Kickstarter

Hey everyone -

So, it looks like about 90% of the people (at least in US) have already received their sculptures, and many internationals are starting to get them as well. For everyone, they should be there soon.

I wanted to send an update because I've gotten some messages from people reporting a few different potential problems, and I wanted to get back about how we might move forward with this. Please have patience — sometimes given the amount of work I'm doing, I regularly can't get back to email within a week — but it doesn't mean I'm ignoring anyone. In case anyone's interested right now I'm installing a 4000-pound suspension sculpture with my friends Bill and Eric in the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (blog details: http://hypersonicdesign.tumblr.com/ ) and it is taking quite a bit of my time, on a deadline. I also ask people to remember that I'm not a big company selling this; I'm a person, it's a first try and there are bound to be issues along the way, and my goal is for all of you to be able to enjoy these pieces for years to come.

So, there seem to be two problems coming up with some regularity:

1. The idler pulley (the one free to spin) is getting stuck, with some frequency. I have messaged with some people who have said adding lubricant of some sorts has helped, but have not been able to diagnose this myself yet as I'm 2000 miles from home.

2. The motor is loud. It seems some percentage of the motors were either lemons or damaged in the shipping from China. This may involve a clicking or even the motor being under enough stress to conk out.

(A minor one that comes up is if the pattern is going backwards — these AC motors choose direction based on the wall power, so if it's going the wrong way, you can switch the power off then on and it will choose again, and you can get it going.)

Anyway, I wanted to get more of a view from everyone as to if things are working well or if these problems are coming up for you. I can't promise a very quick fix, but I'd like to find the right fix to have everyone enjoy these pieces, now that the bulk of the work is done!

Please drop a public comment to list if anything is going wrong with your piece, describe as clearly as possible (maybe include a pic or video if useful), and I will make another update when I've gotten some more information from everyone.

Thanks! Jeff

Well, it took longer than expected, but the remaining Moore Pattern sculptures have finally arrived by sea freight. They actually reached the US a while ago but were held up in customs, so apologies for anyone wondering why you hadn't heard anything in a while — I didn't want to send an update until I had something useful to say.

So, they're here, and I'm working right now on shipping them out this week. You should receive them soon!

Thanks again for everyone's patience! I look forward to people's feedback, comments, etc, and hopefully some pictures of your piece installed. Thanks for supporting this piece — I hope you enjoy it!

Best, Jeff

Hey everyone -

The first Moore Patterns have shipped out for the holidays! If you had been in touch with me, it is on its way.

I put together an installation video for everyone — as you'll see it takes about 5 minutes from start to finish. One thing not mentioned in the video is key to keep in mind — since the piece works by optical illusion, the lighting is important to get the maximum effect. It is ideal to minimize direct light, for two reasons — glare and shadows, both of which lessen the illusion. The ideal space for this is in a totally ambient light situation.

For the rest of the details, I have this video for you, yeah!

If you have any problems setting this up, please let me know and I will try to help.

Hoping everyone is well for the end of the year, and I'll send out one more update when the other set of Moore Patterns ships. Very excited to hear how they are for you all!

Best, Jeff

Hey everyone -

I really appreciate everyone writing me saying they don't mind getting it later to save some money. That said I am absolutely glad to send some of these by air to my place to send out for gifts. It's not a major cost at all until it reaches several hundred of them!

So please for everyone's simplicity (and the fact that I can't send any more surveys), let me know only if you do want it for a holiday gift, and I'll get that many air-shipped to me. Thanks so much!

Best, Jeff

Sorry for the delay in getting to everyone — I've been swamped with two other projects going on right now (I'm in SF working on one) with time deadlines this week and next. But here's what's going on!

There was a decent delay in manufacturing based on some changes I felt needed to happen from the production model. Until this week I didn't have a solid estimate of when things would be delivered. Then I found out that they will be shipped around Nov 25.

If delivered by sea, they will get to me around Dec. 30, which I felt was unacceptable to get to you all since it misses the holidays and felt I promised that to some of you.

Otherwise, I am shipping these with air freight which should (I'd say 90%) reach everyone in time. And cost me a lot of money! (If those couple weeks don't matter to you, please let me know! :)

So that's the general update. I'm including a picture of the production model as it stood in my office before I left town, sorry I don't have a movie but it's looking quite close.

I'm also psyched to share the news that I was contacted by two people using the open source plans to make modified versions of the sculpture! I will try to get some photos/movies and share them soon. It made my day, twice.

I appreciate everyone's patience and I think we're at the last update until they reach my door, soon!

Thanks! Jeff