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In my last post I detailed my entry in Robyn Story's contest to create a holiday decoration from a found object.  I enlisted my brother's help with some of the mechanics of constructing my entry and guess what happened to him....he caught the fever.  The brainstorming bug just couldn't be squelched and he came up with his own entry. His starting point is this old bucket from a wheelbarrow he received as a Christmas gift many, many years ago.  It was slated  for the dump until Dan got the idea to recycle it for the contest. He also had an old pair of skis he thought he might use some day.  Are you getting the picture?  See the piece of wood held in place by the wood block?  He weighted this piece down to form it into an arc and attached a piece to each ski. Another block of wood was cut to form the support for the bucket and the sleigh that it was to become started to take shape. Dan's wife got involved too.  She painted the inside of th...

I was going through "my favorites" the other night and checked in on Robin Storey's blog where I discovered  a contest that challenges the entrants to create a holiday decoration that includes a found object.  I leaned back in my chair and mentally went through my found objects stash. The thing that stood out was... this set of rusty bedsprings I found two years ago and had not yet used.  An idea started to gell as I got ready for bed.  The next morning I jumped (that might be a slight exaggeration as I always test my ankles to make sure they are holding before I stand up.) out of bed.  Anyway, I proceeded directly to the basement to make sure I had enough to complete the idea I had in mind. The next thing was to email my brother, Dan, to enlist his help brainstorming a way to make this idea a reality.  Dan is great at this. He thinks outside the box but he also can forsee any potential engineering hangups.  So the first order of business w...