Ah, the things I do and did
By the way, that image above is a HyperCube. It lives in a 4th dimensional world of mathematics called Topology. My interest in it came about through my interest in Moebius strips. I read a book called The Mathematical Magpie, edited by Clifton Fadiman. It was a wonderful trip into fourth dimensional spaces and beyond. (see below). I used to make many moebius strips, cut them in half, thirds, and fourths and see what happens. You should try it. What I couldn’t do was glue the edges of a moebius strip together to make a Klein bottle.
Over my 81 years of existence I made many things. When I was young, mostly in grammar school, I used to make so many things any child would make, you know paper folding, wooden and plastic planes, drawing, clay, paper mache, soap carving, etc., etc.
My aunt gave me a couple books on making things. I went through it and got my taste of things I hadn’t done before.
In one of my grade school classes the teacher wanted to teach us about pottery. She had us make some things in clay, then she sent them out to get heated, then, when they came back we had to paint them. They went out somewhere again, and came back all shiny. I made my mother a cup. Funny thing is, I never made a pottery thing ever again. Some people just took the process to heart.
When I was around 6 years old, my father showed me the crystal radio he had built. I was fascinated on how it worked. Then when I was older in grammar school I built a one tube radio. That led me into electronics. In high school, in electronics class, I built an FM one tube radio that fit into a green metal recipe box. Also in high school I made a color organ out of wood, a bright bulb, a color wheel, and a wooden wheel with broken pieces of mirror on it. It would get hooked up to a speaker and kind of turn to the music beat, and shine swirling images onto the wall.
As I grew older my carving abilities got better and I tried more and more different skills.
In my father’s garage I made wooden things, including swords, knives, a ray gun, and I made a cross bow. Too bad I don’t have a picture of them.
I made many mosaic pictures; this is Nefertiti. Each ceramic square has to be chipped with a cutting tool, and then ground if need be to fit. I did this in high school in my bedroom, it was very dusty every day. But this was my best one.
While in Maine, I made string art. This is one of many string art projects I made. I gave a lot away to friends and relatives
I made this for my wife since she is a singer, in musical notations it’s called a treble clef. Sometimes in transportation strings break. Fixing them can be pretty hard to do.
String art is lots of work. You have to cover a board in black cloth, pound many, many nails into the board, then very carefully string the strings. They can be very beautiful, though.
As an adult, and after the Army, I tried copper enameling. When I lived in New York I used to go into shops that sold craft and artist supplies because I always needed something. One time I saw this kit that allowed you to make glass enameled copper. I bought it. It basically was a small kiln, some copper sheets in various shapes, some tools, and a supply of different color glass powders. To make something you would start the kiln up to get to the temperature to be able to melt glass. You would clean one of the copper shapes, add some powdered glass on top, put it in the kiln, and wait for the glass to melt. Then when the glass was melted you took the copper piece out and either leave it or take one of the tools and swirl around the glass in different patterns. When the object cools, and depending on what you’re making, it can become part of a neckless or whatever.
You can make some pretty nice stuff this way. A couple years ago I bought a new kiln; haven’t tried it out yet. So many things yet to do.
I made a theremin in New York one time. It is one of those musical devices that the science fiction movies use to make weird music.
View Theremins here wikipedia.org
I made static electricity machines. That thing above is called a Radial Dirod and can produce 30,000 volts. I also made a Wimshurst machine, another type of static electricity machine that can produce 40,000 volts. It was made with a phonograph record. I don’t have a picture of the one I made, but you can see some here:
Wimshurst machines wikipedia.org
I got a small lathe and made cute metal things. And thanks to the Army I learned how to fix cameras, fix cars, and get a degree in Television Engineering.
Later I started making string art, and carving wood, got myself a large lathe and made artsy metal things. I remembered as a teen I burned wood, so tried it again as an adult. See My Work Page.
And then into computers.
When working at the Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, I got to run an analog computer. Instead of digital manipulation you would use analog signals to work on programs. I got my name on a science paper because of it.
Then in 1976 I saw the writing on the wall and got a Kim-I single board computer. I learned assembly language on it and stored programs on a cassette tape machine. Later it was upgraded to program in Basic. Then I got a Tandy TRS-80 computer with floppy disks. See my Computer section for more details.
Now I have four computers in my workroom, a laptop in the living room, and a Chromebook in the kitchen. Think I have enough of them?
When I came to Maine in 1971 we lived in a town called Pittston. The house we bought was old. I got a pamphlet from Sears and it taught me how to rewire a house. When living in Portland I replaced the old fuse box with a new 100 amp service, and did a bunch of re-wirings. It did pass inspection, because everything I did was correct and neatly installed.
One year, while living in Maine, Bonnie and I tried crocheting. After learning all the knots we’d sit around and just make things, and eventually we’d make larger things. It was a lot of fun, and you could make gifts for others. I tried it again last year. Bad memory, couldn’t remember the knots.
We then decided to take a class on weaving at the local art school. She was able to get a large loom from her aunt, it filled a third of her studio. I got a smaller tapestry loom. We then did the weaving thing for a while, making various things. I started a picture on my loom, but never could finish it. She sold the large loom and we bought a portable table loom. She made some more things then stopped, but she taught some weaving techniques in a group she was in. You really have to like weaving.
I went to a local tech school and took a course in metal machines. I started to make a Tesla steam engine, but the course ended too soon. So I brought it home and put it somewhere. Now I can’t find it. Sad.
The Tesla turbine is an amazing device, completely different than any current turbine made today. It’s very powerful in a small package.
View the Tesla Turbine here wikipedia.org
At the same school I took a course in Upholstery. I had to bring in what I wanted to work on. I completely redid my easy chair.
I also made what was called a Matlock/Collins clock. It kept time with a pendulum. The pendulum had a large, cylindrical, wooden container partly filled with buckshot as the bob. When the temperature went up and down the pendulum got slightly longer or shorter and the buckshot would do the opposite, thus keeping the one second pendulum in good time. The energy for the clock was not a spring but a 555 timer that would, through a relay, kick a bit of the pendulum to keep it going. A really cool clock.
The image below has many of the strange things in the math called Topology. A lot of 4th dimensional ideas.
This link has lots to say about it:
wikipedia.org
