WANT ITT? WELL, HERE'S HOW TO GET ITT!

This is my "test" ITT standing in my daughter's front yard. There are NO glues or pins securing the items in place (just wrapped and tied to itself around the tomato cage at this point). After buying the things I needed it dawned on me I had no glue for my glue gun and no extra money to buy it (not even an extra dollar). So, I said to myself, "Self, there MUST be a way to make ITT multi-purpose, just in case ITT needs to become useful to the family in some other capacity." My brain went into action like Winnie the Pooh's when he is trying to get honey "Think, think, think!" I came up with the solution and am going to show you in this article what I did once I saved the money to get the supplies I needed for ITT.

By searching around the house I came up with some substitutes for double-pointed U-shaped nails (not in picture are the 2 rubber bands, the 2nd paper clip, and the 2 safety pins also used).

So this is the picture of the very basics needed to create ITT and what I began with --- NOT counting the items in the above picture which I later used to secure everything once I disassembled my "test" ITT and got it all back to my place.

When I got home from my daughter's house I tied the 3 staves together (that are normally shoved into the ground). I used 2 rubber bands (from my granddaughters' supply for their tie-dye adventures). This will be where the wig head rests.

Here you can see a piece of twisted raffia that serves as a tie which I snuggly tied around a frame post. I then began wrapping the raffia skirt around the tomato cage and in-between each post, as well as at each post, I secured it to the tomato frame using twist ties saved from garbage bag boxes (since I just tie them closed, saving the twist ties for something else .... like this for instance LOL).

After about two and a half times around I could see that I was coming to the end of the first table skirt, and I wanted to secure it around the neck of the wig head so I began the climb toward the point where the head would sit and tightly secured it halfway up the frame pole.

The wig head has a hole in the bottom of it that is just right for putting over the points and snuggly fitting onto the tripod created by tying the staves together like I did.

Next I took the end of the raffia and pulled it up and around the neck (because the flared area at the base of the neck can support it nicely) and then pulled the end through the raffia and back toward the back of the neck, where I secured it. It is time now to being using the second table skirt to complete ITT.

Here, as you can plainly see, ITT is partially finished. Now on to part two of my project, using the second raffia table skirt to complete it.

Here is the second raffia table skirt being tied around the neck of the wig head to secure it, however there are no knots to hold it in place. Rather, I used a series of loops to lace it snugly and securely around itself AND the end of the first skirt.

After about 3 circles around the neck I had the raffia "climb" up the face over the bridge of the nose toward the top of the head. You can see a dark spot on the raffia edge where I secure it in place with a bobbypin.

In this photo you can actually see the bobbypin I used, near the top of the head, to secure the raffia in place. Then I began to wrap it around the circumference of the wig head, leaving the top exposed, since the hat would be covering it anyway. At one point I only had 2 paper clips left that I wanted to use at the end, so I grabbed to safety pins and pushed them into the head while I held onto it so it wouldn't be pushed too far down on the spikey ends inside the head. For the last 2 raffia wrap 2 paper clips that I straightened out and shaped into a U-shape. I used them not only to secure the final raffia wrapping but also the two (once more) before it .... better safe than sorry. Of course, I pushed them all the way down to create a snug grip. After securing the final wrap in place I began to tie off the end

, as you can see in this picture.

This is a close up of the end secured around itself without actually creating a knot.

THIS is my version of Cousin ITT, on my front porch. He blew over at the slightest breeze, however, so I am going to have to get some heavy bricks to place on the base wires to keep him upright .... absolutely NO laying down on the job! LOL