orrery

I wanted to make an Orrery (model of the planets orbiting around the sun) after fielding some questions from my son, about such things ……but first I thought Id make a Astrolabe here are some  that are on the net either old (1300s) or reproductions.

very nice !! but my small saw and patience wasnt up to it……..yet, I will try again…..my attempt ended up as the dial on a grandfather clock I made  , as a sailors astrolabe and a working planisphere

the astrolabe isn’t accurate but the planisphere works……set it to the time and date and it shows the stars in the sky at lat 35 deg north (Oslo)… so if im on my way to Oslo at night with my large clock and I get lost…………..no drama !

So , on to the Orrery……the oldest one is the Antikythera mechanism found on a shipwreck in Greece dated at around 125 bc. it was used to calculate the position of the stars etc. for navigation……here’s anouther one…. more my styleit shows the nearest three planets to the sun and the moons rotation around the earth at any time of the year, in the different signs of the zodiac so this one is for astrology actually…….

And so, on to my attempt————

here`s the plan…..and here it is in the flesh…..

The more observant will notice that the handle has gone and has been replaced with an air piston…. it all works I promise…..the next piece of nonsense is to connect it to a boiler and ill have a steam engine powered orrery…..the only one in the world…… watch this space…….or u tube.

updated  orrery to show the moons orbital perturbations….its perigee and opogee……. its up and down motion, of course its not to scale or correct in any way.. and the earth should be tilted……but hey its made of wood and glue…. give me a brake !

and now the utube link ..  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQcTD6WS2F4&feature=channel

starting out..

The first thing when drawing from a photograph is to scale up…

You can do this free hand or draw a grid of say 5cm squares on your paper and draw a grid of say 5mm on your photo ……..then copy the info from one square to its corresponding other……… a  10\1  enlargment…or …..photo copy the thing lager and use a light box !!!! 

 Caravaggio (1571-1610) apparently.. used a prism and projected an image on a wall…a good technique with a slide photograph for murals..

here I am showing a pantograph on my  sketch of  my dear friend Manuela kjeilen  (passion for baking.) l use a 2b pencil with a sharp point or propelling pencil  ….. then for darker areas work your way up to 9b… but the higher values are harder to blend and these tend to be dark gray rather than black.

For black I use Nero 3 although this is difficult to keep sharp… 

Most important are the eyes….. that’s how we look at real people ,that’s how we recognise a portrait……. so next work on the eyes and I always use a circle template…….except when I don’t….

now fill in some back ground detail….. some shadow ,any fine detail and then blend it in , smudge it with a tortillion (rolled up piece of paper) or a soft cloth…..then using an eraser, pick out the white areas , use a soft brush to wipe away the spoil , do NOT use your hand or blow on the paper (streaking carbon dust on spit soaked paper don`t look good no  how !!! ) 

 Now carefull with this, if you add shade under a hard-line and make a white streak above it, it will look like a wrinkle adding like thirty years to a person, the trick is to remove all the hard lines from your initial sketch and then blend the shade in to the light without changing the overall look of the thing…….. practice is the key……

large areas such as cheeks etc. use a soft needable eraser and for sharp lines , cut a knife-edge into a hard eraser or use the one on top of your pencil…… keep going, adding shade  blending ,then bring back out the white of the paper, then blend again….. untill you feel your done..

Seal the thing with a good fixative to stop it smudging and give it a bit of a shine and your done !!!!!!

the automata….

This gallery contains 8 photos.

H…. Short for Helene.

My other daughter ´H´

and her two pictures

although this is my favorite

my girl Stephanie and her picture……..

steph. in Dads hat……… and what a fine hat it is……………. was my fathers hat as well……… flat cap anyway…….

the samuri Automata

This gallery contains 1 photo.

hopefully one of a series….. He drinks… she disapproves……. im not sure what this is about but i enjoyed making it immensely and look forward to finding out what the next one will be ..                 see this one working on u tube … Continue reading →

chip off old bloke

My boy…….Thomas painted in silhouette………… sort of………

and one I did earlier…!

 About five years earlier !!!!!!!!!!

When i figure out how………. i shall open  the gallery to show the drawings, paintings, machines ,automata , with links to places of wonder , showing how gears work , the best pencils and which is the best shaving oil……………

first things !

Hello Blog type people……………..

Here you will find the things that i do to remain sane……. or not

but also , i hope,  a forum for people to show off their ideas, pictures,paintings, automata what ever keeps you sane………….