Inspiring Muse from a Bike Wheel

This "A-Muse" has been created... to hopefully amuse, and inspire!

I came up with the idea while working with kiddo's over the summer.  I felt like I had missed an opportunity while we were working in our home made journals.  Suggestions of drawing leaves, each other, or things around them were met with some resistance, and occasionally boredom.  I realized while some of those things are important for artist to explore, the kiddo's were sure there drawings wouldn't look good or accurate.  I realized looking back latter, that I should have tapped in to what i consider their best asset, their imagination, to inspire them.  The A-muse was born.

Spin the wheel, and see what's in store for you today. Hopefully a way to overcome a little bit of "writers block", and if you find yourself hoping it will land on a particular space... well consider yourself inspired, and head on your way. It's made from primarily found, and re-used materials, and my son has already decided it's addicting.  :-)

Step 1 Cutting & Drilling the wood

Things to gather for this step..

• 2x4 lumber (about 8 feet total)
• long screws (12 - 14 of them)
• wood glue
• Old bike fork
• Old bike wheel (sometimes easy to find with the former)

Tools you'll need:

• Saw of some sort
• Drill or drill press with 1 inch and 5/16 inch drill bits (the latter corresponding to your screw size).
• screw driver or bit (to fit your screws)
• safety goggles (for cutting & drilling)

Cutting the Wood
First I sketched up my concept... and decided I needed the following lengths of wood cut out of the 2x4:

• one, 26 inch piece
• one, 17 & 1/2 inch piece
• one, 9 inch piece 
• seven,  4inch pieces

And out of a scrap of 1x4:

• one,  4 inch piece

Drilling the Wood

• The 3 longer pieces (26'', 17 1/2'' & 9''), and one of the 4'' pieces, as well as the thin 4'' piece all need to be drilled in the center.
• Mark the center of those boards. (2x4 wood is not actually 4 inches wide, it's 3 & 1/2.... so it's center line is at 1& 3/4.)
• Measure the diameter of the tube of your fork. Mine is 1'' in diameter (many bikes have a different diameter)
• Using the 1'' drill bit , drill a hole through the boards you marked the center of. Be sure to line the tip of your bit up with your center markings.

At this point I checked to make sure all the holes would fit the tube of my fork, some were fairly tight, a little wax from a candle made it easier to slip on & off.