Saturday, February 28, 2009

Micro cuben fiber pocket

It sews itself on as you insert the rod. This one is a test fitting, but I'm about to use it in an actual kite. I'm quite proud of the minimalism here, and I also like the fact that this fitting avoids glue, have I mentioned lately that I dislike glue? The rod is .030 - this stuff is tiny.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Time lapse of the Rabble Mobile



The Rabble Mobile. This mobile is actually 7 kites called mini photon fighter kites. Designed by Tim Elverston and painted by Ruth Whiting. Each kite weighs only 4.6 grams. They are 22 inches in span and can be removed and flown indoors or out. Materials are: carbon, cuben, spectra, stainless steel, and oil paint.

If you enjoy this, I highly recommend watching it in HD. You have to click play first and then 'watch in HD' near the bottom right of the video - then full screen it - this is easier if you go to youtube. Thank you Tom and Edith for letting us play in your beautiful house. Tom Smith designed and helped build this incredible piece of architecture.


Sunday, February 22, 2009

Seven piece painted photon mobile

tim elverston ruth whiting artNot sure what the actual chances are, but now that all 7 are in a space that they like, waiting around for them to line up like this is quite the game.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Mobile from Photon kites



When you want to fly them, you can easily detach each kite and hang a 4.6 gram placeholder in its position. I put this together last night after living with the now seven mini photons for almost a week. They were hung on a line all together in my office. They were obviously dying to become a mobile. This is a 5 piece, which you can see is the maximum allowed in this space. I am going to a friend's house to do all 7. I will shoot and post a time lapse.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The details of the pieces


As with all mobiles, this one is also very difficult to capture. These are detail shots that show the wire work a little more closely. They are so light, and the joining method makes the whole system so frictionless, that they move absolutely constantly. I often imagine them moving even when I'm not there, perhaps in the middle of the night when no one is even watching.

Black and white mobile - ten piece








Along with the installation of this lamp, I also made this two-layer mobile for Sidney Wade. In her house she has this fantastic flight of stairs with a very high ceiling. When I first saw the stairwell, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for it. I started with 14 rectangles of the simple fold pattern. I then decided on the progression of the sizes. Cut the circles and stitched them to the wire frames. I worked out that there are over 270 knots in this mobile but they are nearly invisible. 

Evan Roth - Vienna show - Available Online for Free


Our friend, and we hope a future collaborator of ours Evan Roth, is having a show of his recent work.  It's in Vienna.  Two good links are here ni9e and here advancedminority. From the show's text:

February 26th 
Advanced Minority, Vienna

AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE is the first solo show of Graffiti Research Lab co-founder Evan Roth. This exhibition contains new as well as past work and includes pieces currently in the permanent collection of the MoMA NYC as well as prints from the latest Jay-Z video. Driven by his motto “release early, often and with rap music”, humor, activism, hip-hop and technology are frequent themes that carry across multiple media, including custom computing hardware, lasers, prints and canvases. The title of the exhibition, AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE, alludes to the friction between the artist’s interest in utilizing the web as a medium for freely sharing content and ideas, and the art world’s interest in unique objects and limited editions. While many of the works created for the gallery are indeed unique, they are also made available for free online in their digital form.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Party for six mini photons

Well, here are 6 of the 7.  I need to take them out and fly them together and do a real photo session. We are going to take these to San Vito Sicily this year. I'm thinking of clustering them, but first I guess we need tails for that. They fly so well as fighters that I'm a little reluctant to put tails on them.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Second color scheme for Mini Photon



All seven mini photons are now painted. We're trying to decide on the sex of the two color schemes. I'm not sure which I like best yet.

Tape folding jig

I made this ages ago when I worked for Guildworks. I was digging through old photos and found it. I love this jig. It folds tape in half and removes the paper backing all in on operation. Each part is is adjustable. The wire is actually wire we stole from a nail making factory upstairs from our shop. What a crazy time.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Four Morpho Grandes


Four of our 14 foot deltas. They are polyester and carbon.