The techno-wizard staff



Full view     The science fiction club I belong to, LASFS, has a large lemon tree. I long thought it was grown from the seed of a store-bought lemon, but I was wrong.

My friend, Rick Young, reports the following: " It came from a lemon off of the tree in my back yard at 5705 Elmer Avenue in N. Hollywood. The seed was sprouting inside the lemon when I cut it open, and I transferred the sprouting seed into a 5 gallon planter, where it continued to grow beside my back door for about two years."

The tree is quite large, giving us considerable shade. However, it needs regular trimming. Back in the Autumn of 1996, I salvaged a branch about 5' 6" long and allowed it to dry unstraightened. Next spring, I removed the bark, sanded it smooth and sealed it. The base has a brass foot nailed to it for protection. At the top and bottom there are turk's head knots of rawhide, and there's a conveniently placed rawhide grip. The ball at the top is leaded crystal, mounted on a one cell maglite.

Mike Morris gave me quite a bit of help with this, including drilling the hole for the maglite and doing the wiring. There are various semi-precious gems, devices and doo-dads glued or otherwise fastened to it, including a companss, a 486/SX CPU and a 2300 year old metal arrowhead from China. Things get added to it on an irregular basis, as I run acrooss them, making it a work in progress. If you ever see me at a convention, I'll probably be carrying it, and it makes part of a great Halloween costume, as a techno-vampire. Below are several closeups of the top.

Left view Center view right view


Night view

It also lights up at night, as you can see.

The picture at the top is not a trick shot; the staff can actually be left standing up, if the ground is right. See how I did it.



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