(Sorry for the scary faceless children. Privacy reasons, y’know.)
My chop saw is broken, and I think that maybe God had a hand in it.
Here’s the roundabout story. A new catalog came from Discount School Supply, and there was a picture in there that reminded me that I wanted to make some People Dolls for the block area.
See how cool those are? Photos stuck onto blocks! Since I learned the laser-printer-packing-tape method of transferring words and images, I thought this would be fun to do with the children. I took their photos (mostly in groups of 2 or 3 children, but this is just an example), then erased the background so I wouldn’t waste printer toner.
… but we ran out of toner before I could get started. Dang it. I cropped the picture to be 4×6 and sent them to Wal*Mart instead. I had a board in the basement that I was going to chop up into 2-inch-by-4-inch blocks…. but then I remembered that in reality, 1×4’s are actually smaller in all dimensions, which meant my carefully cropped 4-inch-tall children were going to need to have their feet chopped off. Dang it.
Oh, well. In my experience feet are expendable. I went to cut a sample block from the board and… my saw was broken. Dang it! Well, not broken, but the blade needs to be tightened since it’s spinning wonky, so it might as well just be thrown out. Right?
Dang it. I wracked my brain for some other thing to tape/glue the photos to. Toilet paper tubes? Cardboard? Plastic cups like Teeny Little Super Guy?
Wait. I just happen to have a bunch of Baby Soda Bottles from a science grant (from years ago). What are Baby Soda Bottles?
They are what 2-liter bottles are made from. Think of them like bottle seeds. You plant one in the ground and harvest a Pepsi later. That’s pure science – don’t bother fact-checking it.
Anyway, I just put the pictures inside the bottles, and they’re perfect! They stand up (mostly), I wrote their names on the backside (go, literacy!) and now I just need some kind of holder so they can be on display when not in use.
I am so, so happy my saw is broken.
Deborah says
Maria von Trapp: “When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.”
Brad says
They look like they’re in some sort of science-fiction pneumatic tubes and are getting ready to shoot across the city in the tube system. That’s how I would play with those dolls anyway.
Lauren's dad says
For a stand: a knot-free two by four, stained, or several. Borrow a drill press. A set of Forstner drills — $10.00 for up to an inch, $38 for up to two inches. A Saurday shopping trip to Harbor Freight.
Lauren's dad says
Saturday
Kristi says
The header picture makes them look like they’re doing the cryogenic treatment so that they can live longer into the future.
Peggy says
What a clever idea
Brad says
Ha! The link when I hover the cursor over your name says “nowhere near the kitchen”
Lauren says
I think this is New Peggy, not Baltimore Peggy. Right? (We have two Peggys because life is awesome. 🙂 )
Mom says
I love it and the names on the back are such a good thing.