If you haven't noticed the Balsam Lake Elevator webpages have been added to the website. Enjoy!

Well this seems like a long time and an adventure of a lifetime has passed since I stated I was about to reveal my latest project.  While I pushed to to add all the last little bits of the project, including a frame, a monumental ice storm hit Central Ontario we we found ourselves in an ice covered wonderland which brought with it a 6 day power outage. This  was accompanied by trees down all around us, road closures, a loss of  internet services, loss of land based telephones, and periodic loss of cell phone services as the community spiralled into a State of Emergency Declaration. At this point many are still without services 8 days later, and  it is snowing again today. I call this photo below "Backpacking in the Kawarthas", but this is a whole other story, an adventure of a lifetime.....

I am posting this quick photo of my recently completed "Balsam Lake Elevator Company" automata built into the wall of our new house. It operates in concert with the elevator we installed. The employees of the elevator company turn cranks to raise and lower the  elevator cab between the first and second floor and to open the doors at each landing.  Another employee peers from the enclosure monitoring the flow of people in and out of the elevator, while another quietly sleeps in the corner, snoring blissfully. These employees are rats; who else would be comfortable in this working environment!

So here is a still photo for now, but I will get busy, temporarily remove the glass to get rid of the glare, complete some video, add some more photos  and compose the back story of all the characters and post a webpage for "The Balsam Lake Elevator Company"

While I have been running around doing a million other things I am still trying to put a little time every week to finish up my last automata project. The wasps and spider web depicted in my recent  posts are part of the same project. They are all little bits of things to add a little more detail, and hopefully a little more curiosity and a touch of awe.  None of these additions have any moving components, and they are mostly just for "eye candy" for observers. I call it adding a little "Bling" to the project. 

My very first job had just such a system! Oh, the fond memories of the antics, conversations and ribbing that went on while we stood lined up, waiting for the clock to register quitting time. Then the mad dash  as everyone raced to punch out and  be the first into the parking lot and out the gate!

This latest piece of "bling"  should be a pretty good clue as to what the main theme of the automata is if you have figured it out already from previous clues!  A few more bits to go and I'll get to the big reveal!

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.