Werthers dirigibles

Back across town through the constant flow of costumed and photographer sucking on a Werthers Dirigible in an effort to make the climb back up the Abbey steps a little easier. Finally attaining the top, who do we meet but Mohcen

All the way from another universe or dimension or London..Anyway good to see him and his friends enjoying the Goth fest in Whitby. He seemed to be reasonably impressed by the firepower on offer...

But potshots at the seagulls?

And anyway isn't this bit supposed to make things look bigger?

As usual the apprentice was always available to show everyone how it's really done... even when the sun is getting a bit low...and lesser photographers get their shadows in the shot. That would be me... not paying enough attention.

Another good guy we met, who was paying more attention to his photography Alvin Hall... luckily I never met the dog.
The apprentice, however did meet up with a photographer K.T. Allen who had taken a shot of her on the previous Gothfest and photoshopped it to a higher level... So we left in search of this wonderful artwork which was given free and greatly appreciated

Please visit KT Allens own site to see this and other images and how they were built.

 

 

We're back... Whitby Goth Weekend... and what a marvelous time we had... It was hard work. The translocation unit needed emptying of all the superfluous stuff that impedes its economical movement on  a daily basis and be transformed into a true Translocator. The Apprentice and I felt the need to skip breakfast in order to set off in the allotted timeframe. As a result we were both rather peckish when we arrived in Whitby, located the unit in a muddy field and set off to find sherlocks for intake of Cappuccino, Hot Chocolate and chocolate muffins. That's when we remembered to contact Si, provider of the photographic images you see here. Si managed to find us in Sherlocks without the use of one of my cafe detectors... Uncanny.

Filled with Hot Chocolate beverage, the Apprentice, cheered by the sight of me struggling to breathe after the gravitational flux transfer setting on the recombobulator backfired and I had to haul my own weight up the 139 steps without aetheal assistance.

Mirthfulness aside this thing still works... and in the hands of one as experienced as this Danger is never far away.

Still don't believe me...

Told you it was dangerous!
 Anyway its starting to get serious and it must be time for fish and chips so its down all those steps again. I know there's more than 139 but it's always important to mention the 39 steps.

You can see the colour bleeding away from the two of us as the field of the cafe detectors both kick in automatically at high intensity to locate a major eating establishment.

That's better but I still don't think it's working properly.
 Thanks to Sigh the Mercilessfor his wonderful photographic documentation, more of which can be seen on flickr... more of this later






  

steamy hallows

 Repaired, Billy gets to work in the front garden...after a short,undignified journey from the workshop at the Forgery which involved unhinging his arms and removing his head which was transported in a hat box...all that hair was starting to fill with all sorts of small particles of the scenery.
 After getting his dust sheet to remain in a reasonable position, by using some clamps which were luckily to hand. He was going quite well until the rain,when the sheet became steadily heavier and more sodden. I increased the spring pressure,which helped, but forgot to cover the power supply, which didn't. The result was that Billy operated rather intermittently, but still quite effectively.

OK I should have started earlier so that I had time to take some photos as I was setting up, but by the time I found out that Borris the butler, whose power supply had gone AWOL, was not responding to any new source of electricery and neither was my digital multimeter. Eventually an alternative was located and put together with a plug of almost the correct dimensions. Borris lives!

Edgar the raven was firmly attached to Borris' tray to prevent him from 'flying away' and Borris sported a pair of goggles on his Top hat, for the first time.
The rest of the graveyard went up quite quickly.

The motors kept going, even as things were getting really quite wet.
The lighting kept going too, and the smoke machine only fell silent when Maisie was too cold to stay out in the coffin, where the controls were situated. The blood curdling screams, with which she leaped from the coffin on the approach of the unsuspecting trick or treater, are probably still haunting some of those taking solace in the sweets they gathered on that cold wet evening.

Part of the aftermath... everything needs drying before putting it away...and this is only a small part of it!
 Billy needed to dry his hair...

Ongoing Haloween prep

There's no need to panic... plenty of time for those last minute preparations. Fred 2 has a new name now, he's called Billy. And Billy needs his eyes to glow like old Freds used to, the way bulbs glow when the power supply is being overloaded... that's easy I just need some bulbs...some red tape... blob of solder here and there... and Billys eyes glow in that wonderful retro way that a struggling power supply can give.

I know... he looks a bit crosseyed but that's OK there's electricity down there, and we're talking Amps.
 It turns out there's more of a problem for Billy, Freds old heart is a bit dodgy the linking arm is going to need some repair,the end is nearly cracked all the way through.

 That's not going to last very long. luckily I have another link arm from another wiper motor I got to power another cog, it's too long but will shorten and frankenstein onto the end of the old bit.
 Back to the driving of cogs, the merry-ghool-round needs to have some revolving cogs... those old battery drills will be just right for that, the batteries don't take a charge any more so I'll wire them to a power supply
and build a mounting to keep them up out of the way.

That's all we need to see of that for now... I think you can tell from this that some of the bits rotate. A few more cogs to make and get spinning and I'm about ready. Oh yes, a few repairs to make and a funnel for the smoke...

Halloween preparations

 It really is time to start Lifting lids and getting the props ready to give a good show for Halloween. The Forgery has to be given over to the preparation. Firstly there's the problem of Fred. Fred died, not for the first time, only this time he managed to get it right and there's nothing left of him but a memory, oh, and the windscreen wiper motor that formed his original heart.
 Rebuild from scratch the first mechanical Halloween contraption I built... OK but times have changed technology moves on ... true but the rules still apply so it's back to the scrapheap (parts dept.)
 Right that should do,The box tubing from Corrins bed mounted on the stand from the garden brolly that snapped... linkages ...pivots... voila 

   Now he needs his head, where's that mask I got from the car boot and those cool shades. right all I need now is that old dust sheet... OK so he wont move.Have to redesign that bit. Shift the pivot points, that'll give the little motor a better chance.I'll double up  the slider and put a chest plate in to hang some springs from. A bit more beef on the mechanism and the springs from the anglepoise lamp. Fred seems quite pleased to show off his new physique:

 I want his eyes to light up like Old Freds did,well not quite like that because old Fred didn't wear shades, probably why his eyes were so red. I'll worry about that later, since I dropped the only old 12v auto bulb I could find... I must have more ... somewhere ...

 Does he look like Billy Connelly to you?   ....    Spooky ... maybe a top hat and some goggles

 Going to need a bigger top hat... or maybe Fred was more the Airship type

 Obviously the victim of an accident involving large voltages in a place where the hairbrush is rarely to be found.. Good Man Fred, best wishes for Halloween. Not too scarey

treasure

The resent heavy rain and subsequent flooding  ( possibly something to do with Gravitational perturbations arising from the incident with the Recombobulator) have made scavenging for goodies increasingly more hazardous. However, BR and the Proff. diligently trudged miles in search of the raw materials for the workshop screams.Hence...

 Another treasure trove of raw materials freshly gleaned from valuable resource that is the local car boot sale(at least three of them, if truth be told)These bits of old jewellery will enable the diligent producer of steam powered miniature gadgetry that is I, to disguise these powerful little devices in my usual manner. This will amplify their effectiveness over short range and render them practically invisible at longer distances.

This old power drill, on giving up it internal parts, will provide the body for another device of great importance to the well being of the Empire and its citizens and lots of other good things too!

This is a good thing. It will need protecting from stuff so a weapon will have to be produced, or a detector of bad things, or perhaps a who knows what. That would definitely improve the neighbourhood and render bad things inadequate in their attempts.
Dobbie, the motorised translocation unit of boxlike mien(my van) needed quite drastic surgery to his front suspension. this invoked the need for professional assistance. A further drain on limited resources, compounded by the compulsion to produce rubber stamps of ones Sketches and doodles. A process which also required the assistance of professionals and the parting with of monetary resources.
Since recently being selected for the York Open Studios 2013, the workshop beckons, if only to tidy up and light a fire. No, there is much work to be done, devices of power and utility to produce. Steam, Smoke and the need for metal polish... to the Forgery    

Love of my life.

If you wish to feast your eyes on some fabulous art, check out this blog    http://jobloggscom.blogspot.co.uk/

more stuff

More from the far flung corners of the room

The apprentice it would appear has left her goggles out in the snow with their gravity nullification pump still engaged. it's lucky I retrieved  them before the Moisture Absorption unit on the Steam Replenisher dug  a hole in the surface and they were lost until the thaw.

The pointer has been jammed on this Locator ring for some time but it still looks the business and will probably induce the proper level of confidence in the wearer to make actually repairing it to full functionality rather a waste of time, effort and resource.
Then I found a picture of the original Whitby Candlestick before the refit, when the ectoplasmic goo collector bottle had to be replaced on the recombobulator. This was made necessary by a sudden fluctuation in the Gravity Flux Motor settings, which propelled the Glass bottle onto the floor smashing it into shards too small to retrieve in there entirety. Repair could only be achieved by substitution of the now dysfunctional containment envelope with a newly acquired and physically more imposing diamond shaped receptacle, formerly used as ascent bottle.

The new receptacle was easily fitted in place of the former and it also provided  a perfect opportunity to upgrade the whole unit by fitting erstwhile stopper to the front of the barrel.

Forming a handsome crystaline focusing point for the Aether concentrtion oscillations.I think the overall efect is quite an improovement too.

One of my favourite Brokencross pendants

              More Brokencross jewellery

According to plans.

some of the designs work well on paper, some just have to grow