Paper automaton kit reveals why there are no magical fairies in the world

This new automaton from cool4cats titled A Tasty Snack explains why there are no fairies left. It would appear that the carnivorous plants have taken care of them all.

An interesting feature of the model is some gearing which is similar to the hour/minute hand arrangement of a clock. In this configuration, both hands rotate on the same spindle so they display on the same dial. In clock, the gears have a 12:1 ratio -- converting the hourly rotation of the minute hand into a 12th of a rotation for the hour hand. In this automaton, they have used a 4:1 ratio. It also looks as if they've used a paper belt drive. Very clever!

Here is where you can get the A Tasty Snack paper automaton kit.

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The Wonderful mechanical world of Rowland Emett

A good friend to The Automata Blog, Richard Partington, wrote to inform us that there is a great exhibition of the legendary Rowland Emett's work at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Emett (1906 – 1990) was an English cartoonist and creator of whimsical kinetic sculpture. The current exhibition of his work is the biggest there has ever been in the UK. That's not something to miss! The video above is from a different exhibition held at the Ontario Science Centre back in 2012.

What:
Marvellous Machines: The Wonderful World of Rowland Emett

Where:
The Birmingham Museum

When:
May 10th, 2014 to September 21st, 2014

[ Thanks Richard! ]

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Applejack's Apple Harvest and the rise of the Brotomata subgenre

With three well-made examples in existence, and the power vested in me as keeper of The Autoamta Blog, I declare a new sub-genre in the world of contemporary automata. Having made this declaration, I suppose I get to throw out the first name. I propose these My Little Pony themed pieces to be Brotomata. In case you missed them, the other two in this series feature Twilight Sparkle reading and Fluttershy's leading a choir of bird.

From the automaton description:

The figures, stand, tree and bushel are carved out of Philippine mahogany while the gears and apples are made out of Narra hardwood. They're painted in enamel and protected by clear flat lacquer. Applejack stands at 5 1/8" tall (with her hat down) while the entire complete piece measures 11 3/4" high, 9 1/2" long, and 3 1/2" wide. It took 161 hours to complete.

I admit that I am still a little thrown off by the combination of the plastic figure and the wooden base and mechanism. But so what? There's no denying that this and the other examples of My Little Pony automata are well conceived and very well made. I also appreciate the number of hours being tracked and listed. These things take a long time to make! That's one thing that distinguishes them from wooden toys.

Here is where you can learn more about this automaton, titled Applejack's Apple Harvest.

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My Little Pony cartoon fan art done as wood automaton

What happens when you love reading AND the TV show My Little Pony? Well, if you have imagination, a lot of skill, and over 100 hours of time this automaton featuring "Twilight Sparkle" could be the result. This is my kind of fan art! From the YouTube description:

This is the second piece of my pony automaton series featuring characters from the show My Little Pony. Like the previous one, the characters and base (box) are hand-carved out of Philippine mahogany. The gears and books are made from Nara hardwood with the exception of the book page (that actually turns!) which is made from paper mache. All figures are painted in enamel and topped off with a flat lacquer clear coat.

It's an incongruous mix of natural wood and unnaturally colored animals that I find fascinating. It's beautifully made and the wooden gear train is incredible!

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The Victorian Model Workshop animated displays

The Victorian Model Workshop designs and builds original mechanical figures, automata, and animated displays for private collectors and commercial customers. Take a look at the video to see some of their marvelous creations.

Here's more information about The Victorian Model Workshop.

[ Thanks Karin! ]

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Hand-cranked steampunk spider automaton

From the Impsandthings blog comes this awesome mechanical spider. The creator of this metal arachnid is trained as ceramicist and has been working with mixed media for the last ten years. This has lead to some really cool sculptures of well...imps and (steampunkish) things.

Here is where you can see one of Impsandthings' gallery of sculptures. Here's where you can see a second gallery of sculptures by Impsandthings.

[ Thanks Tom! ]

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