Comments on: Bamboo Rolling Ball Sculptures

By: gary chen

gary chen — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:07:34 +0000

Hi Jonathan, I can’t wait share with you, however just finished 1 of 3 blocks of that device this morning. it was a tough work indeed. google, “contemporary rolling ball sculpture”. Give me some suggestion.
Thx

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:08:14 +0000

Bad luck on your first attempt, hopefully your second will be successful. It takes some practice to perfect the art of twist the wire to just the right amount of tension. Send me a photo and video when you’re done!

By: gary chen

gary chen — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 06:30:21 +0000

Best inspiration i ever had, thus I got 3 package of skewers from HomeDepot, $1.99 each, and 20GA brass wire which cost $9.99 for 50m. Eventually, I made one over last 2 weeks, however, it was a disaster! I made a mistake that pick up 4 tracks, so, it’s too complicated to be reliable, meanwhile the joints is a sort of “shiny”.

I’m ongoing making a new one, this time I found a new stuff instead of skewers, pick-up sticks!

By: JJ

JJ — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 16:36:48 +0000

Have a look at the first paragraph:
“I stripped the plastic coating off garden wire and then used pliers to tighten a loop round the skewers.” I don’t use any glue.

Balsa wood is quite expensive for me (or at least I have yet to find it for a good price in the UK). It’s also *really* soft so be careful you don’t crush it.

Ball lifts can be tricky to make but definitely worth it!

Metal marbles are called “ball bearings”. I got my ones from eBay and they’re not too expensive at all.

Good luck, and let me know how it goes!

By: zampai

zampai — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 16:28:20 +0000

Very impressive.
I am trying to build my own too.
I am going to use balsa + 2 mm aluminium wire + a litle motor to make the marbles up.
Did you stick the bambou together with a glue ?
I dont know where to find metal marbles.
Thx