Making Materials - Red Rods

I decided that red rods should be easy enough to make myself. Since the emphasis of this material is length, I really don't think that the size or shape of the rod is too important. The 'official' rods are 2.5cm square, but it was a whole lot easier (and cheaper) for me to use 1.2cm dowelling.

I started by cutting the 10cm and 20cm rods, and then made my measurements by placing the 10cm rod on alongside the longest-cut rod until I had cut all ten rods. Using this method, I could ensure that when we came to using the smallest rod as a comparison of the length-difference between adjacent rods, that it would make them both the same. This is more important for the work than 100% precise lengths. Overall, I gained around 2mm for each rod, which I think isn't bad considering that the cuts were not perfectly straight (and thus the dowels don't fit together with perfectly flat edges) and all the tools I had were a 30cm ruler, a tape measure, a hacksaw and a pencil!

Once the rods were cut, I sanded them down (using scraps left over from the sandpaper letters) and rounded off the edges.

Then I painted them with red acrylic.

Finally, I finished them off and sealed the paint with a coat of home made beeswax polish.

Now I just need to make something to store them in!