Kinetic Horse

After seeing Theo Jansen’s Beach Creatures (see earlier post: http://workbeautifully.blogspot.com/2008/11/art-or-science.html), I’ve decided to explore mechanics and movement a little further. I want to establish whether mechanics and/or movement should be an essential part of my work moving forward, or whether they are simply ingredients which I may choose to touch on, on occasion.

Jansen’s work has quite an online following, and one follower I came across was James G. Watt. Himself a kinetic sculptor, Watt has developed an articulated and motorised paper horse, inspired by Jansen’s Beach Creatures.

This paper horse started out as a personal project for Watt, but after numerous people fell in love with it and pestered him for instructions on how they could make one, he decided to develop a kit, which he now sells online.

The kit contains printable templates on CD and instructions for making the horse, along with all the mechanical parts necessary to build a motor to drive it with.

Reference: http://www.clockworkrobot.com/horse/ [accessed 15/05/09].

I decided to have a go at making one of these horses from his kit – I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to undertake some practical making within my research. So, I ordered the kit and made the horse. Here are some pictures of my horse in progress …



The horse is now assembled and works, although it would need a bit of tweaking to get it working smoothly. The motor isn’t quite strong enough to drive the horse continually without snagging – some of the joints need freeing up, plus I think the paper I used might just be a little to heavy for the motor to cope with.

That said, the outcome was positive and I did learn a few useful things through the exercise:

1. I did enjoy the mechanical element to this project.
2. Movement gives an added charm to the horse – by being animated, the paper horse seems to take on a character of its own.
3. That said, the most enjoyable part for me was the papercraft, not the mechanical side of the making (although the mechanics might have been more engaging if I was designing it myself, rather than simply following instructions).

This short piece of practical investigation has led me to conclude that, whilst movement may play a part in my ongoing work for my MA, I don’t feel that it’s an essential ingredient in all of my work. I would view mechanical animation as a tool which I may choose to use if appropriate, rather than a theme for major focus in my work.