Medium Olives

Slightly Smaller Than The Big Olive

January 2003

Explanation

The Big Olive is probably one of the most fun projects I've worked on in the past couple of years, but it oesn't have a happy ending. The olive stayed on my antenna just fine, but it was so big that it dragged the antenna lower and lower. Radio reception started to suffer, and the olive started scratching the paint on the roof of my car. I eventually took it off, and now the poor thing just sits in a box, a historical artifact of capriciousness.

Anyway, histrionics behind me, I decided to make another olive, only a little bit smaller this time. Since I'd gotten at least one email asking if olives were available for sale, I decided to make four, and the other 3 are for sale.

Materials

The materials for these four are the same as for the big one, with a couple of exceptions. First, the foam eggs were only about three inches long and about 2 inches in diameter. The picture to the right shows how the two sizes compare.

Secondly, before I coated the olive shapes with latex primer, I filled in all of the little holes in the foam by coating the shapes with a product called "Foam Finish". This stuff has the consistency of white glue mixed with some kind of white powder. I applied two or three coats, and sanded between coats and at the end. The result was much smoother skin on the olives, and a harder (hopefully more durable) finish.

The Process

There were also two differences in the process. First, I was making four at once. each step had to be done four times, and I had to figure out how to dry multiple olives instead of just one. I must have looked pretty humorous walking around with my little bouquet.

Secondly, the finished olives have no holes. With the Big Olive, I knew what angle the finished product was going to be mounted at. Since I can't be sure what kind of antenna the buyer of one of these fine sequels will have, I had to make solid olives so that the buyer can poke their own hole.