Magic Brainstorming

Tiny Circus at Albion College votes on a subject for a history. Poor electricity.


The second round led us to magic, beating out cotton candy by a single vote!

TC in Michigan

Tiny Circus is back in action, at Albion College in Michigan.

We are just getting started and today we tried an experiment - improvising an animation. We tacked a large piece of paper to a sheet of metal, then set up the camera and used charcoal and paper glued to magnets to make our animation. This is a crew of new animators and it worked well as an introduction to techniques.

More to come!

Cold Cold Iowa

The work is slower now, editting bits of films and finishing the interior of the first projection pod. It's a bit like working on a boat. Since every surface is curved, each piece of furniture must be hand-fit to the wall. Countertops made of cherry, glued up and ready to install.A shelf over the front window.

A cooktop set into the curb-side counter.


The squirrel babies are growing up. They live outside now, get a breakfast of walnuts and corn every morning. We crack the walnuts for them so they don't injure themselves.

And... three stills from the History of Brainstorms, here the brains suggest possibilities for the animation they will make. The thought bubbles are sort of animations within an animation.

Tiny Circus Florida-style

A group of creative minds met in Jacksonville for a satellite Tiny Circus collaboration. Lauren, Franca, Greta, Jenn, Jamee, Ashley, and Lynne combined forces over the weekend to start work on The History of Music. The setting is a filthy landfill.

Ashley's trash heap takes form and includes a dumped washer.

Random props from the trash heap beginnings.

Fall Days

It's lovely here in Iowa, the farmers are harvesting the soy, the corn is drying on the stalk, still a few days left for the Dari Barn. TC is continuing work on The History of Brainstorms while moving forward with the three tiny trailers. First, the Brainstorms:

Kirsten is lighting up the brains to indicate thought.

Camille, shooting.
The brains are powered by 9v battery.

Stills from the animation.


On to the pods:
The interior windows now have trim, recycled from the original shell.In the background, the mothership and trailer #1, the frame for #2, in the foreground are parts of #3.Camille, grinding away at bits of metal.We will polish the pods until they look like christmas ornament mirror balls
The front bed/dinette for trailer #1, general storage, water, and electric will fit in these spaces with cushions on top for seats.Here, Thomas is riveting together some wheel-wells for #2 and #3.

Brain shoot, first bit.

Shiny hubcaps for the new frames. Welding and grinding is ongoing. Shooting the brainstorm: we had extra.
This is the set-up for the first shot. We began with a wide-angle shot and then gradually zoomed through the window, opening it up as we went.
As we moved through the window, Grace and Kirsten moved the trees, slow and breezy. Storm clouds began to roll in and the trees began to move faster.
There are lots of contraptions on this set, for falling brains, a tornado, LED lights... it made moving the bits around tricky. Here Camille is shooting, Kirsten is moving trees, Grace, Thomas and Carlos are watching.
We shot up to the first stormy scenes, got tired, planned to come back for more in a few days.

Magnetic tornado

This is the brainstorm set, with trees and tornado. The first brain-sprinkles are visible towards the rear.



The History of Brainstorming includes a real tornado. It is made of fiberfill mounted on a wire which runs up to a slider that can move left to right across the set. The sliding mechanism has a crank so the tornado can be spun. The bottom is stuck down with a magnet glued to the bottom of the tornado - the magnet sticks to a metal ruler beneath the bottom paper.





The next frame is coming together. Here, a new bumper is welded in place, the axle is positioned on a new axle plate. Replacement outriggers are are recycled from bits of the original trailer. This is done with an angle grinder.The rear frame members have large holes drilled through. A pvc pipe will fit here and run the length of the trailer. The pipe will be used to hold long poles for project screens.The new axle plate and axle secured.