Take a look at this amazing automaton figure depicting legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. The amount of lifelike motion obtained from just a handful of cams and the figure's articulated joints is truly impressive. The stylized carving and wash colors are lovely too.
Check out the latest from automaton artist Tom Haney. This automaton depicts a performing drummer. The figure's body was carved from basswood and the head sculpted from polymer clay. The drum kit is assembled from a variety of found objects. Not only does the video show the piece in action, but we get a great look at the mechanism and its cams. There are also some really nice "in progress" shots of the piece.
This automaton by Thomas Kuntz features a miniature ghost illusion using two automaton figures. When the hand-crank is turned a music box is heard. A figure plays the organ and turns his head occasionally to reveal a macabre visage. A ghost playing the violin appears, then disappears and a flower spontaneously rises from the vase.
More about the automaton from Thomas Kuntz:
The mechanism is hand cranked and machined from solid brass steel and other metals all very tightly organized into the rather small cabinet. Visual foreshortening and special painting techniques give the impression that the box is much deeper than it actually is.
As is typical of Thomas Kuntz, all of the sculpting, machining, painting, ornamental details and model work are his own. The video shows us some incredible shots of the exposed mechanism in operation. The beautifully crafted brass machine looks like the fine historical examples of automata. It's a comfort to know that someone is still making such masterful automata in this way.
Here is a film that was originally created as a school program back in the 1980s. The 8 minutes of film show the variety and complexity found in antique automata. Examples include magicians, acrobats, clowns, musicians, and the three masterpieces by Pierre Jaquet-Droz -- the Musician, the Writer, and the Draftsman. Enjoy!
Check out this preview clip provided by The British Pathé Film Archive featuring a number of automata filmed in 1950. Among the automata shown are a gorgeous watch-sized music box, a whistling figure, banjo player, musical birds, a monkey playing the harp, a tight rope walker, and a smoking cavalier figure puffing away on a real cigarette!
The folks at the Timberkits Workshop have taken a bit of time to share this helpful hint for gluing collars to a wooden axle. In this case, the collars of the Drummer Timberkit need to be located as close as possible to both sides of a lever. The collars must be glued in place to keep the lever from shifting, but the lever must NOT be glued. How do you glue the two collars without gluing the lever? The answer is shown in the video!
Here's a fun little toy. When you push the button the little mechanical drummer figure drums in time to music programmed into the toy. Customers on Amazon seem to love it!
With the success of HUGO, automata have gotten a huge amount of exposure in recent weeks. But, as of February of 2012, HUGO won't be the only film showing automata! Check out this creepy trailer for The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. Like several of the automata seen in HUGO, the automata in the preview are also from the collections of our friends at The House of Automata who served as consultants for HUGO.
