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.
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.
I picked up these bunnies today along with some other goodies at a local shop in Waltham Massachusetts. What ever are they clutching in their little paws? Look forward to seeing them in some new pieces.
bunnies marked down
Here’s a photo of my most recent small work “King Oliver” it’s the finished configuration of the mechanism from the previous post. I love the way this one came out, everything interacts beautifully, a very solid little piece, worth the reworking I did on the wooden handle.
King Oliver
Finally, speaking of “little” my next challenge is tiny! I’m scaling this one down using .0625 piano wire for the crank. The watch base from a few posts back fits perfectly for this one along with the gears which have been retrofitted to the handle.
tiny
If I keep going like this, soon I’ll be able to carry everything to a show in a single suitcase.
Last week was a whirl wind of openings and screenings. If I see any more pita bread and hummus I’m going to be sick! Here’s a photo of the trailer on screen from the Boston LGBT Film Festival.
trailer on screen
Meanwhile, I’ve been working on some interesting animation experiments and plowing away on small Mechanical Confections. Here’s one from the workbench last week.
at the start
Take a look at the video below and note some of the changes. Yesterday I ended up cracking the wood handle, replaced it and then decided on a new base. The old one ( made from an alarm clock ) was pretty neat but a bit wobbly. In the end I decided on something more solid. I’m happy with the result, it’s more substantial and should hold up to years of enjoyment.
BTW, Frida, my canine companion is under the workbench.
For those of you in the Northeast, a bit of freakish warm weather had me setting out this weekend to parts north of Boston with trusty hound in tow looking for sun, surf and stuff. Here’s some lovely parts from a dollar bin in Newbury Port.
This Weeks Obtainium
As summer approaches, I’ll be spending more time at flea markets and yard sales so expect lots of interesting parts finding their way into work. BTW, started the piece below this morning. The blue wooden part is an old top from a bin of um.. old tops found in a salvage place up in New Hampshire.
tops
And, here’s a new piece all completed using lots of fitting from last weekends outing. It’s called “Block / Head”. I should have a video up soon!
I’m in a bit of a frenzy this week ( in a good way ). Still working on some $149.99 pieces and I’m extra excited as I turned up a huge pile of beautifully worn wooden handles and brass wheels at the MIT Flea Market on Sunday. I did not find a sync block so it will be on to Ebay for that piece of obtainium. The handles and wheels will be finding their way into more $149.99 challenge pieces, here’s “Yes Man” ( the previously blogged about “Mr. Brown”).
Yes Man
At the same time I’ve been bleaching some 35mm film trailers, here’s what remains of “The Uninvited” drying in my studio. Experiments continue on 16mm and 35mm and we’ll see what happens here in future posts!
While I wait for parts to come in for my new adventure ( see the previous post ) just to keep my chops in shape I’m building another of those $149.99 pieces. This one is tentatively titled “Mr. Brown”.
The secret part which I believe will be the key to success in my film machines is a sync block. Tuesday I ventured down to the film department at Massachusetts College of Art and Design where I teach animation and 2D design and found this piece of equipment. Should be very handy as the main drive mechanism for leading the film loop through the installation. MIT has a fantastic flea market this Sunday and I’m hoping to turn one up, if not, it’s on to Ebay for my search!
I’d like to start off the continuation of yesterday’s post with “New Mechanical Confection vs. Buttercup the Siamese Cat!”
Our living space is set up with a “cat only” area so Buttercup, my Siamese cat can chill out without being constantly bugged by our energetic mutt Frida. I’ve been recording the Mechanical Confections in the morning at home before walking to my studio as the light here is usually better. Today is a bit dreary so I ended up using Buttercup’s area by the window and she’s a bit intrigued by the whole thing.
I’ve decided to price this piece ( as yet unnamed ) at three times the rate: $449.97, this has brought up some interesting questions:
1. Does this make this piece three times better than the other pieces?
2. Does this make the other pieces three times less interesting?
3. $449.97 - 3 days studio rent ( $45.00 ) = $404.97 - $10 for materials ( an estimate ) = $394.97/ 18 hours = $21.94 an hour. Is that what I’m worth?
I'm off to a lucky home!
4. Went food shopping last night, the total for two weeks groceries was $145.88. I sold the above piece for $149.99, is this a good trade?
Spent the weekend on beautiful cape cod so things are starting to get a bit fishy with piece number five. It’s going a bit slow ( as opposed to last weeks massive progress ) but should be wrapped up tomorrow. The fish pops his head out every 16 turns of the crank or so. The secret to having this work smoothly will be a large cam behind the ratchet which activates a few levers making the fish do his thing.
This is turning out to be a wonderfully productive week. Right now I have two pieces on the workbench; Delicious turned out to be a tour-de-force combining very cool back and forth motion in the foreground ( made from that Thai fruit can ) and an arm behind which whips back and forth really fast. The whole thing, reminds me of a boy and a giant lolly pop or perhaps an insane crossing guard.
Headless boy with Lolly Pop
The second piece involves a ratchet mechanism which I’m building into a small spice can. Rather than a continuous motion I’d like this one to slowly reveal something after a bit of work turning the crank. Very compact and interesting fun so far!
