WoodCraft

A friend's son just had his birthday the other day. Sitting with the birthday boy and helping him sorting out his presents, we came across a box of woodcraft toys or construction kit. Well, well..that looks interesting.

What? Oh, let's back track a bit. I am not talking about those complicated, puzzling, time consuming toys that needed you to study the instruction guide in order to build a prism, the leaning tower of Pisa or the Petronas Twin Tower. Nor am I saying anything about using a saw, clamps, scrapers, chisels, nails or things that needed to be sanded. :) A history of getting cuts here & there and hitting the nail on the thumb has made me stay away from those dangerous tools :p



These are just normal safe woodcraft puzzles to help keep your mind and hands nimble. This one was an owl woodcraft. The assembling instructions were minimal but how hard can it be, right? After all, it is recommended for 7 years +:)

Seeing the look in my eyes, Adrian (the friend's son) was amused. He told me to keep it as it was child's play to him. Smiling sheepishly, I started to pressed out the pre-cut ply wood pieces. This is fun.. no tools or glue needed. It says to just look at the photo and match the numbers according to the sequences.



Hmm.. 1 hour has gone by, and the dragon does not seem to get on well. I have done the body but the head just seems odd. 2 hours now..and it's becoming more challenging. Hmm..I was puzzled..why doesn't the right leg looks the same as in the pix. With one tongue now out and the blouse sleeves pulled right up, I am having another go at it.

4 hours and this is becoming a nightmare. Why can't the dragon stand up? I have put all the tiny fiddly little pieces together and there are some which keep falling out again! How frustrating it is when you have to deconstructed half of the dragon in order to take out a piece that was wrongly fitted in.

5 hours now and 5 pieces which do not fit anywhere. Pushing the puzzle aside, I took a pillow and lay flat on the carpet. 'Suzy! I give up. There's no way on earth that anyone can finish that sxxxxd dragon.'

Adrian's Dad, Lionel, came and look at the balance of the pieces. Smiling, he pulled out a bit here, a bit there, push this in and change a bit there. 'Voila! C'est fini.' Yucks..he managed to do the dragon in just 10 minutes!

They were all laughing at me! ooo.. I just do not want to hear the word 'woodcraft' anymore. Walking dazedly to the car (with the dragon in a plastic bag..a souvenir from the Lawrence family) I just could not wait to reach home :p