Noah's Raft: the Tiny One

The competition 'create something tiny' caught my eye. I thought where do I need something tiny? And since I made a water based Zen garden recently I thought: Noah's ark is too ambitious, but let me try the raft.

You see, an un-swept area is a great resource,
then you need a knife (don't take mum's best kitchen knife - at least ask her!) a cutting board, a scissors and some thread.

I forgot the band aid in the supplies, so rather always cut away from your fingers. The 'logs' for the raft are easy to cut, the rudder is next level carving. I found a soft branch of a pine, worked a treat.

This was the most tedious I've done in a long time. Tying these tiny 'logs' together took all my patience. Tie the thread to the outer log, then twist it between the other logs and the cross bar. Have the log with the branch in the center to later tie the rudder to. You have to pass the thread between the logs, helps to add a tiny amount of glue from a glue stick to the start of the thread, once it is a bit stiff, it is a lot easier to handle.

Once you done one side, wipe the sweat out of your eyes and do the other side. I found that one even more tricky, now you can't weave the thread between the logs anymore. You need to pass the thread between the logs. Good luck, nearly there!

A raft needs a rudder for steering.

Select a thread that is a bit thicker - I noticed I should have used a slightly thicker thread from the beginning. That thin one was tricky to handle! When tying a small part like the rudder, keep the thread long enough - makes it so much easier to tie the knots.

One moment the raft was still in the shipyard, then a big storm came and blew it on the mountain, you can see it stranded there.

Here you go: The resting place of Noah's raft - a Zen water garden that I recently built for an other project.

I have to say, going tiny was fun and the Zen garden looks so much better for it. Give it a try - build something tiny!