 She had been torching a sheet of metal in her sculptural practice when she noticed the low tones and unusual sounds that the vibrating metal produced, which subsequently led to the development of her first handmade instruments.In 1967 Demby used these sculptures in a series of happening-style events at the Charles Street multimedia gallery A Fly Can't Bird But a Bird Can Fly, owned by Robert Rutman.In one piece called "The Thing", Rutman wore a white cardboard box and banged on Demby's sheet metal creation with "a rock in a sock."