You are
hypnotized by the progress and construction of the "Fluffer" art installation for
Burning Man 2009. You WILL check back often.
Now sleep...
-Mister Jellyfish
8/24/2009: Sneaking in this update that may be my last before deployment
to Black Rock City. The white board is as full of tasks as ever. The
important thing is that they are less and less important. I'm now
assigning them priority numbers. If it's anything like last year's Zsu Zsu
project, the 1's will get done, the 2's will get done on playa, and the 3's
won't get done at all. 1's Often are something participants see up close or
interact with. This countdown forces me to step back from the project and
and look at the big picture of it.
Lightnin' and her friend Connie were here yesterday. We did el wire
and sewing, listened to psy trance, and told stories of burns gone by-- good
times. Tonight is the final dress rehearsal when we will dawn our whites
and take turns piloting Fluffer around the neighborhood and practicing
deployments and strikes. I'm excited for this mock manifestation and do
see how all the crew members embrace it.
It's An Audio Thing...
8/16/2009: Two weeks and counting until we drop ship our playa pooch to Black
Rock City for Burning Man 2009! Dan and I were over at Mr. Fixit's last
night "branding" some gifts for friends and Fluffer enthusiasts. There's a
work party here at Jellyfish Labs today, with lots of touch-up and testing.
If only I could find the stinky mouse that clearly died somewhere in my garage!
Professor Munz and The Pawn are making great headway with the robotics on the
eyelids, so the fade-to-fluff sequence will be smooth and suggestive. I
had to go and get drunk with friends in order to get some gravel in my voice for
the following day's recording session for "male voice - sexy". I'm please
with how it came out, but men never know when/if they are being sexy so thank
you to the female members of the crew for their validation. I needed a
confidence booster at this stage in the project.
8/5/2009: Three weeks and counting until we release our fluffy friend on the
citizens of Black Rock City. The big doggy head is now fully illuminated
thanks to the committed efforts of Bernie, Lightnin', Dusty, and Nico. These
lights fade smoothly thanks to the computer hardware by Professor Munz, and the
software he coded for control by The Pawn's magnificent master program. Those
two are also teaming up to robotize Fluffer's eyelids... "Fluffer Says Sleep!".
Special thanks to Dave Cherry and Kernul Killbuck for their artistry prior to
the event.
7/26/2009: Bernie, Lighnin' and Reno Jeff came over to Jellyfish Labs today and
we got plenty done. Steel brackets to stake the stanchions to the playa,
Fluffer flags, fixed some LED's and soldered together many strings of the same.
We'll be lighting up the doggie head from the inside that way as it's the best
low current, low dollar option. Got so beastly hot in my garage but we
pressed on just the same. Here's some pics by Professor Munz of the
Burners Without Borders benefit:
7/20/2009: I get this "warm vibraty feeling all through me gutty-wuts" after a
gig goes off as well as Fluffer's appearance at the Burners Without Borders
benefit in Reno last Saturday. Killbuck and I started the day with
breakfast at Jack's Coffee Shop, then he proceeded to give our puppy freckles,
features, depth and dimension using only a can of gray primer spray paint!
Then Lightnin' came over and finished the seat and the "bone cozy" surround for
the touch screen, followed by The Pawn who almost killed me after my insistance
to get the ambient music in the program. Mr. Fixit hauled it to the event,
Dave Cherry (painter of the original spiral) brought some bricks to hold down
the stanchions, and by the time the sun had passed behind a tall building we
were in business:
It was really, really well received, and participants gave us valuable
feedback collected from the survey questions that Lucifer provided. We
will use this as we tweak and finish our project resulting in an optimum
experience for the citizens of Black Rock City. It is really nice to have
this beta "human testing" complete so we can all relax and enjoy the summer
before the playa.
Photos by Liz "Lightnin'" Margerum
7/4/2009: Taking delivery of a large package is fun all by itself. When it
is something that you and your closest friends built together, there are no
words for the anticipation and joy. Mr. Fixit showed up on my driveway
with Fluffer on Independence Day to call the project "playa worthy" and free him
up for his many other tasks. My 9 year old daughter fell in love with the
giant mobile puppy, and she assisted as a greeter and host when we took it down
to the empty field in my neighborhood where people go to set up chairs and watch
the fireworks. The conveyance is smooth and graceful, thanks to some great
work that new crew member Dan provided to stabilize the steering. Lightnin'
and Killbuck did a fantastic job sewing on the fur and getting the dog to look
convincing. For now, I just taped a spiral shape on the large disk for the
effect, and the lighting is not yet fully installed, but you get the idea from
the photos below. Fluff on.
Folks here in the default world seemed to like the idea of a dryer to fluff
their coat right on the street. Kids got it right away. It is good
to continue to spread the rumor that I am the weirdest dad in the neighborhood,
especially when the suitors come-a-calling for my daughters.
Some things I learned at this beta test near an empty field where people were
observing the fireworks:
* I've got to find an alternative to fabric softener sheets in the dryer as they
are hard to retrieve before they blow away when removing the garments from the
dryer.
* Child reactions were ALL positive and they were keen to participate--
sometimes over and over. Some of them first asked "How much, is it free?" which
is to be expected in the default world.
* Adult reactions were mixed. If they had children they could quickly see that I
was not a threat and having my own children assisting me also made things look
more trustworthy. If they did not have kids, some would just think I was a
weirdo and hurry by, others, especially those who remembered my previous works,
squealed with delight just to have their coats fluffed in a remote location.
* Overall, Mr. Fixit's lead on a playa-worthy conveyance and a partially
finished artistic presentation with no audio portion seemed to be successful.
Therefore, it is hoped that completion of the look and adding the audio
experience combined with a deep playa venue will be an "over the top"
skull-shaker for many.
Fluffer will make another appearance at our local Burners Without Borders
Benefit on July 18th here in Reno. I say "local" because it is my understanding
that these are taking place throughout the country on the same day, and it's a
mighty fine cause.
Be well and do strange things,
-Mister Jellyfish.
6/23/2009: We cleaned Mill End Fabrics out of their supply of luxurious, white
fur-- and made our hypno-pooch very happy! Here's crew members from left:
Dusty Bacon, Bernie, and Lightnin' celebrating softness.
We tested the arrangement with the light-up stanchions and quadrabike to get an
idea for the deployment layout. Thanks to Mike for suggesting a new
placement of the big sign further back and out of the way of the pilot's line of
sight.
6/12/2009: You know that feeling
when the UPS guy shows up with the package you have been yearning for forever?
I was jumping out of my skin when finally, after 6 weeks on special order, my
extremely hard to acquire FLUFFER HAT ARRIVED! Combined with the white
shirt and slacks, embroidered Eisenhower jacket, bow tie, parade dress belt, ice
cream man coin changer, and a spiral broach I found at a junk shoppe, I feel
ready to hit the playa as your friendly Fluffer host! Thanks, Smooches,
for taking the photos:
6/6/2009: Jeff and Killbuck and I
met for breakfast this morning, then joined Mr. Fixit at his workshop with an
armload of fiberglass, resin, and chicken wire. It was head sculpting day
so Killbuck took the lead and we backed him up as the famous super heroes "Band
Saw Man" and his trusty sidekick "Tie Strap Boy". The result was the
semblance of a dog head amazingly close to the original Killbuck design that
will be ready to cover with white faux fur at our next work day.
Getting the clothes dryer up on the custom QuadraBike platform worked
like a charm. Thanks to Mr. Fixit's precise measurements, the dryer door
clears the wheels just fine. Nice extension on the shaft and support for
the spiral platform, too.
6/6/2009: Mr. Fixit had clearly
been busy after I dropped off Noxious' treadmill. He hacked out the motor
and control circuit, then designed and built a gear reduction transmission to
give us less RPM and more torque. This is merely a "pedal assist" for this
mobile art installation to help the pilot start and move the massive weight of
the installation to it's deployments, otherwise we would be required to register
it as a "Mutant Vehicle" and follow their guidelines. The speed limit at
Burning Man is 5 MPH so anything above it is just wasted power. Check it
out:
We strapped the generator to the new expanded steel dryer platform and I took it
for a quick spin. We agreed that more adjustments to the "too tall" gear
reduction are in order. It's nice to have the separate coaster brake and
three speed tranny for the pedal power, but it's leaking oil and we need a bike
pro to take it apart, check, and re-seal it.
6/2/2009: Really great progress
with Bernie and Mr. Fixit on the custom "QuadraBike" (named by Killbuck)
conveyance for the clothes dryer. The steering pivot is good and long so
we should get less wobble. The thing is shorter than we pictured, and that
will make it easier to maneuver.
Expanded metal "tray" will be set
a few inches below the actual dryer so we will have an extra shelf underneath
just like on a shopping card where you put your dog food or kitty litter.
Mr. Fixit called me to say that
the perfect motor and gear reduction tranny could be found in an exercise
treadmill. I posted it on the Burning Man Reno List distribution and had a
response within an hour from our own Bob Noxious. Thanks, Bob, for your
donation to the Fluffer project.
My nine year old daughter got to join us for the work day. Joy knows no
limits at Mr. Fixit's wonder emporium!
When I was soaking at Frog Pond with Christian and friends from Lake Tahoe, he
contributed the idea of having the Fluffer Pup's eyelids open and close. I
loooove the idea and Munz tells me it is quite possible using some of the
left-over linear actuator and electronics from Zsu Zsu's "Geeft Me" apparatus.
Imagine the dog's eyes closing slowly during the hypnotic induction and opening
during the "wakener" finish!
Bernie cut out the perfect dog-bone-shaped bezel so the touch screen looks
better and supports the theme. It will unhinge at the top and flop down in
case The Pawn needs to program something in the field.
We welcome "Posha" to the crew. She and I have been friends for 1.4 billion
years and we're delighted to have her design and sewing skills for an *ahem*
seamless project! She's already started designing a slip-cover for the subject
couch so it does not look like a folding camp chair any more.
5/18/2009: Now moving at a good
clip with the rest of the crew to implement the primary components. Made
one side of the Fluffer sign last night-- egad it's bright! That's thanks
to the recycled piranha LED's recycled from Blackberry's donation to the
previous Zsu Zsu project. Sign will be mounted lengthwise above the dog
head/clothes dryer so it does not block the pilot's view too much. Check
out the last pics where Zsu Zsu pears out of her space helmet in envy of our
attentions:
Bernie and I made great progress
with Mr. Fixit on the adult tricycle renovation. We're going with 24"
wheels for good dimensional stability and a bit lower to the ground. All
four wheels and a spare are lubed and true. Rebuilt the differential and
douched the 3-speed transmission/break. The whole thing is now ready to be
cut off at the gooseneck and morphed into our monstrosity that will convey the
dryer and extra weight from all of the components. Below you can see the
original drive shaft worn down by years of pedaling with a failed bearing-- wow!
The shaft on the other side was completely fused inside the wheel. We
soaked it for a week in Liquid Wrench, cooked it with a torch, finally, it
simply had to give way to a large hydraulic press! What a fight! The
shaft was OK but you can compare the worn one with the new shiny one that Mr.
Fixit made on his lathe out of a simple concrete form stake, then re-assembled
into the differential which, as it would happen, is missing one of its teeth!
All this because of our hell-bent commitment to use the historically significant
Burning Man artifact that is the tricycle. Love ya', Ras$pa! Thanks
for donating it to the project!
Elaine "Smooches" did good at her first recording session for Fluffer
voice-overs. She and I are getting great coaching and creative hypnosis
scripting done with Lucifer. The fact that he's in the L.A. area does not
seem to hamper our mutual ability to create, and I think we will be recording
some usable audio as soon as I solve the noise problem with the
microphone/computer link.
5/10/2009: Happy Mothers Day, ya
buncha muthahs! Had a grand day at Mr. Fixit's and fully deployed the
spinning spiral to test the assumptions and... IT WORKS! I used a spiral
"hippie poster" taped onto the plywood disk with an ingenious baring and support
system Fixit came up with. The speed is about right and I think we will
have two spirals pushing inward and outward, one inside the other. There
is so much joy in that shop. Family members and friends stop in to say
hello, good music playing, both sun and shade whenever you want them-- bliss!
We decided to go with all 24"
wheels for lateral stability and I ordered some chrome fenders for them to look
snazzy. I'm lucky to be able to re-use so many parts from Fixit's
"Treasure Trove" as it is allowing me to spend our meager budget on quality
components where it counts. Things like the folding chair for the
subjects, their faux fur blanket, audio and computer gear, etc.
Baring taken from old wind vane and shimmed with a cut-up brake cleaner can
We hit a snag on the adult
tricycle we are hacking. The baring on one of the wheels is gone and
subsequently it wore the axel considerably. It can be overcome, but not
without effort.
Mr. Fixit, Dale Huntsman
5/2/2009:
A big sloppy thank you to Mr. Fixit for
helping with two important new accomplishments: We decided after all,
to use one of his existing adult tricycles for the back portion of the
Fluffer conveyance and to completely re-design a new custom four-wheel
vehicle based upon the needs of our favorite Fluffer-Pup! He has
already started donating important parts from his "treasure trove" of
materials, so it looks like we will still come in on budget. We then
took apart the clothes dryer, converted it to liquid propane use, and
fabricated a perfect, threaded rod out the back of it connected to the
round dryer drum itself. This provides the PERFECT center rotation
point for the hypno-spiral! We hooked it all up, fluffed a couple of winter
coats, and had our own fluffy good time on a rainy day right their in
the workshop!
Rotating shaft from back of dryer rotates the spiral:
Here's some pics of the new trike from which we are hacking the back end.
Nice rear differential, and a fiendish fop out for his Sunday ride! Ding
ding!
Also, welcome to the woman with the talent,
sexiness, and innate
understanding of the human desire for surrender... Smooches! We are
currently working with Lucifer and other crew members to write the
audio scripts, then we will begin our recording sessions for the
"voices of Fluffer".
4/21/2009: Well, we didn't get
awarded the Burning Man Grant this year. In a way I am kind of relieved.
It means that if the project decides to take a different direction as it
progresses, there's no risk of disappointing folks that made an investment.
After receiving grant funds from Burning Man three years in a row it was clearly
another artist's turn so... CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL HONORARIUM ARTISTS!
We also did really well with our Yuri's Night
Reno-Compression fund raising event to the extent that the Fluffer Project will
most certainly happen thanks to the generosity of our sensational Burner
community who turned out in big numbers to romp and play... IN SPACE!
So lately I've been making a few
purchases. Headphones, an amplifier, a coin change belt for the operator,
and this:
It was barely used on Craigslist, and I send away for the propane gas conversion
kit. I'll take it over to Mr. Fixit's this Sunday to see about welding the
spiral disc support to the back of the drive shaft. Woot Woot!
Sketch by Kernul Killbuck
2/7/2009: I sent the grant
application off to Burning Man last week so please whisper some good luck for
our favorite hypno-puppy. It's a bit of a stretch given that I'm convinced
it should be mobile art, bike/trike mounted and all the other fantastic
proposals they'll receive. I'm hoping our track record of providing good
value for the Zsu Zsu, U-Me and Mantis grants we've received will allow us some
special consideration. Should find out by the end of February. Good
luck to all Burning Man artists!
The process of writing the
grant proposal really helps me drill down to what the project will be like early
in the game. Special thanks to NilaSnake and Kernul Killbuck for their
contributions and guidance. I already know how I want the female hypnotic
voice to sound which is on the
demonstration video. I've got a poll up on the Burning Man
E-Playa, asking for opinions of the sexiest, most hypnotic international accent
of a male.
Log on and cast your vote!
Killbuck is coming over
tomorrow to help design/build the arched Fluffer sign for the top.
Professor Munz suggested using little incandessent lights instead of LED's for
that warmth and retro Fellini style originally suggested by Killbuck. So
far, the Fluffer Crew are:
Mister Jellyfish
Concept and Engineering
Professor Munz
Robotics and Lighting
The Pawn
Software Design
Kernul Killbuck
Artistic Embellishment
Mr. Fixit
Engineering and Welding
Spazstick
Framing and Transportation
Lucifer
Hypnosis Consultant
Reno Jeff
Welding and Fire Safety Liaison
Bernie B
Sculpting
Smooches
Voice Talent
I'm sure we'll benefit from
more talented volunteers, though not having a large tower this year will be less
to manage and a bit more relaxed.
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