.

I remember about two years ago when I started doing these things I was reading someone’s online account of building rolling ball sculptures. He had a photo up of one part of the process, some copper clamped up in a vise with a bunch of wood, and the accompanying text said something like, “I have built clamps to hold sections of track so that I can solder them appropriately.” I remember thinking, “No way, man, not me. I’m not going to get that involved. That guy is obviously going much further than I’m going to go. That’s kind of ridiculous, all that effort just to solder one joint.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: a photo of me having achieved the ridiculous. (For the record, it worked, and nothing less than this conglomeration of clamps, wood, and wire would have made it possible.)