Developing a charging station

A while ago my husband, Wood, received a scroll sawed Christmas ornament from someone who thought he would like it. The ornament was meant to hang from a branch, and included a hole drilled for the hanger. Wood, not having a tree handy at the moment, put it on a shelf, sitting on its side.

Some days later as Wood was looking at the ornament a light turned on in his head. He could make something like it for a cell phone holder! And he could use a lathe instead of a scroll saw!

The first few attempts at making a phone holder didn’t go so well. The material he chose for the legs wasn’t sturdy enough, and they broke easily. The shape was rather blocky, although it seems strange to use that description for something that was turned on the lathe.

Wood found another source for the legs, and they became sturdy. The body was developing some shape as well. He was inspired by dragonflies, and had started working in that direction.

As he was wandering around YouTube, Wood found this video that inspired him. He played with twisting the wire in many different ways, and used different gauges of wire. He decided that he was ready to use wire in his phone holders.

In the next version of the dragonfly, wire formed the legs, wings and antenna. This version is a gradual progression from the previous ones; the antenna were on the body in the same location as the wood sticks, and the wings were very stylized.

Then Wood became adventurous. He started developing a butterfly shape. Here the antenna moved up to the head where they belonged. Actually he worked on two butterflies at the same time. Wood found that he didn’t need a “saddle” for the phone, the head would do nicely. He also figured out how to make two different shapes of wings.

The next critter Wood developed was the “fly”. The other phone holders could hold the phone right side up or on its side. The wings are far enough apart on the fly that the phone can only rest on its side. Of course, that does make charging it easier.

When the “wings” changed from wood to wire the holders pretty much lost the ability to hold tablets. Wood is talking about developing a larger version for tablets, complete with heavier gauge wire wings.