A Sculpture That Defies Gravity, Amaze Your Friends, & Easy to Make.

Ok, many people have Santa fixations and some have Tensegrity ones but how many have both? At least two, me and maybe you for viewing this "Ible".

This Ible will show you how to create a unique heirloom sculpture for the next Christmas season and those years to come.

Enjoy and please comment on which name you like best (Santasmic or Santegrity or you may have a better one). We are thinking having these in our club fundraiser so want a great name.

Bonus: If you want the genesis of this idea, I've provided the background in the last step.

Wood for Reindeer & Santa - 1/8" or 1/4" plywood (8"x12") Amazon has ,many options -- you can also use MDF or even thick card stock

Base - 1/2" plywood (4"x8") or your wood of choice or thick card stock

Thread or 5lbs fishing line

Dowel Rod - 1/4" D

Screws - 1/8" D x 1"

Scroll Saw

Since it was Christmas time, I wanted to doing something with Santa and a Sleigh. I thought it would be funny to see Santa flying over his reindeer vs being pulled by them. I was also inspired by Rob Ives (amazingly talented guy) who makes paper automata. He made one called flying man and made a variant called flying santa. So I did a mashup and created a sort of FrankenSanta.

Next, I needed to come up with my Rudolph and found a great site from Steve Good (a scroll saw master). He had a free pattern for a 3D-ish reindeer.

Now, I just needed to come up with a way to tensegrify all this which turned out pretty cool I think.

For those that never used a scroll saw, it's one of the easiest tools to use and you can often find these tools on craigslist for under $50. It's a great tool for kids too (with supervision of course). If you don't have access to a scroll saw, you can use thick card stock and scissors too.

So this step, is just laying out your pattern and cutting it out. All done in < 30mins. Pretty easy, right.

Next you assemble the deer and Santa to create the 3D components and paint. If you did the scroll saw well, the parts connect together without needing glue.

Ok this step took a few experimental tries. Originally, I was going to use those stirring sticks you get at Starbucks for the level element but I was making something else using metal rods so I thought that might work better. I hammered one end flat and then drilled a hole to hold a loop of fishing line. Then I drilled a hole in Santa's shin (sorry Santa) and some holes in his mittens to accept thread. Finally, add two dowels to the base board using screws thru their middle. These dowels have thread wrapped around that connect to Santa's mittens so you can perfectly balance him. (If you don't have a metal rod, you could use a wooden skewer and soak it in water for a day then form a gentle bend.)

Now you have everything all set to do the fun part but you have to be patient. With the rod in Santa's shin, you place the loop of fishing line around the reindeer's antlers and lean Santa back. I added Santa's bag of presents to add more back weight.

The critical part, while holding Santa with one hand, you wind the each side reel that has the thread wrapped around which is also connected to Santa's mittens so you can perfectly balance Santa. If you tighten too much, Santa will tip too far forward. If too loose, he'll fall back. It takes a few tries but once you have it - it's magical. (BTW, the rubber band was to allow easy transport, once you glue down the reindeer, it's not needed.)

Well that's it! Surprisingly, once you have the structure balanced, it's fairly stable. Mine stayed up all Christmas.

But wait there's more. Why stop with one Santegrity when you can have too? So I supersized it.

I told the little neighbor kids that next year we'll make an even bigger one so they can take Santa's place and float on top. (Thank GOD they have short term memories.)

Hope you liked this "Ible" and early Merry Christmas.

(P.S. I'm working on a new Tensegrity called Click-Bait - still engineering it in my brain but hope to be a future "Ible" - unless the "Ible" Gods tell me otherwise.

"Ibler" you know that can’t be for long and you sense the "Ible" Gods will be calling you back. I just had to wait for the exact right moment for my tensegrity coronation.

That opportunity came almost a year and a half later in the "Ible - Art and Sculpture Contest". I thought this is my chance, my tensegrity work would finally have the chance to shine. I created AirVase II with impossible triangle to elevate it further. AV2 would be my gift to the tensegrity world!

Yet, astonishingly I was shunned a 3rd time. Oh the humanity! Why oh why is this happening to me? Am I just a tensegrity failure? Do I need to sacrifice one of my woodworking tools? I needed to check in for a tensegrity detox.

But then something magical happened, the "Ible" Gods held an ”On a Budget Challenge”. I was excited since that is where my roots are. That is, making stuff out of discarded objects. At last, the "Ible" Gods smiled and I won my first grand prize for Swirl Bowl. My tensegrity time out worked. I was beside myself - ecstatic - my dreams were finally realized - I was complete.

Now, fast forward to today and this "Ible - Anything Goes Challenge". Yes you guessed it, my tensegrity muse was calling again. I tried to look away but like an eclipse you just can't avoid it calling you. So I thought about my past attempts and what was missing. Also, it was during Christmas time and while I was making more kazoos for our wood club's disadvantaged children (and Heart-Tag necklaces, a future "Ible") something stuck me. I was creating tensegrities for the wrong reason, my own self arrogance, My mom would tell us kids, "Don't break your arm patting yourself on your back". I needed to change my perspective to a more giving approach, you know like Santa Claus.

So this "Ible" is dedicated to Santa and Christmas and the goodness they represent in the world.

That's my genesis story. Sorry for the very long intro but I thought it was important for you to understand my journey and never giving up on your passions. Perhaps this will be a journey that you may choose to take or at least explore yourself via this "Ible". But seriously, It's truly tensegrities are magical and people are amazed that these structures are even possible. BTW, making this tensegrity sculpture is pretty easy and it would have been very short "Ible" read without the intro which is equally fun to do. :-)

Enjoy and please comment on which name you like best (Santasmic or Santegrity or you may have a better one). We are thinking having these in our club fundraiser so want a great name.