Animal magnetism.

I finished Jordi’s main birthday present last week. His birthday was on August 1st.

Months ago, Jordi mentioned that none of the magnets on his fridge belonged to him. “I don’t have a fridge magnet.”

My heart broke. Then I remembered that he has a cat, and I do not. I have many fridge magnets but no cat.

And that was my inspiration:

I started the mini-project on July 20th. I intended to finish it in time for his birthday.

It wasn’t going well at first:

I discovered that I couldn’t add details without deforming the base. I gambled when I baked the base, assuming I could add the details after baking. I’d pulled it off years ago with Fimo, but I used Sculpey this time.

It worked just fine. I went overboard with the details, though, and worried that it would be too brittle to use as a fridge magnet. An old colleague from my outdoor gear store days now works at one of the art supply shops in town. They advised me to coat the twice-baked project with Mod Podge.

After adding the first layer of Mod Podge, I turned around the bottle to see how long I’d need to wait in between applications. 30 minutes. Cool. But then I got to the part where it said it’d take 28 days to cure fully.

At least I let Jordi see his present before he could take it home. This is when I learned that Jordi refused to use it as a fridge magnet. What if it breaks?!

But… we just waited over 28 days for the Mod Podge to cure! Now, you won’t even use it as a fridge magnet?

My alternative plan was to put it in a shadow box. I had to explain to Jordi what a shadow box was. Yeah, I am a full-blown art nerd–just not a productive one.

I was surprised at just how difficult it was to find a shadow box small enough. But I did. On Amazon. Ugh. The shadow box shipped quickly, and it was perfect.

Hmm… I could secure the Klaus sculpture inside the shadow box with… MAGNETS.

I was surprised by the poor selection of magnets for craft projects everywhere I looked. Maybe I’d have to throw some money Bezos’ way… again.

Then, while on a mission to buy a tub of protein powder from the Walton Boutique, I decided to check out BC Hobbies, a masculine-leaning hobby shop inside the mall, next to the Walton Boutique. This place sells model kits, train sets, Lego sets, RC cars/boats/aircraft, Anime figures. 3D printers, etc. I did not see magnets.

I asked a store employee anyway, expecting a, “Sorry, no.”

Oh, BC Hobbies had magnets. They were so strong that they had to be kept behind the counter, like guns. The magnets came in canisters, unlike guns. (I think? I’m not a gun person.)

“Are they sold individually?”

“Yep.”

The size I wanted had plastic washers sandwiched between each magnet. I watched as the staff person struggled to pry apart a pair of magnets.

“No, I’ll take two.”

THEY WERE TEN DOLLARS EACH. The presumably weak-fingered staff person slipped the pair and the plastic washer in a mini resealable plastic bag. I put the magnets in the pants pocket opposite the one my phone was in. I remembered Yann’s hilarious story about his cousins–when they were kids–fucking around with running magnets over the screen of the family CRT tv, permanently altering the picture so that they were stuck watching everything on tv in green for years.

When I got home, I held the little bag before my fridge. When the bag was about five inches away, it slipped out of my hands and smacked the fridge. My roomie, seated at the kitchen table, spun around to see what I was doing. Then he suggested I look up their strength rating.

22 pounds.

I’d spent hours looking into shops for magnets, and they were all shitty. Except for the ones at BC Hobbies, which were way too strong for their intended purpose.

But it also worked perfectly. I put one magnet in the middle of a square piece of cardboard, and I crazy-glued the other magnet to the back of the project I’d spent hours working on and days waiting to cure.

Now, Jordi can remove the sculpture from the shadow box to use as a fridge magnet or change the background from black felt to… whatever. He could probably also use the magnet to erase his brain if he wanted to.

The birthday gift has officially been gifted.

So much effort for such a small gift!