2022 Machines
Sound Machines is a collection of simple machine mechanisms built as small sound art pieces. Inspired by two books, Basic Machines and How They Work and 507 Mechanical Movements, these pieces are all studies of single mechanical movements: vertical, right-angle, and worm gears, camshafts, and pulleys.
Displayed at LSU School of Music, May 2, 2022
2023 Machines
Music Box and Tape Machine are both handmade wooden boxes designed with a combination of wooden pulleys and laser cut gears, a translucent element such as cellophane or ID machine ribbon, repurposed window cranks, and other found objects such as mini Solo cups, jingle bells, yarn, and Kraft paper.
Box is a handmade wooden box with five metal motorized mechanisms— a slinky, a piece of solder attached to a jar lid, a tube from a coat rack, a piece of foil and magnet, and a small wind chime part. Together they make metal-on-metal sounds acoustically, incorporating the resonance of the lids or tubes from each mechanism and also from the box itself. Once the switches are switched, the speaker circuit is activated which allows for an electronic connection to be made between the metal parts. This then triggers the speakers to turn on and off at the same rhythm as the mechanisms, amplifying the sound of the movements.
Speculative Circuit is a handmade wooden box made with both functional and non-functional parts of a circuit. Materials include a deconstructed headphone amplifier, parts of a mattress pump, PCBs designed for something else, non-working LEDs, working LEDs, a fan, buzzers, a few things left over from a construction site, and a button.
Double Bird Caller is a small wooden box with laser cut gears, a few scraps of wood left over from other projects, a window crank handle, and two Audubon Bird Calls. Marble Mover is comprised of 2 wooden cams, a small aluminum box, handmade clay marble, dowels, rubber bands, and a window crank handle.
Foil Collider explores both pulleys and gears to create opposing motion. This piece consists of a small wooden box with two laser cut gears and two pulleys, a rubber band, four laser cut bike chain pieces repurposed from a different project and used to offset the two wooden dowels, a window crank handle, and aluminum foil.