Creating Captivating Motion
Latest Projects
In his shop, Gary continues to explore the magic of kinetic art, bringing a touch of whimsy and wonder to his latest projects. By continually engineering new ways to create “captivating motion,” he designs pieces that range from approachable, tool-free kits for aspiring makers to intricate, heirloom-quality kinetic creations. Every new piece is thoughtfully crafted to evoke deep emotion and childlike wonder.
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, it’s not really “music” yet, but it’s getting better every day.
I have been trying to keep everyone up to date on my progress pretty regularly on Patreon.
A Magic Poster
“It’s 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 the posters.
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
Low Tide
I have a kinetic sculpture called “Low Tide” that is 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. It will be powered by gravity and a spinning set of disks that will act as a sort of “pendulum” to regulate the 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.