Stacy, June and I were caught off guard for Nick and Candy's Guitar Hero Party.

Luckily, Wishing Well Party Supply was open on Saturday, and we had a plan: Devo hats.

Devo hats have a distinct shape. Four steps form a staggered cone, and ideally, the material should be a shiny red plastic.

If I would have had more time, I would have tried fiberglas, but time was short, so I had to settle with red paper and wire.

I've begun to depend more and more on this lightweight wire. It sells for $4 a roll in the concrete materials section at my Home Depot. Unfortunately, my wire sat in the garage through a very wet winter, and my shiny black wire is now covered in a layer of rust. My $4 investment! Ruined!

There was no time to replace it, but I made a note for next time: Get the protective tru-coat.

Because the stair-steps were just a series of stacked cylinders, I started the construction process by twisting together a bunch of wire hoops.

I guess I can stop using that self-tanning lotion on my hands.

Each hat would require four sets of two hoops.

I needed a lot of hoops. When I'm in a big hurry, I just start working wherever I'm standing, even though I know it is wiser to set up a table and work at a comfortable height.

I taped together the hoop sets to form cylinders... or at least the skeletal frame of cylinders.

The cylinders took shape. They were not as stable as I wanted, with only duct-tape as crossbeams.