When  it came into my head to make a collapsing robot my first thought was, that's too difficult.

Video of the shoe Spice Girl shoe maker.I have tried to give the visual impression of lot's of different shoe's being made, rather than the same shoe going around and around, as is the fact.
I realy enjoy  creating this sort of visual deception. 

After a lot of faffing about, I have finaly come up with an idea for the shoe museum collection box. It's a nice story with lots of scope for invention.

This is my full size working drawing.

This is the mold that will produce the Spice girl boot. Three different coloured plastics are injected into the mold and after a couple of seconds, the boot is expelled from the mold

A beautiful Spice Girl boot, ready to be transported to the dispatch dept.

Here is the metalic red and white plastic. It's a slight bio hazard hence the wasp tape

Here is the blue solution. You can just see a Spice Girl boot emerging in the bottom right corner.

A view of the whole machine.

Spice Girl Boots, ready to go.

my automata donations box for the eden Project has now been painted and re-assembled.I have the feeling that it will raise quite a lot of money for them. Once the plinth is ready and the perspex cover has been made I can go and install it. 

The gardner simply moves up and down.These control rods give all the extra movments to the arms and head.

Front view. I am leaving the base un-painted because I feel it make a nice contrast with the busy, colourful scene on top.

A spider

A beautiful Dragonfly

A Ladybird or Ladybug.

The Piskie gardeners tools.

Plant fertiliser.

Ointment.

The kiss.

Below is a video of the compleated automata in action. Now I have to take it apart and paint it which  will take about three days. After painting the movments are always a little stiff due to the build up of paint and it usualy takes a day or two to get it working perfectly again.

I have decided to change the gardener into a little Cornish piskie. I dont realy know why, just seem like the right thing to do.I'm sure children will love it.

A Cornish piskie.

Here is the gardener being kissed by the queen bee.

The Eden project wanted the base of their collection box to be decorated with painting depicting a cross section taken through to soil. I have painted one front piece and one side, the side will be reverse repeated,  on A4 paper. 

Underground. A quick trip through time.

Underground.This will be the front of the base. I have painted some coins near the rabbit to create a subliminal message in the minds of the Eden visitors.

Background in the styl of Rousseau.

I have decided to add more bugs, a spider and a dragonfly. The spider is moved by a bent rod and the dragonfly has a simple up and down moment. I have also made the gardener. He looks a bit dim.

Two bugs

This cam and pushrod operates the dragonfly.

This bent rod operates the spider.

The gardener.

The ladybird is pushed out from under the flowerpot by a thin wire that is connected, via a bell crank, to the first lever. When she reaches a certain point, another wire pulls up the leaf that she is holding.
The queen be is attached to the next lever  by a curved brass wire. As the lever lifts, the bees is pushed out from behind the leaves of the plant.

This is the linkage that operates the ladybird

here is the ladybird with a temporary leaf

The two cams and levers that operate the bug and bee.The three raised parts on the second cam will make the bee move backwards and forwards when she kisses the gardener.

The queen bee attached to the lever.

I have started making a donations box for the Eden Project in Cornwall. It is based on a card cut out kit that I designed for thier shop about ten years ago.
The kit never went on sale and I forgot all about it until just before last Christmas when I discovered the prototype that I hade made hidden on top of a cuboard.

This is my 10 year old card automata design for the Eden cut -out kit

Originally the large bee was snarling at the gardener but as bees are having a bad time at the moment I decided that it would be better if the bee kissed the gardener on the nose. This was a simple case of adding some lips to the bee.I also added a crown.

This is the base of the automata. It will contain the cams and levers that operate the moving parts of the scene above.

I have attached a wooden pulley to the motor. A brass insert has been glued into the center of the pully and is secured to the motors drive shaft with a small grub screw

The motor and drive pulley have been screwed into place.

This is the cam shaft. The large pully will be connected to the motor by a drive belt. The wooden discs behind it will be cut to shape and will move the levers which will rest on top of them .

I have used a normal plastic flower pot but it has been extended to get the right proportions. At the end of the automata's performance a small ladybird will emerge from the crack in the flowerpot.It will be holding a leaf with the words 'thank you'

This is the ladybird. It is made from half of a wooden bead and thin copper wire.

Ralph Steadman asked me to  to incorperate a remote controled fart machine in some way. He also asked me if a Bowler hat could also be used. So I killed two parpy birds with one stone and made this flying, farting hat. The Bowler comes from Dublin in Ireland and is top quality.

The Automatumbrella has been re- named. Again. Please come if you are anywhere near Frome in Somerset in the UK ,it should be fun.

Invite

I have been spending so much time making that I have less time for blogging. So to catch up, I have made some clockwork wasps and one fat bee. I have also applied Mr Steadmans beautiful art to the gear wheels and painted the plinth and funnel supports.I have also, with Mr Steadmans permission, done a little splattering and writing on the machine.

Clockwork wasps

Drawing of wasps

detail of clockwork

detail of clockwork

detail of clockwork

Captured hand. This is the hand that winds the clockwork.

This is where it all started.

The Automataumbrella is up and running. The water is dripping into the funnels, the sad soft toy is gushing wine from it's willy, the clockwork is grumbling and grinding. So now it's just painting and sticking on Ralphs glorious graphics to finish.

The un-painted machine. This photo was taken by the lovely Ciara Poot, who has worked very hard to make this all happen.

My good self , in a relaxed moment, taken again by Mrs Poot.

The Automatumberella is now at the lovely stage where everything is working, and new ideas are being born from the old ones. I have been sawing wood all day and Mr Steadman has been producing art.

Perfection.

I have always been fasinated with the idea of making a machine that could produce a compleatly random sound or movment. This is a  doomed mission, the reason being that as time and space are infinate, at some point, in some place, all the nessasary components will come together to produce me typing this mail again.

My drawing for the gear wheels. The next drawing was made straight onto the wood.

In Ralph's photo he had some drawings of circles behind the umbrella.He told me he would like one of these to be the Sun. We decided that they should form part of some crazy clockwork. A few days later I found some gardening mats that were shaped like sunflowers. The edge of the petals formed perfect gear teeth.

Beautiful sun flower gardening mats. I can just see a celebrity gardener kneeling on one

I made up this test rig.I took me an age to realise that the mats were not perfect circles. Thats because I wanted them to be perfect circles.

So I made my own, soon to be transformed by Mr Steadman.

More gearwheels

This is the frame into which all the gearwheels will be fitted. I tried to give it an organic look.

This part started life as a bird feeder.The wire petals have been fitted with great accuracy and it makes a very good gear wheel

The frame with most of the gears fitted.

I have spent the last two days making up  the plumbing and turbines for the automataumbrella. I have also roughly positioned the various parts  of the machine to see how it will look and to get the proportions right.

I have positioned a few of the parts to get a rough idea of the proportions

The water is pumped up into this tin can and then travels to the 8 points of the umbrella

This is the tin can housing for one of the turbines

Two turbines made from brass shim, galvanised wire and tin from an old oil drum.

The turbine installed in it's housing. A perspex cover has been glued in place.

The artwork on the umbrella is of the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. I first saw these illustrations when I was 13 and was knocked sideways by their crooked perfection

I have been talking and swopping drawings with Ralph Steadman this week and the design of the automata  is starting to take shape. For us it has been a logical process and everything is there for a reason. But for the good burgers (careful with the spelling) of Frome, it may come as a surprise.

Automataumbrella top of drawing

Autoumbrella bottom of drawing

Autoumbrella working drawing

Autoumbrella in a pathetic attempt to copy the style of Mr Steadman

Autoumbrella. Private view

I get a lot of e-mails from people wanting to buy this kit so I am making it avaliable as a PDF download. Unlike in the real Tippos Tiger automaton, my tiger is a bit of a softy, and he is licking the solders neck in a playful way, causing the soldier to laugh uncontrollably. 

The base and supports. The cam support has been glued on at the back.

The three cams glued in place on the camshaft.

The cams fitted, but not glued, into the cam support.

The front cam support has been glued in place and the handle has been attached.

This lever operates the Tiger, lifting it's body by pulling the tail down.

The lever glued in place.

This lever operates the soldiers head and arm.

The lever in place.

The soldiers legs and feet, glued to the base.

The soldiers arms and body.

The soldiers head and hat.

This is the neck linkage. Note the small flap which will be glued to the back of the soldiers jacket.

The neck linkage has been glued to the jacket. Once dry the head is glued on.

The soldiers upper half has been glued onto the base. The neck linkage has been glued into the lever below.

Another linkage, fitted to the same lever, operates the soldiers arm.

The Tiger glued together.

The Tigers back legs are glued into slots in the base top. When dry the tail is fitted into it's slot and glued into the lever below.

This lever operates the Tigers front legs.

This piece of card is vibrated by the cam and produces a purring noise.

The finished card automaton.

Today I went scouting for supplies. I did not buy anything, but took photos of things that I might like to buy in the future. This is a good way to shop. Later I went to the beach for a bag of horrible microwaved chips. The annoying thing is that passed the best Cornish pasty bakers in Cornwall on the way but did not stop. 

My experiments continue into the facinating world of wet clockwork. My latest idea is that the water comming  from the umbrella will  power a small turbine, which will then power the flower machine, causing the flower to open and close.

Flower Power

Flower Power

Flower Power

Flower Power

Flower Power

After the horror of the soft toy cat, I moved on to my next assignment, opening flowers. this was easy and later I showed my step son, Antonio. He suggested that the opening flowers should be driven by the flower gear wheels as a single unit. He is very clever. 

Flower machine

What larks

Soft clockwork is now wet clockwork. Apparently, my petal gears have sent Mr Steadman off on a tangent.

Ralphs Drawing.

Ralphs photo.

My drawing No1

My drawing No2

My Contraband Cat is now avaliable as a PDF download. Here are a few images of it's construction which should help anyone who  want's to make one.

The base construction for the cat is the same as for the Surfing Dog although the crank slider and it's support are different.

Here is the row boat made up.

The small triangles on the top of the crank slider are pushed through these two slots.

Then they are folded over and glued into place.

The cat's body is kept in place with this card square section. The body must be free to move.

The strip of card attached to the crank slider has been glued to the cat's body. the arms and head have been glued into place.

The oars have been attached. They are not glued and are kept in place by the card discs at the top.

The waves have been glued in place and the model is finished.

This kit is now avaliable as a PDF download. I have kept a photographic record of it's construction as an aid to anyone wishing to make one. I made this one up from a paper print out which I then spray glued onto thin card. I used a scapel to cut out the pieces and PVA wood glue to stick them.

The base glued together. One can support has been left off so that the cams can be fitted inside

The cams and cam shaft. The back one is called a snail cam, because it is shaped like a snail.

The cams fitted (but not glued) inside of the base.

The cam support and handle glued into place. The cam shaft must be free to turn smoothly

Another snail cam has been fitted to the back of the base.

This lever will operate the gladiators sword arm.

The lever fitted in place. It should rest on the cam and move up and down when the handle is turned.

This lever will operate the wounded Gladiator.

The lever in place. It should rise and fall when the handle is turned.

The Gladiators legs. the rectangle fits inside of the body.

The body. The sword arn is free to move

The Gadiator has been glued to the base, his head has been glued on, and a linkage has been attaced from his arm to the lever below.

Detail of the arm linkage.

The wounded Gladiators upper half. The head is free to move.

This rod passes through the wounded Gladiators leg and rests on the lever below.It will move the upper body up and down.

The legs have been glued in place and the rod has been fitted (not glued).

The rod resting on the lever. The small flap on the bottom of the rod acts as a spring and reduces friction.

The body has been passed over the legs and is resting on the operating rod.

The fist part of the background glued into place.

The Emperor has been glued in place at the center of the background.

The second part of the background has been glued into place. There is a small gap at the back which the next piece will slide into.

A crowd scene has been slid into the gap left between the two background parts. The bottom of the crowd scene has a small square hole which rests on the end of the cam shart. It should move up and down when the handle is turned.

The Emperors arm.

Before I added the backgrounds, this lever was fitted to the back of the base. It rests on the cam and will move the Emperors arm.

The Emperors arm has been fitted in place and attached to a linkage which connects to the lever below.

Detail of the top linkage.

Detail of the bottom linkage. Note the washer holding the crowd scene onto the camshaft.

Detail of the finished automata. If you are feeling mean, you can bend the sword so that the sword hits the wounded Gladiator on the head, rather than missing him.

Today I made some paper flower gear wheels for the soft clockwork automata. I also worked on my card cut-out automata model of the gladiators, which I will be selling as a PDF download soon. I cant believe that I designed it ten years ago.

Today I spoke with Ralph Steadman about our new commission for the Frome Festival, which is comming up in July . He said that he was interested in doing somthing which involved 'soft clockwork'. As most machines are hard and precise he wanted to make one that was the opposite,ie, soft and wonky.