The Heron Project build...

Voodoo Festival, New Orleans 2011

2011-11-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

Another awesome festival for the Heron! What a perfect place to celebrate HALLOWEEN! Thank you to the fabulous crew- what a good team! Christian, Genevieve, Oswald, Gregory, Toby, Ceebass, Cedar, and of course- little Kodiak!!

Local paper write up HERE.

NOLA!

2011-10-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

The Heron will be showing off at the New Orleans VOODOO Festival 2011 over Halloween weekend!
Should be pretty amazing, as it will have good company with Christian Ristow's new sculpture, Fledgeling, as well as a local aerial performance troupe, Mystic Ponies, working on the Heron! The wings will have FIRE this time as well!
See you over the Bayou!

2011-01-03T20:43:00.001-08:00

2011-01-03T20:36:00.001-08:00

The Year in Review

2010-04-28T15:40:00.000-07:00

Herald made the cover of the Taos News Tempo for the Year in Review- The Best of 2009- These are my favorite pictures of the project in review to date- mostly at Burning Man. Thanks to the artistic talents of photographers Kate Russell and Sadaf Rassoul Cameron. Now the Heron is waiting for its next calling- could be Europe, the far East, could be within the US. I will update when it travels! In the meantime I am busy working on yet another sculpture for Burning Man, this one is an interactive sound sculpture called- Caged Pulse Jets. Yes, of course, there is a blog for this one too...click LOUD and you will be taken there!

2010-01-04T11:34:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! The Heron beckons travel for 2010!

BURNING MAN 2009

2009-09-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

I took no pictures....in hopes of finding what other people saw in theirs, here are a few that I love.
photocredit- Extramatic

"Build it and they will come"

2009-08-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

Now that was FANTASTIC! What a turn out!! And what amazing music, shadow puppets and aerial artists! It was a surreal space working the Heron and watching performers interact with it in various daring poses. Truly dreamlike for me. Thank you Taos, for the support and the Love! (and Santa Fe too!) Pictures taken by Sadaf Rassoul, Alisa Ritchie, Beth Hill, Howie Roemer

Mesa Burning Man

Running the Heron

HERON DEBUT SUNDAY AUGUST 16th

2009-08-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

Yes it's true!!! Come see the Heron in all its new paint and glory this Sunday from 5-9 at the "Steel Ranch" in Taos! There will be continuous performances on the Heron throughout the evening by Wise Fool NM, Anna Pardenik & the Vermont Paino Moving Co., The Circus of Tiny Invisibilty, The Flying desert Brigade, KFire, and Tea and Puppet Theatre-performed within a 12' mobile Hoop skirt!!! Dj's for the evening include Oliver, Jeremy Blike and Paul Feathericci. This will be a very unique "art opening" not to be missed! There will be Harlan's Green Chili and beverages available too. This is a benefit show for the Heron Project, and suggested donation is $10.
Sunday, August 16th 5-9PM
Directions: Drive across Gorge Bridge, Turn hard left onto West Rim Rd (less than a mile after Bridge) Go 1.5Miles- look to your Left! Carpool if you can- parking along side road. Entrance is by tall Ranch Gate- see you there! This is a Kid friendly event!

A Fresh Coat of Paint~

2009-08-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well, painting is a BIG deal. The Heron painting got off to a slow start- waiting out a few days of turbulent weather, finding the right equipment and working with a diminished workforce- the Heron got primed and painted in three days after all. I chose to paint it white- a slightly off white/bone white-I wanted a neutral color that would also be inviting and not too hot to climb in the heat of the day. I also figure it can be accentuated with various colored lighting. The white added a surreal quality- also shadowing itself beautifully through the trussing. My amazing crew helped put it up today- one final time before it goes to the Playa. The build was still a seven hour ordeal- again facing the challenges of Christian's forklift, which makes this operation very delicate as we are lifting a 27' structure(in it's retracted position) with a mast that goes 19'-8". It's scary and it sure did not help to work around a massive hail storm including thunder and lightning! Now it is up...standing tall and looking regal, for a Taos debut, on August 16th, which I will impart more details about in a few days-but for now, the waxing moon and the Heron meet again.

2025LBS!

2009-07-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

We load tested the Heron yesterday- a very hot, dry, dusty mesa day. First we started with Christian's first ever robot- his spider walking robot- weighing about 600Lbs. We rigged the bot from the nose of the beak and lifted it into the air several times, and swung it around to check for twisting, and balance. So far so good. Then we slung the Manipulatrix from the beak, a robot weighing 2025LBS and lifted it up a few inches. The Heron seemed fine, though it was tricky to dial in the ratio between the hydraulic winch and the hydraulic cylinders- so they would work together not in opposition. The winch cable got extremely tight, and semed to be taking more weight than it should. We added to two more flow control valves to the system and played with the flow- to various degrees of success. We concluded that the flow would have to be adjusted to each specific lift weight- each time. For Burning Man we will adjust it to lift max two people at the same time. That should be a happy medium for the winch and cylinders with and without a load. It has been so amazing to see it up- looks just like the miniature model...I could not resist to monkey around on it this morning- so Gregory and I played on Herald for the first time, before the wind kicked up. It was stupendously fun! Tomorrow it comes down for paint prep- and I will take as much help as I can get to get the grease and dirt of the metal so we can spray it soon! Let me know if you want to help paint prep!

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...

2009-07-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday-Epic! Today-movement and load test!

Fabrication Fancy

2009-07-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

There are always a few more things that need to be done, then there are a few things that would just look too great, so they become things to do as well. We are so close... Today we fed the hydro lines inside the Heron walls- a great idea to keep the lines out of the way. The outriggers are done including the bracing for the actual outrigger. Loads of bolts needed here. It has been fun climbing the first section of the Heron with the outriggers attached- it sure does feel like it's anchored down-STURDY. The mid body is now attached to the head-and the cylinders are mounted. The sheaves are in place, as well as the winch- tomorrow we roll the cable on and get it ready for it's final assembly- on Tuesday! The power unit sounds OK, still need to do a bit of work on that- but test worthy it is. I'll leave this post with a view from when I closed up the shop this evening- the moon rise over the mesa...

To Do Lists...

2009-06-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

It's looking great! This week flew by in the shop with Christian, Gregory, Juniper and Toby putting in some serious hours- and as it is with talented help- the Heron to do list is shrinking! Christian has been tenaciously working on the hydraulic cylinder attachments on the head and on the upper body- which look indestructible. We decided to add plates on the sides of the head to spread the "up" force of the cylinders to the main two rails. The Pulley truss and all it's fine compound angles was a project Juniper took on-it looks beautiful- now I will weld it on to the main body and the entire outline of the crane is done. The outriggers are done, but still need bracing- and they are currently attached to the new 16" sub base. Tomorrow we will attempt to attach the sub base to the main body- with the help of our overhead hoist and Otis, the forklift. No easy feat, as the shop clearance is 14'-9" and the new dimension of the bottom part of the Heron is 13'-5"- not that much wiggle room. I am also posting a pic of the progress of the power unit build! Christian jumped over to work on that and hooked most of the lines and built a sweet fuel filler box that will be exposed after it gets sheathed.
He is such a super star! I have welded most all on the Heron so far- starting to wonder how many hundreds and hundreds of feet of beads I have run by now...and more to go, but the
list is shrinking!

FIRE WINGS-TEST ONE

2009-06-22T07:47:00.000-07:00

Now it's really getting exciting!
Joel Hobbie brought one of the fire wings up to Taos this weekend for a test run and they are going to work great. The flame ranged from a soft feathery look to huge blasts that will certainly draw moths to the flame. Supposedly one could see the bursts of flame from R.E.A.C.H, an Earthship community clear across the mesa up on the mountain- 25 miles away! (See the video) They will articulate with a cable and winch and have an elbow joint and a shoulder pivot, where they attach to the Heron. We fire tested the wing with different various amounts of propane in the accumulator tank that Joel fabricated from a score at the Black Hole- our very own Los Alamos National Lab Surplus yard. The night started in full form with some random firing of Joel's pyrosil cannon- always a fun time! Ahhh, the toys available in Special Effects. The Heron is coming along beautifully also. Last week was a big push in the shop. We worked steady on the outriggers and a variety of large bolt plates...heaps of hole drilling. My advising engineer, Tom, drove up from Santa Fe also, with his lovely daughter Kira, and got a chance to examine the project in person. We discussed the connection areas of the crane, and how to fail safe the load-as in transferring loads to the appropriate structural members. I kept thinking about the book "Structures or Why Things Don't Fall Down" by J.E. Gordon- a book well worth checking in with again. We have all been calculating the craziest situations that could arise with and on the Heron- exercising our imagination extensively.
Now off to the shop...

Full Steam Ahead!

2009-06-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

Nowadays the shop resembles a vaguely post apocalyptic maze, as the Heron has taken over. There are parts scattered EVERYWHERE, in some unique form of chaotic order. Christian, Gregory and I are working on various parts of the Heron, to get it ready to stand tall at the end of the month. This chapter in the build is comprised of machining parts with the lathe and the mill, building outriggers, a sub-base and Gregory working on the power unit engine, a six cylinder tiny Ford engine from a European car, could have been a Ford Focus. We have moved from compound angle lingo to "thousandths of an inch" as we are determining pivots, and pulley pins... The enormity of the project is starting to weigh down on me too-
the Heron is huge!
I am anxiously looking forward to making the acquaintance of this sculpture for the first time! We will load test it once it's standing tall, possibly using one of Christian's heavy robots to hang from the beak, then we take it back down, fix or tweak if necessary- then paint, and then up again...

What to hang off a Heron...

2009-05-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

And now to all the fun things that can hang off the Heron....I have been working on a new web site for a few months now- designing, photo shoots, building prototype equipment and it is now LIVE. Spitfire Aerial Equipment
Building fine custom equipment for aerial artists seems to be a well suited business venture with the Heron about to stand tall behind me.
The Heron is completely trussed and ready for all the moving parts. I am in the process of putting together a sweet little gas driven power unit for the hydraulic winch and the hydraulic cylinders. With much advice from Christian and help from Gregory the power unit runs well. I will be decking it out with some serious mufflers to make it as quiet as possible. We are now waiting for the hydraulics to show up in the "mail"(more like on a freight truck).
Meanwhile, in Santa Fe, Joel Hobbie is working on the Herald's fire wings. They are made of steel tubing and pipe, everything plumbed for propane and will attach to the middle back of the sculpture for Burning Man. They will also actuate with a winch, imagine, retracting and expanding (or flapping) fire wings!!!!

Sleek and Sexy...

2009-04-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the head of the heron! Now to the base of the body and then the four outriggers. (this will be the shortest blog post ever..)

"take a bit more off the back"

2009-04-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

I am tackling the most difficult angles on this project yet! The Heron head has very complex compound angles that not only challenge my mathematical perception of space but they look extreme as they are cut. Luckily I have the good help of my friend Juniper, and together we have resorted to an arts and crafts approach to the problem.....cutting and taping paper and cardboard together to look like the compound trussing, so we can snip a bit here and there to make it fit. Yup the shop is filled with paper scraps, scissors and tape! This we learned, was much easier than cutting and grinding a piece for an hour to make it fit properly! Once welded, the trussing does look very sexy as it accentuates the top curve.

Back to Work!

2009-03-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

Finally! The Heron build has resumed after a two month break. Two months!!! One of which was in Australia touring the Hand of Man at the Big day Out festival. We traveled from the Gold Coast down and across to Western Australia, an epic journey following a rock-n-roll tour with time to spare to meet the marsupials and swim in the Indian Ocean. We visited friends in Bali, Indonesia, where we rode motorcycles in that amazingly organic chaotic traffic,(see movie) enjoyed the food, the people, and the monkeys.
Now back to the construction of Herald... I have a firm deadline now, as it will be going to the Black Rock desert in August. Thanks to a Grant from Burning Man, I can afford to purchase the rest of the materials. There is plenty, more to work on once the actual structure is constructed which involves the power unit, the hydraulic winch and cable, the safety dampers and the fire wings! The fire wings seem like a logical addition for the Heron at Burning Man. They will add warmth and light at night, as well as acting as a beacon to beckon wandering Playa swashbucklers.
"Striking off across the Black rock Desert where terrible and beautiful figures rest against the endless Playa, a lone Heron crane invites stragglers and strays to take a moment beneath its wings."
Now, back to work!

Winter Hit the Mesa!

2009-01-05T10:37:00.000-08:00

As we rang in the New Year, we got several impressive snow storms that left us with 3' drifts outside the shop and house. Between digging the chickens out of their snowed-in pen and shoveling somewhat of a pathway to the shop, chopping wood for the fire, work on Herald is slow going. But it is going. Both Christian and I wear many layers to stay warm, making us waddle around in the shop in slow motion. Winter has hit the mesa and I have begun trussing the middle section. Herald is destined to be very, very burly. The 2"x 2"trussing not only adds tons of weight, but massive strength. Next up will be trussing the head and that means the inescapable return of compound angles. I never was proficient in math, and it's amusing that I create a project filled with mathematical challenges... I'll return to this observation after the third crane is built... The images posted include my old faithful Miller® welder(really isn't that old)which is kicking ass with the miles of welding required here. Yes, I'm a Miller™ gal. Should'nt I get something for free now?

Herald...

2008-12-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

herald-an official messenger signaling something (grand) is about to happen.

So, Herald it is- aka Crane One. I decided a while ago to name each crane, and I filtered through many names and combinations of names and found "herald" in the dictionary as I was searching "heron" for the twentieth time- it struck me as perfect- unpretentious yet oddly appropriate. Also a name that makes me smile thinking it belongs to such a massive entity.
My long time friend and shop cohort, Juniper, helped me last week, cutting more compound angles to finish the base or lower body of the crane. Next up we will build the upper part and final section of the sculpture and then to the TRUSSING! The trussing will add so much weight to the pieces that they will require an overhead crane or some serious equipment to move around. In the picture you can see the 13' base laying face down next to the 19' head crammed into my part of the shop. I do share the shop, Spitfire Forge takes 1/3 of it actually, with my man Christian Ristow. The Hand of Man sculpture dominated the shop for almost a year, so I guess it is my turn to spread out ;D

77 degrees with a 29 degree angle to top...

2008-11-22T18:24:00.000-08:00

Week two and it is slow going, the various compound angles I am learning to cut are time consuming. After the initial angle cut, I figured I can cut the other angle on edge, and then come back with the cut off wheel and take the slope angle off one face... I finished the beak detail- added three sch80 pipe inserts which can be rigged from but also through with a longer round bar- adding more rigging options. I also sheathed the beak-now it is starting to have bird like character! I've had the shop to myself for a week, which I have been taking full advantage of-good times!!!

2008-11-11T11:10:00.000-08:00

The main frame of the crane is being built out of 2.5 x 2.5 x .188 wall square tubing with the truss structures being 2 x 2. I started with the "beak", which turned out to have many difficult compound angles. I'll be really good at cutting them by the end of this build!

2008-11-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

The first week of November marked the beginning of building Crane One. After numerous editions on Vellum and Google Sketch Up of the crane here is what it will look like-

2008-11-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

This sculpture project has been growing with me for over five years now. I was inspired by watching shipyard cranes in motion in the wee hours of the night, dreaming of dancing in and around these enormous moving structures. It was magnificent. It took years to condense the concept onto paper, a full sketchbook of drawings and finally in to some form of a project proposal, followed by many miniature models in paper and in steel to work out the various designs. The entire project is comprised of three tall cranes, a pulse jet accessorized stage, a rotating cog, and several vertical fire cannons.
There was a long search for an enthusiastic and able Engineer, and there is the ongoing search for funding for a project of this magnitude.

It is a little overwhelming in its entirety(!), so, just like with all enormous tasks in life, you just start somewhere small, and hope that in time you can look back and start to see your dream vision unfold...
So I am starting with one crane. Thanks to the gracious support from my friends, family and artistic cohorts I will get a great start on material costs for the first crane.
So here it is, my first ever blog, the Tell All about the build of Crane One!

2008-11-11T10:02:00.000-08:00