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More kinetic sounds...

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Writing about my "Chime Carillon" kinetic sculpture has me thinking about kinetic sculpture sounds. My current favorite is the very large sculpture Falling Water that is in our living room. I like the motion of this sculpture but after living with it for a while I think I like the sound it makes even better than the motion. Each of the 5 wheels makes a soft clicking sound and because each wheel moves at a slightly different speed the pattern of clicks is constantly shifting. It's hard to describe, sort of like a babbling brook or a soft rain but without the "wet" feel.

In this video I placed the camera very close to the sculpture to try and record the soft sounds it makes. When listening to it keep in mind that in a silent room these sounds can barely be heard from 20 feet away.

Music and Motion - Chime Carillon

In early 1987 I showed my work at the Baltimore ACC show. By chance we were located near Woodstock Percussion and Gary Kvistad. I checked back in my journal to find out exactly what year this took place in and found this quote,

" I got a couple of good ideas at the show. The most interesting is that of trying to make a sculpture using the chime tubes from the booth next to us, Woodstock Percussion. I spent all week listening to them and I thing a nice, gentle "Chime Machine" can be designed."

I spent about a year playing with the idea and in 1988 introduced Chime Carillon. It was a challenging piece. I wanted the mechanism to ring the chime tubes gently and in random arrangements but I also wanted the sculpture to have enough motion to be visually interesting.

I sold out the edition long ago but kept the initial prototype piece up in my studio gallery because it was such a rewarding design challenge and I still like the sounds it makes. It never fails to get a good bit of attention from visitors.

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Children's Toy Design

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A representative from a toy company contacted us in 1982 to talk about toy designs. He had seen my kinetic sculptures and wondered if I had ever thought of designing and licensing toy designs. This was also the year that our second daughter was born so we were getting well aquatinted with children and toys and the idea appealed to us. 

 

Our first design was the bicycling bear. Marji did the characterization and I did the mechanization. I built the model out of wood and Marji painted it and brought it to life. The toy company loved the idea but after a bit of research determined that it was too large (26 inches high x 22 wide) to make at a price people would be willing to pay. The mechanism didn't really lend itself to shrinking (the story of many of my designs!) so we had to put it aside. But the toy bug had bitten us and we started designing. We had an in house testing and inspiration department and the ideas just kept coming.

Eventually we licensed some designs and a few products actually came to market. In general though the final product bore no resemblance to our initial models and looked like every other cheap toy on the market. We grew disenchanted with the toy business at about the same time that our "inspiration and testing department" outgrew young children's toys. It was time to move on.

We have fond memories of that period. We had a great time designing together and with our kids. We met many wonderful people in and around the business. Probably most significantly to my current work, it was through the toy industry that I heard about constant force springs. You'll notice an abrupt change in power source between 1982 and 1983 in the sculpture archive.