Scavenger Chic

Very Hungry Caterpillar, DIY Jacob’s Ladder

• By Joan
• October 27, 2021
• 3 Comments

DIY Jacob’s Ladder

Today we’re making a vintage inspired toy, a Jacob’s Ladder. From Wikipedia, A Jacob’s ladder (also magic tablets, Chinese blocks, and klick-klack toy^[) is a folk toy consisting of blocks of wood held together by strings or ribbons. When the ladder is held at one end, blocks appear to cascade down the strings. This effect is a visual illusion which is the result of one block after another flipping over. It may be considered a kinetic illusion, where the blocks appear to change position when they do not.

It sounds so much more complicated than it actually is.  I think you’ll have fun making this one.

Gather your supplies.  I’m using this scrap piece of 1/2″ thick,  3 1/2″ wide wood and 1/4″ to 3/8″ ribbon. The ribbon should be double sided as it will be flipping back and forth when you are using your toy. I also used upholstery tacks, paint, paint pens and spray varnish.

You don’t need as much ribbon as I’m showing, I just haven’t picked out my color yet. You’ll probably use about 6 feet.

Cut 8 equal pieces of your scrap wood, about 2 1/2″ wide.

Sand all your splintery rough edges.

Paint in the color of your choice.  You may also want to consider multi-colors like they did here  or leave as natural wood.

As often happens when you paint or varnish raw wood, any remaining wood fibers will stiffen and make your wood surface rough.  Use fine sandpaper to knock off any of these rough fibers and repaint as necessary.

I considered drawing  a tall thin person on my Jacob’s ladder, somewhat inspired by this vintage Jacob’s Ladder.  Or a very tall giraffe, but I couldn’t think of an equally tall animal to put on the reverse side.  I also considered some fun doodles but I eventually decided on a caterpillar.  Easy to make him as long or as short as needed.

I’m using three paint pens, white, orange and black.

A couple orange spots on each caterpillar segment.

Finished off the caterpillar by outlining the orange spots and antennae in black.  

A quick spray of clear varnish completes the front side of my Jacob’s ladder.

Since I had a caterpillar on the front, might as well go full The Very Hungry Caterpillar on the reverse.  If you’re unfamiliar with this children’s book, a very hungry caterpillar eats lots of food throughout a very long filling week and eventually turns into a beautiful butterfly.  For most of the book he eats very healthy, but on Saturday it’s mostly junk food.  Most of my food doodles are from the Saturday binge.

Lollipop, pie, cupcake and watermelon.

Ice cream cone, pickle  (that is not a potato with flies), and swiss cheese.

When your drawings are complete, finish with your spray varnish.

Lay out your caterpillar in order.  Cut 3 pieces of ribbon 6″ longer than the length of the caterpillar.

Weave the ribbon throughout your caterpillar like shown above.

On the first piece of caterpillar nail or tack down the ribbon as shown. Fold the ribbon over and make sure your nails have a head to hold the ribbon in place.

I’m using upholstery tacks.

On the opposite side of the same piece, tack down the single ribbon.  Again, folding over the ribbon so it doesn’t fray.

Each caterpillar segment will have 2 tacks on the left side of the wood block and one on the right.

Once you’ve tacked down the ends of the ribbon, fold up the entire Jacob’s ladder and straighten the ribbon.  Do not over tighten the ribbon.  Clamp together so it doesn’t move.

You’ll be putting a tack wherever the ribbon meets the wood.

I’m giving you a better idea how the wood is stacked.  If you have all solid colors you won’t have to worry about what direction your pieces are, but with a caterpillar, you’ll want them to be in order. Notice the front to front, back to back sequence.

Back to the tacking…once you get to the end, cut off any excess ribbon leaving enough to fold over and tack in place.

Turn over and repeat for the opposite side.

 

Time to play.  Fold over the top piece and watch the wooden tiles cascade to the bottom.

Fold over the opposite way and you get the food side.

I made the toy and I still don’t know how it works.  Magical!

Do you have a young one in your life who would enjoy this toy?  Definitely a throwback to my childhood.

Enjoy.  Until next time, stay inspired.

 

 

This was not my first Jacob’s Ladder.  This is one I made for my middle son Kevin, upon graduation from high school.  It accompanied his  announcement and invitation to a family graduation party.  This one is also smaller, cut out of 1/4 inch plywood, 3″x1 1/4″ and 1/4″ ribbon.

This is both sides of the graduation invitation Jacob’s ladder.  It includes pictures throughout my son’s life up until graduation.  The last picture on the left, even though it has a ribbon over it, is Kevin in his cap and gown. Just print out on your home printer and modpodge in place.

The Jacob’s Ladder goes along with my last vintage inspired wooden toy, color cube design blocks.