The holes in Wild Gears are usually lined up in rows. This gear has two rows of small holes, and they alternate, so that if you use both rows, you’ll get a pretty dense design. (Spirograph holes, in comparison, are arranged in a spiral pattern, and make an even denser design if you use them all.)

With the holes in a line, you don’t have to line up the gears every time you change holes – if you’re drawing something like this. However, if you’re drawing a sequence of colors, you have to keep in mind that half of the holes are in the other row.

Ring 210 is in the frame of the Full Page Gear Set, and the circular gear 120 came from the Plentiful Gear Set. There are other combinations of gears that will give a 7-pointed star. The Expanded Table of Points is good for finding them – unless you want to do the math.

Shop Wild Gears at this link.

The post Video: Wild Gears Gear 120 in Ring 210 appeared first on SpiroGraphicArt.

The deck and view of the Minas Basin

Last week I was lucky to be staying at a beautiful spot on the Noel Shore of Nova Scotia, overlooking the Minas Basin.

I took my Wild Gears along.

One morning I set up my tripod on the table in the photo to make some videos.

The direct sunlight created sharp shadows through the clear acrylic gears.

As the sun progressed through the sky, I had to keep rotating my setup around the round table so that the tripod and camera did not cast shadows on the paper.

The house is down a long driveway from a quiet road, so there was no sound except for the distant waves and the singing of birds.

While recording the following video, I had no interruptions at all, so I have preserved it with birdsong and all.

I was using the triangular gear with 120 teeth that comes with the Strange Shapes Gear Set, inside ring 210 in the frame of the Full Page Gear Set – the largest Wild Gears ring that fits on 8½ inch paper. Pens are Stabilo Point 88, in colors to match the scenery.

You may observe my left hand gently pushing the triangular gear when drawing the outermost holes. When working those holes with a larger gear like this, there isn’t quite enough leverage for the pen to make the gear “turn the corner”. The trick is to preserve the shape at the tip of the pattern while so doing, which requires a light touch.

The post Video: Quiet Time with Wild Gears appeared first on SpiroGraphicArt.

There are 4 wheels that give you a 7-pointed design when used with ring 150/105, as I discussed in a previous post.

If you’re new to Spirograph, you may find it helpful to watch someone else draw with it in real time. There’s nothing speeded up in this video. I talk about pens and putty and playing with color as I go. Hope you like it.

The post Video on Drawing 7-Pointed Spirograph Designs appeared first on SpiroGraphicArt.

There are also two shaped wheels that give 7-pointed patterns: the eye-shaped or oval wheel, and the cross-shaped wheel. (Note that some older Spirograph sets do not have these shaped wheels.)

You can mix up these wheels to make a wide range of complex and original designs. Be sure to line the holes up with the same mark on the ring when you start to draw each pattern.

Here are some examples:

Ring 150/105, Wheel 75, holes 1 and 3, Wheel 60, holes 5 and 7, Wheel 45, holes 7 and 11. Be sure to line up the hole you’re using with the same mark on the ring every time.

Above: Ring 150/105, Wheel 30, holes 1, 3 and 5, the oval– (eye-, or football-) shaped wheel, holes 7 and 6, which are along the flatter side of that wheel, and finally wheel 75, holes 17 and 19. 

The same oval- (eye-, or football-) shaped wheel produces a very different pattern when you use holes 1 and 2, which are along the long axis, at the pointy end. It still has seven points, however. That’s due to the number of teeth on the wheel.

Above: Wheel 60, holes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17. The black lines at the beginning, middle and end add definition to the pattern. It looks like a ribbon bow, or ribbon candy.

Finally, this one looks like a 14-point pattern, but the color alternates between green points and blue points. It’s made of two sets of 7-point patterns, with the blue points lined up halfway between the green points. The wheels are 30, 45, 60 and 75. I used two holes for each, choosing holes that would fit inside the design made by the smaller wheel.

There are other combinations of wheels that give the same number of points and can be used in this way. The booklet that comes with the Spirograph sets has a very useful Basic Pattern Guide that shows the number of points you get with each ring/wheel combination.

So mix it up and have fun!

The post More 7-Pointed Designs appeared first on SpiroGraphicArt.