onebluestocking: bjds, designs, crafts and assorted nonsense

my realpuki gypsies asked for a fishing pole, so they could catch themselves some dinner, so i went looking for supplies.

a skewer and some old watch parts, and tiny gold beads seemed like a good start. in addition i got a ruler to check the length, my e6000 glue since i would be gluing metal, a toothpick to apply the glue, and scissors to cut the rod.
the first thing i realized was that my skewers were to thick to be in scale. my ‘pukis wanted a nice light rod, not a heavy stick! toothpicks would have been the right width, but were’t long enough so i went out to the garage to get sandpaper and carefully sanded down the skewer till it was the right diameter. i kept rolling it while i sanded to keep it round.

the rod on the right is the original diameter, the rod on the left is how i sanded it down.
next i applied a thin layer of dark brown to the top, and light brown on the bottom for a handle. when it dried it looked to dark/dull, so i over-painted with red on top, blue on the handle. i forgot to photograph this step, but you can see the colors in the later pictures anyway.

while the paint was drying i made the reel. i picked out two gears for the sides, and a small tube-like gear for the center spacer. i glued those all together and added a tiny bead for the handle.

and a side view.

next i went to my craft supplies and got some very fine wire. i would have preferred brass/copper to coordinate with the reel, but all i had was silver tone, and since i am on a craft purge, whenever possible i am using what i have instead of buying new.
i wrapped the wire a couple of times around the rod, twisted it around a toothpick to form a loop, then wrapped it twice more around the rod, and cut off. i did this 4 times to get four loop guides. when i had them all done, i spaced them evenly along the rod, and added a touch of glue to keep them in position. then glued the reel on near the handle and let the glue set. from a small scrap of the wire, i made a fishhook shape.

once the glue was set i tied a piece of invisible thread to the hook with a surgeons knot. a dab of glue made sure it wouldn’t come undone. the thread was then threaded through the loops and wrapped several times round the reel. another dab of glue kept it from un-winding. i left the ends intact till the glue set, then trimmed them as close as possible. you have to look really close to see the thread, since it is, more or less….invisible. but the scale looks perfect in real life.

tumnus agrees!