automata delight

I was lucky enough to go to open house art exhibition today and saw some wonderful automata art work by Wanda Sowry who had opened her home for the day. I was greeted by two amazing automata on the hall wall and then a lovely cup of mulled wine (well mulled ribena as I was driving but it was still good). Wanda's automata can be seen by clicking on the image below.

Also on show were Robert Race's driftwood automata, very simple but so clever and effective. My personal favourite was a Trophy with moving eyes seen here (click to see more)

Both artists were really friendly and willing to share some their experience as well as let me take photos of their mechanisms. Wanda's skeleton figures have inspired me try a skeleton cricketer for my Dad's xmas present.

I've taken a break from the steam punk droid to finish a figure started over 2 years ago. The shape was there but he just needed a bit of work on the clothes and painting. Not sure why he was abandoned for so long but I like him. Perhaps once the call of automata has passed I will do some more like him as I haven't made this kind of work for years.

Should he wear a coat?

The droid is nearly done. A coat of paint and a few extra bits of scrap ahve made all the differnece. I'm really pleased with the new technique for making the coat too: it proves much easier to amke and more flexible to position.

I'm not sure if the figure needs it though, what do you think?

Steam punk droid nearly complete

I've spent the weekend spraying and putting a lot of the bits together so he is starting to look finished. I was worried that the top hat on it's own looked a bit odd, and that he looked like a reject droid from The Phantom Menace, so I've added a coat. I've tried making this out of paper and thin wire edging covered in masking tape. This has the benefit of being quicker and more flexible than the usual card I use. I'm reasonably happy with the result, it's certainly easier to change it's shape, but has minimal stength so no good for some other figures where the coat is part of the stucture.

The photos are not great but it was getting dark when I took these.






The ray gun has been shortened since last week. I found some good bits of plastic (an old pipe joiner I think) and really like the snub nosed look. I had a load of short thin straw like shapes (red) which make up the centre of the barrel. An old medical vile (courtesy as ever of the Scrapstore) filled with shower gel finsihes it off.

If you like Stteam punk ray guns check this video out from Doctor Grordbort's web site.