Authored by: westfw on Thursday, January 17 2008 @ 08:51 AM PST
A Velvet Bristlebot Racing Snail
Ah. That's a huge snail; you might want to show something common in one of the pictures for scale; when I first started reading I was imagining something on the same scale as the toothbrush head, only covered with fabric. And then I got to the part where it had "full sized" toy motors and an AA battery pack inside!
Authored by: Windell on Thursday, January 17 2008 @ 09:00 AM PST
A Velvet Bristlebot Racing Snail
Ah-- indeed it is huge. It's all too easy to forget to put a hand in a photo somewhere-- thanks for pointing this out! I think that the grid squares shown in the photos are one-inch in size-- that should give the idea pretty well. But, maybe we do need to add a new photo as well.
---
Windell H. Oskay
drwho(at)evilmadscientist.com
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/
Authored by: Lenore on Thursday, January 17 2008 @ 11:22 AM PST
A Velvet Bristlebot Racing Snail
There's one picture of gathering the material for the shell (remember that 4 foot long piece of fabric?) where the my hand is in the picture. But, yes, it is indeed a large snail without much for reference in the pictures.
Authored by: rachel on Monday, January 21 2008 @ 03:05 PM PST
More on Velvet (re Velvet Bristlebot Racing Snail)
For those interested, the directionality of the velvet has a name, it's called "nap". You can tell the direction of the nap by stroking with your hand. Stroking with the nap produces a smooth, soft feel, while against the nap produces a slightly broken, rougher feel.
When sewing velvet clothing it is important to notice the direction of the nap, as the fabric looks different from different angles. If the nap runs downwards, the garment generally has a slight sheen to it as there is more of the length of the fiber showing. If the nap runs upwards, the garment has a richer depth to it, as the fibers are pointing slightly upwards. If, for example, the front of a dress has the nap running up, and the back has the nap running down, the dress will look different along the side seams, which is generally considered undesirable.
Another interesting thing to note is that velvet and other napped fabrics are not usually good to use for undergarments because of the same effect that makes this snail crawl. Normal movement makes the velvet underneath rub against the outer garment, and the velvet tries to move relative to the other garment. If the nap is facing down, the outer garment will be pulled down; if the nap is facing up, the outer garment will ride up!
