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Progress
July
17, 2004: Cut all the dimensional steel for the Roman numerals on the
big clock. Now to strip the rust off, prime, and paint white so
they will reflect the various colors of El Wire.
July
14, 2004: 20 Pounds of colorful seed beads arrived for the
hourglasses. A hefty expense but we can't risk using anything that
will get stuck if condensation occurs within. Sealed up the first
one and gave it a spin... Wow! Super fun hypnotic instant
gratification! You won't be able to keep your hands off of them
has they hiss and drain out the colors. We thought about reducing
the hole size in the middle to slow the tide of the beads, but it is
much more interactive this way draining in 20 seconds or so and holding
your attention long enough to want to give them another spin.
That's with the 1" hole, the one attached the the NanoRover.
The hourglass on the Time Vault has a 3/4" passage so the beads may
take longer.
Umbrella
over the NanoRover will be upside down to look like a colorful
communications dish and mounted over the trailer hitch. Roman
numerals being installed around the main clock on the Time Vault.
Dimensional steel is rusty but strong... better go and get that tetanus
booster shot!
July
10, 2004: Mutation Alert! The
rear trailer which represents "The Past" has mutated.
The beer cooler on a trailer concept is out. Thanks to Rat for his
donation of time, advice, and bike parts. We are now building a
"wheel of time" that is a non-ride-able art concept with a
single bicycle wheel at the center which will be touching the playa
surface, with images of the past suspended in the spokes. This is
sandwiched between two plywood circles just under the same size with
holes in them to allow the spinning images to appear through them from
both sides. It is mounted on a hacked upside-down bike frame towed
behind the Time Vault. Mounted within or without this important
part of our trilogy are white strobe lights which will create a
stop-motion silent movie effect of the images and movement of the
wheel. No el wire or other lights on it as it is representing the
past, or more importantly, our perception of the past. Flek Stone
paint with black accents will be applied to give it a stone age look.
July
5, 2004: The white primer gives the time tractor a cool NASA
look. Black and white with the green circuit boards. Some
black lettering in a strange space language would be cool. Maybe
add some gold foil and fake solar panels, an upside-down umbrella as a
shade-providing satellite dish? We're now starting to let our
creative minds flow away from the fact that the base vehicle is a
mini-tractor. Maybe a new name will help. Any
suggestions? How 'bout "The NanoRover"?
July
3, 2004: Independence Day weekend and everybody is pitching
in! Thanks to John and Joey for the upholstery and rivet-rivets.
I'm looking forward to seeing the work that artist Cindy
will contribute too! You can see below that the sturdy flag pole
donated by Mr. Fixit will help our "freak flag fly". The
wind generator is lightweight and reliable only if balanced
properly. We wrapped it's pole with strobed el wire for a stop
motion effect at night.
The
white primer also gives some "pop" to the clock hands.
You can see how the word "now" is becoming more clear.
The "X" framing in the middle of the "O" will be
painted a neutral playa beige so it does not detract. Thanks to
Joey for his work on the first cozy bench seat on the left. Nap
tested, playa approved!
Now
for some techie discoveries: The time tractor that hauls the mutant vehicle represents the future and is covered with raw, useless circuit boards. There will be important looking tubes,
artwork, and el wire between them. They will be dotted with the 100 violet LED's grouped in
series circuits of 3 each. and those grouped into more parallel circuits and
control all of them with a 10 channel chaser sequencer kit I built. The overall effect will be rows of LED's chasing forwards or backwards to create the illusion of faster or slower movement of the time travel vehicle.
June
28, 2004: Mr Fixit does it again! With one more visit to his
Xanadu of parts, he picked off over 14 items on our "Got
Stuff?" list plus a care package of tons more.
Thanks, Mr. Fixit, for another wonderful afternoon of
discovery!
The
raw circuit boards are just the thing for the futuristic exterior of the
time tractor. The huge flagpoles will support the earth flag and
windmill with strobing el wire for a stop-motion effect. I was so
glad to find the earth flag on ebay because I almost went with the
United Nations flag to manifest the unification of the future. I'd
rather address things globally than politically.
June
19, 2004: Bonus thank you's to Mike at Coolight
West for taking lots of time with me to make sure my El Wire
order was right on. It's so great doing business with a guy who
gets excited about your project. Great prices too. Now for
the fun lighting phase of the construction. I'm told by Funhouse
Productions that their Cat-09 10-channel sequencer is being mass
produced and should arrive next month. It's the only el wire
sequencer with that many channels and we're designing the clock
sequencing around its anticipated arrival.
Here's how the
hourglasses came together:
The
outrageous megaphone gift from Joey, Bill, Deb, and Keith will be great
when driver tells passengers to prepare for time travel, or perhaps anybody can grab the microphone and just
shout at the hourglass, also known as "time management". Sound waves should deflect
outward and back around to the Time Vault in the same way running water
hugs the outside of an overflowing glass.
June
16, 2004: All hale BoomBox, merger of metals! I think professional
welders like BoomBox are magicians and alchemists. Thanks, BB, for
your contribution in welding on the seat, trailer hitch, hourglass
support, and steering wheel. Ours will be the welds that DON'T
break on the playa! It was also good to get your assessment of the
load capacity. We're glad you think the load capacity is
sufficient for Burning Man style people-moving. If anybody needs
to hire a welder, we've got the man for you!
June
6, 2004: Sun shade and "swim noodle" safety padding installed.
You can see on the left below that the first of the two hourglass sand
timers is attached. The PVC pipe pivot may be too weak once they
are filled. I'll take Mr. Fixit's advise and switch to steel electrical conduit. I've experimented with beads, sand, even
cuscus to fill them! The mini tractor is looking more wacky as I
add lights, raw electrical circuit boards, and odd controls... very
futuristic! Idea: Run a corrugated plastic hose from the
time vault to the driver with funnels on the ends for a low tech
"talk to the future" option.
May
30, 2004: With wife and kids visiting Grandma, I'm making great
strides on the clock hands. Thanks to Joey for helping me make a
wire jig so they are all bent the same way, and to Lauren for the idea
about making one of them a snake sticking out his tongue. Perhaps
that will be the one that points to The Man at the top. So far,
the 3.2 millimeter green el wire looks the brightest so maybe all the
clock hands can be green. I'm sure having fun playing with that
stuff. Thanks again, Mr. Fixit!
Click
here to play a tiny movie of how the sequencer changes the lights
May
23, 2004: Special thanks to Mr. Fixit,
Creator of the Big
Giant Head who donated 15 items on the Got stuff?
list as well as a ton of other super cool materials! He removed
many barriers, created new opportunities, and donated much of a Sunday
afternoon with sage mechanical advice. When he says things like
"dimensional stability" I know I should take heed! So
far, we have focused on things that represent time: clocks, sundials,
hourglasses, etc. We would love to hear your thoughts on the
artistic representation of the EXPERIENCE of time. What do you
think?
Tractor
(manifests the future):
The
top of the tractor will be another sundial, little flags of all
nations will be everywhere. There will be a back-lighted 4 foot
tall hourglass with colored beads in it mounted to the front on a
friction spindle, we hope people will not be able to keep their hands
off of it... timeplay at it's best!. The "future"
theme of it will be enhanced with an "international spacestation"
look.
Center
Time Vault Trailer (manifests the present):
There
will be another 4 foot tall hourglass mounted to the front-middle of
the time vault trailer over the tongue the supports there form a
cross-section "X" which will be el-wire lighted as the
burning man insignia.
The
front and back clocks are gone and replaced with one on the side, non
rotating 50 inch el wire clock. To the left and right of it will
be Large copper letters "N" and "W" to spell the
word "nOw" with the clock as the letter "O".
Inflatable
couch removed and replaced by low profile bench seating on left and
right of trailer ends facing each other with a round cocktail table in
the middle with a top that is a sundial.
There
will be panic buttons, lights and a little steering wheel for the
forward facing passenger to give them the illusion of control over
their destination.
Third
beer cooler trailer (manifests the past):
will
be mounted on something like one of those baby strollers with big
wheels that attach to the backs of bicycles. Good suspension was
recommended by Mr. Fixit so the beer won't get shaken up too badly.
Anything here that can represent "the past" will be
implemented in decoration.
May
13, 2004: How do you build a perfect circle? Build a perfect
square first! I am haunted by my nagging high school geometry
teacher as we move forward with the construction of the clock
frames. It's funny how the gleaming copper pipe reminds me
of H.G. Wells' time machine. I posted a message on the
burning man BBS looking for artistry skills. There is a chance
that my highly skilled sister will join in for the final painting phase
in August. Here is a picture:
A
lot of cross-bracing is necessary to support such a lightweight
structure. The "X" in front may support an illuminated image
of "the man". The first copper clock frame for the
mini-tractor is in the back of the picture. We are considering
changing the design on the left of the picture to that of a square
antique-looking clock. So it can be viewed from both sides, short
lawn chairs may work better. Any ideas on how to decorate
them? The steering wheel on the left and the panic button on the
lower right (actually from the Los Alamos nuclear lab!) may be mounted
somewhere so passengers can play with their lack of control over the
destination. A custom shade tarp has been ordered.
May
7, 2004. Just got back from vacation with a couple of new
ideas... To encourage passenger interactivity, lots of chimes, bells,
tightened bass guitar strings, as well as bows and mallets to play
them with. Thanks to Mark K. for his advise on not using the
inflatable couch, too many pokey costumes on the playa. Who has
an idea for a lightweight seating system for the Time Trailer?
April
15, 2004. Here's what $76.89 buys at the Pick-N-Pull wrecking
yard:
This
junk is expensive!
April
14, 2004. New drive belts installed. Then an ignition key
switch for which I promptly lost the keys! Lubed the chassis and
changed the oil and gear oil in the tranny. Replaced
the shade sail idea with one of a rotating umbrella with roman
numerals on it to simulate yet another timepiece. The drive
train will turn a rod within the steel mounting pipe with a friction
clutch for safe and slow spinning. Cucukoo bird flopping around
on a spring was my brother Joey's idea.
Thanks
to Ted Nelson of Nelsound Productions for loaning us the welding rig
and even giving me a refresher lesson!
April
7, 2004: We pasted the transparent inflatable couch below to give
you an idea of the set up. I love how the picture looks like it is
already covered with playa dust! Safety changes made:
Trailer clock has been moved to front and is transparent so passengers
and driver can see each other. This placement will make boarding
near the trailer hitch impossible (safety).. Cable cross-bracing in back of
couch for same purpose and to prevent couch from tipping over
backwards. Going with a NASA white for the base color and
decorating with gold foil like they use on satellites might be a good
thing. Deck painted to look like earth surface from
space. Calling all artists!
April
3, 2004: BurningMan.com announces official pre-registration and
we downloaded the application for Mutant Vehicle from the DMV
(Department of Mutant Vehicles). The "Time Share"
theme is looking more possible for obtaining approval due to its
better safety, cooling (clock does not block engine) and radical night
lighting. Also moving second large "hour
hand" of the El Wire clock to the trailer behind the couch so the
impression would be that of the hours chasing the minutes across the
playa. We
are looking in to finding an inflatable couch to cut down on the
"time zone trailer" weight.
The
tiny garden tractor frame is only about five feet long.
March
29, 2004: I was able to start up the garden tractor after a
little tinkering... Haggy offered a new muffler as
the one on her now is just a pipe with holes in it. The trailer
you see it resting on is proposed to be towed by the tractor. I
have not driven it around like that yet, but have installed the ball
hitch to a weak looking metal tab... calling all welders!
March
28, 2004: Thanks to the generosity and vision of Fred, "Haggyman",
the launch of the Black Rock Burner Hostel Mutant Vehicle begins
today! My name is Damian, though I may have met you on the BBS
of www.BurningMan.com
disguised as "Mister Jellyfish Mister". I am a Virgin
to Burning Man so I may have unreasonable expectations of the event or
make stupid comments from time to time, kindly bear with me. To
my credit, I have been to the playa a few times. Thanks for
putting up with the ads on this website, I am using one of the free
hosting services. Which reminds me, if you would like to
contribute resources, work, ideas, or a donation to this project,
please e-mail me at sinktrap@charter.net.
She's
a high torque, low speed, five-foot-long garden tractor that will be perfect for our
needs. Now for the fun part... creativity! What do you
think? I'll share with you some of the ideas Haggy, his son and
I discussed, but this is a community project so don't hold back any
thoughts or suggestions you have on it.
This
idea was scrapped due to safety, visbility, and engine cooling
concerns: This
year's Burning Man theme, "Vault of Heaven" is an inspiring
one. We talked about surrounding the tractor with the inflatable
outside of a children's swimming pool and using El Wire to simulate
the nighttime look of a dome over it, kind of like a George Jetson
look. On the trailer we could have a cozy couch with a shade
sail or awning above it. Lining the perimeter of it could be
white bed sheets mounted on removable rods and painted by one of the
Hostel's fine artists, cut into vertical strips like an air curtain.
Another
idea is to do a time-warp concept. I'll talk to those in the know
about El Wire and find out if we could build a huge skeleton clock frame
on either side of the tractor, one for the minute hand and one for the
hour hand. Then, some kind of automatic switch timer.
Note: still trying to find a 12 channel
sequencer/chaser, if not we will be using a 10 hour clock (we got a kit
for that one). After all, the roman numeral for "10" is
"X" and that looks a lot like the Burning Man insignia. that would
light the colorful "hands" of the clocks sequentially. Slow,
fast, even backwards! Imagine seeing it from the side at night,
accelerating to a whopping maximum 5 MPH as the "clock" moves faster
in reverse. Talk about time travel!
Haggy wanted to tie something in to the
flags-of-all-nations international theme of the Burning Man Hostel so we could hang clocks on the
trailer next to the national flags of each time zone they represent, or
vice-versa. It suggests an interactive feature for the riders to do
"time play"... setting clocks and alarms all over the
vehicle. Some clocks may have the innerds removed, bashed up with
a hammer, and re-inserted under their crystal. I am inspired by works such as The Persistence of
Memory by Salvador
Dali. My wife misunderstood me when I was explaining it and
thought I said "Time Share" and suggested that it would be a
good name for the mutant vehicle. What do you think?
Haggy
also has an awesome "exhaust whistle" which, if we can get the
tractor to kick out enough blow at a high rev, would sound like...
well... unbelievable! Add to that some kooky-spooky ice cream
truck music tinkling backwards and interspersed with satellite telemetry
and Russian and Chinese mission control talk through a crackling bull horn.
I
have read up on what the Department of Mutant Vehicles (DMV) is looking
for before they approve a vehicle for the playa, so any insight you can
offer on filling out the application would be appreciated! Safety
is our number one priority and the small wheels and low clearance of the
trailer is a plus there as well as the slow speed of the garden tractor.
More
to follow as I start to interface more with our BM community in
Reno/Sparks and abroad. Cheers to you all! -Mister Jellyfish
Mister
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