The essential primer on automata making with tons of color photos, mechanical examples, and clear instructions.

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Product Description

A lavish guide to the ingenious design and beauty of automata and mechanical toys, including their history, an explanation of their mechanisms, a survey of the leading makers, step–by–step instructions for making mechanisms, and 160 color photos.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #102225 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781861265104
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Publisher
No other craft so brilliantly captures the magic of turning a handle, þicking a switch, or pulling a lever to see the unexpected come to life. Automata and Mechanical Toys is a book for anyone drawn to simple, entertaining mechanics. The book features 21 leading makers, each with a distinctive style. With 160 color photos and 100 delightful examples of the craft, the book is a feast for collectors and enthusiasts. A substantial section of the book is devoted to making automata mechanisms, ideal for novices or those wishing to learn new techniques. Illustrated, step–by–step instructions explain how to make a bearings box, which separately houses all the main mechanisms used in automata. The box can then be converted to any mechanism you choose. Rodney Peppé is a winner of the British Toymakers’ Guild Toy of the Year Award; he has had exhibitions of his work at the Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood. He is also the author of Rodney Peppé’s Moving Toys.

About the Author
Rodney Peppe is author-illustrator of over eighty children's books, and creator of Huxley Pig and Angelmouse for television. Rodney Peppe's Moving Toys was published in 1980, and this led to his toymaking. He rarely sells, but exhibits in one-man shows at venues including the V&A Museum of Childhood and the National Theatre.

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Customer Reviews

A Good Buy for Beginning Builders
Depending on what your interests are, this can be a valuable addition to your library. It is not for collectors, in my opinion, and most of the examples are on the "folk art" side: crude, kitschy, and sometimes even made of junk. There are profiles of a few builders who make complex automata demonstrating fine craftsmanship, such as the wonderful Keith Newstead and John Grayson. I would have preferred to have some detailed explanations of how some of their automata work, though. The REAL strength of this book is if you are beginning to make your own automata and would like to have a "kit" to experiment with. The book contains full sized plans for an experimenter's "kit" which is really nice. I have Robert Addam's "How to Design and Make Automata" and CMT's book, but they both only have crude drawings with no dimensions. I made photocopies of the parts and then used Xylene to transfer directly onto plywood and cut the parts out on a scroll saw, saving a great deal of time and giving me a nice litte platform for experimenting. This alone makes the book a must have for the beginning builder.

A Must for Automata Enthusiasts!
This book is everything you could ask for in book on contemporary artistic automata.

Each chapter has a brief summary of the topic in question -- say tools and materials. Next, each chapter moves on to showcase the work of two or three automata artists with many pictures and a page or two of information about each artist.

The photographs of automata in this book are outstanding. You can really get a sense for the devices, their construction, and most especially, their finishes.

If you love automata, want to see more of them, and want to learn about some of the top automata artists in the contemporary scene, this book is a must-have.

Excellent book! Great color pictures and diagrams
This has got to be one of the best books on the subject of automata and mechanical theatre. There are lots of great color pictures and diagrams to build your own automata. Worth the money!