Starting With Broken Pieces
So today, I decided to try making a crazy spinning horse thing – called it “caleidoscopio horse” in my head, sounded fancy. Had this idea bouncing around for weeks. Went digging through the garage, found an old plastic horse figure my kid never plays with anymore. Perfect candidate. Headed to the hobby store, grabbed the cheapest bag of broken glass bits and colored plastic scraps they had. Cheap is good for experiments, right?
The Sticking Point
First step: Get the stuff to stick ON the horse. Sounds easy. Oh boy. Tried super glue. Horse leg glued to my finger instead, hurt pulling it off. Kid laughed at me. Found some two-part epoxy stuff in a tube, squeezed it out, mixed it on cardboard like the tube said. Slapped a handful of green glass bits onto the horse’s back. Looked messy, but held. Then tried putting the plastic scraps on its sides. The epoxy started getting stiff FAST. Panicked, shoved more on, squished it down with my thumb. Bad idea. Thumb covered in sticky junk, plastic pieces stuck pointing every which way. Wiped my thumb on my pants. Regretted that immediately.
The Spin Disaster
Okay, horse has messy stuff stuck on it. Great. Now, needs to spin. Found an old battery-powered turntable thing from a broken Christmas ornament. Taped the horse’s feet onto the turntable base. Used like half a roll of duct tape. Felt confident. Flipped the switch.
Everything went flying.
- The glass shards? Shot off the horse’s back like tiny bullets. Found green glitter on the ceiling later.
- Half the plastic scraps? Launched sideways, hit a coffee cup, knocked it over. Big mess.
- The horse itself? Barely wobbled for a second then tipped over, still stuck to the base with all my precious duct tape.
My workbench looked like a small, sad explosion site.
Salvage Operation (Mostly Failure)
Well, couldn’t give up yet. Too much duct tape wasted. Rethought the sticking part. Found my wife’s hot glue gun she told me not to touch. Waited till she left. Carefully dotted hot glue on the horse, pressed the remaining bits back on one by one. Slow going, burnt two fingers. Hurt like hell. Horse looked lumpy and weird, but sorta covered.
As for spinning? Forget the weak ornament base. Found a thicker lazy susan thing in the pantry, borrowed it. No one will notice. Taped the horse DOWN onto that thing with even more duct tape. Flipped the switch.
It spun! For about five seconds. Slower than I wanted, and the horse wobbled badly. Then… crunch. One leg snapped off under the strain. Horse listed sideways like a sinking ship, still spinning pathetically. Turned it off. Looked ridiculous and broken.
Not My Finest Hour
So yeah, “caleidoscopio horse” project is a bust. Kid walked in, saw the spinning, listing, broken horse covered in lumps of glass and plastic. Asked, “Did you make trash?” Pretty much summed it up.
Garage floor needs sweeping, my best coffee mug has a crack, fingers hurt from burns and glue, wife will be mad about the glue gun and her lazy susan, and I have a crippled plastic horse covered in junk. Lesson? Sometimes the ideas in your head… should maybe just stay there. Or practice on cheaper stuff first. Much cheaper.
