Kinetic Sculpture Inspiration -リングアーツ Ouka - Ringarts

New sculpture ideas arrive frequently but it is rare I can remember the original inspiration. A few days ago I received an email from someone who follows my work online. It contained a link and and the word, "Enjoy". It was during my "design break", an hour or so each day where I sit in a comfortable place, (this particular day it was the sunroom, with my laptop and a cup of coffee) and I explore new ideas with sketches and animations.

Take a look at the video, it is an amazing stage performance, part ballet and part juggling with a bit of mime thrown in. I think you'll see where the inspiration came from.

Animation is the first step. It is simply to confirm that there is something here worth pursuing. At this point I have only a vague idea of how I would build this concept into a mechanism that could be spring driven, but if I get excited enough I'll find a way.

Kinetic Pop-Ups

Combine pop-up book technology with stop-action photography and gif animations and you end up with kinetic pop-ups.  We were recently entertained by the the graphic and creative work of Portland based designer Mengyu Chen. 

I find it interesting that she uses many of the same themes you find in David's work. Flight is a recurring one. Below is Fireworks. Here is a link to David's kinetic sculpture, Fireworks.

And they both use Galaxy as a theme as well. Here is a link to David's Galaxy page. Galaxy is from the early years, 1980 to be exact, before video and YouTube. All we have on line is a still black and white photo. This example shows how far his work has come over the years.

These examples come from Colossal Art & Design website. Colossal is a great place to spend some creative exploring time! Enjoy!

Kinetic Sound Sculpture • David Letellier

David has combined sound with motion in many of his kinetic sculptures.  It might be just the beautiful and relaxing rhythmic clicking in pieces like Journey or Falling Water, or it might be the more obvious harmonies created in his various wind chime pieces like Silver Symphony or Silver Song. I do know that incorporating sound adds an entirely new element and sensory experience to a sculpture. This following work by Berlin, Germany based artist David Letellier recently crossed my online space. I knew it was a piece to share with David's blog followers.

The title of buzing wiggling inverse Arch caught my eye and inspired me to watch the video. I recommend it.

Like so many kinetic sculptures, this one combines many disciplines. You see the influence of geometry, science, architecture, music and history all coming together with current technologies. The installation was located in the cathedral in Caen, France and 300 wires were hung from the mezzanine of the church nave. They are designed to mirror the the stone vaults soaring above it. The curve formed by the wires is a catenary which is a precise shape defined by a chain or flexible wire draped between fixed points. This action is the process used by historic builders to help them determine construction facets of arches and their required supports.

For more description on this installation visit the CoDESIGN website here.

I wish I could experience this installation in person.

via Co.DESIGN

Rube Goldberg Inspires Another Machine

The combination of Rube Goldberg ingenuity, video, the Internet and sharing has continued to produce entertaining mechanisms. The following is one such kinetic creation from the design studio HeyHeyHey. It is a clever contraption that completes a task in the most inefficient method possible.

via Colossal

This video follows a much, much more elaborate contraption from the Melvin series, Melvin the Magical Mixed Media Machine.

This is how we whittle away time during our coffee breaks! Enjoy!

Escapement with Oscillating Gears

A fellow creator recently sent me this video of a fascinating escapement mechanism he has designed and constructed in wood. It incorporates oscillating gears and creates a wonderfully rhythmic sound.  

This neat structure is created by Dolf Perenti. He has incorporated an adjustable pedulum in the design to allow for fine tuning of the mechanism.

My work is also based on creative applications of escapement mechanism design. This example is an excellent and clear demonstration of the parts of an escapement and good viewing for those people trying to understand the concept.

Thanks for sharing, Dolf!