SculptCycles In Progress

Having just finished the shows in May that I was preparing for, I now have time to work on my SculptCycles, sculptures with recycled bicycles, for Montpelier SculptCycle 2009. Last year I created a robot walking two dogs with bike parts, northern white cedar, and plenty of epoxy. It was bought by the town of Newburyport, MA and should be moved to their new bike path this summer.

Dog Walker
©Robert Hitzig

This year my plan was to make a series of the dogs and scatter them around town, maybe making more as the summer progresses. Here are seven of the frames I found, some pulled out of the garbage. Taking them apart was a lot easier this year but it is still time consuming. Sometimes the crank is reverse threaded, sometime not, sometimes it can take a while to figure it out. I usually need to pull out the Sawzall to get the axle off. I have three more that I haven't been able to finish taking apart and might have to break down and ask Onion River Sports to help me out. Last year I spent hours trying to separate a couple of rear sprockets before heading over there. I found you need a special tool for the procedure.
I had made a three extra trapezoids for the robot body that I found left over as I was digging around for some cedar last week and I used part of it for the first small dog, giving it more of a robot look.
I decided to use the second half of the trapezoid for the larger dog but after I glued it together I decided that it really wanted to be a horse, especially with the knot-eye of the side of the head. Unfortunately, I had already added the sprocket collar. Not sure if I want to go to the trouble of taking it off or just have a horse with a collar. Hopefully, as I make more I'll find other animals as well.
The third piece is the most dog-like of the bunch. It is much softer and will be sculpted into a rounded head.