Creating Captivating Motion
Latest Projects
Behind the scenes
I’m always tinkering and creating. Sometimes my projects become staple pieces in my Etsy shop, sometimes they are just for me to learn and grow in this craft.
This section is a kind of behind the scenes introduction to some of the latest projects I am currently working on.
A Monkey Donation Box
“It’s alive! IT’S ALIVE!”
I started working on a Monkey Automaton in early June. It’s a project for me to push my abilities. It’s a unique organ grinder with an automaton monkey that collects donations in a small cup.
Many visitors to my shop come and play with my automata and kinetic art. Not all of them can afford to buy something, but a lot of them have offered to give me a donation for the enjoyment they get from the time spent playing with everything.
I thought it would be fun to make an interactive donation box that doesn’t interrupt the play.
It’s been a couple of months of hard work, but I have 2 prototypes for testing the elements that will be in the final design. One of them has an animated monkey that moves. It sits up, moves its head, eyes, arm and cup at this point. It’s still a bit slow, but I’m working on getting the motion up to speed on the 2nd prototype.
The second prototype is more about the musical instrument I am building to play along with the monkey’s movement. It’s a sort of barrel kalimba (an oversized tined music box). It has been a challenge to re-invent the music box from scratch, but I am getting there. There’s sound coming from it as you crank the handle.
I have been trying to keep everyone up to date on my progress pretty regularly on Patreon. You can follow along as a FREE member or help support my journey by joining one of my support tiers. Either way, you get to see what I am currently working on (with no ads or sponsor interruptions).
A Magic Poster
“Magic!”
I had an idea for a series of posters themed as circus sideshows. A magician, sword swallower, strongman, etc. I built a prototype out of hardboard just to see if I could make it work (and it does).
Right now there are 2 rabbits that appear and disappear from the hat. One of them has a mustache so I can tell the difference. I have the components ready to make the magician’s eyes move and I have an idea on how to make one of the rabbits appear out of the top hat he’s wearing at one point in the show. I like the idea of putting a few unexpected surprises in each poster.
The project has been put on hold for a bit while I try to find the perfect paper board material and learn how to block print or screen print (or hire out someone to do it for me) so I can make a very small series of them and have them be consistent.
I also had to find a way to get the gears thin enough to make it look more like just a regular poster when it’s not moving. I think I’ve finally figured out how to do that, so I’ll be doing another prototype as soon as I reach a good stopping point on the monkey automaton that I am currently working on.
A Meditation Sculpture
Meditation
The video to the left is of a piece that I made about 15 years ago now. It’s called “Low Tide”, and I find it very soothing to watch. It’s inspired me to start working on a 10 minute meditation sculpture.
The basic idea is to have a lotus flower inspired shape slowly open and close over the course of 10 minutes and then ring a tiny bell.
It will be powered by gravity and a spinning set of disks that will act as a sort of “pendulum” to regulate the amount of time. The disks will be a more subtle version of Low Tide that will likely spin above the flower.
It’s not been a high priority for me at the moment, but I did start working on a cardboard mockup to give me some scale and something to play around with while the idea matures in my head.
Patreon Membership
I’ve fallen in love with making moving art. I’ve been at this since June of 2023. I’ve moved into a much larger space this year and I’m doing my best to make a little community.
I’ve been blown away by the amount of support that I have received from a small community of really loyal fans that keep on buying my art pieces. I thought I would use this space as a potential place to give back to them in some way.
I plan to post a lot of behind the scenes and sneak peeks of what I’m currently working on as well as offer special discount codes and private listings for my one-of-a-kind art pieces.
Most of all though, I want my journey to be somewhere that is not at the mercy of Meta (Instagram & Facebook), Twitter or Google (YouTube). I’ll still share on those platforms because I know that’s where people still find my work, but I don’t think you should have to watch a commercial or sponsor to follow along on my journey.