Plugging away

Well there is so much to do, I'm just plugging away at it.  Getting ready for the work weekend.  should have the Beams finished and the panels 50% by sunday then finish the panels by next weekend.  finally got to the Art part of this art.

Vast t-shirt

Check out the Kickstarter page to get a t-shirt.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bunkerfilms/vast-by-quentin-davis-the-great-quentini-burning-m?ref=live

Nighttime results

We had a flurry of activity pulling all the elements together for our Second big test.  We are making maximum use of our tiny space.

The window grills came out beautiful both day and night.

The panels had to put up with 3 rain storms.  I had to leap out of bed and sprint up the hill to cover the installation several times.  Of course each time I covered it it stopped raining.  Much cursing ensued.  After all the fine work we did on the  paint job I didn't want to see it ruined.  seems like we are getting the right leather look now, Thanks Eric.

It really has that alien spacecraft feel at night.  The windows are almost too bright. that mylar really helped.

The puppet theatre from the outside is pretty simple.  I meant this to be a mock up but I like the simplicity.  Sturdy seats can be moved in or out to accommodate many sized people.  Some people knelt as well and kids could almost stand. I made a simple frame that puppets can be attached to easily.

And the results, well, hilarious.  it doesn't take much to be funny.  I am really looking forward to what we will see at Burningman.

Some people were born to be creepy baby puppets.

As usual it is very difficult to photograph the miniature worlds. But we had the first completed miniature world installed and it looks great.

So everything is working great, we got to see what kind of abuse the crowd would give to the puppet theater ( not too much actually)  And we are ready to move forward with all the final construction

Woohoo!

Practice build

Well this was meant to be the practice build so we had to start with a little truck breakdown.  Just for practice

We pre-assembled the beams on the ground and then easily set them upright.  Piece of cake.  Yea for us.

Lower panels with windows slid into place like butter.

upper panels also easy as pie.

Joel and Quentin demonstrate proper form in the puppet theater.

We had to build on a slight slope but it all worked with a little shimming.  looking forward to flat playa. I brought 2X4's to prop up the structure ( since we were only building 1/4 of the total but it was so stable we didn't need any cabling or props.  So Everything is working even better than I planned!

Iadded some mylar to the back of the windows and it  really makes the windows glow.

Practice build is a success

We built 3 full sections of the total 12 for the PexFest summer Festival. And it came together perfectly.  Our build in the desert should be an awesome experience given the ease with these 3  sections.

I'm particularly happy with the window grills and the powerful glow of the LED strip lights.

Beacon is a success

Instead of a prototype this year I decided to use the  same technology but create a different sculpture.  this gave us a test of concept that was more manageable in size and scope.

Kris showing the lightweight efficiency of the new plywood uzi.

Painting the parts.

Test panels finished and painted.  We just went freestyle designing in all directions. Images using native american and mayan styles seem the most appropriate for Vast.

Built as lightweight as possible. using the tractor made the lifting simple and safe.

The beacon.

Ahh....

Close up of the bent panels and the plastic water bottle lanterns inside.  Not much of a breeze but the lanterns could move gently if there was wind.

The lanterns during the day.

Preburn.

The burning was  very interesting.  it started out slow and  built slowly till we had a 30ft flame.  Each stage with its own character.  the falling debris and popping of the bamboo kept things interesting.

Lantern Work night.

Hedy, Joel and Kate came over and we cut out about 120 parts for the first 2 lanterns. Tim dropped off  new soldered LED's . and we are well on our way to finishing the first 2 lanterns.

I spent the weekend working out the process for routering the panels and did about  12 panels, just improvising to try out different approaches and see what the results might be.  Here is my favorite,  next we paint the  deeper sections black and then roll on red.  This has been the most fun so far.

Lots of organizing this week.  Contacting the various teamates scattered across the country and getting them started on their remote work. Playa del Fuego is next week and we are almost ready for our first build and test burn. woohoo!

Plywood Uzi

Kris demonstrates the strong but lightweight construction

Team Meeting

Local team members met today to discuss the big plan.
Tim, Hedy, Kate, Joel, Quentin, Kris, Bunker, Dirk and Heidi

Building Box Beams

Kris and Quentin spent the day building box beam parts

LED Soldering

Quentin, Tim and Dirk working on soldering LEDs for the hanging lanterns.

Weekend prototyping

Well thar she blows!  the first 2 beam prototypes are up.  They are way stronger than I assumed and not too heavy; about 50 lbs. each.  I'm rethinking my organic shaping.  It seems superfluous in the full size prototype. Next I want to add more  holes to open up the structure and give it more air.

I also worked out a possible bench seat arrangement. The box over his head would contain a micro miniature diorama in plaster.  the walls have the perfect recliner slope.

Also tested to see what size of plaster detail would fit in the lower section.  Quite large actually.  this is a 32" d container.  In the center you can see the 3/4" plywood template this was a test to see if the template would hold the beams in alignment.  So far so good.

Modeling the Beams

Here is the latest mock-up.  I've added a plywood base that will stabilize the beams until they are screwed to the panels. I've also made them more organic and worked out the interior framing.  Building the first prototype soon.

Welcome to Zark Industries

Welcome to Zark Industries. We are makers of extreme widgets for surreal environments.

This year we will produce our latest design called "Vast" using technology to contain vast space within finite parameters.