I’ve always stained ply after cutting, I wouldn’t stain before because as you say we don’t always know what is in the stains so could cause toxic fumes, etc…
Yeah, the base needs a bit of finessing…
I wonder if you cut thicker rings and less of them then you could make short pins (like from panel pins or similar) which would allow you to join together pairs of rings together and get the independent rotations?
I can picture it in my head but not sure how to describe what I’m thinking but happy to discuss…
I was thinking of something more delicate that would allow you to keep loads of the rings and not need so much clearance between them but I’ll sketch it next time I see you…
We are starting to look at our content inclusion for the Dulwich festival Maker fair we have a “Don’t be Shy! submit your Make” event happening on Friday. Would this be of any interest to you maybe and/or do you know anyone else I can reach out too?