of cake!

Now to park myself in front of the television with a cup of coffee and a sketchbook (- gasp! -) and see what I can come up with for the rest of the design for this cat-creature.

I don't usually use a sketchbook, but it was pretty handy with the preliminary stages of the building of Chime Cat. I am going to try get into the habit of sketching things more often.