About

While I was working at a summer recreation program some years ago, I found a box of toothpicks on a table. It was open, and I pulled out a few. Holding some in each hand and fitting the ends together, it reminded me of how logs fit together at the corners of a log cabin. One of the kids walked over and asked what I was doing, so I explained. Next thing I knew, we had decided to try to make a log cabin out of the toothpicks with the help of some Elmer's glue. Working at it off and on over the next few days, we figured it out as we went, and at the end of the week, she had a log cabin to take home. Later, after the program was over, I made one of my own.

Eventually I tried another project. I decided to stick to the theme of log buildings, at least for the time. I used the size of the toothpicks to determine the size of the structures. Doing this also kept the buildings in reasonable proportion to one another. Later, I also tried working with flat toothpicks and "round toothpicks with a square center," as the box was labeled. (Square toothpicks, as far as I'm concerned!) Structures made with these came out looking more like buildings I had seen in old west mining towns. So, my final theme was set. I would be making an old west mining town, however it would also include a few other structures that would not be out of place in that kind of setting.

Future plans: Anything that could be found in a town in the Old West. As I make new structures, I plan on adding pictures of them as well.