Making Rat Traps

Between the 2nd and the 14th of January I dedicated myself to helping out at Venture Inferno. For those who don't know, a Venture is a 10 day camp for Venturers or 'older scouts' (14-18 yr olds).
The venture is split into two phases:
Phase One - five days when you go on an expedition of your own choosing,

Phase Two - five days on site at the main camp with a variety of activities on offer including a party each night.

Inferno was the theme of this years Venture. It was based in Rotorua, and offered a very action packed programme.

For Phase One I helped as a line leader, my job was to look after nine venturers. Our expedition of 80 people were set at Waitomo where we did three days of caving among other activities.

For Phase Two I offered my help at the hands on base, a marquee full of hands on activities ranging from making bracelets, decorating mugs, making nail wire art, and of course making Rat Traps.

We had a couple of piles of wood and a few rolls of steel mesh; some screws and staples; and some hammers and drills. The basis of the trap.

Someone had kindly setup some example traps showing the method of making it in four easy steps.

Step 1. Get first piece of wood, the base, staple one piece of mesh to it about 100mm from the front.
Step 2, Using the drill/driver screw the base piece to the two other pieces of wood to create the boxes sides, staple the mesh to the two added sides.
Step 3, Get two wooden studs and screw them into the top corners of box to hold the trap in place.
Step 4, Cut a hole in one of the bottom corners of the mesh. Cover both ends of the box with more mesh. cut a hole in the front mesh in the opposite bottom corner.
Done.

It took a little bit of time to make my first trap, but as I continued, the process got faster and faster. More people joined and I was able to teach, observe, learn, and adapt my methods. I found that cutting the mesh was the hardest, most tiresome part, so I would work at that so the venturers could get on with the more fun construction part. The mesh was also quite sharp so when handling it you had to take care. It was encouraged that any sharp ends be cut off so that when using the trap the person doesn't cut themselves. We also learned to use any left over bits of mesh too to make the most of the resources that we had.

On the third day Didymo Dave came to help out, he was the one who organized the supplies and would be using the traps to control pests on the Waitahanui River. As well as refining the trap making process he also educated us on the traps and their use. Although we call them rat traps the traps would be used for not only rats, but also ferrets, weasels, and stoats. all rodents that kill our native birds for food or just for fun. The traps are made with the holes cut in the mesh on opposite corners to prevent kiwi from getting its beak inside and snapped off in a trap.

Didymo Dave also encouraged us to write a message on our box to the pests that would be caught within. One creative venturer wrote 'Dear Rodents, Gluttony is a deadly sin'.

Over the course of  four days I have gone from not knowing how to build a rat trap to not only building around twenty of them, but teaching others how to make them, empowering people who usually wouldn't give something like this ago, and allowing them to do it themselves and leave feeling that they have made a positive contribution to the native bird life of New Zealand.

Below is a link to Didymo Dave's facebook page, here you can find out more about the pest control along the Waitahanui River.
Rat Traps made with Didymo Dave

Animal Cutouts

An opportunity arose. I was asked whilst at the Petone Carnival about the animal shapes we had suspended from our Fire Sculpture. Someone was inquiring how much it would cost to purchase similar shapes from me.

For me this is big. HUGE. As a designer interested in D.I.Y. being given a job where I can spend a few hours playing with tools and making things is a dream come true. After the exchanging of details I planned how it would be done.

The Four animals I would be creating were a Kiwi, a Tuatara, a Morepork, and a Pukeko; this would end up in a kindergarten so they shapes had to be easily recognizable and safe to touch (no sharp edges). The Pukeko is a shape I'd not yet created before, this was going to be a learning curve.

I had to find an image of a pukeko and edit the shape to make the outline as recognizable as possible. I had saved the silhouettes for each of the other shapes from when I created them for the sculpture.

Using the same technique, I projected the image using a computer projector onto ply wood and sketched around the outline of all four animals in pencil. Making the most of the plywood I have; with the leftovers I'll be able to create more shapes (Hopefully for another client).

The oultines of animal shapes on the ply, seen resting on sawhorses ready to be cut out.

Tuatara Outline

Morepork and Kiwi Outline

Then it was out to the garage to cut out each of the shapes using the jigsaw. The process is one of time and precision. I need to move my body around the large piece of ply wood to find the best angle for cutting at. 

When cutting with the jigsaw, eye and ear protection is a must.

Finished cutting out the Pukeko

When all four pieces are cut out I am left with a large off cut which I put aside. The four animals are then sanded by a piece of sandpaper held in my hand. This ensures that no heavy tools will damage the shapes. For any areas that need sanding a little firmer, I use the multi-tool which has a triangular shaped sanding head, but is not powerful enough to damage the wood. The edges on each of the shapes were smoothed out making them safe for children to touch.

Pukeko cutout.

Morepork cutout.

Four Animal Shapes: Tuatara, Morepork, Pukeko, Kiwi.

The four native animal shapes were sold. This was a fun project for me, D.I.Y., craft, and working with power tools is something I am passionate about. I enjoy the creation process and I love knowing that my effort is going somewhere where it will be appreciated, loved, used, and built upon; such as a kindergarten. To the best of my knowledge the next step involves the kindy children decorating the animal shapes however they see fit. Brilliant, we are growing our next generation of D.I.Y.ers.

Constructing a flaming piece of art

I awoke Saturday morning, the 1st of August, my birthday.
I slowly stretched myself awake and climbed out of bed, dressed, fed myself, and then thought. Alright lets get to it.

The car was packed to the roof. We headed out towards the Petone Waterfront and with the help of a few volunteers unloaded the car.

The work didn't start on Saturday; I had been hard at work, preparing various shapes for the sculpture any chance I had throughout the week. Using the silhouettes seen in last weeks post I was able to project onto MDF the image I wanted, draw it on, and then using my jigsaw, cut it out carefully. There were ten shapes of various sizes that I cut out with the jigsaw.

Prep for the first layer.

The organizers from the Hutt Valley Rotary club first put up the bottom section of the tower, the basis of the sculpture. This required digging post holes in the sand of more than a metre deep, and moving the base structure into place. We secured the structure to a bottom pellet, and filled the holes in with sand.

It was time for our construction to begin.
We required five round tiers with a 600mmX620mm square cut out of them so they could fit around the tower and onto a shelf we had made using decking timber.

4 Metres tall

When the first two shelves were up we could erect the top part of the tower, and the scaffolding that would allow us to work on it.
We were told it would be four Metres high, It looked a lot higher when it was standing there waiting to be worked on.

Showing off a jigsaw cut shape: the fleur de lis painted in Scouting colours, as well as a sign with my name on it.

The rain came in and made the day a little miserable, however, work pressed on. We cut out, and set in place the last three round tiers.
We had a friend and scout Hannah helping us to paint the shapes before they were hung up.
Holes were drilled throughout the sculpture that would later be widened with the jigsaw for ventilation, more holes were drilled through each tier to allow the stringing of ropes and the suspension of animals and other shapes.

Setting the Stag in place.

While Chris, Shellie, and Peter strung up the suspended shapes I climbed atop the scaffolding and mounted the Stag, Alan, atop the tower in a position of supreme power over the rest of the Petone Carnival.

Inspecting the teams rope work.

The rain was still coming down and the tide had come in right up to the sculpture, We had finished construction, but we still had to pack up our wet gear, and tidy the site. After the tidy up we admired the sculpture a while before heading to the pub for a quick beer. The planned time of 6.30 was when the sculptures were to be lit.

The finished sculpture in the gloom of dusk as the tide comes in.

 

A much deserved drink  before the big light.

Upon returning to the beach we once more donned our fluorescent vests and walked the beach. Shellie took charge of coating the sculpture in diesel. An important job in the rain to ensure a quick ignition.

Diesel woman Shellie

 

The first sculpture is lit further down the beach.

When the first two sculptures were well underway with burning I was given control of the flame thrower and the task of igniting the sculpture was put in my hands.
I felt powerful with the flame gun, and within about a minute the sculpture was roaring to life, the flames battled their way through smoke and cardboard stuffing that filled the centre of the tower.
The animals were aglow with the light coming from the centre of the sculpture. The stag was shrouded in smoke, and as the fire burnt it fought its way up through the cardboard and engulfed the stag in flame, as it escaped the chimney.

Man with a flame thrower.

The smoking stag.

The whole sculpture on fire.

Originally the crowds were supposed to clear the beach and watch from afar, but within minutes of the first fire being lit the beach was full of eager bodies. When our sculpture went up the crowd surrounding it was huge, and it seemed to stay that way for the next half hour. Our hard work through the ick of rain and sand all day had paid off and people were basking in the heat of it, enjoying it.

The crowds observe the burning sculpture.

The flames went up and ate the sculpture from the inside out, we stood around guessing which animal shape would be the first to fall, snapping from its rope; surprisingly they all held very well. As it burnt on we watched in anticipation as the main supports burnt, eager to see the tower fall and crumple into a pile of flaming rubble. When it finally gave way the stag fell and crashed to the ground, on closer inspection he had smashed all of his legs and antlers off and was just a body. The fire crew scraped the large pieces into a large pile and we crowded together as it burnt on.

The flaming Stag.

The other animals warm up.

To me the whole day screamed success. I can't think of a better way to have spent my birthday, working hard on a project of passion, that the public admired, with my friends and family.

Me, the birthday boy.

Designing a flaming piece of art.

The idea was brought up again months ago. We were at a Hutt Zone meeting for scouts and a suggestion was made to arrange an activity that would link Venturers (Youth aged 14-18) and Rovers (Youth aged 18-30). The idea that popped into my mind was the creation of a fire sculpture at the Petone Carnival 2015. 

Many local bands get a chance to perform on a range of entertainment
stages. Seen here is Man!/Woman! performing in 2012

The annual Polar Plunge happens
the morning of the carnival







I've been to several Petone Carnivals and they are a great day, the whole day is a brilliant chance to showcase the best things that the Hutt Valley has to offer; be it music, performances, crafts, metalwork, the annual polar plunge, and heaps more. One of my favourite parts of the day has always been admiring the fire sculptures. In previous years Shellie and I have taken a stroll down the beach to be away from the crowds lining the street, and whilst doing so, admired and contributed to the construction work taking place on the beach.

The first year Shellie and I contributed to a fire sculpture.

Two of the sculptures from previous years,
a drum kit and a phoenix like creature.

We have helped but never taken on the whole challenge on by ourselves. This year I thought, why not? and from then on my interest had been sparked, Through many an email to different organizers I was finally told that I needed to submit a design for a sculpture that met a bunch of specifications and had inspiration from the theme "A Midwinter's Night Dream".

http://www.coveralia.com/caratulas/Loreena-Mckennitt-A-Midwinter-Night-s-Dream-Frontal.php

At this point I switched into full on brainstorm mode, I needed help to come up with a sculpture design that would be sufficient enough to make the final cut, this year there would only be four sculptures created. A quick google search of a 'a mid-winters night dream' came back with this album cover, a similar concept to what I envisaged for my design. I thought of animals, trees, snow, and I also wanted to relate it back to scouting movement.



I made a lot of sketches, the ideas of my own and others onto paper, and figuring out the practicalities of building something that looked like the drawing.



The final concept was based on the circular appearance of a tree, with the presence of typical New Zealand winter woodland animals, as well as some symbolic relation to scouting. One thing we knew from the start was that it was going to feature a deer of sorts; representative of our Rover mascot 'Alan'.


The silhouettes that would inspire my sculpture design.

I needed to find a strong image of a deer to atop the sculpture. This image of a stag is clean and powerful.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/42293105@N05/4039153557

 I searched the internet for the best images of animal silhouettes I could find; using these as the basis of my Winter inspired sculpture I made a model of my intended sculpture.

This is the final Model I submitted to be considered.

The final model takes the cylindrical shape of the tree and the organic nature of hanging ropes whilst featuring the relevant silhouettes of animals and scouting symbols suspended by the ropes.
The centre piece is the stag symbolic of Alan atop the tower. Making the model was no easy task, I had to use my knowledge of craft, The process tested my skills.

After submission I had to wait while it was considered. A couple of days later I was told I had been chosen to lead the construction of one of four sculptures at the Petone Carnival for 2015. I was stoked. Now the real prep work begins.

http://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2014/petone-winter-carnival/lower-hutt

This Saturday Starting at 9.00AM a group of Rovers and Venturer scouts, led by myself, will be turning this design into a reality. The five and a half metre structure will be built, well braced, and shown off to the public, before being set alight in the darkness after 6.00PM. We will admire the temporal beauty of a structure made to burn and to look its best whilst on fire.

I welcome you all to attend, to come onto the beach and say hello, and offer some help. There will be fire, fireworks, and a whole carnival of sights and scenes to experience. See you there.