If you want to know how it works, take it apart!

I recently took part in London's first Mini Maker Fair, and found my tribe. Sharing the simple fact that one could embroider electronic circuits just as once could embroider a pillow case, was rewarding far beyond my expectations. The following day, the organizers of the fair set up a number of  talks and panels at Victoria and Albert's Museum that discussed maker culture, art, electronics, politics and education. Cory Doctorow was the first one to speak, and among his legitimate concerns about the nature of the copyright, he urged us to take things apart in order to learn how they work. Now I have done this with garments and jewellery, and can testify that this is an exceptionally  useful technique. But I set there pondering where in a world I can find an automata to take apart. One of the following speakers was an incredible Tim Hunkin, who influenced generations of the makers through his work and through the BBC series called "The Secret Life of Machines" and who made us all giggle with his cheeky sense of humour manifested in his inventions. I have seen some of his clocks and quirky marvels, but I arrived to Britain too late for the broadcasting of the series, so I decided to watch it at home (and would insist that you watch it too, if you haven't yet!). Half way through the series, I found about the perfect automata to take apart:  my old broken sewing machine! Who would have suspected that the components of this technological marvel are the same basic components, that are used in the movements of automata figurines?! Perhaps I can finally figure it out, and either fix it or make something out of it! 

Hope you find something to take apart as well! 

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