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Dances with Elephants, Part VI - Made to measure. 10/8/2006

Elephant Man got hold of the template for Mados’ harness yesterday, and brought it down to the sanctuary for a fitting. Eatly this afternoon, I got a call from the Elephant Man, and he introduced Maria to me. Maria had a few suggestions to make about the harness, and I agreed that it would be an easier to produce design.

I rocked in to the canvas maker, with a few thoughts forming inside my head, and after a few minutes explaining the harness and how I wanted it, they set to work.

We took the material K. supplied us, and began cutting out the 2 main pieces that the harness would consist of. A belly sling, and a collar. The collar would be attached to the sides of the belly sling, and the sling would have 4 lifting rings at the top. Easy to make, and easy to modify.

While the young lad was doing the cutting and measuring, Bikebike II waited patiently in the sun for me.

I had taken the basic design that I. had given us, simplified it according to Maria’s suggestions, and based on the measurements taken today by the Elephant Man and Maria, and incorporated a few things of my own. Like padding, as requested by both K. and Maria. I had a sniff around the canvas maker’s place, and dug out some stuff they had lying around. After some discussion, where I changed their mindset from designing things on a human scale, and then considering how to apply to something the size of an elephant, we decided to incorporate the pads directly into the sling itself.

We did this by cutting out 2 sleeves.

Then stuffing them with foam, and we ended up with 2 nice pillows.

We then sewed the pillows into the material

This now gave us the basis of the belly sling and the collar. Things were shaping up nicely, and according to the diagram I had in my mind.

The next step was to position and adjust the straps and buckles for the connection of the collar to the belly sling. This is where I started having a couple of doubts. I wanted to make the collar adjustable, in case this harness didn’t quite fit Mados. The young lad doing the work assured me that I could bring the sling back anytime, and we could make adjustments to suit.

I went back to basics, and decided on setting everything halfway, so that we had the maximum range of allowable adjustment. In case that wasn’t enough, then we would bring the sling back for modifications. But based on discussions with K. and my phone call with Maria, this would fit the little guy, and bring him upright.

The completed item was I had imagined it. It now remains to be seen if it works tomorrow, when I get down to the Sanctuary.

After loading the harness onto Bikebike II, I asked the shop owner about the cost, and he said it all cost exactly US$100. Not too bad, I suppose, for me walking in at 2:30 in the afternoon, and loading the harness onto my bike 4 hours later.

If any of the readers of Hunting the Snark would like to help in sharing in the cost of the harness, please leave a comment, and I’ll get in touch with you and let you know the arrangements. In any case, any contributions are gratefully accepted by the Sanctuary, but in this case, your kind donation will be channeled directly to Mados, instead of going into a common fund.

At this point, I would like to extend a very heart felt thanks to a certain fan of Hunting the Snark, who very kindly informed me in person Friday night that she had made arrangements for help to be extended to Mados. I would like to sincerely thank her very much, and I’m sure Mados will be equally as grateful for her kind help.

Oh, and she managed to impress the hell out of me this morning as well.

Correction :  In reference to the sentence above where I mentioned loading the harness onto my bike.  As of 10:00 p.m. Friday night, Bikebike II no longer belongs to me.  Her current owner was kind enough to let me use her for a few more days until I sort out her replacement.

Comments»

1. sasha - 10/8/2006

You know where to find me, & RM100 goes to Mados’ fund.

2. Dr. Tan - 10/8/2006

Dude, for all your anonimity, your number plate is there. Heh

3. viceice - 10/8/2006

I was just about to say that, but Dr.Tan beat me to it.. lol

4. thesnark - 10/8/2006

Dr Tan : The bike no longer belongs to me. The likelyhood of anyone tracking down the current owner, unless you know specifically where to look for that person, is practically nil.

5. KY - 10/9/2006

please post a picture of bikebike2’s new owner, kthxbai

6. bikerwannabe - 10/9/2006

Dude, knock off RM50 from what you owe me and channel it toward Mados’ rig…

Too bad bikebike2 had to go… hope you washed it before handing it over… heh heh…

*cabut*…