Dad builds secret Harry Potter street in his daughter’s wardrobe for her sixth birthday
A DOTING dad has built an incredible Harry Potter-themed “street” inside their family home at Windsor in Berkshire for his daughter’s sixth birthday.
Diana On Her Chariot
Sublime Dreams of Living Machines. Part IV. One of the most interesting clocks, as well as one of the most representative of clockmaking during the transition from the late 16th to the early 17th century, is this rather spectacular automaton of Diana On Her Chariot, as it’s called.
Life’s little pleasures: a mini history of the doll’s house
What of the origins of doll’s houses? Where does the interest come from – for our children to love to play with them, for so many adults to love to collect exquisite miniatures like this?
The Silver Swan
Sublime Dreams of Living Machines. Part III. The Silver Swan is an automaton dating from the 18th Century and is housed in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Teesdale, County Durham, England.
Inventions by the Jacques de Vaucanson
Sublime Dreams of Living Machines. Part II. “Without the duck of Vaucanson, there would be nothing to remind us of the glory of France.” – VOLTAIRE
Automaton for Marie Antoinette and exclusive mechanisms
Sublime Dreams of Living Machines. Part I. Not so long ago, a short video of a truly uncanny dulcimer-playing wind-up automaton made for Marie Antoinette in 1784 appeared online. The queen was no stranger to extravagance, we know, but why this machine, this wonderful human-like machine, which must have taxed the greatest artisans and mechanics of her time? What was its appeal?
Michael Walsh Stories and Books 
Recent Comments