Made On Earth
Reports from the world of backyard technology
Stick City
The ping-pong ball routes are essential for
a full appreciation of the details, which are
so numerous and uniform in color that they
risk being overlooked. The main tour starts
at Coit Tower, wraps under a Rice-A-Roni
cable car, through the Transamerica Pyramid,
out to the Cliff House, down Lombard Street
to Chinatown, back toward the Palace of
Fine Arts, out around the windmill at Ocean
Beach, across the Golden Gate Bridge, over
Humphrey the humpback whale, behind
Alcatraz, by the Maritime Museum, ending
in the long-lost Fleishhacker Pool.
At Maker Faire Bay Area 2011, Weaver
earned Editor’s Choice blue ribbons and
had perhaps one of the most photographed
projects at the Faire. He is fueled by seeing
people’s reactions to his work, recognizing
the madness in his method. “What kind of
eccentric idiot would spend thousands of
hours making a toothpick sculpture?
That’s me!” —Goli Mohammadi
rollingthroughthebay.com
When Scott Weaver first started gluing
toothpicks together to create sculptures at
the age of 8, little did he know he would later
embark on a monumental 34-year journey
toward completion of his epic Rolling Through
the Bay sculpture.
The fourth-generation San Franciscan
started Rolling Through the Bay in 1974 as
a smaller piece that featured his signature
ping-pong ball path running through it. He
continued to work on the piece off and on
until 2008, when he debuted it at the Sonoma
County Fair, winning Best of Show. Utilizing
a staggering 100,000 toothpicks, it stands 9
feet tall, 7 feet wide, and 30 inches deep, and
features four different ping-pong ball routes
that start at entry points atop the piece and
travel past San Francisco landmarks. Weaver
uses only Elmer’s white glue.
Luigi Anzivino/Exploratorium
18 Make: makezine.com/30
