lotus flower

ok so you would not guess it but this is a...



More exactly its a trial build of the mechanical movement to open and close the petals.

Very happy with how it worked, open and closes very well even with heaps of extra weight added to the tips of the petals.

Feel like all those hours spent scribbling designs on a butchers pad were worth something.

Should hit the ground running with the tricky two mechanical movements built as trails.

14 days left before I fly!

stage hide.

Finally a fan, (sigh)

This is a tail for a back stage hide for the Festa del fuoco.

Ideally we would have two or 3 of these painted to look like giant gears.

Possibly even more in different sizes to give a depth to the stage.

Although I found the reality of making this much harder than anticipated I was very very happy with the way it worked once completed.

Now I know the technique it will be easy to make on Stromboli.

I am very confidant that they will be effective and versatile stage elements.

In particular I am happy with how fast they to set up and also how portable they are!

Now on to some fire trials!

mechanical toys

definite possibilities here

it seems everything is leading us towards fire breathing tigers on unicycles!

Sketches

Some quick ideas for ferris wheel backdrops

 Sketches for kinetic fire ball sculptures

 Rotating spiral lifts balls up to top of slide then they roll down, fire would have to be self contained within the balls.

 Similar idea but different layout

 Fire ferris wheel where fire is in cups on swivels so they don't tip over as wheel turns

 quick sketch of possible suspension techniques for self contained fires, I like the idea of handing fires like mobiles or moving seesaws

Sketch of big cat on pedestal broken down to structural elements and gears. Would be great to incorporate more backdrop/atmospheric cogs/gears/equipment so that the stage is not just one or two elements but has more of an atmosphere.

Animal Research

This is research for the circus animal sculptures... since I've done the most research on tigers, guess I focused on them but elephants, lions and other animals are an option for fire sculptures too, would love to make them move and especially loved Nic's idea of putting them on penny farthings, might be too complicated for the facilities, but a girl can dream...

 Always useful breakdown of the musculature of a big cat

 Really love this guys use of discarded hub caps! Seems to fit so well with the shape of the animal!

 We could combine pretty art nouveau patterns in the tails to use what we already have

 ROAR!!!

Owls are so weird and wonderful, would be great with fire eyes, but they do always remind me of harry potter...

First Idea Drawings

These are  a few preliminary ideas for sets and sculptures: The first was based on a red and white circus tent, but only as a stage backdrop, with cog fire helmet. Don't think this is a goer but is a first exploration of circus tent.

 Thought this kind of kinetic movement sculpture would work well with the fire juggling balls Nic? Or else we could build a one off Jack style meteor to roll down for a show stopper one off. Would be cool to have a series of cogs lifting fireballs up then them rolling down in an endless cycle- until they run our of fuel that is!

 First drawings of fan/backstage area, went overboard with the cog decoration so made it more straight forward in the next one...

 I like this one! Two of these either side of the stage, that can be wheeled on and off, with the torches on each of the spine...I was thinking a dark maroon, with black lace work painted on and the cogs painted copper and brass colours...it would probably be made of ply and to teh structural design Nic showed me.

 Colour tests...maybe a bit garish but I couldn't help myself, promise I'll tone it down :)

 Ok, these excite me, cos they're simple ways to make kinetic flower fire sculptures and I really want to see what patterns the flames will make through the spinning panels, don't you?

 Hmmm, materials, we will need to get the moving parts ( that we can weld to) in Naples

 Ah, a very quick drawing of the fire lotus's that the petals will open and close, I really want to make these but not sure at this stage where we can fit them in the shows.....

Ok, fire breathing tiger, couldn't help myself. Complicated I know, but if we build an armature out of rebar and found steel I think the character of the components will shine through and look very very steam punk- would love to have two either side of the stage facing off. Will post some images soon of miniature maquettes in wire and hot melt glue of this one

Research Images