Lobby Dosser wrote:

I like stuff that moves. When I was a child, tops were favorite toys. Then
gyroscopes. Then in my first 'real' art class, a mobile. I particularly
like stuff that moves without human intervention, like mobiles and wind
chimes and something like your rocking box, if it is light enough to be set
in motion by the breeze from a passing person.

Can it start moving without your help?

Yes - but I live in earthquake country. I imagine that a machinist
could make a piece whose balance was so precisely positioned that
the piece could be set in motion by the breeze of someone walking
by it. But wood being wood - probably not. It's not homogenous
and not dimensionally stabile enough. But in a room with hardwood
floors, especially once with a little "bounce" that might do it.

I'm playing with a pendulum idea using a ball jointed finial for a
turned lidded box. The box would use the low primary stability
high secondary stability idea. As the box tilts and wobbles, the
finial would remain upright.

0
| finial on ball joint
|
( 0 )
/ | \
+ X + x = counter weight
| |
| |
+ +
\ /
+-+

This ball swivel idea has possibilities.

charlie b