Fidget Spinners.
Yep. Fidget Spinners. I make fidget spinners.
"Fidget Spinners are a dumb fad."
WAIT…
What’s this?
Precision milled metals, sleek industrial designs, futuristic designs, steampunk-ish designs, compelling original concepts – artists creating art in the form of a fidget spinner!?!
Steel, Brass, Aluminum, Copper… more wondrous metals: damascus, mokume, superconductor – etches, reverse etches.
Brain, exploding.
My collection of “high-end” spinners began to grow.
And I wanted to make one…
100% hooked on this “dumb fad”.
Sooo...
what about a wood spinner?
Wood & metal spinner?
Could it be done?
Done well?
There were endless questions, but I had some materials and some tools.
Things were quite rudimentary in the beginning, but it was fun.
My initial attempts were with a variety of ball bearing as weights.
It was clunky and messy as heck.
Using superglue that dried too fast, trying to set 2 slick bearings in each hole, evenly spaced, before the glue dries.. was ridiculous, to say the least.
After some marginal success, I still knew little to nothing about how to properly finish and polish the wood, let alone these odd, messy pieces. But I kept going.
I discovered sources for wood, metal, caps, bearings, and experimented ALOT.
Eventually, I leveled up, attempting to recreate a more elaborate version of what I’d seen from knife makers attaching handles.
Pins
steel, copper, & brass rods
Setting pins through the wood for weights, sanding and finishing smooth, with some seriously rad wood.
Sourcing and procuring material became a wonderful treasure hunt as visions of spinners rolled through my mind.
After a good bit of trial and error, I found some kinda groove.
Nothing was easy.
Kept learning.
Kept grinding...
& polishing.
what about the balance on these hand-made spinners?
Many of my spinners are, for all intents and purposes, “perfectly” balanced: you can balance it on 1 finger and it’s not spinning right off… usually. Haha!
The majority of my pieces cannot hold up to the experience of a technically perfect spin from a precision-milled metal, fine-tuned spinning machine.
But, that’s kind of the point…
these are hand made, hand shaped.
A super-sweet, silky-smooth fidget with a unique look and feel.
Don’t get me wrong – I like spinners to be balanced.
I constantly strive for that “perfect” spin. With my process as it exists currently, it’s not always perfect.
Each project is a unique piece with unique materials and unique challenges.
A lil bit o wobble is part of the character.
unique pieces of fidgety art
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Hope you enjoyed reading a bit about my lil spinny creations.
Thanks for hanging out!
