A trio of zipper-mouthed film canister creatures by Nemo Gould

Check out this recent piece by artist Nemo Gould titled Zip Synch. The heads for the strange and endearing creatures are small zippered film canisters.

From Nemo Gould's web site:

The inspiration came from the little film canisters that form their heads. I had done this once before with the piece "Head Case #2". Recently I came across several more cases at a flea market and couldn’t resist making a chorus line of them.

In addition to the film canisters, the piece is made from sprockets, chain, gears, motor, LEDs, mirrored plastic, and wooden box.

See more kinetic sculpture by Nemo Gould on his web site.

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Restored Black Forest clock with shaving monkey automaton

Here is an early Black Forest clock recently restored by Kevin Wright. Information on piece the is nonexistent -- or at the very least, extremely hard to find. To make the restoration even more of a challenge, the clock's automaton was missing many pieces.

When Wright received the clock the monkey was missing his right arm and hand, his left foot, mirror, razor. He was also missing his eyes. The clock didn't have the typical worm governor, so the speed could not be controlled. Wright knew he had only about 9 seconds of motion to work with and decided to have the monkey shave his chin,look in a mirror, and scream/smile. The cam shaft, cams, second wheel and all of his linkages all had to be reverse-engineered and fabricated. Brilliant work!

For more on unusual Black Forest Clocks like this shaving monkey, be sure to check out and order a copy of Justin Miller's new book, Rare and Unusual Black Forest Clocks. The book contains over 700 images showcasing the finest examples of clocks made in the region. It also explains the various mechanisms and guides collectors trying to identify individual clocks.

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