I often get inquiries to my website from people asking if a specific project they see on my site has a kit available for sale or is there a plan they could buy to make it. I don't engage in the task of making and selling kits because I like the process of design and building more than the repetitive jobs of cutting out parts and stuffing them into boxes to sell. I can't usually provide carving details as they often just evolve from my mind as work. In reality I am not in the automata world to make money. I do try to cover my material and website costs for what I make though, but ultimately I make automata it because it is challenging and creative and often makes people smile.

I had one such  enquiry recently about plans for my "Bored Out of My Skin" automata from a follower in Romania. Not satisfied with the unavailability of plans or parts, they set out to build their own version by studying the video and pictures that existed on my website. A received a few specific questions from them and we exchanged several emails and ultimately I sent them, some more construction photos I had, and some supporting description on  how things worked and the order of assembly I used.

On learning of the impending completion of their effort I asked them to send me a photo to show me how things turned out. I was to delighted to receive the video below.  They have allowed me to share their video on my blog site. I am really impressed how they managed to create a wonderful version of the automata even incorporating a perfect little twist  to my original design, with only a little guidance from me. They cleverly assembled this lovely little piece with only limited guidance from me. The workmanship is delightful for someone who I believe is only recently venturing into the world of automata.

I congratulate Codrut Bila of Romania for his execution of this piece. You should be very proud of your accomplishment. I thank you for allowing me to share this story with others. Hopefully together we may inspire some others to jump into the world of automata.

So here with further ado, and no editing by me, is Codrut Bila's adaptation of my "Bored Out of My Skin"

Today's blog is a twisted version of a webinar since it relates to my current project work. Simply put I am going to show you a web, (a spider web that is), that I made for my yet to be revealed automata . It seems like another thing you might find inside a wall which is where this project will reside. To start, I surfed the web seeing what other folks in the world might be doing to build spider webs. Of course I found quite a diversity. Some were big enough to cover an entire house at Halloween, right down to some other very fragile ones you might see in a small dream catcher.  Many are simply woven using rope, yarn, string, fishing line,, or fine wire. My requirements were for a web of about five inches in diameter, so I needed something fairly fine, but yet I wanted something fairly robust and rigid, keeping in character with the construction style of my project.

After some serious pontification I opted to build my web using small diameter rigid brass rods soldered together in the traditional spider web look.

If you have followed my blogs or examined my site , you should have picked up that my favourite medium to use in making automata is wood. This includes shafts and bearings. It's tricky, but fun, to configure the right clearances the correct wood, and which natural lubricants can make things work nicely. As long as you are making automata for personal use or sale to collectors, where limited hours of operation are normally expected this is okay, and it adds uniqueness to the finished project.

It goes without saying if you are doing museum or gallery work, public donation boxes, science centre displays. or the like you need to think differently. These will all tend to be operated frequently compared to art owned by collectors. I have been to displays where automata are initiated by the action of the public pushing a button.  This is not uncommon. On a busy day the automata operated more than it stood idle. If it is your taks to build a machine for this service, you better be building with stronger more rugged materials, metal bearings and try to minimize load on sliding surfaces. I do have to say though that a nicely finished metal only component automata looks really fantastic to me, its not for me to build,  I am  more a carpenter  a machinist!

I'm relating this you you as I find myself in that transitional space again. The automata I've been working on is not hand operated but is motor driven and with its function within the house it will likely be operated fairly frequently. So metal bearings and shafts it is. Of course I will make as many of the visual components out of wood wherever practical since I love the look but where is metal I will try to disguise it in this piece.  It helps that in this case a lot of the mechanism  will be hidden from view, so it is not too difficult, 

Here is an example of keeping the "Old Country Charm" by hiding metal components in an observers field as it relates to this project . There are several large gears plainly visible in the piece. They have semi-precision metal bearings pressed into their hubs. In the photo below on the left you can see three shafts and bearings staring you right in the face! I made three wooden boots that are a press fit onto the hexagonal nuts and can be removed if necessary for repair. They do not push on enough to interfere with the spinning gear. The  photo on the right shows the same gears an the visual result of hiding these metal bits which, to me at least is much more pleasant to look at.  

This is what I call keeping the "Old Country Charm" by hiding not so pretty metal components needed for dependable operation.  As far as the expression goes, you will likely never hear anyone use it again in reference to automata, even me!

The bees are now inhabiting the hole in the wall where the automata is. A few are in the nest while others have found other locations to hide in. I still have not revealed the entire story of the automata so I won't show you where they all are as it might give things away. I am hoping you will get a real lift out of the automata when you see it, or at least it pushes your buttons! Oops I guess that was a bit more of a clue! Hmmm!

I make the wings from a thin sheet of Lexan cut to shape on the scroll saw, using a fine blade and cutting slowly. If you move to fast the Lexan will heat and melt but re-fuse itself behind your blade. Slow and steady is the name of the game when doing this. If you are shy of scroll sawing, these little Lexan can be cut at least partial cut out with  scissors. You can see the shape of the wing in the photo below.

The key part in the fitting here is to sand a small flat surface on the back half of the top of the thorax, sanding it down to expose wood under the paint. This is to provide a good bonding surface for the glue. Try to have the front edge of the flat as straight as possible so the wing can butt up directly to it.

You will need some patience for the next bit, especially if making a bunch of bees at one time, so be prepared to take your time and take a few mental breaks. 
Use some medium CA glue to glue the under side of the wing to the exposed wood. Hold the wing firmly in place until the CA glue is set. You can use a bit of accelerator but is not likely to get under the wing to where the bulk of the glue should be. You just have to be patient and hold it until  it sets.

When the wing is stuck in place mix a little epoxy to place on the top side of the wing spreading it  around the edges of the wing. to contact the thorax, building a small bump which will cover the area of wooden exposed when sanding the flat for the wing. When the epoxy is set rough it up a little with fine sandpaper and paint it the colour of the bee's body. Hopefully the series of photos will help you to see the steps.

Now it is time to relax. Sit in front of the TV or have some of your favourite tunes playing on your favourite streaming service, get your acrylic paints out and brush away! Paint your abdomens yellow and everything else black, or dark brown, your choice, and then go back and paint the black stripes on the abdomens. The next step is to paint is the eyes. The eyes on these bees are positioned high on the edge of the head on little flats created when finishing.  Let's talk about the eyes for a moment.

I always try to paint deliberately human looking eyes on whatever creature I make for an automata. I feel it is a chance to add personality to a character. The location of eyeballs and the position  of the pupils can convey an emotion or action to the benefit of the story being told. In this case the eyes are small and only a pupil made of a little black dot can be used to communicate with the viewer. But I go back to the belief that a human eye often endears a character to an observer . Think how hard it would be to convey any emotion through the  compound eye that is actually found in bees!

At this point I apply a coat of matte acrylic varnish to every surface I've painted but..... it's not over yet. The matte varnish will make it easier to clean your project should it later get covered in dust and also make all surfaces the same level of reflectiveness. But hold on there;  to complete our swarm the next step for these bees will be to add wings, and of course with cutting them in there will be a touch up with the dark paint and matte varnish again!

I like to use brass rod to make the legs for the bees. It is strong, yet  easy to bend to shape, and can stand numerous adjustments before failing. It is easy to attach by simply drilling a hole in the body the same diameter as the brass rod to be used, and firmly pushing it in. I use a drop of CA glue in the hole prior to insertion to help secure it in place, and another small drop at the surface after it's installed. With the glue all set I can now bend the legs to shape, cut off any extra length, and dull the free ends. The finish paint and following matte varnish sealer also serves to help secure the legs in place.

Making these little bees out of wood is a little challenging. The pieces are fairly small and a difficult to hang onto sometimes. I will admit that I have had small bits fly out of my hand while sanding with a Dremel tool while making these. Usually this results in a loss of production time while crawl around the floor looking for where they have landed. I often make a couple of extra pieces just in case they can't be found. This seems easier than keeping my shop spotless ! That said, let me show you how I make Billy bee bodies!

To the right is the pattern I made for myself. It's not fancy. Each body is made from a 1/2" diameter wooden ball for a thorax and two other pieces made from scraps from my wood bin for the head and abdomen, added on opposite sides of the ball.  The design is a little excessive. These bees are very rugged. In a large part it is so they fit in with the construction style of the rest of the automata piece. There is no templating used here, just this little sketch and freehand drawing profiles onto the stock. The sketch does not so show the wings just to keep things simple for the time being. You will see how I add them later.

Next, it's time to prepare to put a few things together. I sand a small flat on the end of each section as a gluing surface  and drill a small hole  in the centre to insert a pin for strength before gluing them together. The photos below show the process. The trickiest operation is to sand a flat on the 1/2" balls. Hold them securely with pliers and sand about a 1/4" diameter flat. This is really where you can launch a 1/2" diameter projectile across the shop if you are not careful. Notice that  I did take the photos with the 1" belt sander turned off!  For the abdomens you can just hold the pieces with your hand, but still be careful and try to keep things perpendicular . The last thing to do is to drill a 1/16" hole in the centre of the flat. I use my Dremel tool to make drill these holes - more control!
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Below is what things look like just before the first stage of glue up. You can see a collection of abdomens and the thoraxes ( small balls ) ready with holes in the ends and short pieces of brass rods inserted to act as stiffeners. I use a  small dab of quick set epoxy to glue the pieces together. I use epoxy not only for strength but because it  sets quickly so It allows me to keep moving onto the next steps of assembly quickly rather than waiting for glue to set. It may be overkill, but it also creates a nice filet between the pieces if it is smoothed slightly while setting.

Now, it is on to adding the heads. They are the smallest piece of the body assembly so I add them differently has they are tough to hold and shape. First, I cut  the rough shapes from a scrap of wood after drawing a freehand shape on it. Below you can see 12 heads drawn of the stock ready for cutting. In the next photo you will see  a 1/16" hole on the back of each head where the pin will go on the flat back side.  I then cut the side of the head shapes on the vertical plane. Next I roughly shape the portion that will form the joint with the wooden ball.  After sanding a flat on the ball directly opposite the other side, as shown in the third photo, I then glue the partially shaped head on the thorax. I do this simply so I will have something to hang onto to while I finish  the shaping of the rest of the head. Now just finish shaping a little flat area on the upper side of the face for the eyes. finish sanding the head and move on!

Below you will see now I have 12 bee bodies, roughly shaped and ready for a final sand.  The two assemblies in the bottom right of the photo are the bees that will be placed into the nest, one facing out, and one facing in. The cylinder sections of these are so there is a good gluing surface for inside the comb. For all the others you will see I drilled a 1/16" hole in the bottom of the thorax , where I will insert a short brass rod to use as a mounting post. 

The next blog post will be about adding the fine brass wire that be the legs, stinger and antennae of the bees. I prefer  to attach these pieces prior to painting.

​While you may not be in the market for a swarm of small bees,I hope you find it interesting to observe the techniques I use to make this small "bit of bling" for my project.

Having completed Billy as my bee prototype, I switched over to making a nest for Billy and his friends.  As stated in an earlier entry the nest will be fashioned after a mud dauber wasp nest, not a traditional bee hive comb. I am placing it into a corner in the right side of the automata space formed by two wooden surfaces.  I am hoping to have it come out looking somewhat like the nest pictured at the right.

I dug through my box of carving block cutout pieces and found an irregularly  shaped piece that could suit the purpose. I then laid out several 9/16" diameter holes to serve as the cells. Chambers in nests in this from are generally round rather than octagonal. This was another reason for choosing this style - it is easier to make!  I drilled the holes about 1" deep on a semi-regular pattern and used  the irregular shape to have one protruding forward a bit more than the others for visual interest. There will only be a couple of bees in the nest.  At 9/16" in diameter the holes allow a snug fit for a 1/2" diameter body size. Bees that will be placed in the nest will be "one half"  bees seeing as you would be unable to see half their bodies in place. Watch for these in a later posting. I might also seal a couple of cells as in the photo above.

Below is the picture of the nest I started drilled and sanded to shape. This nest is not a key element of the automata story so I put only a little  detail into its detail. In the photo below the left side end of the nest will attach to the ceiling , the rear side will attach to the side wall, and the bottom will attach to a wood beam inside the automata.

I mentioned last blog that I was adding a bit of "bling" that might be in character with an automata built into the walls of a house. What could be more appropriate for a house in rural Ontario than have a few bees hanging around snooping in cracks and building nests. Bees were a natural choice as we have had bees nest in trees and in underground burrows on our property, along with assorted wasp's nests hanging around outside on buildings. 

You can also go back into my Automata Gallery page and look up a project called "DJ's Bee  Bop Palooza" that I made for a relative in the honey business. Those bees were much bigger than the ones I am undertaking now, since they involved moving parts. They were about 3-1/2" long if I remember, but these stationary ones will be only about 1-1/4" long, scaled to somewhat fit in with other characters in the automata.

The first step was to figure where they would go. I decided some should be added to moving parts in the automata to give some a  sense of motion while others will be scattered around the automata in stationary positions. I imagine myself challenging young visitors to see how many bees they can spot to further engage them in the automata. I also think that a small comb/nest could provide a potential grouping arrangement. So I examined my mechanism and picked my spots and I set out to build my fleet , or should I say swarm, of bees.

DISCLAIMER: I have taken a little liberty here. The nest I have made will appear more like a mud wasp nest we often find than the traditional honeycomb most bees we are familiar with make. In fact, most bees nests in walls end up shaped like large elephant's ears and are quite a size.  So I apologize to the die-hard  apiarists (bee keepers) out here in advance, but it just wasn't going to be. ( No pun intended!)

Alright, the first thing I did was to make a prototype. Here  is Billy #1 shown below.

Billy's mounting is a little different from the rest. He will be mounted on a turning wheel and needed an adjustable clearance, so he was made mounted on a small threaded rod. In this way I could adjust him to the height I wanted. When Installed you will not see the rod at all as it will be hidden behind a wheel. I also did not want him to fly off his mount due to centripetal forces!

His thorax is a 1/2" diameter wooden ball from a craft shop. His abdomen is made from a scrap piece of tupelo  shaped by hand with a maximum outside diameter of 1/2". HIs head is also shaped from scrap  tupelo. I use tupelo because it is light and easy to shape and sand. I use of combination of Dremel sanding and hand sanding to finish. Billy's wings are 1/32" thick pieces of Lexan cut out on a scroll saw, and all his legs and antennae are made from brass wire secured in holes with CA glue before painting.

In the next blog I'll show you the steps in making the bees and nest.