I am in Florida soaking up amsap ( as much sun as possible ) before returning to slush and studio tomorrow. There is no junk to be found anywhere although the alligators are a nice reminder of our tentative position on the food chain. Perhaps I will do some gator tributes this coming week. Until then I will draw in my sketchbook and let my hands soften up a bit.
love xoxo
Gina K
A little love from Gina K
I couldn’t help it, although I’m leaving for a short break tomorrow, thought I’d squeeze one day in the studio and crank out the first of our $149.99 challenge pieces. I bring to you dear reader “Honkey Tonk Pigeon Man” ( yes that is the spelling on the piece ).
I spent the first hour in studio finding tasty bits to be used in these pieces. I’m interested in a certain size and scale, pieces with a bit of color and jen ne sais quoi.
Some interesting stuff
Here he is on the workbench, about 1/2 way through.
Getting Cranked
Around 6:00 I added the final touch, this tiny portrait of Hank Williams which floats above Pigeon Man’s head.
Your Cheatin' Heart will make you Weep.
There’s something very satisfying about ending the day with a completed small work, I’m looking forward to continuing this after I return ( next Monday ) and look forward to sharing the experience.
BTW; These pieces will be available to my blog readers for $149.00 each while they last. Just send me a comment or shoot me an e-mail if you have any questions.
The Three Quarter View
I like to put little jokes into my work. In finishing the latest piece I took some old typewriter keys and attached them via spokes to the ratchet hub. I then replaced the letters from the keys with fishy places from an old atlas. The whole thing spins around and you have to look really close to read anything.
Where are we?
We Jam Econo
This album can change your life
Last night I watched a documentary about The Minutemen, one of my favorite bands when I was in my 20s . Their album Double Nickels on the Dime is wonderful, chock full of poetry, energy and ideas. 45 songs written and recorded in a few weeks on a tiny tiny budget. Viewing the documentary confirmed what’s been on my mind lately, some of the most creative work comes out in short intense bursts. Given that, I’m setting up a challenge for the next few weeks
The $149.99 Challenge
After taking a break next week I’m going to try creating a complete piece every day in studio. I’m usually in my studio three days a week so within a month, I’m hoping to create 10 -12 new small works. I’m calling this The $149.99 Challenge, as I will be selling these on-line for a fixed low low price ( I just like the way it sounds ) . Every day, After I’m done, I will shoot the work and create a small video which will be posted on You Tube and this blog. The work will be available on a first come first served basis ( via paypal ). I’m excited so follow along with me and let’s see how this turns out!
Our current piece is looking more and more like a fish and I’m just going with it. Sometimes representation is a good way to rationalize the form of an object, rather than being just a thing it’s a thing that looks like….. I have vowed to finish this piece on Friday, come hell or high water and will be moving on to a much faster series of small table top ideas.
For your viewing pleasure here’s the piece in action on the workbench. Sister Rosetta Tharp “Trouble in Mind” plays in the background ( couldn’t be more fitting! )
On trips to Home Depot, I often cruise the HVAC ( heating, venting & air conditioning ) section which is full of interesting, inexpensive galvanized metal shapes. Today, I needed a ratchet for my current piece and thought I’d try cutting one out of a HVAC reducing ring which I have in several sizes. The following photos illustrate the main steps in today’s process.
HVAC ratchet
centered on brass axle
In Place
Work on this piece is going very slow and has been a bit frustrating. Still I’m trusting that some of these new processes will facilitate more interesting movement in future pieces.
What excites me most about this project is developing some new methods for making parts. After a few failed attempts last Monday, I believe I’ve nailed an interesting and fun process for creating right angled gears. Here’s how it goes:
This is a simple template created in Adobe Illustrator marking out 16 equally spaced holes. I’ve cut a solid piece of wood and spray mounted the page down.
Drill Template
To set the gear in place I’ve encased the wire in a bit of tubing
The final step is flowing some solder into the mess-o-wire and meditating a bit while it cools ( the first time I was too anxious and pulled the gear out before cooling! )
Here’s the gear in place, I’ve created a second 1/3 drive gear to produce some intermittent motion.
A bit Scary looking?
I hope you’re finding these little experiments useful in your own work!
I’m spending the next week or so trying out some new techniques and expanding my range of mechanics and construction. Today, the subject is gears. Until now, I’ve shied away from using them and most of my kinetic work uses simple cams and levers. It’s not that I don’t like gears ( I love them! ), it’s more about discovering a process which feels right.
In the spirit of tacking things together as they develop, I was wondering could there be a way to create gears without having to be too exact and without fussing around with ratios? Enter the Gear Template Generator!
Screen Shot
The nice thing about this tool is it allows the user to try different configurations and ( bonus! ) the gears animate! Before trotting over to the studio I try a few combos and then print out templates.
Sample Gear
BTW, thanks to the woodgears website for putting this tool online!
Some things I’ve learned in the studio:
1. Don’t, buy a dishwasher, do the dishes by hand, good ideas always happen when washing the dishes.
2. Always remember the slop factor, when working with moving parts don’t make things too tight,
3. If something seems too obvious, back off. Ambiguity is your friend, let the viewer participate in the work.
4. Four hours in the studio can be better than eight.
5. Don’t force things unless you really want to, then use a big hammer.
6. Drill slowly, use cutting oil, back the bit off. Extracting a broken drill bit sucks.
7. Tap slowly, use cutting oil, back the bit off. Extracting a broken tap sucks.
8. When small parts fall off the workbench don’t bother looking for them as they’ve disappeared into a big black hole.
9. Don’t over organize, leave interesting shapes here and there to be noticed and possibly incorporated into work.
10. Make trivial things important
11. Make important things ridiculous.
Leave interesting things here and there
Once I’ve created a drive ( see last post on the Geneva Drive ) I create a frame to contain the work. Think of this as a canvas on which to start painting. Lately I’ve been making these from scratch, here’s the process.
I start by making two rings using my handy Ring Roller, it’s fun and a good workout; feed metal rod into one end, tighten up the diameter knob and turn the crank.
My Handy Ring Roller
Double Rings
Soldering Joining Posts
This is what a good joint looks like
Complete Frame
Geneva Drive in Frame
Spent the entire weekend editing and uploading video and photos for the Mechanical Confections website so I’m feeling just a bit lazy tonight. Before I explain that Geneva is a mechanical drive and not a new love interest, take a look at this wonderful page. Here’s my favorite example from the Schröder Collection ( on the KMODDL site of course ).
Be still my heart
Cracked metal working hands aside, there’s something wonderful about creating a simple machine like this and then making it go. This drive will be the basis for my next piece.
Geneva drive on top of plan
Geneva Drive in Action
And remember, good hand creme is your best Friend!