Tag Archives: design

by

Design and build

The Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race has some serious designers. I don’t know if they use a forge, but the sculptures have to go in the 52 degree water and come out a few blocks away. They have to move in the water, not just float. They have to have functional brakes, since they go over a significant hill and they are human powered. They have to get through the mudbog somehow.

Some go for power and some try to go light. This one looked the lightest this year.

Many have been in more than one race and the racers and their support teams are happy to lift the hood and explain.

The two bundles under the hood are lifejackets and floats for the water course. They have to carry all the parts on the sculpture. Each team can have support personnel. Our local school kids’ STEM groups had a Maker’s Fair near the water course. We have a group that has made an underwater robot to fish out lost crab pots. If the pot’s line is lost, crabs and other creatures can be trapped inside to die. The robot helps to fish out the trash that traps creatures.

Wikipedia lists ten locations for Kinetic Sculpture Races. Ours has been going for 35 years. Will someone forge a new vehicle that we start using daily? I hope so.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: forge.

by

beach cliffs

I got home today, gone a little over two weeks. I have not been out to the beach yet. The cats are glad to see me and did not sulk!

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt, I am choosing the design of the cliffs against the sky. So far I am never tired of the beach here. I hope I get to the beach tomorrow! Think the cats will let me? We will see.

by

found

Going through boxes, I found this photograph of my father, Malcolm Ottaway, working on the Cornell cycloton. He engineered and built the stand, which had to be mobile but very very stable. I suppose it is called something other than a stand, but he died in 2013 so I can’t ask him. The photo would be from 1964 or 1965.

I framed it. What was the excuse for not framing it before?

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: excuse.

by

needle and thread

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: needle.

The Great Port Townsend Kinetic Sculpture Race takes place every fall. The costumes and the sculptures, human powered, on land, in the water, through mud, are amazing and fabulous. I think the racers are mechanics, seamstresses, engineers, divinely silly, skilled in wheels, gears, needle and thread, glitter glue, duct tape and teddy bear placement. The costumes are amazing and the mobile sculpture transports are even more amazing.

by

Mundane Monday #190: nature’s patterns

For Mundane Monday #190, my theme is: nature’s patterns.

Today is not mundane for many people. Thanks to all the people who keep working through the holidays: to fly people home, to help them in hospitals, police and fire people and the government workers who are working even if their paycheck is seriously delayed.

Even though we went to a mall yesterday, as we went in to one store we stopped and took pictures of the sky! The clouds were in undulating waves, all lined up. I want to be outside every day, where my heart expands and is filled with joy. May you have that feeling as well today.

Which of nature’s patterns makes you reach for a camera and what are your trying to capture? Link or message and I will list them next week.

____________________________________________

For Mundane Monday #189, the theme was branches.

klallendorfer makes a move with wordpress editing and galleries. She is so brave trying all the new things!