Okay, so I decided to mess around in the workshop the other day. Had this weird phrase stuck in my head – “rubber dancing sleeper timber” – don’t ask me where it came from, just popped in there. Figured I’d see if I could make something out of it, you know, literally.

Getting the Bits Together

First thing, I needed the materials. Rooted around the scrap pile. Found a decent chunk of wood, pretty solid, heavy-ish. Looked kinda like an old railway sleeper, or at least the vibe was right, so that became my ‘sleeper’.

Then, the ‘rubber’. Had some leftover thick rubber sheeting from a different project. Also found some old bungee cords that had lost their stretch but the rubber core was still okay. Decided the sheeting was probably easier to work with.

For the ‘timber’ part, I needed something lighter, something that could potentially ‘dance’. Spotted a few thin pieces of planed timber, almost like large stirring sticks or maybe offcuts from a frame. Yeah, those looked about right.

Putting it Together

So, I had my main parts:

• The heavy wood block (sleeper)
• Strips of rubber sheeting
• Thin timber sticks

My idea, vague as it was, involved making the timber move using the rubber, mounted on the sleeper. I started by cleaning the big wood block, just brushed off the sawdust and grime. Then I cut the rubber sheeting into several strips, maybe an inch wide.

I tried a few ways to attach things. First, I thought about gluing the rubber onto the wood block, then somehow fixing the timber sticks to the rubber. But that seemed messy and maybe too rigid. I wanted movement, that ‘dancing’ bit.

Then I had another idea. I stretched two strips of the rubber tightly across the top surface of the sleeper block, fastening them underneath with some heavy-duty staples. Pulled them pretty taut.

Next, I took the thin timber pieces. Carefully, I started wedging one end of each timber stick under the taut rubber strips. Because the rubber was stretched, it held the timber pieces pretty firmly, but also allowed them some spring. I arranged them sticking upwards, slightly angled.

The Result?

So, what I ended up with was this heavy wood block, the ‘sleeper’, with two rubber bands stretched across the top. Tucked under these bands were several thin timber sticks, sticking up and out at various angles.

And the ‘dancing’ part? Well, if you gave the main wood block a good tap, or even just thumped the workbench nearby, the vibration travelled up. The rubber strips would vibrate, and this made the light timber sticks wobble and shake quite noticeably. It wasn’t exactly ballet, but yeah, they sort of ‘danced’ in their own weird way. Made a soft, rattling sound too.

It doesn’t do anything useful, really. Just sits there looking a bit strange. But it was a fun little experiment, making something tangible out of that weird phrase. Spent a couple of hours just tinkering and seeing what happened. That’s the process, from start to finish. Just messing with materials and seeing where it leads. Sometimes that’s the best kind of making.