Project 10 – Stage 2 Focusing on Theme Book work

My collection of source material for machine construction includes the following:

The original drawing on the left by Michael Clayton has been further worked and finished by Jeff Wilkson on the right.  Here I am particularly interested in the dials.

The Atlantic Telegraph Machine from 1858 shows some marvellous cogs in action.

The Howitzer Tank drawn here is a  complex design with fully integrated components that interlink and appear to function.  The Caterpillar track is very like a machine conveyor belt.

Again, a complex design but this time with ‘feet’ or stabilizers.  Here I’m looking at the conveyor belt and how it fits around the various wheels.  The metal appearance is assumed by the fabrication joints and marks to indicate rivets.

My original sketch for Project 7 looked very basic and quite literal.

So I started to look at it in a little more abstract way.
It was split into 5 sections: the raw materials on the left, followed by the first part of the processing machine, the partially processed components, the second stage of sugaration and the final product.  I’ve now simplified this further.

I have 3 sections: Ingredients entering the machine individually in lines, the machine itself and finally sugared products – ingredients having been combined – leaving the machine.  I have quite a clear idea of the first and last sections and have spent more time working on the processing plant itself at this stage.

This project is intended as a wall-hanging and my simple collage here shows the layering I am planning.  There are three machine entry points and one exit, a window on the front which will encase large cogs.
I’m happy with this basic plan and the irregular shape of the piece.  I will only be able to correctly assess my focal window placement when I work the design up into something more formalised and in real size, which is the next stage of the project.

The final sugared confection section will be the longest and narrowest part of the work but, again, my design above isn’t drawn to scale so I need to modify this once the whole thing is enlarged.

On a final note

Look at this magnificent sugary dessert.  Who could resist this enticement?

Pavlova Extraordinaire !!

Pavlova to me, being a Brit by birth, consists of a meringue nest filled with cream and topped with fruit.  Not so here in Australia, where it is acclaimed as a National dish.  It seems to be a very deep (height around 8cm)  wedge-shaped slice of mouse type foam dribbled (OK, swamped) in single cream, with fruit and ice-cream featuring either over the top or by the side.  Having a mouthful of this foam is the strangest thing as it sort of fizzles on your tongue and disappears to nothing.  I can take about one mouthful and then my teeth feel coated in sticky foamy sugar.

I can hear the Aussie outrage at my less than flattering description but you should hear what they say about my very prized, and hard to source, Twiglets!!

Resources:
http://www.ten-paces.blogspot.com.au – Michael Clayton & Jeff Wilkson designs.
http://www.atlantic-cable.com/article/1858Leslies/index.htm – Telegraph machine picture.
http://www.doodlersanonymous.com – Howitzer Tank and Steam Walker.  No designer listed.
Pavlova photograph by Claire Brach at Hazelhurst Gallery café.

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