Scaffold
Add a support only for the making; take it out before the end; the work stands or falls.
The timber centring struck from under a stone arch.
Seen in Andy Goldsworthy, Ice Arch, 1982
Try it on your work
Build a small tower of paper strips around a cup. When it is finished, slide the cup out. Stop there, whether it stands or falls.
Write a paragraph from an outline of five headings, then delete the headings. Stop there; the paragraph must read without them.
A group learning a new routine follows a caller for three rounds; on the fourth, the caller falls silent. Stop after the fourth round, whatever happens.
How it has been used
Put in a support that is there only so the work can be made, and take it out before the end: the centring under an arch, the pins holding a drape until it is stitched, the pencil grid erased from the finished drawing. The move forces the test: once the support is out, the work stands on its own or it falls.
Where it leads
Grouped under Let me find out what holds up