On the Workbench

It’s the first week in September and my annual trip out to the mega flea market in Brimfield Massachusetts for materials. Many of the objects I found will make their way into work produced over the next few months.

Since last year, the area was hit by a devastating tornado and several months later, they’re just beginning to clear things out. Driving in, I crossed huge swaths of land where  treetops were lopped off like someone came in with a giant buzz saw. The town has been recovering slowly and the flea has been played an important part in raising money for rebuilding. Link to tornado relief fund.

Speaking of weather, the first thing I encountered this year was a giant mud pit which added a bit of extra spice to making my way through the the treasure trove.

The big find this year was egg beaters of all sizes with some terrific gearing. Lately, I’ve been using these to gear down my sculptures by using the little output gear for the input. One of my favorites has a very unusual gear using a series of holes as teeth. Very cool.

I also picked up some delightful lead figures including this policeman, I try and find objects with wear and damage and avoid all the “mint” stuff. I love the wear on his nose, the missing hand and the gesture.

Here’s another guy I fell in love with, I already have a few ideas for using him in a piece. In addition, I found some terrific wood blocks with interesting graphics, wood balls and a very unusual mechanism. Any ideas what this is for? My guess is that it’s a locking device activated using a solenoid. At any rate, the curved rack and pinion should prove to be very useful.

I want this!

Stay tuned to find out where everything ends up, I’m going to post later this week on an interesting piece under-way.