Issue 52 February 2026

Miniature Time Traveller 31 Step 1. Glue the disc to a wooden ring or to four pieces of wood about 50mm thick to lift the base up. This is so the hat elastic, once threaded through a hole in the disc, can be firmly glued into place. Step 2. Cut out the labels on page 30 and glue to pots. The hat elastic is now threaded from the base through the holes drilled in the ‘paint pots’. It is then neatly knotted on the top of the top pot. Strong black cotton, double thickness, is knotted and threaded through the three pots. Put some glue on the bottom knot as you don’t want it to pull free. This will be your pull string. Glue or knot a bead on the end of it. Step 3. Paint the base to match the test pot, usually black. Step 4. Make the ladder. This can be made from card or wood, 7 cm high and 2 cm wide. Join the back and front at the top by winding cotton around both pieces but leave enough ease so it is not too rigid. Cut two cross braces, fold ends and then glue the fold backs against the uprights of the front and back sides of ladder. Cut a piece of black card, fold in two, and glue one half to the bottom of the ladder and the other half to the base, to work as a hinge. Step 5. Make the figure. You can make this any way you think is easiest. Or not even have one. Some people shy away from making Fimo figures. If you aren’t one of these, roll some white Fimo into a roll of around 4mm thick. Cut two lengths for arms. A gentle bend for an elbow and push and pull some hands that you can glue to the ladder. So the arms are flexible these were drilled through and a pin went right through the arm and body and other arm before fixing in place. The head is a ball about 1 cm in diameter. Two little balls pressed flat against his head for ears. Another little piece rolled and bent around to form a peak of a cap. The body is formed from a piece shown on right. A cut ISmade to form the legs and these are rounded out between your fingers. Pinch in a waist. Mark out a waist band. The feet are made separately out of two balls pushed flat on one side and shaped into ovals. Bake all the pieces in an oven at 110 Celsius for ten minutes. Keep an eye on them so the smaller pieces don’t singe. Once cold and hard, place the first arm into position against the body and drill a hole through the top of the arm and then right through the body. It is safer, now, to drill through the other arm on it’s own. The feet are glued to the ends of the legs. The head is glued to the top of the body. You should have a neat little man. To make the paint brush: Photocopy the shape of the brush handles onto firm card. Laminate them together. Gather some short lengths of black embroidery cotton together and flatten one end of them between your fingers. Cut them across neatly and put a line of glue across the top edge. Now glue onto the silvery area of the brush. To finish it oƯ convincingly, cut a piece of self adhesive silver paper into a strip about 2cm long and wrap around this flat part of the brush. Drill a small hole in the handle to tie a loop of cotton through. The ’How To’ Page Ladder front and back. Cut two side pieces 2.2 cm long, fold back at doƩed lines and glue these to ladder. Shoe Body