Provisions DIY: Art in a Vacuum
A few days ago, I blogged a video on MAKE, a 17-minute piece done by a French amateur radio hobbyist. It shows him creating triodes, an early type of vacuum tube used for amplification, from scratch. The “performance” on the video is virtuosic, the artisan showing such ease and panache in doing fabrications by hand that are unheard of these days, such as creating the glass bulbs that he uses. He even does little flourishes between each step, like a close-up magician accenting a complicated card trick. The whole thing, even the old-school Gershwin soundtrack and the little placards between “scenes,” is utterly charming. The builder apparently also built many of the machines he uses to create his tubes.
The video has become something of a darling of the Tech/DIY blogosphere, now showing up all over cyberspace. It’s amazing how resonant this kind of lost artistry and handywork has become for so many of us. So many people have posted on the blogs and emailed me saying how inspired they are by the piece. I’d love to think it’ll get more people into their garages, their basements, and at their kitchen tables, trying a new craft or building something cool and/or useful. There’s something about making physical objects, with your hands, learning new skills, and pushing the limits of your talent and creativity that is unmatched. And in this video, we see someone in a league by himself. But hopefully, not for long.
(Unfortunately, we can’t display the movie format in-line. You can view it on the Make: Blog link below.)
Here for Make your own vacuum tubes?
