Inner strength

I got asked to build a tensegrity model that shows excitability on the outside, and has some core adding resistance against heavy loads. That's the inspiration for the Inner Strength models, both of which have already arrived in Queensland, with one unfortunately broken in transport. 

Inner Strength - Purple Heart

Inner Strength Purple Heart served as concept study for this idea. I used an already build up octahedron and experimented with ways to install an icosahedron in its centre. The most difficult part was to figure out the length for the tendons leading to the centre, they needed enough tension to withstand forces. Probably too much, one of the purple struts broke while the model was squashed by something heavy during transport.

Inner Strength Hard Core

I used the experiences from the first build to play with the variables a bit - a heavy, solid core held by low diameter struts for the octahedral shell. The weight of the core adds to overall tension on the outer shell in seemingly stabilising way, with still an amazing amount of varying movement throughout the structure.

Cube in octa

I already discovered that I didn't need struts in the centre, tetrahedron, octahedron and cube can be constructed by tendons joined at the corners. The Cube in octa is suspended from the center of the triangular faces of the octahedron, creating redundant network paths. The nylon tendons highlight that the cube was made without struts, and embed a familiar shape in a less conventional surrounding.

Copped Hypercube

Copped Hypercube was my first attempt to suspend the frame of a Platonic Solid in a small scale model. The struts of this model were recycled from a models that lost most of its tension, after being very floppy to begin with. The current emanation is extremely springy, and it seems like the cube adds resistance against total collapse, while some its edges slack off.

It's fun to build a framework entirely from string, so that it entirely depends on tension to hold its shape. I will have to upscale to find out more about the change in behaviour depending on the relation of inner and outer structure. The large scale model on display at the moment has a tiny tetrahedron in relation to its out shell, which still seems to contribute to its overall stability and movement.

Youtube

I decided to open a new account for all the tensegrity related videos I shot. As the user TouchThisTensegrity you can find slideshows, howtos and exploration of single objects on youtube. By and by, I will replace the videos in blogposts here with their new location.

It's also a good starting point to collect playlists of other tensegrity explorations. Hope you'll enjoy the new channel.

Changed market dates

I can't come to the market on June 24th. I will figure out next sunday which alternative date I pick, and what to do in the next market season. However, I found a new way to relatively safely send models via mail, so your last chance to obtain one of my wonderfully weird works hasn't come yet.

Market

As you can see in the latest entries, I have been quite busy lately. Many of the new models will be on display tomorrow, Sunday April 29th, on the Rose Street Artist's Market in Fitzroy. If you're in Melbourne, and have never been there, come and enjoy a variety of goods you can't find easily anywhere else. See you there.

Wrap up

I hope my thirst for novelty got quenched for a while - I still feel the itching to build something fantastic, yet I'm more than happy that I mastered some structures which posed lots of challenges. What started off with revisiting the x-module, and having some tetrahedral galore, ended with a four tensul (3 strut prism)  multi-coloured tetra with non-elastic string which balances in 20 constellation (four corners, four faces, six edges in two constellations).

Vier gewinnt (12 struts, outlining an tetrahedron)

Although I like the visual effect by using different colours, when I tried to make a digital 3d model out of the structure, the optical continuity of same coloured struts overwhelmed the software, and led to very blurry results. However, when shot against a suitable background the colours create many interesting perspectives, and even without being collapsible, the structure is very playable.

Vier gewinnt

I drafted the model with elastic string, using nylon for the 'base' of each tensul. It was tricky to balance, and untuned itself easily. Once I replaced all tendons, the model had movement as well as balance. I dread scaling the concept up, as the build was quite challenging with plenty of hick-ups on the way.

Clover (6 strut tetrahedron)

Clover isn't really a new structure for me - it's tetrahedron where the struts meet in close proximity at its center, instead creating more clearance and 'central space'. However, in this configuration more symmetry than usual can be seen, especially with the use of different colours. Nylon provides plenty of sturdiness, and with my corner configuration it looked a bit like a 4-leaved clover.

More rip-offs

The success with rebuilding the tetrahedron based on Marcelo Pars' idea motivated me to do more as yet unexplored structures. There's still some challenges I want to take on, watch this space.

Caged rainbow (18 strut tensegrity cube)

The simplest of my new structures just adds 6 struts to a cube with changing chirality along its corners. Similar to a dice, where opposite sides add up to seven, colours oppose each other of each side. Snelson managed to build an x-module in a way that outlined a tetrahedron, I was surprised how well my guestimation for the different tendon lengths worked out.

Tetra ala Snelson

It might look better when slotted into a base, so that only one strut connects to the ground, similar to Earthlon, which shows the 'ascension skylon' out of Burkhardt's collection of structures, and turns it around.

Earthlon

I drafted Earthlon with elastic strings. but it gained much stability with less elastic tendons. It has only little movement, nevertheless looks quite surprising.

Polarised canary

Polarised canary took quite some time to get together, and probably the tendons holding the upright strut could be a bit shorter. The same concept should work with three struts on either end, and looks a bit like a beam capable of absorbing shock along its length.

Homage to Pars

When I came across the website of Marcelo Pars, a Dutch tensegrity artist, I knew that my explorations wouldn't find an end soon. The site looked a bit different at the time, but had already some fantastically inspiring pieces on display. I had the impression that he builds models on a larger scale than I do, and much more with 'redundant' struts that I explored so far.

Besides exploring basic geometry, he managed to give his objects a solidity in appearance (and potentially in mechanical behaviour) that eluded me. I totally enjoy the ethereal appearance of some of my own structures, and managed to resist the call for more solid struts.

Parsed Rastafarian (12 strut tetrahedron)

While I consider the tetrahedron (in some educated believe in Fuller that the tetrahedron comprises the smallest unit in universe) a very appealing shape, most people exposed to my work prefer the icosahedron when it comes to 6 strut structures.

Parsed Rastafarian (sitting on a tetrahedral face)

While playing with the Java tensegrity viewer by Bob Burkhardt, a pioneer of constructing tensegrity structures, I realised have easy it should be to build a 12 strut tetrahedron like Pars did. I had a small colourful tetrahedron lying around, and decided to transform it. 

Parsed Rastafarian

The tetrahedron 'proves' that one and one add up to four, and it hides 3 pairs of orthogonal edges in it. Three colours suffice to show this twisted pair of edges. While I love many visual aspects of the small version, it's tricky to balance it on all corners, and the relative large diameter in relation to the length of the struts brings the struts nearly into contact.

Homage to Marcelo Pars (12 strut tetrahedron)

The proximity of the struts could easily be changed by upsizing. The corners are held together in a single spot, I'm tempted to connect the corners to the center. Well, as the first emanation with 60 cm struts already has quite a large prestress, I might delay this idea until the next build. 

Homage to Marcelo Pars

The larger build unveiled the space in between the intricate weaving patterns in the center of the sculpture. I'm still hesitant to play it hard, I had some accidents during the build and it feels so taut that I fear to break some of the flimsy struts used.

Genesis revisited (4 strut x-modul)

My attempts to scale the classic 4 strut x-module up didn't succeed. The 30 cm strut version, very taut with only nylon string, can easily be held in balance by slotting into a relatively heavy base. I hope my lungs didn't take damage from drilling the fibreglass base...

Double plus good

Using two colours for the tendons allows to show the 'centre' and 'periphery' of the x-module. Using two colours for the four struts will enhance the polarity of the struts, could be fun be find out how a chain of x-modules behaves. I did this before, very early in my tensegrity exploration, certainly worth doing again.

Pented up

The small 30 strut dodecahedron I had lying around didn't really invite for playing, so I thought in combination with a basis its wobbly qualities come into good use.