Smoke-in-the-Box

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:11 pm

You've probably read something about this on a couple other topics I've posted to already....wanted to come out with a thread of its own.

I finally got off my duff and started working on my project for this year. It's going to be an anti-smoking/anti-cancer Jack-in-the-Box. Problem is, I'm waffling on what I should do the Jack as, a Coyote or a Monkey. I asked my local circle of friends and most of them suggested that I do the Monkey because it requires less knowledge/explanation.

However, since it's going to be at this festival, I thought I'd go straight to the people who'd be looking at the thing. What do you think? Would you get the Coyote reference? Or do you want to see a Monkey pop out of a box made of cigarette pack mandalas and collages?

Exercise your right to vote! I'll go with whichever gets the most votes.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 4:28 pm

Bump —

Thought I'd offer a bit of back story as to the choices:

Monkey:
Intent/Derivation: "Monkey See Monkey Do," a kind of taunting, backhanded reference to the fact that most people start smoking because they want social acceptance. Also a sly reference to addiction, "Monkey on my back."

Coyote:
Intent/Derivation: Refers to tobacco use as a sacred teacher plant in First Nations culture. Coyote was a trickster whose pranks often proved at least as detrimental to him as to his intended targets. A reference to that tendency and also a caution against reactionism: "Oh, it's harmful, let's ban it!" As much as I detest cigarettes and other smoke-emitting tobacco products, I don't want to see a broad-based abolition on them because of that ritual/cultural connection. Anyway, the message I want to convey is "Tobacco-Cancer Connection as Coyote's latest and greatest Prank."

Several people have suggested I do the Jack as Joe Camel. I'm disinclined to doing that because 1) I already have an idea as to how to incorporate a Camel reference, and 2) Joe Camel's been done to death. I'd rather make a fresh statement rather than fall back on something that's been laid to rest years ago.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:24 am

I'm inclined to promote the monkey not only because of the "Monkey See..." idea but also because of the Adams Amusement Co. smoking monkeys....A classic novelty item, up there with magnetic scotty dogs and joy buzzers. And maybe wearing a fez, like some of the windup cymbal-clanging monkeys. And maybe he's never smoked before, and is curious...

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:17 am

...sleazy old worn out looking monkey that pops out, lots of smaller, younger, healthy looking Curious George type monkeys adorning the base and looking upwards in a mix of curiosity/adortion...maybe monkey skeletons adorning the base...and lots of glitz and lights making the old, worn out monkey look more attractive.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:55 pm

Robotland: Good suggestions — I knew you'd say something to make my ears waggle

dJ: Oh yeah, you KNOW I'm gonna prink that sucker out in lights. I'm in the process of gathering materials, using found and recycled items as much as possible and figuring out my budget from there. Got pretty much everything sourced, priced, figured out and lined up already

The Jack is going to be doing a "Superman" thing, pulling his motley shirt — and skin open to reveal a torso full of tumour-ridden organs, so the "just curious/haven't yet" angle doesn't quite fit, but it's a good thought.

Plug time: I'm putting out a request for empty cigarette cartons, package wrappers, advertisements, promotional items, cigar tubes, smokeless tobacco tins, tobacco pouches, any tobacco-related packaging elements to incorporate. Already got some on their way from New York, Holland and Scotland (thanks, guys), keep 'em comin'!

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 4:32 pm

so have you figured out the "jack" mechanism yet? Last I heard you were a bit uncertain how to build such a device. Adding a "superman shirt rip" to the action sounds interesting. Shouldn't be to hard to do using either cables or cogs or something like that. What is your planned power source? Human interaction? Compressed spring? Electric or compressed air? or something else? What is the trigger device? User initiated, remote control, or some kind of sensor that activates when they are nearby?

I like the diseased organ bit! Maybe have a stoma in the throat also...

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 4:57 pm

Planned power source: For the lights, solar (I found some solar spotlights for $12 locally), battery for the EL wire.

For the mechanism itself...I'm still trying to figure that out but it will be geared/human powered. I'm not a gearhead even though I have a grasp of the concept. I'm thinking of buying a cheapo jack-in-the-box toy and doing it the old fashioned way: take it apart, study how it's made, and replicate it. I tried to find out how jack-in-the-boxes worked on the "How Things Work" website but on the search all I got was fucking references to the fast-food chain...

Sorry, guys, Ham-and-Swiss Panini is fine to eat but the information is all but useless to me in this context...and their corporate stock quote even less so...
Basically I'm gonna do the Curous Kid thing and try to hook up with someone who has more mechanical experience than myself to check it out, trouble-shoot and help streamline it.
Might cannibalize a bike's pedal and gearage for the mechanism itself.
Know any Barstool Engineers local to the Willamette Valley?

The crank is going to be the tail of a camel that crashed into the side of the box (vis-a-vis, the "Crashing Witch" Hallowe'en decorations that are so popular hereabouts

)
It won't be huge — I don't have access to a truck to haul it, or even a trailer at this point, and I have a yurt to get out there as well — but it will be interactive.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:03 pm

dragonfly Jafe wrote:I like the diseased organ bit! Maybe have a stoma in the throat also...

Stoma...yeah...I'm thinking of asking my surgeon for my portacath when I get it taken out and recycle that into the mix...

Oh, I love this...KWAX is having their nightly Larry Bedford show and his theme for tonight is classical music inspired by toys...Creative brainstorming rocks!

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:19 am

your run-o-the-mill jack works with a coil type spring that is forcing the jack out, unless the release catch on the door flap prevents it. To load the jack you compress it down against the spring then close the flap locking the catch. Release the catch, the spring forces jack out and bobbles it around. The same mechanism could work scaled up, but the spring would have to be stronger (depending on the weight of your jack). You may be able to find some thicker spring steel wire or plastic and sew it into a fabric "tube" with the spring wire winding up the "tube" like one of those childrens crawl tunnels (this makes the spring). However, unless the weight is very light the force could be sufficient to injure someone when it released if they were in the wrong spot at the wrong time (imagine someone just above the flap trying to look in when the flap springs open...)

A lever mechanism might also work - person pulls down on lever which rotates a shaft which is attached to either a rack and pinion system or a drum with cable. As the jack lifts, a cam system causes the chest cavity to open revealing the diseased organs.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:46 pm

I was thinking of mounting screws in the elbows and in Jack's spine, secure the cables to the elbow-screws, thread through the spine-screw and attach to the floor. When Jack springs up, the cables pull taut and the hands yank the skin-shirt flaps back to reveal the organs.

I'm gonna need to read your post again and think about it because I'm more of a visual-tactile learner than a reading-learner...I absorb it better if I'm looking and touching..

I sourced a couple Jack-in-the-boxes last night for fairly low...get this, Toys R Us didn't have any!

It's a TOY store, isn't it? They're TOYS, aren't they??

There's ways I can go about dissuading climbing on top of the box, like do a mass-coverage of decorative objects, lights, monkey toys, wooden flames...

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:40 pm

They'll think the coyote is a wolf or a dog.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 6:19 am

diane o'thirst wrote:The crank is going to be the tail of a camel that crashed into the side of the box (vis-a-vis, the "Crashing Witch" .

It's the details that're really gonna make this COOL. Bravo! Once the crank mechanism's figured out, you might need a kalimba-like widget or found music box that plays "Pop Goes The Weasel".

The pop-up system'd be loads easier to design if you could just depend on participants to reset it for you...But you also run the risk of spoiling what's turning into a substantial, worthwhile surprise if they don't.

(...I just took a break from the keyboard, and was sitting here spinning my hands and raising and lowering my arms trying to visualize a solution...I don't want to think about what diagnosis an observing neurologist would conclude.)

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 2:14 pm

I didn't set a sunset time on the poll but I'll set one via message because obviously I can't forestall forever. Gotta have a little time to make the critter...

I'm going to work on everything else and leave Jack's head for the last. Continue to send in your votes — get your friends in on the game — and whoever is the winner as of July 10th, I'll go with that.

Or if there's a tie, I'll make the head removeable and switch between them capriciously and arbitrarily

Can't be too predictable here...variety being the spice of life...

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:43 am

Or you could make it a Coyote/Monkey "Janus" head, and adjust the mechanism to rotate it a halfturn on every cycle! (Not as difficult as it sounds, if you're really into doing it.)

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:24 pm

Currently in the serious/heavy design phase, so that could be a possibility. The thing with Jacks-in-the-box is that the head has to be solidly built and strong, because of the upward pressure of the spring.

There's a couple ways I can handle the mechanics. It all depends on whether I go with the "Spring causes the upward motion" or the "Upward motion comes from the lid and the lid pulls everything up" configuration.

Another option is I can do the Coyote head and have him wearing one of those Monkey plush backpacks for the "Monkey on my back" angle.

Desert Duck · Post by **Desert Duck** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:40 pm

BUMP-

I like the Idea of the trickster with a monkey on his back, it gives multiple interpretations. Howoooo.....

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 10:57 pm

Bump —

Receiving the first packages of tobacco packaging, thanks everyone!

Still need more, lots more. Lots 'n lots 'n lots more. If you can save any up, send 'em my way, PM me for address.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 1:46 pm

Bump.

I'm thinking about incorporating Alfredickhead's noggin into the piece...maybe use it for the monkey head...

Desert Duck · Post by **Desert Duck** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:55 pm

What about conjoined twins? You could have the monkey growing out of the coyote's back, so their heads are almost side by side.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:18 pm

Desert Duck · Post by **Desert Duck** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 8:46 pm

bump
What's Alfredickhead, anyway?

Post by **Eric** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 8:58 pm

BUMP

I like the monkey- simple reads better. For the coyote/ trickster you'd have to have an explanation why it was there.

I love the nasty scraggly monkey idea from dragonfly!

chiefdanfox · Post by **chiefdanfox** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:55 am

I vote for the monkey. How about the vinyl ducting for the spring? or maybe a boatload of surgical tubing, with the surprise mounted on a type of spider mount?

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:21 am

Sorry...don't know what a spider mount is...

I'm thinking about utilizing a springboard mechanism for the Jack. The crank opens the lid, a weight hanging from the lid drops onto the latch holding the springboard down, latch releases and KA-PWING!

Yeah...not very sophisticated but I'm kind of feeling my way through what mechanics engineering I know...

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:51 pm

diane o'thirst wrote:Sorry...don't know what a spider mount is...

.

That's because it's only in Doctor Doolittle's copy of the Kama Sutra.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 5:31 pm

We have a location!

Smoke-in-the-Box will be parked in the front yard of Safer Sex Camp, wherever that will be placed. Drop by for your nightly armament, give the camel's tail a crank and drop your cigs and/or cig butts in the resin block.

Take off every cig for great justice.

evonne · Post by **evonne** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 11:44 pm

it's gotta have the fez on it.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:46 pm

PlayaPetal · Post by **PlayaPetal** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:12 pm

i vote for the Monkey...

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 6:12 pm

Smoke-in-the-Box

What form should Jack take?

Smoke-in-the-Box

monkey box project

definitely the fez