Folding cube #3.2: with paint

Here's the folding cube from my last post, this time with a coat of paint to better show how this thing functions. Feedback always welcome.

Folding sculpture: folding cubes #3.2

I've been making "folding" sculptures for some time now. I keep finding new ones to build or explore further possibilities of ones I've already made. This week I made a larger version of one of my folding sculptures. It is made up of eight redwood blocks, each one 3.5 inches. They are hinged together with eight standard issue brass door hinges. The eight cubes stacked together make a larger 7 inch cube. I describe the way this unit functions as a "rotating" fold because, as you can see in the video, it has the appearance of continuously "unfolding". Unfortunately, the finished product is very heavy and not a lot of fun to play with. The whole thing weighs in at 9 lbs.! But, it does work as intended. Pictured here is the piece just after completion. Not very pretty. I do intend to paint it, and I'll post another video when I do.
Changing the scale of a piece of sculpture can have a dramatic effect on our perception of it. The original version of this model is made of one-inch cubes. It is the perfect hand-size version and is fun to manipulate. Double that scale and I begin to see the sculpture in a new way. What if each of these cubes was a box with a lid? It might make an unusual jewelry box.
What if it was big enough to sit on? This piece could be an interesting folding furniture design. If each of the eight blocks was a 20 inch cube, You'd end up with something about the size of a couch that could be folded into about a half dozen different configurations. If you had two of these units, you'd have even more possibilities.
Now I'm wondering if I could make a chain of these units. Could it be done? How would that behave? Hmmm. . . . . .

a little Sundial project

I made this little sundial as a little test project. I found an app ("shadows" at www.shadowspro.com) that can make a whole bunch of different kinds of sundials, and I wanted to try it out. I had some scrap metal pieces laying around that, with a little cut and trim and number stamping, using a template I made with the Shadows app, and I ended up with a little sundial that goes on a vertical South facing wall on the back of my house. The app works by using Google Earth to find the latitude and longitude of your house, and adjusting for the angle of the wall you intend to mount your sundial on, it then renders a sundial template, including the correct angle for the style (the thing that casts the shadow on the dial). So, with this little app I could design a template for a wide range of sundial types customized for the exact intended location anywhere in the world. There's also a free version available, so you could try making your own sundial.

Another new mobile'

I made another little mobile' a couple of days ago. This one is all metal, made from a brass candle stick, a big nail and some steel strapping material, all painted a satin black. It's about 9x9 inches. I'd like to work more with metal on these mobiles, and to work on larger projects . . . but . . . I don't have the room. So, I make small mock-ups instead. You can see all my mobiles on my web site: Tesserak Studios.
My mobiles were featured on a public access channel broadcast from San Francisco, on my brothers show, "Jazzcult". Thank to my brother Rich. I hope to upload some of it to my YouTube channel soon. I'll let you know here when that happens.
Ellen is still working on parts for the armor she's making for herself and her draft horse. No pictures to show yet. Will post when I get something to look at.