Sarah van Gameren’s “Big Dipper” –
Big Dipper is a machine that mechanically creates twenty-four candle wax chandeliers by dipping. The principle is inspired on the technique of candle making, where straight strings of wick are dipped a number of times to become candles. Suspended from the ceiling, the machine itself looks like a chandelier with two ring tiers that are counter balanced to move up and down using a pulley system. On each of the two big rings, twelve smaller rings are suspended. They are the frameworks for strings of wick, hanging down in loops. Whenever one of the big rings moves down, the wick hanging from one of the smaller rings is dipped in a drum of melted wax standing below. A layer of wax attaches to the wick and slowly grows a chandelier with eight arms and eight candles.
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