| The Little Man This is my first humble attempt at an automata, constructed mostly from a piece of nice plywood, along with dowels, sticks, brass tubing, wire, lead, and glue. My primary tools were a band saw, a hand drill, and a disc sander. The finished product is referred to as The Little Man around the house, though the official title is Sisyphus in Training. Since these crank-operated automata inherently cycle through their action, I liked the idea of a task that's never finished, like Sisyphus and his stone. But I didn't want it to be purely grim, so I chose Sisyphus as a young man, in a more pastoral and relaxing posture (perhaps after a picnic), trying to swat a pesky fly. And always missing. Still photos can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/gp/8929256@N05/6k8o9J Tags: kinetic sculpture automata craft mechanics sisyphus machine mechanical art pesky fly |