Saturday, January 28, 2012

Drawings Jan. 2012

Charcoal on Paper






Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Classic Magic - Custom Magic

The Cups and Balls Routine is considered the oldest magic effect on record. Images of this routine were found written in stone on the great pyramids of Egypt! It's still performed by street performers, and all kinds of magicians today. These are hand sewn, and leather cut baseballs I made over the weekend. I made them in a lemon peel style. I can't tell you how difficult it is to take something flat like leather, and shape it into something round! I finally have a complete set that match!








Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Monday, December 12, 2011

Charcoal on Paper

This is my new studio. It was an old textile factory converted into artist's loft's. I love this new space because I can finally make bigger things. These are my 2 new pieces.












Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Crank Organ Music

After a week of re-learning music theory I punched out some music for my organ. I built a few tools so I can measure everything to scale. It was fun seeing music made with holes on paper. The paper had to be cut exactly 5 1/2 inches wide, and the length is based on how long the song is. For every second of music, 70mm of paper is needed.













Sunday, August 7, 2011

Dummy Restoration 2


This is a Paul Winchell, Jerry Mahoney, Semi-Pro ventriloquist dummy. I was asked to restore him from a magician friend Vanishing Vinny. He has a great trick he's doing that requires a very classy looking dummy.For the restoration we came up with a fair barter. He would design for me some important promotional material I needed for an upcoming magic show, and I would restore the dummy for his magic show. I accepted the challenge and it took me about 2 full days of work to finish.The original clothes were stained, torn, and stinky! the creepy part was that their were sweat stains on his collar.Anyway, I took apart his clothes piece by piece and slowly replicated his outfit. He works great!





Dummy Restoration







Wednesday, July 20, 2011

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!!


































































Tuesday, July 5, 2011

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!