Hobby Thread - April 26, 2025 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it came up with automata!

I recently went down the rabbit hole of automatons. Mechanical automata are self-operating machines powered by springs, gears, cams, and levers. They are use complex mechanics to mimic simple behaviors or simple mechanics to mimic complex behaviors. They are often whimsical because of their subject matter. They are made for amusement.

There have been a wide variety of automata built over the centuries. Some attempt to mimic life through a representation of a doll. I'm more enamored of things that don't look like they're waiting for you to fall asleep so they can murder you.

I think of automatons as slightly different than Rube Goldberg devices. Automatons are more of a single function or action with a whimsical scene. A Rube Goldberg device is an accumulation of actions that makes an over-complicated way to accomplish something simple at the end.

Has anyone made their own? Has anyone bought automata made by others?

This is a great example:

This workshop tour is marvelous:

These seagulls are more simple but still fun.

Paul Spooner is a mechanical joke maker:

Q: "Why do you make these jokes?"
A (Paul): "Because I am completely unsuited to make anything else."

This is a wonderful combination of simple, clever and whimsical. JTB - these look perfect for a whittler! All you!

Love these:

This qualifies as eccentric:

Spirograph coffee table? Start watching and you're going to get sucked in to watching the whole thing. Very well done. Lots of great little techniques and learning along the way. Lots of detail in the patching and fixing. Bonus 3-D printing content to make a large-scale Spirograph and sanding tool! Huge amount of time involved. This is professional perfectionist level rather than casual hobbying and tinkering. This table sold for $12,000.

Lego ingenuity? Medieval military tactics? Engineering? Lots of engineering. Ample time to build and rebuild a complex Lego city? Dedication to a theme? Rampant destruction? The 8 year old child inside me approves. Not really automata, but a similar theme.

A video showing a waffle maker built from Lego is peak Youtube. Again, not really an automata, but enormously satisfying to watch the build and the mechanics. Let me know if you see one at your local Waffle House:

We talked about egg decorating in last week's Hobby Thread. neverenoughcaffine posted this comment:

What is this magic tool? AoS makes no endorsements, but including here given the Horde interest:

This video tutorial shows the fancy tool in use:

If you prefer to blow out your eggs without a fancy tool, this video tutorial is for you:

neverenoughcaffine sent a photo of the eggs she made to sell at the gift shop at the historic site she volunteers. She learned the technique from her mom over 60 years ago. The floral is the Bitterroot flower that her valley is named for.

Thank you!

Easter crafting spotted in our travels:

Horde Hobbying update from tankascribe

Source photo and finished product:

This is a portrait in oils. It took 19 hours from drawing to finished product, on a 9x12 inch stretched canvas. It's going to be a surprise gift.

I wish I'd gotten the complexion a little more peaches-and-cream (the subject is a natural redhead and quite pale) but it still turned out pretty good. Removed the background (she was sitting under a deep yellow sunshade), dropped out her hand holding back the veil as it would have been too distracting (and enigmatic by itself over there) and re-draped the veil to compensate.

Here is a bit of the progression as it went from original photo to three and a half hours into the block-in (with my first rough attempt at changing the veil), to nine hours in with all the green primer covered up (and my second attempt at changing the veil), and finally nineteen hours along and it's done.

Steps in the process:

Outstanding! Well done. Thank you for sharing with the Horde!

What are you hobbying these days? Does spring weather open up new options for your hobbying? As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. Your participation does not need to limited to the theme. All hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Play nice. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls. Pants, as always, are optional.

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We talked Easter hobbying. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Well said, JTB.

Well said, Beckoning Chasm.

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different theme next time. What are you hobbying? We love showing off Horde hobbying. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

| Access Comments