Here's a fun dancing pirate automaton by Tim Donald. The dancing action is not unlike the classic dancing figure folk toy known as a limberjack or a jig doll. According to Wikipedia they have had many names, but the common element is a figure with loose joints that appears to dance when placed just above a vibrating board. The automaton shown here is different in that the floor is stationary and the dancer is made to move by turning a hand-crank. This version probably makes things a lot easier!
Check out the latest hand-cranked musical automaton designed by John Hutchinson! This is the third of his musical designs and features ballerinas twirling and jumping to the tune. Plans and instructions for this automaton will be featured in woodworking magazine in the not-too-distant future. I really like the mechanism for turning the crank of music box itself.
My previous post was about "Zulma, La Charmeuse de Serpent" (Zulma, The Snake-Charmer) created by Gaston Decamps around 1907. VERITAS Art Auctioneers in Lisbon, Portugal will be auctioning off this rare automaton today, June 24th 2014 .
Here is video footage of the piece in question. Just incredible!
Contact information for VERITAS Art Auctioneers:
Address: Av. Elias Garcia, 157 A/B 1050-099 Lisboa, Portugal
Phone: +351 21 794 8000
Email: info@veritasleiloes.com
Web: http://veritasleiloes.com
Just a few days from now, VERITAS Art Auctioneers in Lisbon, Portugal will be auctioning off a rare and important automaton. Titled "Zulma, La Charmeuse de Serpent" (Zulma, The Snake-Charmer), the piece was made by the famous by Gaston Decamps in 1907.
From the catalog description:
Rare automaton with winding mechanism and four melodies, resin and card face and body with joints hidden by jewels of oriental inspiration in gilt metal and paste
On a painted wood base with coin slot and velvet carpet in green and red embroidered in metal yarn. This model shows the snake-charmer in a silk embroidered gown girded by a scarf
When in movement the figure dances to the music and the snakes head moves at the same rhythm.
I've seen one of these in person some years ago at a Skinner auction. It was stunning!
Contact information for VERITAS Art Auctioneers:
Address: Av. Elias Garcia, 157 A/B 1050-099 Lisboa, Portugal
Phone: +351 21 794 8000
Email: info@veritasleiloes.com
Web: http://veritasleiloes.com
Artist Colin Neu has finished a new piece, this one featuring a ballerina on a rotating platform. As the platform turns the figure raises and lowers her head, arms and one leg, gracefully striking different positions. As with many of his works, this one is powered by an old Gramophone motor. The dancing figure is made of wood, while the mechanism is made of various metals including brass. Another fine piece!
The aritst's contact information can be found at the end of the video.
Check out this recent work by sculptor and automaton maker, Thomas Kuntz.The beautiful leather-bound book when opened, features a pair of well-dress skeletons dancing under the moonlit sky. The music box movement, made by the renowned Reuge company, was adapted to power the scratch-built cam and lever system that makes the skeletons dance and the moon change size. Some interesting still shots towards the end of the video show some of the artist's in-process shots.
Tim Donald was born and raised in the beautiful countryside of the Welsh Marches, where he still lives. After studying art in college, and spending time working as an undertaker, Tim turned his love of making things into a career as a professional artist.
There appears to be a strong tradition among automaton-makers to make automata featuring Santa Claus. Tim Donald has contributed to this fine tradition with this lively automaton inspired by a traditional Folk Art design.
This dancing Santa is both hand-carved and painted. When the handle is turned the figure jumps, dances, kicks his legs, and swings his arms -- all in front of a hand-painted sign reading 'The Incredible Dancing Santa'.
If you have a mind to make something like this of your own, you can find designs for many dancing figures in Rodney Frost's books Making Mad Toys & Mechanical Marvels in Wood and Making Whirligigs, Whimsies, & Folk Toys. Full-size schematics and drawings, and detailed written instructions, guide woodwokers through the process building, carving, and assembling a variety of animated wooden projects.
I highly recommend spending 10 minutes with automaton and toy making legend Ron Fuller. In this video Fuller explains the design and construction of a dancing figure that is powered by the steam produced from a small boiler heated with an alcohol lamp. Once the boiler reaches temperature, we get to see the figure dance...and boy, does it dance! There may or may not be a fun little surprise toward the end of the video, but I refuse to say.
Fuller also shows some more traditional examples of dancing figures or "limberjacks" as they are sometimes called. He notes that the addition of a side-to-side motion really helps to improve the dancers motion. I think you'll agree. I love how one arm of his dancing figure is particularly animated, while the other moves just a little. This adds a lot of character to the motion.
Here are a few fun facts you might not know about Ron Fuller.
I've posted in the past about this interesting variety of mechanical toys which were powered by a rotating record. I'm not exactly sure how this one works but in others the toy is mounted on top of the record player and a friction wheel behind the figure rides along the edge of record album causing it to "dance" to the music.
It may seem like folly to place a dancing figure on top of a delicate stylus and record. One little mishap and the needle might be broken or the record scratched. The existence and popularity of this type of toy says something about the time in which it was created. Here are a few thoughts on the matter:
1 - The early phonographs were among some of the first automatic music machines to enter the home, but was auditory medium only. The addition of the mechanical figures added an interesting visual element.
2 - Most early phonographs were spring-driven, suggesting that electric motors were not yet commonplace. The relatively rare motor in the gramophone, Victrola, or phonograph could do double-duty by also powering the dancer or boxers.
3 - Toys often represent popular trends. I expect the ones shown here are no exception. Dancing and boxing were probably both popular forms of live entertainment at the time.
The toys shown here dates to the early 20th century and were made by National Co, USA. The dancing figure is interchangeable with the boxers. The set is currently up for auction on eBay.
Take a look at this rich and colorful automaton by Lorenzo Cambin entitled africani. The three figures have such wonderfully elaborate dress. What a great video of the piece too! The back of the piece where you get a glimpse of the mechanism and its cams is fascinating, but brief.
I just picked up a great little dancing robot called a Max the Noggin Bop. Part of the Z Wind Ups line, this figure has a great dancing motion created by a yoked offset cam and a number of clever linkages. The figure basically looks like it is doing 'The Twist'.
Just in time for Halloween, the company offers this set of six themed wind-up dancing figures (shown above).
Check out this interesting dancing automaton depicting Josephine Baker.
From the eBay description:
This unusual piece showing the Josephine Baker's legendary, dancing tap on illuminated stage. The Art Deco scenography and the stage are made in pink metallic paint aluminum, but the surface stage is polished like mirror (she used that kind of floor to achieve special effects in her dance movements). The stage has a little bulb in the corner. The rare mechanism is electromechanical. Also, this Piece has something like a microphone or speaker that it connected on back the stage (has a very long cord).
Back when record players were nearly the only form of musical entertainment in the home, you could turn it into a multi-media experience by adding this clever little gizmo. The figure is mounted on top of the record player or Victrola. A friction wheel behind the figure rides along the edge of record album and prompts him to dance to the music. Ingenious!
Here is a nice example of gravity-powered automaton. Sand in the back of the piece, powers the dancing figure who performs some very expressive moves for such a simple mechanism.
