weekend progress

may update

Wood: 120 - 10 foot long 4 x 4's arrived in my driveway a couple of weeks ago fresh from the lumber mill - green and heavy! They are now neatly stacked with spacers between allowing plenty of air circulation for drying. They should be ready for building by the end of June.

Meanwhile, I've trimmed the 34 reclaimed pieces down to 10' and re-marked them at their stacking points. I'll use these to study various patterns while waiting for the rest of the lumber to dry.

Bells: Rikk has begun the bell fabrication and has decided on a 5 bell configuration around a central "donger" that will be made from a found steel something-or-other. Pictures to follow!

Rikk will be flying up from the Bay Area this weekend for a little brain-storming and strategy session with myself and Matt Wilson (Vashon) who will be helping me out on the wood side of the project.

full scale

I did a full scale test on Sunday using some 12' long 4 X 4's that were salvaged from industrial size pallets. I learned a few things:

• One person can assemble this thing but two people make it really easy
• The gravity only connections work wonderfully
  
• The full project will not fit in my yard . . .
  
• 12' long 4 X 4's are too long!

The last image shows the amount of bending in many of the sections - 12' is just too long - fortunately I was able to change my lumber order to 10' pieces - which will be arriving this Thursday.

More full scale experiments this weekend.

a discovery

I made an interesting discovery last night as I was building another pattern - this one based on a rectangle. The previous patterns were generated using either a triangle or a hexagon at their center resulting in a symmetrical and equal expansion as they grew. Being four sided, the rectangle can expand symmetrically as well as bilaterally creating a long linear form. More experimentation is required!

Other news -

I've acquired a few 4 x 4's and will start building some full scale mock ups in the next week or so.

I got a call from a guy at the Discovery Channel who works on a show called Daily Planet that is interested in documenting the project for inclusion in a series of "science meets art" stories premiering this fall. Fun!

Bells, bells, bells

http://www.imakebells.com

I found a great local craftsman that makes bells out of recycled gas tanks! I plan to contact him and see if he can help me make our bells for Burning Man 08. Stay tuned....

bigger model 2

JRS announcement

The Burning Man news letter, Jack Rabbit Speaks, came out yesterday with a list of the funded projects for 2008, and due to the presence of a little analysis widget on my website, I'm able to see where visitors to the site are coming from. The site got over a thousand hits yesterday from all over the world! Japan - Germany - Peru - Columbia - France - Sweden - Poland - England - Australia - New Zealand - and a majority from the US. Exciting!