#5.....#5.......#5

....report to the processing office. 

Ceramic, bisque-fired, acrylic finished.  Life-sized. 

Enlightenment............

is sometimes just a new addition to the brain.....assuming one is compatible.  Ceramic, bisque-fired and acrylic glazed.  Roughly life-sized.

OHM.........another look..........

at the piece in progress.  The painting stage has begun (as well as positioning pieces to see how it's all going to work).

MORE Tube-Head.............

....little....um....fellows decorating the wall of the studio.   Ceramic...bisque fired and acrylic glazed & varnished.  Roughly 3-5 inches tall.

MORE Vacuum..............

.............tube-ular guys....wee ceramic masks approximately 4-5 inches tall (with tubes). Ceramic, bisque fired with acrylic glaze/varnish.

New Vacuum...................

..........tube mini masks. Roughly 5-inches tall (including tube). Ceramic, bisque fired, acrylic glazed.

Vacuum...................

....tube amplifiers. The top image is a Bell & Howell projector audio amplifier. Lucked out in a surplus find. Dismanted the unit and sprayed liberally with DeOxit. Applied power and She Lives! The volume pot was scratchy -- but another liberal dousing of DeOxit fixed that issue. This unit needs no pre-amp, has volume and a multi-stage tone control with external speaker options. I think it'll make a great guitar amp with little modification.

The working side of the Bell & Howelll amplifier. Nice and clean.

This puppy is a tube amplifer from a 60's Capitol record player. I was asked to fix it by one of the baristas at the coffee shop I frequent. After much GOOGLE searching, I determined the 25L6 tube heaters had been powered in series with a (now missing) motor. Since the 25L6 heaters are 25v, this necessitated a 90v drop at 300 mA...but no matter what I did, I could not get the tube to fire up. Finally applied 24v to the tube heaters and found the tube was dead. Dug through my stash of old 'dead' tubes until I found some 50L6s -- same pinout, but with a 50v 150 mA heater. After a bit of trial and error, I found a 1.2K and 690 ohm 25w resistor in parallel gives me 49 volts at the heaters in operation...and the amplifer works. I very much doubt it's really suited as a guitar amp -- it definitely needs a pre-amp and the overall wattage is very low. The real issue with an old tube amp like this is that it's VERY unsafe -- there is direct connection to 120 without a transformer - so if the capacitor fails....the chassis becomes hot. Or..if the wall socket is wired wrong (I did attach a 3-prong plug to it)...the the chassis becomes hot. So...quite unsafe, but interesting to tinker with.

This has been my first foray into vacuum tube electronics since the 70s and quite a learning experience....but diverting and amusing.

Oh yeah........

a Leopard Skin Fez........feel free to feel the awe.....the fear......but I am the same person as always beneath this Hat of Power. Thanks to Niels Nielsen for this induction into the Vacuum Tube Collective.

The Shrine ...........

of Faith Amplification -or- "The Shrine of Saint Tesla". Complete with 'arc welder' circuitry for the top vacuum tube. lit vaccum tubes on the sides and flickering LED candles. 38-inches tall. 10-inches deep. And yes, the mili-amp meter displays the current of the 'arc welder' circuit.

Progress continues...............

on pieces in progress......just not quickly.

Myriad Masks........

assembling for roll call.....built a display stand for the Holiday Gallery coming up in a few weeks.

Feeling.....................

...........groovy. Life-sized ceramic mask with Groove Tube. Ready to amplify all inputs. Sold.

Enlightenment................

in excess. Life-sized ceramic mask with vacuum tubes.

AMPLIFY.................

.....the volume of the self. Turn the knob to 11. Ceramic, bisque fired and acrylic finished. Life-sized. Sold.

Transmitting...............

into the aether......"Radio Boy". Life-sized bisque ceramic mask with acrylic finish. Sold.

Walter's Secret........

......Laboratory. Assemblage. Approx 22-inches tall, 7-inches wide, 5-inches deep. This piece has been about two years in the making (yeah, ran into conceptual issues at the 80% done stage)...but finally ...WALLAH....she is THERE!

"VISION"............

complete. 18.5" x 26" x 7" roughly. Acrylics, ceramics, colored pencil, 'found' items.

Working Title.................

....Vision. Still in progress. Inching forward.

To Save......

.....Salvare......technology compressed vessel of self written to disk in ones and zeros....reduced to the minimal, yet containing all -- the essential spark of the individual.

18.5-inches x 26.5-inches x 6-inches deep. Mixed media.

salvāre...........

.....in progress....sneak peek.