Sorry that it has taken me so long to finish this last post. The truth is, the clock has been done for about two weeks but hasn’t ticked once because I’m too stingy to pay money for weights to fill the pinecones. I’ll let you see the completed clock in a second, but first let’s go into how it works. The weights pull down on the gears and spin the crank. This crank can only turn so far before being blocked by another wheel known as the “escape wheel.” So there’s two competing forces and it keeps the clock from turning.

The escape wheel is designed to give way one notch each time the pendulum swings and, wouldn’t you know it, this is forced by the weights pulling down on the rope. The clock is geared on 60:1 with several options for how to adjust it if things don’t work. Still, the clock is on my wall and will make an imposing sight until I find either pennies or grit to fill both pinecones with. Actually the grit is easy to come by, I just don’t want it spilling out over my linoleum floors. Anyway here’s what the clock looks like now.

So that’s what I have hanging on my wall, pretty impressive eh? Still, there’s more to do. So I have a photography question for any gurus. I hate getting the glare on the clock as you can see here and in the next picture. But the comparison under my horible household lights is even worse. Is there a way I can get the fresh looking picture without getting glare off the surface of the clock? I’ll take any comments and post them under a new entry I’ve always wanted to…take pictures like my brother-in-law .

If you look at these the problem becomes clear as does my frustration. Anyway, the clock will run eventually and I’ll be posting a video of it ticking to prove that I can do this. I probably will be using grit to fill the two pinecones and post it in the finale I’ve always wanted…to know how a clock works pt. 5.

Now on to other matters. My work at espresso art continued and boy do we have some gems for you. It’s unfortunately true that most of my foam art comes out looking like nothingness and not hte Haeckel nothingness but genuine nothingness as seen below.

I’m sure if you look at these long enough you’ll find something they look like. This, unfortunately is what a majority of my foam art looks like. Still, all is not lost practice makes perfect (Or as Joe Watkins used to say, “practicing a mistake makes a perfect mistake”) take a look at these babies.

So here we have a dolphin (or prawn depending on how you look at it), an “L”, a candle, and a flame. If I diagnosed these correctly you should be able to tell which is which without any further help from me. Of course, I saved the best for last and these next two require some explanation. My brain works on a big connected web of concepts and ideas. So if you snag one you’ll get all the pop culture and trivia that might possibly be connected to it, often the results are useless. It’s like having your brain categorized into one big “westlaw” database (let the law students read and understand). So when I saw these two, I knew exactly where they came from.

The first is obviously a subjective attempt at school spirit as it looks like the famed “cougar swipe” of APU. Go cougars! At any rate this next one impressed me even more.

Here I have created a rendition of the head of Jazz Jackrabbit from the “Jazz Jackrabbit” line of arcade games. Uncanny resemblance, yes? In case any of you got nostalgic for old Jazz Jackrabbit after seeing this I have a link to download it here http://old-cans.com/en/jazz_jackrabbit/. This website is great and goes along with all the other old games that we missed and love. Sadly “Humans” is not on there…*sigh*. So until next time keep on espresso arting (NOT farting) and I’ll be back to finish the clock off. Or there may be a post about playing chess like Tal in the interim. I’ve been at the chess club two weeks and my record is currently 4:1. So thank God for victories. Until next time…