Ten Tinkering Inspirations for Summer 2023
I’m always looking around for new ideas and examples for making and tinkering projects. It seems that with all of the recent changes with twitter (x) it’s much harder these days to engage with the playful learning community. With that in mind, I would like to try to semi-regularly post some links to interesting things going on in the making and tinkering world. Here are a few programs, artist works and events that have inspired me in the last few months:
The first thing is the launch of the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre’s “mechanical making space” in Hastings, UK. My friends at CMT launched a successful crowdfunder campaign for their first physical space in more than 20 years. They’re already getting started activating their new space. I’m really excited to see how this homebase for automata and tinkering with mechanisms develops in the next months and years.
Alongside the CMT physical space, I want to highlight the work of the artist Loulou Cousins who has been working as an educator, kit designer and artist with the group. I’m amazed by the humor, clever mechanisms and personal style of her work. We’re already incorporating her kits in our online workshop and I feel there’s a lot to explore for tinkering with the ways that she makes simple mechanisms and linkages extremely compelling.
Another automata maker that I admire is Federico Tobon of Wolfcat Workshop, based in Los Angeles. I was interested in his California poppy design which makes brilliant use of a wire spiral worm gear and laser cut toothed wheel. These are two elements that I haven’t explored much in automata making and I’d be interested to try out different versions of this idea.
One more interesting music machine mechanism was shared by the amazing Kazu Harada. I’ve been working with the Tinkering Studio to develop a workshop around rhythm blocks and it’s great to see completely different but delightful approach to a robot that makes music.
I’m a big fan of the work of A Secret Club, based in Aarhus, Denmark and I loved seeing some of their cardboard costume workshops. One thing that I thought was really nice is how they emphasize the quality of cardboard using the inner layers, honeycomb pieces and colorful scraps.
Moving into a more technological direction, I was very inspired by the experimentation of Eric Rosenbaum and Scratch Lab around using AI image generation into Scratch projects. I’m really interested in new technologies and tools and I like how Eric outlined the pitfalls and possibilities while showing lots of concrete examples.
Another example of tinkering with a new AI technology that I have been following this summer is by and artist called Bleeptrack. She has been doing lots of pen plotter experiments and my favorite involves a mash-up of sun prints and AI generated doodles. I think this could inspire so many different combinations of high and low tech art-making methods.
Continuing the theme of technology outside, I loved this moving inflatable robot. It reminded me of some of the awe-inspiring work of Shih Chieh Huang but out in nature and more interactive. I’ve been experimenting a bit with inflatables this summer and this provided an awesome high-ceiling example.
One more tinkerer who continuously provides inspiration is Corinne Okada Takara. She’s based in Hawai’i and is doing all kinds of experiments with solar bots, dyes, temporary tattoos, leaves as breadboards and really too many interesting things to mention. Its amazing to see an artist and educator pushing the boundaries of tinkering projects with a very strong grounding in the local environments. They’re currently launching a crowdfunder to make more kits and programs.
And finally I have to give a shout out to the re-launch of the Bay Area Maker Faire. It’s been a few years since the last one and I’m really excited to see that the crew at MAKE are relaunching a new version in October. If you’re in the area I definitely recommend checking out this flagship event or (like me) you can follow along online for what’s sure to be more exciting inspirations.
So now I want to ask what has inspired your tinkering this summer? Please share some links or descriptions of projects that have sparked new ideas in the comments section.