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I am an Engineering Professor at Oxford, but from the US. I moved to the UK three years ago with my family.

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I became aware of the Cabaret mechanical theatre during a holiday to London in 1998. I also enjoyed Tim Hunkin’s “secret life of machines” series, which inspired me to study engineering.

Most of my day is spent working on brain implants for diseases such as Parkinson’s and epilepsy… especially the electronics.

I look very forward to using my hands a bit more!

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Oh, an we.... That is me, Maria, with my two cocreators Adam and Mona.
We are joining from our home in the woods of Upperaustria.
I have a product design background which constantly evolves into something more. Currently exhibition design with educational focus. Kids inspired I suppose =)
Very glad to accidentally have come across this workshop!! It’s a pleasure to virtually meet you all and be tinkering together! ❤️

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Hi everybody! So nice to meet you all :)

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Hi. I am David. I make, mostly with wood, and look forward to learning more. Always looking for a get rich slow scheme. Maybe Automata will be it!

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Hi, I´m Claudia from Southern Germany,  I admire automata and am looking forward to finally implement ideas and meet many interesting people!

I draw so far rather but would love to be able to build weird automata!

I like antiques and comical old devices also as paper mechanics.

P.S. I apologize now already for cats in search of glory, which will press into the picture....

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Inside the boat, which is piano speak for the body of the piano.

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Currently, I rebuild pianos for a living.
Problem solving is probably my favorite thing, somewhere after watching sunrise or sunset. Or working with my dog, or riding my bike.
I have built guitars, created animated series, built sculptures, painted paintings, built puppets and props.
I am excited to learn about gears and mechanisms!! Yes very keen!!

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This is a Zoetrope I built using a 3D printer. I made it for my daughter's wedding. She and her partner are both in the animation business and they drew the sets of "frames" - about 8 different ones on the theme of bears having fun !

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I’m a retired lawyer, have put together automata kits and want to make my own.

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Hello fellow tinkerers!

I live in the Seattle, Washington area and am jazzed about the automata class. I have been a woodcarver for many years and decided marrying the two disciples would be great.
I have read and looked at books, built kits etc , however the fundamentals of creating my own works escapes me.

I am really looking forward to learning ~~

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Hello. My name is Andy. I am a workshop and studio technician at the newly opened Museum of Making in Derby, England. I have been making for 50 years, first in my dad’s shed, then as a joinery apprentice and for the majority of my career in theatre as a maker and designer. I have also built furniture for our house and wooden toys for our son. A visit from Tim Hunkin to the Mini Maker Faire in Derby some years ago re-ignited my interest in kinetic sculpture and I was delighted when a colleague brought this course to my attention and I am looking forward to improving my knowledge in this area of making.

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Hi I'm Richard.

I have been making and restoring things for fun for a long while but they have tended to the large and functional such as small buildings and furniture.

My intention is to turn this around and make smaller things which are more interesting.

Most recently I made a small chair for my first grandchild and then a half size of that for her doll.

I attended a weekend automata course at West Dean a few years ago and have long been an admirer of CMT .

My favourite automata are often simple and witty. ( "The first noble truth" for example )

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Awkward Head Shot of me pretending to solder

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Hello All--I'm Genevieve, I make Glass Puppets in Philadelphia PA USA. I have a business called Le Puppet Regime, and I sell the puppets and little glass works called Petite Art on the internet, in my store, and before covid, at craft shows and art markets. It's a very cool job, and I've been at it for 8 ish years. I am honestly getting bored with the same thing, every day, design wise, though, and have been desperately trying to figure out how to make these guys move, automaton style, but between work and life, I just haven't had time to tinker and grasp the basics of movement. I'm hoping that just doing some basic gear setups and get some stuff moving will cement the info into my head so that I can actually design with it. Other than that, I sculpt and paint, and read cold war spy novels, watch a ridiculous amount of tv and movies. Time Bandits, City of Lost Children, Amelie, Alien, Pinocchio--I love all of those, and I bet there are people in this group who love the same!! Can't wait for class!

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Hi  .. I’m Henk (van der Bijl).

I’m Dutch (age 71) ….. we(Ine and myself) live in Cyprus since 2009 in Oroklini, Larnaca.

After working abroad in many countries (Brunei, Nigeria (2*), Oman, Russia (Sakhalin), Norway and a small fraction of time in the Netherlands …. we settled in Cyprus and partly (a couple months/year) in The Netherlands.

I became interested in Automata some years back after watching some of the YouTube Videos … see below for some URL’s (I’m particularly fascinated by the Waterfall).

I picked up some of the fundamentals (cams, levers, gears, horizontal and vertical rotation etc) and did some basic experiments in wood (I will follow-up will a  short video with examples).

Nothing really original .. but just testing implementation of the concepts.

The basics are understood (I think/hope) .. my shortcomings are making expression (e.g. small puppets, facial expressions in wooden puppets etc).

I followed a YouTube course in woodcutting (“Step by Step How to Carve a Little Person”  by SharonMyArt” .. see video URL.. but had to give up due to lack of proper wood (and lost some interest to be fair)

I did let automata rest for 2 years ..but I would like to take this up again, so I joined this workshop out of interest.

My second interest is IoT (Internet of Things) especially working with Blockly Style (BIPES) – MicroPython controlling ESP32/NodeMCU8266 microcontrollers (and sensors). Block style programming is not conventional programming .. but working with predefined small block of code (I my case MicroPython)

Not good at it ….. but currently following a couple of courses in IoT - Python and MicroPyton and doing some experimenting.

My third interest is playing the Blues harp … following some courses .. now temporarily on hold (too slow progress .. I will need a personal Tutor ..something  for later!!!).

My next area of interest: Photography (again I’m mediocre -  I’m specifically interested in Portray /Macro and animal Photography with my iPhone (my SLR’s are given to my children). My dog is a great subject for animal photography).

My biggest passion is my dog: “ATLAN” … called after “KING ATLAN” the ruler of the “KINGDOM ATLANTIC” (after a story told by some old Greek story tellers PLATO, HERODOTUS AND PROCLUS).

You will ask yourself are you interested in GREEK Methodology as well? … No .. I live in ATLANTIDOS Street and needed a name for my dog.

ATLAN is a very sweet, passionate little monster,…. a Lasha Apsho (it is my second Lasha Apso), if you can learn him to listen or do a trick .. you are a champ. We do everything together .. in mutual understanding and agreement .. and when he wants it … I listen.

Enough said .. let’s enjoy the course

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky0Sctsiw6Y&ab_channel=AlConquergood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqzjAmPFND8&ab_channel=DeanO%27Callaghan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMOT20f32hY&ab_channel=Beyond123LLC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxAPXwJx6s&ab_channel=EHCGear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek-yN5ytThw&ab_channel=TheStoryGlobal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41JmTFjCLPM&ab_channel=SharonMyART

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Hi I’m Babyface and I am an automata.
I’m very much looking forward to the sessions and continuing to add to my species.

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Hi everyone, I’m Sheridan and a hardware/software prototyper and artist. Most of the interactive pieces I make rely on software, so I’m very excited to learn to build mechanical objects.

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Hello, I'm Louisa. I'm a civil servant, and I work for the Office for National Statistics.
I've always been interested in making things, but I've never made automata before. I'm really looking forward to tinkering! And I'm wondering whether I will be able to further automate the things I make using a Raspberry Pi...
Looking forward to meeting you all, and to learning some new skills.

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What made me laugh….

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Hello, I’m Elisabeth and I am a research scientist working in the pharma industry.

I have recently tried to put objects in movement, and I have made very simple automatas. I use recycled objects and material. What I love most is to give life to puppets….

The last thing that made my laugh, was this cat in a Japanese restaurant.
Looking forward to learning more.

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hello I'm Jenny and I am a sculptor living in Edinburgh, Scotland. I use recycled and found objects to make my sculptures , which often illustrate psychological issues. see https://www.instagram.com/jennypope_lifecoach/ for images. I am trying to make my objects move and am looking forward to the tinkering course.

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Hello, I'm Loulou, an art teacher and maker of things in cardboard mostly. I love nothing more than creating something from the recycling bin, collage and cardboard, 2D and 3D,, tinkering with found objects. I can't wait to work with everyone, creating magical moving things from our imaginations.

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Hello, I'm Lisa and the Development Director at Cabaret Mechanical Theatre. I'll be joining the workshop as much as I can and having a go at making. I love meeting everyone and hearing about your projects and ideas. I live in Hastings, south east coast in the UK

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Hi everyone, I'm Sarah Alexander and I'm the director/owner of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, which was started by my mother in 1979. I don't make many automata myself, but I have been known to make some out of food..! I really enjoy these online workshops, meeting new participants and sharing inspiring making stories.

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Sarah Alexander with The Dead Sea by Keith Newstead Photo Justin Lycett.JPG

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Hi I'm Ryan and I'll be hosting the course and helping out to facilitate the projects/activities.

I got introduced to the Cabaret Mechanical Theater when I was working at The Exploratorium (a science center in San Francisco). During my time there we got to know many of the automata artists and adapted activities to work in our Tinkering Studio space on the museum floor.

Over the past few years I've collaborated with CMT to help set up exhibitions and train facilitators in New Mexico, Arkansas, Germany and the UK.

I currently live in Freiburg im Breisgau in south-west Germany.  I'm really looking forward to tinkering with you all over the next six weeks.

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Hi! My name is Ann. I am a filmmaker and a librarian and I tinker a bit. I want to learn more about tinkering so I can develop activities for the library.

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Hello! I'm Meg and I'm a participant in this workshop! I am newly the Tinkering Manager at the Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville, AR. I moved up and over from my job as Camp Coordinator. I have a bit of a background with automatas (and Ryan). Ryan actually brought automatas and cranky contraptions to our annual Tinkerfest.

I am joining the workshop with my new tinkering team and we are excited to absorb all the good things we're about to experience.