Spontaneous toy creation. The images are dated from 2012, but we started doing this many years earlier.
At a restaurant that wrapped its silverware and napkins with a gummed paper ring my sons once were bored and cranky. I decided to make shapes with the paper rings, and happened upon a trireme-shaped boat with sail. We started to use our breath as wind across the table-top sea, pushing the ships into battles.
We were the three winds.
A series of design experiments followed, what shapes would catch the wind best? How could we navigate? Would a straw channel the wind better? Would it work better with a sail at the front of the boat? What if we changed the hull shape?
The images above are the archetype of what seemed the most effective shape.
At some restaurants the staff had been trained to pick up the napkin rings quickly. They accidentally interrupted our games. They were a typhoon, sweeping away all ships.