By: Robin Payton


              Spin Toy

    You take a piece of sturdy wire, less stiff than coat hangers, but not by
much.  Double the wire in two even pieces, leave an open ring handle at the
joint, and twist the rest of the wire from handle to about two inches before
the tips.

    Put one, heart-shaped pony bead on first, followed by four regular beads of
varying colors, then the bottom half only of a ring of irredescent plastic (or
the middle of a strip of colored plastic).  Put a small square of metal
(aluminum?) on next, to keep the beads "inside" the spinner from stopping the
spinning, then four more colored beads.  The little square has a thin
rectangular cut in its center, not a round cut, which allows it to spin but not
slide up and down the center wire.  Also, two opposing edges are bent downward.

    Put the top of the plastic circle (or the two ends of the strip) on next,
followed by three colored beads.  Turn the tip points back 1/2 inch, then stick
a heart-shaped bead on the four wire widths and plasticize the end, including
the final, heart-shaped bead, so that the end is not sharp and has a permanent
stopping point for the spinner. The total spinner is about a foot long (two
feet of wire), and you spin it by holding the handle in one hand and pushing up
on the bottom heart-shaped bead with the other hand.  Release before the top of
the wire, and the plastic ring spins and whirrs.

    Most of the spinners had a color scheme.  I got one for each of my kids and
a nephew.  Jessica's has gold plastic, blue and green pony beads.  Arthur's was
blue plastic, with red pony beads.  Josh's was silver plastic, but I don't
recall what color beads.  Jesse's plastic has broken already, but I think we
can repair it.

     *               heart bead, stuck on, covered w/red rubber compound
     o               green bead
     0               blue bead
     o               green bead
    /^\
  /  0  \            plastic spinner/beads inside the ring
 /   o   \
[    0    ]
 \   o   /
  \  _  /           metal square, 2 edges bent down
    \ /
     o
     0
     o
     0
     *
    ( )             handle
    (_)

    It is possible that the beads were put on in reverse order, with the
process of rubberizing the tips coming first, rather than last, and then the
handle would have to be opened up after the components were put on.