Winding and Testing Kinetic Sculptures

David finished his first production run of North Star last week as we were dealing with the lack of power in the Hurricane Irene aftermath. Timing worked out because David was up to final assembly and testing, neither of which requires much electricity.

David is going to have to adjust his schedule when working on sculptures like North Star. It has an incredible runtime of over 40 hours on a single winding. He has always tried to get each sculpture to finish two complete windings in the testing cycle. North Star remarkably just takes too long!  

In the early days of Wood That Works David often heard the question, "Can you make it run longer?" I don't expect many will ask that now.

North Star has mesmerizing optical patterns. Two of the visual phases are shown above. You can view a video of it in motion here.

Fireworks and North Star Kinetic Sculpture Introduction

I know I'm a few days late but here is my kinetic sculpture rendition of a fireworks display. I started working on this piece many months ago and it was Fireworks from the start. I've always wanted to try a piece with multiple different patterning elements. It was a challenge finding patterns that were related but different and were optical but constantly changing. 

 The mechanism to produce these patterns is very efficient, long running and quiet but not silent. 

North Star is a single wheel version of the Fireworks sculpture. One of the first questions I get when showing Fireworks is "What if I want just one of the patterning wheels?"  North Star is the easy answer.  

The changing patterns in North Star create stunning starburst designs.

 

You can get additional information (Including ordering info) about Fireworks here and North Star here.

Gyration • A Kinetic Variation

David has just posted a new design on his website called Gyration.  He will be sending out a mailing about it in the next day or two but we are letting the blog subscribers aware of it in advance. This is just a little heads up for those of you that regularly share our ramblings.

Gyration is a variation on Cognition.  Both are designs that use the visual interest of cog shapes in their motion wheels. Gyration is half a Cognition and the motion is less chaotic, more of a dance. Gyration is also wall mounted where as Cognition is a free standing design. It does share the long run time of Cognition clocking in at about 24 hours on a winding.

Gears Go Natural • Kinetic Cogs

Introduction Cognition......

It has been a long time since a new sculpture introduction, not because David hasn't been designing but because the snow has completely interfered with schedules. We have finally gotten all of the assorted videos and information details completed for David to introduce Cognition. It has been on display at his studio/gallery and getting excited reviews.

David designed this piece to emphasize a fascination with the visual impact of gears. The approach and goal were very mechanical. Interestingly, as the design unfolded he was struck by how organic this very mechanical piece became. It looked less like a machine a more like something from nature. There is more information and videos on the Cognition page at his website.  Enter your impressions by clicking on "Comments" below.

Music and Motion

All are invited to an open house at the Wood That Works Studio and Gallery to experience first hand the mesmerizing and relaxing ambiance created by David's two new designs - Silver Symphony and Silver Song. The peaceful effect of these two designs is so calming that it has inspired David to open the studio for the first time in 15 years so others can enjoy the experience. The experience of being in a room filled with kinetic sculptures is well worth the trip!

By far the most complicated sculpture to emerge from David's design sabbatical is Silver Symphony (above).   It combines kinetic motion and the deep, beautiful sound of Woodstock Percussion Chimes of Apollo tubes tuned to an ancient Chinese pentatonic scale.  David has designed a mechanism that powers a subtle yet deeply satisfying random series of musical sequences.  The top portion of the sculpture is a visually fascinating celestial dance transferring the entertainment from audio to visual while regulating and randomizing the audio experience.

David designed Silver Symphony without regard to size or cost, he just followed a dream.  Realizing that dreams aren't very practical, but loving the sound and effect, David took what he had learned and started work on a smaller wall mounted version.  The result is Silver Song, a wall mounted kinetic chime using Woodstock Percussion Olympos Chime tubes that are tuned to an an ancient Greek pentatonic scale. It provides a similar relaxing ambiance to help the listener unwind and enjoy, but with a more practical space requirement!

This design borrows elements from Chime Carillon of 1988 and combines it with twenty years of added experience in improving and fine tuning the design, construction of the mechanism and control of the sound. There is extensive information about both designs at David's web site at www.woodthatworks.com.