Graffiti

Hale End Road, Highams Park.

Graffiti

Berriman Road, Finsbury Park.

Moving Model Books: Vikings

 
This is the best paper automaton I have made to date!

This kit is actually a book with some simple text about vikings and a central section with pre-cut model pieces. The last few pages show how to assemble the model. It was straightforward to put together, but the final effect is very dramatic.

Process photos after the cut.

Street art

West Central Street.

Stack: October

This was much better than I thought it was going to be!

October's Stack delivery was Dirty Furniture, a magazine that will run for just six issues, each one focusing on a different piece of furniture. Previous issues were about the couch and the table, this issue was about the toilet, and future issues will be based on the closet, the telephone and the bed.

When I opened up my Stack envelope to reveal a magazine about toilets I was pretty sceptical that it was going to be a good read, but it turned out to be a great one, using toilets as the starting point for a wide range of articles. An analysis of the appeal of scatological humour, an article about gender neutral bathrooms and a history of Japanese high-tech toilets sit alongside interviews with an engineer who builds sewers, an archaeologist who specialises in faeces and a dairy farmer who uses his cows' dung to provide both bio-gas fuel and building materials. It was smart, funny and interesting. I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Would I buy it again? No, but only because I think there's a limit to my interest in furniture design. I would recommend it to all designers. I love the concept of a magazine with a planned end-date and can definitely understand the desire to have the complete set.

The Zoo of Tranquility: The Horse

I have just realised that I have been spelling the title of this book incorrectly all this time. It is "The Zoo of Tranquillity", not "The Zoo of Tranquility"!

The Horse has been the best automaton so far - both in terms of making it and its success, although the horse's galloping motion was definitely better before the riders were added. The sticks holding them in place go through the mechanism that transfers movement to the horse's legs and appear to be preventing it from moving as easily as it was prior to adding them.

The whole process of building it was made a lot more enjoyable by the purchase of this hole punch for making all the holes for the sticks. Part of the reason the last one worked so badly was that the holes I cut were too small so nothing pivoted properly. This hole punch solved that problem completely and I loved using it. Process photos after the cut.

Stack: September

This month's Stack is Ladybeard, (this one, not this one), a feminist magazine with themed issues. This issue is focused on the mind.

To be honest, I held off on starting this for a while. It's a massive magazine and the very first article, 'Losing My Mind', is a series of short personal reflections about mental breakdowns. The thought of ploughing through page after page of other people's mental health problems seemed like more a challenge than I wanted right now. In the end I did overcome my trepidation and sit down with it, and I was glad I did. It wasn't heavy-going at all – the articles are relatively short, (I could have done with some of them being longer), and wildly varied. There is some serious content, (institutional racism in mental health treatment, eating disorders, the use of psychiatry for political ends), but there's plenty of cheerful oddities mixed in as well, (art, transhumanism, twins, the history of emotions, LSD). The writing's good, the design is great, the content is interesting. It's just a shame it weighs so much – it was a nightmare to carry around for a week!

Would I buy it again? Maybe? It seems to be priced at £6.50, which is shockingly low considering how big and beautiful it is. I guess it would probably all depend on the theme.