There was a bit of adjusting and fitting before everything came together. One neat feature, there’s a bit of spring action on the arm coming from the center post. This was intended to solve a problem where there was a bit too much push and pull. The result adds some nice additional movement.

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.

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!

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.

moving day

I’ve been getting rid of stuff for months and as a result the move went very smoothly. The new space is wonderful, it’s located under my “office” in my live work loft. The office section on top is where I do animation and design work, below is the new home for Mechanical Confections. I love the way everything creative fits into this roughly 240 square foot two level space. Thankfully I’m only 5′6″ tall and the ceilings here are almost 14 feet high!

The work cube

In the meantime I’m part of an exciting group show at The Schoolhouse Gallery in lovely Provincetown featuring work by Morgan Cohen, Eunju Kang, MP Landis, Paul Stopforth, Michelle Weinberg and Consuelo Isaacson. The show runs from Friday July 10 through  Wednesday  July 29 with an opening reception on  July 10 7 - 10 P.

For those of you unable to see the show I will have video footage from the opening and photos after  this exciting event takes place.

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.

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.