Monkey Makeover

My organ is finished but I have no monkey! I searched online for the perfect mechanical monkey and came across a toy that was made in the 50's and 60's. The toy was rusted and broken. I replaced a broken motor and sewed a new pair of pants. The monkey interacts with the organ because of an Arduino microcontroller. I also used the guts of an old voice changer toy. The mic from the toy is now used as a sensor to detect a certain level of sound, which

activates the monkey to turn on. Everything is nicely fitted into a small canvas backpack I made. I am excited to test this guy out!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJUbvyT9MOw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

my handcrafted Busker Street-Style Organ complete

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Z8ahF1BlY

My handcrafted Busker Street-Style Organ Pt 2

Here are more photos

My handcrafted Busker Street-Style Organ

This is an organ built by the John Smith Busker Organ plans. This organ took me five weeks to make. I spent early mornings and late nights through the month of June and the last week of May. It was the most challenging thing I have ever Built. Worth every moment!

Hand Carved Chess Set

This chess set was carved using oak. I stained one set of pieces with a dark walnut stain. The board was outlined with a wood burning pen. Dark stain was applied to half the squares, and the whole thing was then sealed with Mod Podge. I nailed leather to the bottom of each piece and sewed a small pillow to hold everything in place within the box, which was also handcrafted. I love this chess set. I now need challengers for some chess and wine!

Stan Laurel marionette

Stan Laurel is a marionette. His head, hands and feet are all hand carved from wood. The suit was purchased and was intended for a new born child. I had to cut and re-sew everything so it would fit comfortably. Stan Laurel has controlled eyebrows, mouth, and hat. They are all controlled with springs, strings, and dowels. Rope holds the head, hands, and feet together. The marionette string is a multi-stranded bracelet string.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrxekU6ZBU8

mint box card trick

Mint Box Card Trick is built inside of an Altoids tin. There is a wooden frame inside. The handle is made of wire from an old hanger and an eraser. A carved wine cork keeps the hole sealed on top. A few other sneaky things make the selected card rise. Everything needed for this trick is inside the tin. Everything, including the cards, fit to make this effect all self-contained.

Ball Box

"Ball Box" is made from repurposed cigar boxes, bottle caps, and wine cork. The foundation of the box is made from pine. The box's interior uses traditional magic principles for vanishing an object. The hinges for the doors on either side are made from a clothing hanger. The wire was cut and pressed in to fit from the top and bottom, so the doors can swing freely.

The Dream Box

"The Dream Box" is made in a repurposed Upper Cut cigar box. I used leather, brass, different foam boards, and cardstock to build the inside and outside. The handle is made from a wire clothes hanger. There is woodburning done on the front, and it's glossed over with ModgePodge. This box is the beginning of something I have always wanted to make: to have someone name any card, then to turn a handle on a box, and have that card appear. Watch the video, and let me know what you think! I'm curious to know how this holds up before I really start trying to perform it.

The Miniature Lightning Box

"The Miniature Lightning Box" is made from the insides of a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) and an old TV flyback transformer. The circuit inside of the CFL can generate high frequency currents that are fed into a high frequency transformer inside the base of the bulb. The high frequency transformer boosts the voltage so the fluorescent bulb can light up. The TV transformer makes high voltage and high frequency current to generate enough electricity to trace the electron beam that lights up the screen. When you take the CFL's transformer and replace the fluorescent bulb for the TV transformer, you can create well over 1,000 volts! this is my version of a high voltage supply/Jacob's Ladder. I love this project because the spring animates along with the electricity.

The Nickel Box

"The Nickel Box" was made from copper, wood, bolts, screws, epoxy, scrap metal, skeleton key, paint, and nails. The tiny box was made from scratch, using scrap wood from another cigar box. All of the copper was hand cut to fit the box. I love this routine, because no electricity is required for it to work. The goal of this project was to create a magic effect that works like a crank toy.

The Jedi Mind Trick

"The Jedi Mind Trick" started with a Star Wars "Return Of The Jedi" soundtrack cassette I found at a thrift store. Playing around with the case, I realized that playing cards fit almost perfectly inside, if you remove a few plastic stubs from the interior. The stand is a soap container from Walmart. A strong LED lights up in the center. The sound is from a musical greeting card. Everything, including the rise of the card, is perfectly synchronized to the music, with the help of a micro-controller.

War, Love and Peace

"War, Love and Peace" was made using the shell of an old RCA radio. Using a web application (Processing) and an Arduino micro-controller, I was able to create a sort of online hit counter. The computer goes online to a specific website - I used http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/ - and counts how many times the words war, love, and peace appear. It returns the result to the web application. The application translates the data to the micro-controller. The micro-controller displays the value on the analog gauges and the red LED. The large gauge is for "war," the small gauge is for "peace," and the red LED is for "love." There is also an LCD screen that displays the words "war," "love," and "peace" every time it receives it. The program updates every ten seconds. If the New York Times blog posts something new, the machine will also update. Mechanically, what once controlled the tone of the radio now controls the contrast of the LCD screen. What controlled the volume now turns the hands of the clock backwards and brightens the large lightbulb. This project was inspired by the last chapter in Massimo Banzi's book, Getting started with Arduino. I chose to make this piece interact with the New York Times blog page, because it is one of the most current world news sources on the web. I tried the project with several major news sites, in fact, and concluded that war is consistenly the most common word in news out of "war," "love," and "peace."