Archive for September, 2009

Some interesting work in progress

Monday, September 28th, 2009
Work in progress

Work in progress

It’s a good idea to let choice materials sit on a special shelf and marinate until  the time is just right. Today,  an old grocery store price stamp seemed ready to use . Someone in my building was throwing out an arm from a drafting machine and it contained a multitude of interesting parts including the very cool large gear shape on top.

The evolving concept for this piece is a small wheel which travels around. I plan to connect this to a crank-shaft which will extend vertically to something flying,  perhaps. Here’s some quick video.

Bunny Teeth

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Quite awhile back I posted about some bunnies I had found at a local junk shop. This piece has been in development for some time and I’ve been taking it down off the “almost finished” shelf every now and then. Yesterday I had a bit of a brainstorm involving a home-made rack and pinion gear, hence we have bunny “teeth”. I hope everyone enjoys this little work.

Flea Market Finds

Monday, September 21st, 2009

Lately, my favorite source for material has been the MIT flea market which runs third Sundays through the late spring, summer and fall. It’s a great source for small parts, gears, antique tools and beautiful old electronic parts. I love the typography on these ancient capacitors and purchased a big pile.

Cornell Capacitor

I believe these will find their way into a piece + how can I go wrong with anything Cornell? Here’s some more stuff, excuse me now while I get to work!

flea01

Hello Saul

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

I just put the finishing touches on my latest piece ” Hello Saul” and shot some rough video for your viewing enjoyment. I recently picked up a book  “Saul Steinberg at the New Yorker “. He’s one of my favorite artists of all time and I’ve been enjoying this collection of work. This image has become stuck in my head.

Tight

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Starting September on a good track with a nice tight little ratchet piece. Each revolution of the crank indexes the ratchet 1/5 of a turn. On each turn of the small ratchet the large ratchet indexes 1/12 of a turn. Here’s some shots:

Rear of the piece

The small ratchet from a sewing machine bobbin

The small ratchet from a sewing machine bobbin

I’m still getting used to the new space and trying to figure out the best way to photograph work as it’s developed. One of the best things about the new studio,  it’s at home and I’m able to have long conversations with Frida and Buttercup, a SATO dog and Siamese cat.

frida

butter