Rope-making machine!

I know what you're thinking. Rope is pretty cheap and plentiful these days... need we really a machine to make it when it can be bought for about 2 bucks at the store? Yes yes, you'd be so right about that, but where's your sense of wonder, my nay saying friend? Kids squeal with delight when they see the rope machine in action. At a family reunion for my husband's family last summer, a rope making machine was brought out and the kids found it all just the height of excitement. That gave me the yen to make one just like it. I've started out with this very easy, starter version found in (my favorite book ever) Making Things: A handbook for creative discovery (really, it's the one book I consult over and over... so many great ideas). But I want to graduate to one like this guy built (the first version, at least at first...)( and I'd like to make rope out of plastic bags like he did sometime, too). Anyway, this is a start....

And apologies for the hasty, somewhat shoddy little video here... I asked my friend to hold the camera while I performed like a rope-making monkey and she was being devoured by mosquitoes, so I was performing as quickly as possible before they drained her completely of life-giving fluids. Normally rope making is a much more leisurely pursuit.