I had a very busy weekend (60 hour music marathon at WRCT) so I had a gentle start. First, I scouted a spot. I decided on the second floor of Hunt, between the bookshelves:

The two pieces of metal that go across the shelves seem like a perfect structure to suspend something from. I’m imagining things moving between the bars, suspended above a person’s head.

Some ideas I want to incorporate into my project are balance, cooperation (requiring 2+ people to operate machine). Some ways the space makes me feel are nestled, secretive, quiet, stagnant. I’m hoping to use these themes to guide my machine design.

I liked using the rubber bands and weights in previous wooden cog machines. I built some simple prototypes to start thinking.

Here’s my cog design. I found that putting washers between the peg board and the lasercut cog allowed for smoother operation.

I’m hoping to combine these two simple ideas to make something move. I’m not really sure where this is going next!