Such great heights…

Some time ago I made a set of stilts for my eight year old daughter. Or rather one and a half stilts. I devised a cunning design that used a foot platform the sugly fitted onto a rod made from a handrail and secured with a height adjustable dowel it is destined to be a design classic.

But I didn't finish them. The reason was that the material I was using for the platforms was all but impossible to shrink-fit to the pole because the cheap Chinese hand drill I had bought for the occasion wasn't up to the occasion. The bit spun the chuck and the hole saw rotated just fast enough to make a little smoke - like rubbing sticks in sawdust to emulate Prometheus. I was appalled. I decided there and then only to buy quality tools or none at all. Haven't bought any since. Hence the incomplete stilt project.

Today I was talking with a designer in the office about a completely unrelated subject and it occured to me there is a simple solution to the stilt issue: I'll make a pattern in Adobe Illustrator and have them laser cut by Ponoko.

Perfect.

My daughter will soon be scaling new heights.

I shall buy an emergency room voucher now.

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