Many years ago I built an animated pull-toy for the son of a friend — a jaw snapping, tail-wagging alligator. It was a great piece. Ever since I wanted to get back to animated artwork.
The problem was finding a way to join quality (ie. round) wheels to axles. This is important to provide direct drive to the action of the sculpture.
Yesterday I experimented with steel rod, thread cutters and various simple hardware and am confident that I can not make a reliable connection to the pewter wheels that I am using for the pull-toy series.
On the bench today is a pair of leaping and running dogs. There will be more toys with action ahead!
In high school I purchased a set of metal spoked wheels to put on Noah’s Ark that I had carved. Over the years the unfinished ark disappeared and the wheels ended up hanging from a piece of string over my bench.
