Ms. Wiggles

I love it! Matter of fact, I have a nephew who would love it as well. Great Job…I bet she had hours of fun with her very own “dragon”.

-- Robbinscabin

Super cool

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com

Wow! that’s cool…!
I just wondering where you tapped the DNA from..LOL

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

Fantabulous!!

-- Drink once, cut twice. New website up.... lazylarrywoodworks.com.au

That’s great. Not many toys posted on here. I think that is how I originally found LJ was Googling wooden toys. What is the “tambor cloth” between the parts? Could you please explain a bit more about what it is? Thanks 7 thonks for posting.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

Ha Ha.. Great..
that does make me feel better..

-- Block

Tambor cloth is a heavy cotton fabric. Its more commonl use is for those tambor desk fronts that slide on a track and disappear into the back of the desk. I suppose one could use an old tee shirt or sheet instead, but this is strong like a light canvas. It also takes the glue pretty well.

The two sides of each facet of Ms Wiggles are laid against the fabric and glued in place sort of like the bottom of a sandwich. The trick is grain alignment – of the fabric. Being a weave the fabric will tear easily in one direction. You do not want that direction to be parallel to the long axis of your sandwich or the beast will self destruct. Doing the glue up is hard work. I laid the one side down glued the cut face, then slide the tambor cloth onto the pieces. Plywood on top and applied pressure until the glue set. Then glued each segment of the top of the sandwich: a sheet of plywood, pressure, wait. Some trimming of glue that will leak, and it’s together. But to make the beast come alive, the sandwich halves have to become whole again with the cloth in the middle; in other words, they have to be perfectly lined up. To get the whole story go to the Wood web site and search on “Wiggles”: the name is not original with me.

-- Whatever

Which wood website do you mean? I’ve googled for a while but come up empty so far :-((

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

A paint store has cotton canvas drop cloths at a good price that would work great. I think even Wal-Mart carries the drop cloths now.

Canvas is good. Just remember that the grain of the weave MUST be parallel to the long axis of the animal or it will rip down the facets.

-- Whatever

Don’t most materials rip in two directions perpendicular to one another?

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

No. There is definitely a bias for one direction that tears straight along the weave, and the second direction that resists tearing. Try an old sheet or any cotton rag. If you can get it started in the right direction it tears straight; elsewise you need a sissors. Trust me. I had to take Ms. Wiggles apart after one year of childhood fun to replace the tambour in the RIGHT direction. It will last into several future generations now.

-- Whatever

I’ve torn lots of old sheets into square rags tearing both ways. They may have torn better one way than the other, I didn’t notice any difference. May have been so worn it didn’t matter :-)) What if you put the grain of the cloth on the diagonal, wouldn’t that be better or does it wear faster?

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

T.S. -

If you insist on using old underware, and what have you, between the layers, then at least test which direction yields the least likelihood of tearing. I made the mistake of not using tambour cloth and having to take the whole toy apart after about 2 years of heavy use. I replaced the old tee shirt with tambour cloth and, you gotta trust me here, this sucka will not come apart, tear, or wear under any circumstances. It was cheap. It took the glue. It was what I should’ve used the first time. But, if you have a clean tee shirt that will stretch the three feet you need to go from tail to head WITH THE BIAS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, then go for it.

-- Whatever

I’m not insisting on using old underwear :-)) I’m asking if diagonal would be better or if there is a reason not to go that way?

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

OK, T.S. -To satisfy your insatiable curiosity, I suggest an experiment. Take four pieces of identical wood approximately 8” long by 2” wide by 1/2” thick jointed flat. Place two on the table, flat side up. Glue the fabric to the lower level, glue the fabric to the upper layer flat side down, clamp and allow the glue to dry. You now have a wood – fabric sandwich which wiggles along the seam. Do this with the bias of the fabric in three orientations: parallel, oblique, and perpendicular. I contend that if the bias is parallel to the long axis it will tear over time as the segments are flexed. Would it tear if it was oblique? Maybe. Would it tear if it was perpendicular? I don’t think so. To quote from most math text books “The problem is left as an exercise for the student.” Good luck. ;-)

-- Whatever

I do have insatiable curiosity :-)) I have no doubt it will tear on the parallel. I just tried an old sheet. I could see a slight difference in the smoothness of the tear and maybe feel a very slight difference in the pressure to make the tear testing the parallel and perpendicular. Obviously, the diagonal test yielded to the parallel I’ll try that when I get some suitable material. I’m going to make a Mr. Wiggles for my grandson some time in the near future. I’m thinking of using an off center wheel axis to make him really wiggle :-))

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

If she is not made too stiff, the creature will sway in the breeze. I had her in my wife’s sunroom plants before deliver to Ms. Maiya. The animal was alive! The offset could work, but since she is so large and heavy, a small grandchild might find wiggling difficult. Easy to change if it doesn’t work. But sue the Tambour or canvas, not the old draws ;-) !

-- Whatever