Look, ma, no pins!
You may recall a few months back I'd attached an over-heavy counterweight to the pencil bandolier with vague intent of letting some of the extra lead weight. Today, I got around to that. I ripped out some stitches on the cloth diving weight I'm using as a counterweight. I poured out some shot until the weight was balanced OK with the pencils & lights clipped to the front of the bandolier (occasionally looking over to check Twitter for realtime news of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament).
Getting the balance right was tricky. If I were a chemist, drug dealer, or postal clerk, I might have a balance scale handy in my apartment. Alas, I have none. Fortunately, I didn't need to get the balance super-perfect. I jut needed it close enough so that the bandolier's strap wouldn't want to slide when it was draped over my shoulder. So I could just drape it over something else, tug it a bit and see if it was stable. So I draped it over a finger... and quickly figured out that my fingers are higher-friction than my shirt-covered shoulder. (Please don't call me "sticky fingers".) I needed something else to drape the strap over for testing. I'm embarrassed to admit that I looked around for far too long: this chair back was too pointy, that box was too light... Finally, I looked back at the bandolier itself... and the pencils clipped to it. Nice, smooth pencils. I unclipped a pencil and draped the strap over it, and that worked great. Soon I had the balance right.
I think this thing's ready to try out at a live event. (I wore it at the Doctor When team audition, but I didn't get a chance to use it then. Just as well, since it was still being counterbalanced by an uncomfortable padlock then.)
