Here we are on the border between Canada and the United States, with our bucket situpons.
Use 5 gallon buckets. These are available from warehouse food stores
such as Costco, holding laundry detergent. They are also available
from restaurants and janitorial supply houses. We got ours free from
Letica, the bucket factory in our town. Make sure if you use used
buckets that they held no chemicals.
Cut a paper pattern of the lid, inside the outer ring. As you look
down on the bucket you will see an indentation...this is your
seating area. Use your paper pattern to trace seats out of corrugated
cardboard.
Cut a circle of fiberfill about an inch smaller around than your
seating circles.
Cut a circle of vinyl tablecloth about 3 inches bigger all around
than your seating circles. You can buy these tablecloths at Wal-Mart,
K-Mart, etc., pretty cheaply. If you get the larger sizes, they are
usually the same price. A good size tablecloth will make over a dozen
covers.
Baste all around your vinyl circle with heavy thread (we use full
strength embroidery floss) This is easy enough for Brownies. Leave
about an inch border outside your sewing line. You can also trace the
sewing line on the reverse of the vinyl so you will sew a round
circle.
Lay the fiberfill on the back side of the vinyl, then the cardboard.
Using the end of your thread, gather the vinyl and pull tight. Tie
off your stitches...you can use a piece of duct tape to tape off your
thread.
Turn over, and you should have a padded top that looks somewhat like
a frisbee.
Using auto epoxy or marine epoxy, apply as directed to both the
bucket lid and the gathered side of the pad. These types of glues
hold much better than white glue, glue gun, or anything else we have
tried.
Press the top onto the bucket lid and leave to dry....pressed down by
books if you can.
If the top of the bucket has never been sealed, you may have trouble
getting it to "click" down on to the bucket. You can use a utility
knife to cut "V" shaped notches in each of the circle sections around
the lid.
Decorate your bucket using permanent markers. We used
"Sharpie" brand laundry type markers.
Your situpon is waterproof and dirt proof. You can take it hiking, to
the beach, in the snow, and almost anywhere. It will hold your
supplies, your lunch, the fish you caught, or just about anything
else. We have found if we are going to be out in the rain, it's nice
to keep a small towel in the bucket. You can pull it out and wipe off
your vinyl seat before you sit on it.
