Have you been feeling an absence of enlightenment in your day to day life?  Finding it hard to squeeze that necessary daily intake of rhythmic chanting into your already crowded schedule?  Well it sounds like it’s time reconnect with Nirvana by adding that a much needed touch of Zen to your place of work or study with your very own desktop rock garden.

	Cost $10 - 15  | Time 1 - 2 hours What you’ll need Some Sand A Rock or Two A Piece of Thin Plywood Lengths of Dowel (eg.20x8mm) Round Dowel (about 8mm diameter) Small right angle brackets Ruler & Pencil Hack Saw Glue A Few Small Nails Drill Bits A Drill (Useful but not required)
	Step One The first step towards achieving enlightenment is creating the plywood base. I decided I wanted a bed of sand which was 140x140mm and for three sides of the boarder I used dowel that was 20mm wide (and 8mm thick). The fourth side I made a little broader using 40mm wide dowel so that the rake would have a natural place to sit when not in use. With these variables established it is time to mark up the base.  It’s best to make it a touch undersized (about 5mm less around the edge) as this hides the trimmed edge under the dowel. So with my measurements I ended up pencilling in a 170x190mm rectangle (a 140x140 square with a 15mm boarder around 3 sides and a 35mm boarder around the fourth). With this marked up you can then cut out the base with your hacksaw.
	Step Two Unfortunately the maths doesn’t end there. Getting the dowel edge pieces to fit into their jenga-like lattice takes a few calculations. Basically this construction is made out of two different sets of four pieces which alternate back and forth with every layer. For one layer, when the horizontal pieces are extended to be the width of the box the breadth of these pieces must be subtracted from the length of the vertical pieces so that they can mesh together.  So in my example one layer had the vertical lengths at 180mm and the horizontal at 140mm.  For the other layer this pattern was reversed so the vertical lengths are 140mm and the horizontal are 200mm.
	Step Three I’m pretty impatient when it comes to glue so I used a two part Araldite (it will stick anything to anything in about 5 mins), but there is no reason not to use PVA.
	Step Four The final part is to make the rake. Firstly, cut a length of dowel about 45mm long and draw a centreline down the middle of one of the thin sides. This piece forms the head of the rake so the next step is to mark out four points along this line to indicate the bases of the teeth (I left 5mm at each end and made four marks at about 12mm apart). Make a small pilot hole on each of these marks before putting in a nail. You could use a drill but I found that my wood was soft enough that I could make holes by rotating the drill bit between my fingers. Now hammer in four of your small nails with something hard and onvenient (I used my rock). Now it’s time to attach the handle. Find a drill bit which matches the diameter of your chosen round dowel and whittle a hole in the centre of the side of your rake head.  Cut a short length of dowel and insert it into the hole. If it’s a bit loose pop in some glue, insert the handle and wait for it to dry.

And there you have it, paint it up or leave it plain, pour in some sand and the next time you feel yourself under pressure from the stresses of work or study you can gain a sense of calm that can only come from raking concentric circle patterns into sand while contemplating life’s great questions – such as whether it is illegal to take sand from the beach… hmm.