journal features

toy

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Tokyo, 2008.12.18

As noted previous, I'm making a wooden "inch-worm" pull-toy for my little nephew Ta-kun. It's a thing with two wheels that have an offset axel. Attached to the axel are the 'fuselage' pieces that make up the body of the worm itself. When the toy is pulled forward by a rope through the nose of the worm, the wheels roll and the midsection of the body is lifted off the ground effecting the rise and fall of the inch-worm.

I stole the idea from a toy I found in a store.

It's been fun to make, though my usual impaired level of craftsmanship has diluted the overall effect to some degree. Still, I managed to get through the spray-painting of the body without any accidental coloration of the patio, and the overall effect is rather good. Next I have to paint on some legs and then paint the wheels. Then comes the glue. Sweet, sweet glue.

rand()m quote

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

—Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.