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*Note: No Exit (OTR) appears much smoother in person. Frame rate drops along with the fact thatcmany cameras simply don't have the capability of capturing the real world experience of seeing UV hand-painted blades fixed to rapidly rotating computer fans.
Last year I bought a glass drill bit and made these "Liquor Lamps". All made from various liquor bottles and are app or remote controlled. Each one can be precisely synchronized with the others. This demonstration was done using the remote. I'll be using the phone app during live events. I'm going to put 5 of these on my DJ table for my upcoming Plastered Pilot "sound, light, and dance" exhibition at the Cattlerest Saloon & RV Park in Willcox, AZ in September.
Jitterbird, Michael Millevolte. 2026
Description:
Top Anchor: Vaseline Lubricated Dampening Spring: At the highest structural point, a steel spring serves as a dynamic shock absorber and vasoline container.
Motor Anchor: Vasoline lubracting connected to looping zip tie. Serves a dynamic shock absorber. continuously lubricates the motor connection, dampening micro-vibrations and eliminating friction wear at the primary pivot point.
Shock Isolation: High-frequency motor chatter travels up the suspension and is absorbed by the spring coils, protecting the overhead and bottom connectoin point from fatigue.
2. Suspension Line: Decoupled Power & Load
Two distinct conduits drop down from the top spring, completely separating structural weight from electrical delivery:
Mechanical Load: (Black 50 lb Braided Line): Carries 100% of the sculpture's physical weight.
Electrical Delivery (Filament USB Wire): Ultra-thin, featherweight wire strands stripped from a specialized USB cable feed power to the motor. Their minimal mass reduces stiffness or cable drag, allowing the structure to move without mechanical resistance.
3. Power Core: Point-Rendered Eccentric Motor
The heart of the assembly is a direct-drive DC motor equipped with offset eccentric counterweights.
Direct Kinetic Engine: As the motor spins, the off-center weights generate continuous, high-frequency rotational imbalance.
Point-Rendered Anchor: Targeted 395nm UV light, the dark suspension lines and wing planes disappear completely day or night—leaving the motor housing as the single visible, glowing "power core" grounding the entire installation.
Central Track Loop: A primary zip-tie loop anchored directly to the motor acts as a flexible rail.
Tunable Hinges: Flexible zip ties attached to the wings wrap around this track, serving as durable hinge that can change the static positioning of the wings.
Variable Geometric Tuning: The wing zip ties can be manually slid upward or inward along the track. Positioned inboard near the motor, the wings produce a rapid, high-frequency flutter; positioned outboard, they generate wide, sweeping wing strokes.
5. Optical Payload: Dual-State Wing & Mandala Assembly: At the outer front extremity, 1/4" outer rear wood blades fastened to the sliding zip ties act as inertial momentum drivers.
Exertial Flapping Motion: As the motor drives the track, the mass of the wood blades lags behind the vibration, flexing the zip ties back and forth to create an authentic downstroke/upstroke wing beat capable of generating up and down movement, waves, S curves, figure 8s, and cones as the varible speed increases.
Dual-State Transparency: In daylight, the clear areas of the blades provide glass-like material transparency around the frontal geometric mandala. Under 395nm blacklight in total darkness, the clear surfaces and black rigging vanish entirely, leaving only the glowing, feather-patterned wings and central mandala beating through mid-air with zero visible support.
Tuneable Kinetic Movements: Jitterbird's front fixed "geometric" rotation remains stable during the rearing wings movements at rotation speeds before and after the tuning the Jitterbird experiences slow wobbling at slow speeds. At the highest speeds it becomes extremely chaotic with extreme fatigue and undesired optics and the loss of "persistence of vision".
Conclusion: Multiple distinct modes of kinetic movements derived from a single object.
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My core idea for the laser wall tapestry concept was to build upon my UV fan pieces and transform their over to lasers where the blade patterns would extend and expand much farther than any fan blade ever could. I wanted to start with a four unit laser "fan" located at the points of a basic diamond shape. The individual variable speed motors allows for one to "tune" the overlapping beams will generate a nearly unimaginable volume of shifting spatial patterns and moiré lines. Each laser fan and its diodes could be a different color with more intense volumetric complexity. This concept needs to scale up to a large stage or an arena back-drop with each pulsing independently or in sync in larger groupings. As more are added, the complexity of the overlapping lasers creates dynamic tapestries of light.
Note: Projection Mapping can be introduced by fixing a lightweight white disk of various diameters to the rostatiing laser plate.
Just imagine the endless possibilities and the unforgetable and overwhelming kinetic imagery audiences would experience. It would nice to see It happen.
Michael Millevolte. Copywrite: 2013, 2026
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My core idea was to build upon my UV fan pieces and transform their basic concepts over to lasers where the "blade patterns" would extend and expand much farther than any fan blade could. I wanted to start with a four unit laser copter located at the points of a basic diamond with variable speed motors, The overlapping beams will make shifting spatial patterns or moiré lines and each laser could be a different color with more intense volumetric complexity. This concept needs to scale up to a large stage or arena back drop with each pulsing independently or in sync in larger groupings. As more are added, the complexity of the overlapping lasers creates dynamic tapestries of light. That's what the single overhead laser copter hints at, like a a budget prototype of the four unit piece I simply couldn't afford to complete at the time.
The possibilities are endless. It would nice to see it happen. You out there Matt E? Let's make this happen.
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Hey everyone! My name is Michael Millevolte the founding moderator of r/ArtDisgardedUpcycled.
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At first glance I can understand the rejection for not being applicable content for the psychedelicart community. My bad. I should have followed up with more context. The photo depicted didn't disclose details about the 3 Hand-painted Flourescent Blacklight Variable Speed Kinetic Sculptures made with computer fans. Having these "tuneable" devices before you after indulging on a hallucinegetic like mushrooms is as psychedelic as it gets.
All are variable speed controlled so you can tune them to your preference.