There is a version of DIY that lives on perfectly lit countertops: the cuts are clean, the paint never drips, and the finished thing looks like it was bought. We have filmed that version. We deleted the footage.
Because the project our community built most last year, by a factor of three, was a cardboard tower held together with visible hot glue and optimism. Kids didn't build it despite the mess. They built it because the mess was allowed.
When we design guides now, we budget for failure on purpose. Step four of the marble run is literally called "test the run", which really means "watch the marble fly across the kitchen and fix it." That step used to embarrass us. Now it gets the most photos submitted of any step, in any guide, on the whole site.
So here is our editorial policy, written down at last: we publish the collapse. We publish the re-glue. We publish the marble in the dog's water bowl. If a guide of ours ever looks effortless, send it back; it isn't finished.
Build badly this weekend. It's the only reliable way to build at all.
A wobbly thing you made beats a perfect thing you watched.
