Lost Childhood Object

My partner was Jay. His favorite lost childhood object was a wooden circle puzzle that had spikes. He described it as having a few sharp edges, the size of a baseball, which was a puzzle. I have a wooden ball the size of a baseball, so I started out with that. My original idea was to draw cut-out looking puzzle pieces on the wooden ball, then glue these chocolate-filled waffle cones to it. I had these chocolate-filled waffle cones for a snack. I thought that would make the perfect spikes. Unfortunately, that did not work. The cone's base was jagged and wouldn't stay glued onto a ball, so I had to think of another way to recreate Jay's object. 

I went to art class to explore the available materials. I saw that there were aluminum sheets. I wrapped the wooden ball with aluminum sheets, and the leftover aluminum I shaped into a spike. I repeated the process several times to have spikes on the ball as he described. The material was much easier to use on a circle than glue. 

It was cool to see Jay's reaction to the recreation of his object that he described to me. I knew a big part of it was a puzzle. I explained that the puzzle lay in the unwrapping process. When he peels back the aluminum, he will uncover the wooden ball hidden inside. He said he liked it, which made me feel proud. The physical material helped trigger his memory, making the experience feel both interactive and meaningful.