CHAPTER XX

WHAT TO MAKE OF EMPTY SPOOLS

Gather up all the spools you can find, big, little, thick and thin; no matter how many, you can use them all. There is no end of fun to be had with these always-on-hand, easily found toys; they may be made into almost everything. Tell your mother that you can build

=The Parthenon=

if she will give you enough spools, and see her smile at the very idea. But say you are in earnest and ask her not to look until you call “Ready.” Then go to work and surprise her with a miniature representation of one of the most beautiful temples ever built. Begin by standing four spools in a row for the first side of the building, allowing about the width of a spool between each two. Place eight in a row for the second, four for the third, and eight for the fourth side. Have the spools all of the same size, that the walls may be alike and perfectly even, because, as you know, the walls are to be formed of columns, not as many as in the original, but enough to give an idea of the Greek temple. Build up the spools three deep into pillars; then lay a piece of pasteboard on the top of the columns for a ceiling. Bend another piece of pasteboard lengthwise through the centre for the roof, and stand it tent-like on top of the ceiling. [Illustration: Fig. 501.] You can measure the correct size of the ceiling by laying a piece of pasteboard down flat on the floor along the eight-columned side of the Parthenon to obtain the length, and placing it flat on the floor across the four-columned side to mark the width. Make the roof the same length and a little wider than the ceiling to allow for the height of the bend through the centre.

Now let your mother see

=The Little Greek Temple=

(Fig. 501) and tell her that she must imagine a space immediately beneath the roof filled in with the most beautiful statuary she can think of, that the spools are white marble columns and she should see, in fancy, another row of stately columns inside the ones you have built. Your mother will be greatly interested and can tell you all about the real Parthenon, and probably will hunt up a picture of the temple that you may see just how near you came to making the little model look like the wonderful Parthenon, on the Acropolis, in Athens.

After admiring the building for a while, pretend that a left-over spool

=Is a Venetian Shell=

shot from a cannon, and toss it gently against the roof at one end of the temple; then see the columns totter and fall, [Illustration: Fig. 502.] leaving only a portion of the Parthenon standing, in the same way that the real marble columns fell when the original structure was shattered and practically destroyed by the soldiers.

Take all the spools from the ruins, put away the ceiling and roof for future use, and make the spools into

=A Set of Furniture.=

Use four for the legs of a bedstead, place them in position and lay a piece of stiff white paper, bent up at one end, on [Illustration: Fig. 503.] top of the spools. The bed will then be ready for the doll (Fig. 502).

A table can be made in a moment’s time. Choose a large spool (Fig. 503) and place a round [Illustration: Fig. 504.] piece of paper (Fig. 504) on the top (Fig. 505). For chairs use [Illustration: Fig. 505.] spools with bent pieces of paper for seat and back. Make the bureau of six spools close together in two rows of three spools each and cut the top of a piece of paper with a high extension in the centre which you must bend upright for a mirror. The wash-stand can be four spools quite close together covered with a piece of paper. A piano is easily made, but you must think it out for yourself. Use a small spool for the piano stool.

=The Lamp=

(Fig. 506) is a spool with a little roil of white paper shoved into the hole and a circular piece of paper crimped [Illustration: Fig. 506.] around the edge for a shade. Unless you need the spools to use again in other ways you might paste the paper on tight and make a lamp which will not come apart, and you could also glue the top on the table and the seats on the chairs. This is not necessary, however, for if you are careful and do not knock against the furniture, it will remain secure.

When enough furniture has been manufactured [Illustration: Fig. 507.] for the patient little dolls who have been waiting all this time, give them a present of

=A Wagon=

in which they can enjoy the fresh air. Cut Fig. 507 from heavy paper or card-board that will fold without breaking. Bend all the dotted lines and cut all the heavy lines in the pattern. Push a burnt match, or a wooden toothpick, through one hub, then through an empty spool and the second hub. The spool forms the wheels. Screw a small pin cautiously through each of the two projecting ends [Illustration: Fig. 508.] of the match, piercing the wood and leaving the head and point of the pin standing out (Fig. 508). Tie a knot in the end of a string to prevent its sliding out and thread it through the hole in the dash-board (Fig. 508). Help the dolls into the vehicle and take them for a ride.

Next build

=A Memorial Arch=

(Fig. 509) something like the one which was erected in New York City. Commence with two groups of spools a short [Illustration: Fig. 509.] distance apart; have three in each group, two in the back and one in the front. Build up columns four spools high; then lay a strip of pasteboard across from one to the other. On top of the pasteboard place two more groups of smaller spools a little nearer together than the first groups. Make these columns two spools high and crown each with a single spool decorated with a bright-colored paper flag fastened on a slender stick pushed down in the spool. At the base of the arch add three more spools on each side (O and O, Fig. 509), and the famous structure will be completed. This is not exactly like the original, but for a spool arch it is fine, and a spool procession will feel honored to march through it.

You might make bridge piers of spools and use a strip of pasteboard to form the several spans; then the procession [Illustration: Fig. 510.] could cross the river safely and march on the other side.

Did you ever

=Blow Bubbles with a Spool=

—beautiful bubbles, which float and glide in the air with all the charm of clay-pipe bubbles? Mix strong soapsuds, dip one end of a large spool in the water; wet the spool, then blow. If the bubble refuses to appear, dip the spool in the water again, put your head down to the spool and blow a few bubbles while the spool is in the water, then quickly raise it and try again. Nine times out of ten you will succeed, and a bubble will swell out from the spool as in Fig. 510. These wooden bubble-blowers last a long time, with no danger of breaking when accidentally dropped on the floor, and you may always find enough to provide each of your playmates with one when you meet for a trial of skill in bubble-blowing.

After you tire of this sport try the

=Pretty Winged Creatures.=

Cut a butterfly (Fig. 511) from bright-colored tissue-paper or thin writing-paper, bend at dotted line and paste [Illustration: Fig. 511.] on the large end of a very small cork. Fit the small end of the cork in top of the hole [Illustration: Fig. 512.] of an empty spool (Fig. 512). Then blow through the spool and see the butterfly ascend rapidly to the ceiling and float down again. If you could make several different colored butterflies, you might invite some young friends to help you fill the room with the pretty winged creatures.

Take another empty spool and stick a common wire hairpin partially into the hole, bend the hairpin slightly down against the edge of the hole, do the same with three more hair-pins, and you will have a spool with a funnel-like opening of hair-pins at the top (Fig. 513). In the funnel place a small, light-weight ball made of a crushed bit of bright paper wound around with thread. Raise the spool to your lips and blow gently (Fig. 514). The ball will rise and fall in mid-air, in the same way that you have seen one of rubber dance at the top of a small fountain or jet of water.

Spools may do duty as

=Cannon,=

and from them sticks be made to fly quite a distance. Select a large-sized spool, cut the rim off one end, cut two dents, one on each side of the shaved end of the spool, and then tie over this end a piece of black cotton elastic. On each side tack a large button-mould; these serve for wheels and also cover the fastening of the elastic. Paint the cannon black, and it is ready for use. Insert a stick, pull it back with the elastic, and fire; the stick will shoot swiftly through the air.

There are many other toys, besides useful articles, which can be made of empty spools. Find out by experimenting what they are, so you may have the triumph of originality, of making things which differ from articles made by others.

The empty spools do not cost money, nor does the pasteboard from old pasteboard boxes, yet they may furnish more genuine enjoyment than could be derived from the most expensive toys.