A Carrion Crow with his eye on someone’s finger

A new piece from Paul Spooner (2011)

This beady eyed crow blinks as the turning handle alerts him to the presence of your hand, which he then follows as it turns… brilliant device. The accompanying noise makes it all the more menacing.

An edition of 4 only
Original Paul Spooner, signed, dated and numbered

Dimensions
150mm High x 70mm Wide x 110mm Deep

£660 (excl. VAT)

Sold out.

Orinoco’s Piranha

A great piece from Carlos Zapata from 2001, which was part of a small edition.

Turn the handle and the oarsman vigorously rows with his single oar boat, down the Orinoco river. The piranha fish leap out of the water ahead of the boat, which is laden with gaily painted fruit and fish.

Height 20 cm

One only

£295

Dug’s Automata Tips, Techniques and Tricks No.4

Attaching Cams, Pulleys, Cranks, Gears, and Handles to Wooden Shafts

To get things moving in an automaton, some parts must be attached firmly to round wooden shafts. But how? And which way is best for your project? Read on! The techniques discussed below apply to cams, pulleys, eccentrics, cranks, gears, handles, and other parts. I’ve used the term “cam” throughout to simplify the descriptions.

Read more

Hand Clapper by Carlos Zapata

A beautiful piece from Carlos Zapata, 2005.
Turn the handle to give some well-deserved applause – a lovely congratulatory gift.
Made of carved and painted wood, metal handle.

Height 15 cm

One Only

£59.50

Sold

Circus Boerhaave

Our new exhibition at Museum Boerhaave in Leiden, Netherlands is enchanting. The museum have worked closely with designer Saskia Meulendijks (Meulendijks Art Direction – Rotterdam) to create an atmospheric world of wonders, set in circus tents. Entering the exhibition you could almost be outside on a warm evening, with trees swaying in a breeze (via clever video projections). Enticing posters and colourful lights invite you to enter the painted tents, which are filled with mechanical curiosities. Where to go first? Human Curiosities, where a man in a bath will eat his own weight in spaghetti, or perhaps ‘Amazing Animals’ featuring a skiing dog!

The introductory text reads:-

‘Museum Boerhaave proudly presents a time-honoured tradition: Science and Technology as entertainment.
Kings and Emperors of old liked to put on a show of mechanical games to amuse their guests. Yet, ‘serious’ scientists too dazzled their audiences with physics tricks and spectacular experiments during lectures.
Celebrating a vibrant tradition Circus Boerhaave is proud to introduce, for the first time in the Netherlands, the marvellous, hilarious and at times hair-raising mechanical pieces of Englands Cabaret Mechanical Theatre. Simply push the button to make them come alive and delight and amaze you.
But there is more in store, the Mechanical Theatre’s automata have been placed in a choice environment of physics games from Museum Boerhaave’s historic collections. Modern mechanical theatre is combined with centuries old physics games and puzzles to prove that science and technology are alive and absorbing. There is never a dull moment here. ‘

A local school have produced a large version the CMT Designing Automata Kit for visitors to use. The school children have also been making their own mechanical pieces at school, which you can see on their website here: www.circusboerhaave.nl

Exhibition details:-

Museum Boerhaave
Lange St.
Agnietenstraat 10
2312 WC Leiden
Tel: +31 (0)71-5214224.

Opening Hours
Tuesday-Saturday 10 â?? 17h
Sundays and holidays 12 â?? 17h

Admission
Adults 7.50 Euros
Children/Concessions 3.50 Euros

Sketchbook Moment No. 52

PIZZA COPERNICANO / PIZZA TOLOMAICO (the traditional geocentrists stuck with the Ptolomaic option).
Click image to enlarge.

Dug’s Automata Tips, Techniques and Tricks No.3

Two Methods for Making Pinwheels Patterns

Pinwheels – Gears for the Masses
Gears are very useful to the automata-maker, but they can be tricky to make depending on your knowledge, skills, tools, and patience. Enter pinwheels: gears almost anyone can make! Read more

Automata Workshop at the V&A

CMT will be taking part in a free workshop at the V&A in London on 25th March as part of the Friday Late – Playhouse event.

Performing Machines and Automata

Step into a backstage workshop where mechanical theatre is made and automata perform at the touch of a button. Excercise your making skills in drop-in hands-on workshops. Make an automata to link to others to create a long snaking line of machines by the end of the evening.

Click here for more details:
http://www.firetheinventor.co.uk/events

The First Noble Truth by Arthur Ganson

This is a rare piece from Arthur Ganson.

The mechanism is elegant and surprising, the shape of the cam determining how frequently the little man is nudged on the head, the double peak causing the most insistent suffering.

According to the Buddhist way, The First Noble Truth is that life is suffering. To live, you must suffer. It is impossible to live without experiencing some kind of suffering. We have to endure physical suffering like sickness, injury, tiredness, old age and eventually death and we have to endure psychological suffering like loneliness, frustrations, fear, embarrassment, disappointment, anger, etc.

As Arthur says of this piece, â??the little guy justs sits there taking it..â??

W61cm x D19cm x H30cm

Artist’s Proof January 2011

£3,600 (excl. VAT)

Sketchbook Moment No. 51

Intermittent drive from mechanical rodent.
Click image to enlarge.