The Cocoa Card Rise

"The Cocoa Card Rise" is made inside of a vintage Walter Baker tin. The turning knob was found outside of my band's practice space, and I believe it comes from a banjo. The card wire frame is made from coat hangers and copper wire. This is a classic of magic. Usually, a selected card mysteriously rises from a pack without anyone touching the cards. I chose to use the banjo knob as part of the trick because it reminds me of old wind up toys. The best part is that any deck of cards can be used, and even after shuffling, the selected card rises! 

                    

The Animal Cookie Hot Air Balloon

"The Animal Cookie Hot Air Balloon" is portable and can be performed anywhere. I can't explain what the machine is made of inside because the secret will be revealed. I can tell you that it took over twenty hours of work to get the machine to float. It was worth all the effort and I hope the video shows a glimpse of why I love this illusion so much. It holds everything that I find important in the world. 

Heart Box

"Heart Box" was made in a Tic-Tac container. I was inspired by a schematic schowing how to make an LED sensitive to light. There are four photocells that each control two LEDs. The darker it gets at night, the brighter the LEDs shine. Last year, my wife joined  the volunteer 

Emergancy Medical Service for the town we live in, so it was a gift to her. Go Katie! 

The Audio Portrait Artist

This is "The Audio Portrait Artist"(TAPA). It is made from recycled DC motors, cigar boxes, pieces from a broken multimeter, roof shingles, wine corks, and old radio knobs. TAPA works similar to a CNC machine, but instead of cutting things, it draws . There are four microphones which are each individually filtered to sense a certain range of sound. Starting from very low deep sounds to high pitches, TAPA draws in a specific direction based on the pitch it hears. There are four control knobs on top to control the sensitivity of each mic. Each microphone is individually amplified using LM386N IC chips, and a ULN2003A IC chip bring both DC motors together. There are two relays that control the direction for both motors. The analog gauge is wired together with the circuit to show the intensity of sound it receives.

Recycled Sound

"Recycled Sound" is an amplified speaker made with recycled objects: a lemon tin, old radio knobs, and a metal shot glass. The shot glass is the speaker, suspended by rubber bands with a hole drilled in its center. A piece of copper pipe was fitted in the hole and  wrapped with magnetic wire. The circuit inside is made with an LM386N. I love this project because it is the bare bones of how sound is amplified with magnets. 

The Bell Box

The Bell Box is made of a salvaged cigar box, a pick-up sticks box, and some scrap wood. The bell parts are brass piping. Three solenoid motors help make the bell sounds. The fun part of this project is the Arduino microcontroller in the button box. I programmed it so it memorizes the  sequence in which you press the buttons. The bell box then plays your melody back to you on a continuous loop.

The Lie Detector

The Lie Detector is made with two recycled DC motors from old printers. The circuit is made up of a triple 5 timer and two transistors for the hand sensor. The buzzer goes off when it gets a strong enough signal coming from the sensor. The more your hand sweats, the stronger the pen moves and buzzer sounds. I love this project because I'm finally branching away from microcontrollers.

Oscar and his art work

These are two different drawings made by "Oscar with an A". The one in blue ink was during a punk and blues guitar session with John Smith on August 20th 2008. John played electric guitar and  Oscar translated music into drawing. The one in black ink was done during  a jam session with Chris Denaro, a great singer/songwriter who sang an original song of his called "Anyway".  That was done on August 12 2008. 

Introducing Oscar with an A

This is a drawing machine made from recycled objects. The heart of "Oscar with an A" is an Arduino microcontroller. The machine senses sound and translates it into drawing.

Up and Running!

This is my first attempt at posting all my artwork for the past couple years. It's not limited to one medium. I'm posting it all for the sake of inspiration and hopefully some feedback to others who have the same interests in electronics and music. thanks for stopping by and I hope you leave with a little spark of wanting to create something new .