Check it out! Look what came in the mail today!

SIX POUNDS OF MARBLES!!!!! WOHOOOOO!

It is hard to contain my joy. The sad part? These aren’t for the current sculpture…they’re for the next one! That’s right, I’ve not even more than started the first, and I’m already planning the second. It’s either sad, or frenetic ambition. Should be a friggin’ outstanding visual display with all those colors, though, eh?

Oh, there was one kind of lame thing. These:

I ordered one-inch marbles, and these, my friends, are not one inch in diameter. They were obviously smaller, so I measured them: three quarters of an inch. A travesty! They sell ’em in bulk, and it’s expected that some may be damaged or chipped or whatever, but why I got over 20 marbles of the wrong size is beyond me. I’ll have to investigate and see if I can’t get some replacements. If it were one or two, no biggie, but it’s kind of a lot.

In other news, a pic of suckiness. One day a child (perhaps one of mine should the planets ever align) will look at me and say, “Hey, did you ever stink at soldering?” And I’ll say, “Here, look at this picture.”

That little half-ring of copper was supposed to be soldered to those two rails. After two hours I had blobs of hardened solder on the work surface, and then, as if to add insult to injury, the half ring fell off the rails of its own volition.

Yes, this part sucks, but I have friends on the interwebz, and they are helping me figure out what the shnizzle is going on here. It’s believed I need more flame, and some better clamps (no more bolts and washers). Now I shall take my leave. There is awesomeness to be created.