Girl With Bubbles

See a more complete gallery of this artwork on the Second String Studios website

Girl With Bubbles depicts a stencil of a young girl blowing bubbles, with the bubble cloud represented by a large group of hanging, rotating disco balls.

The piece consists of stenciled spray paint on 2m by 1.5m canvas stretched on a standard frame. The disco balls are hung on 2mm-thick clear acrylic strands, which balance the strength needed to support the heaviest axis of balls while remaining as slim as possible to not distract from the rest of the artwork. There are two full rows of hanging pieces in order to add some depth to the cloud of balls.

Each ‘axis’ of acrylic passes through the mounted overhang and through a 3D printed mount with a set screw which keeps the acrylic strand aloft. Each 3D printed mount is seated in a standard ball bearing, which is then press-fit into another 3D printed base that screws into the overhang.

By spacing every axis evenly, each full row can be rotated by a single stepper motor mounted at the start of the row. Each 3D printed axis mount has two standard GT2 pulleys mounted on it, and every piece is connected to the one before and after it with a GT2 toothed belt. The equal tension between each axis keeps the 3D printed mount standing vertically, and each stepper has no problem driving the linked rotation of the full row. The axis mounts must be printed lying flat on the build plate in order for their layers to be perpindicular to the tension from the belts, otherwise delamination can occur.

The piece is lit with a simple warm-white pinspot mounted on the other side of the space.