Text: To see photos and close up construction details of two machines I made last summer, click here   To see a sketch and diagram click here These are some adjustments that can be made to the machine to tinker with the pictures. No two pictures will ever be the same. 1. To start : Center a small stack of glossy paper under the pen, swing the main pendulum so that it makes a shape which interests you. Turn up the corner of the top sheet of paper and after deciding you want to keep the picture, slip the top sheet out from under the pen. 2. The simplest adjustment is to change the pen, to use a different color. 3. The THICKNESS of the LINE is a function of the width of the tip of the pen, and the weight of the pen on the paper. The pen arm can be made shorter to make the pen lighter (if it is too light, the pen skips), and longer to make the pen heavier.  As the pen is heavier, the tip mushes down on the surface of the paper, producing a thicker line. Using paper with a rough surface will mush the pen tip down faster, and slow the machine down, so the pictures will finish sooner. Depending, of course on the weight - more weight on the upper pendulum gives the machine more momentum. 4. The DISTANCE BETWEEN THE LINES is a function of friction. Using a heavy pen on rough surface paper will slow the movement of the pendulum down so that there will be more space between the lines. Use a sharp pointed pen on very glossy paper, be sure the machine is stable, and the top pendulum is fastened securely to get the lines to come closer together. 5. The PICTURE CHANGES SHAPE. Shape change is a direct result of instabilities which interfere with the smooth balanced operation of the machine. Such instability can occur in the upper pendulum itself. The more the pendulum itself twists and moves, the more wildly the pictures change shape. Instability in the anchor point will also cause shape changes. If the shape change is occurring at the beginning of the picture but not as the drawing settles down, the cause is something affected only by the strong motions which would happen as the picture begins. But remember it is the imperfections which makes both people and pictures more interesting. 6. SQUARE Pictures, are made when the upper pendulum moves once while the lower pendulum moves three times. The movement of the lower pendulum, has to be much faster: the chain shorter. The machine is "tuned" by lengthening or shortening the chain on the lower pendulum. It is best to use a turnbuckle for fine adjustments when drawing SQUARE pictures. TRIANGLE pictures require a longer chain, and show much greater variety of picture shapes. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of building your own machine is in finding a combination of chain length, and weight distribution which offers you the most pleasing pictures. I am sure it would be possible to figure it out with math, but I have preferred to keep tinkering with the various settings until I get what I want. 7. Pictures which  LOSE SHAPE fast, only to become ovals or circles. This is a function of the relative weight of the upper and lower pendulums. All the pictures depict what are called interference patterns (you might be interested to search other websites for "Lissajous" Patterns)- lower pendulum motions are interfering with momentum and rhythm of the upper pendulum. The "Ideal" test picture is one that is the same shape from beginning to end. While adjustments to the weight of the lower pendulum produce interesting changes, it is best to leave the weights alone, once you set them so that the lower pendulum is about one third the weight of the upper pendulum. The original machine given to me by Mr. Lias (which he had built in High School) had four bricks on the upper pendulum, and six paperback books on the lower one. If the lower pendulum is too light or too heavy, the pictures become oval or circles quickly. because any interference offered by the lower pendulum is quickly negated or cancelled out. 8 TUNING - PICTURE MOVEMENT. Each succeeding point can be made to appear in front of, or behind the preceding point. by lengthening or shortening the lower chain length. This is called TUNING. When making TRIANGLE pictures the chain is much longer and the length adjustment is not as critical, but when making square pictures with a shorter chain these tuning adjustments should be made by twisting a turnbuckle set in the lower chain assembly .  This can be the most frustrating part of getting your own machine to work the way you'd like. The pictures which I find most pleasing are made when the machine is slightly out of tune. That is when each succeeding point is drawn a little bit before or after the preceding point.  THE PHILOSOPHY...Bear in mind that the harmonograph machine captures and records patterns of motion which occur everywhere, every moment. We are dealing with something which is much greater than ourselves. To get the kind of pictures you want, you have to discover and follow exact rules. These same rules govern the motion of planets around the sun, the motion of waves in the ocean,  the vibration of a violin and the motion of my fingers on the end of my arm. When I cut my finger, my body knows what "healing" looks like and immediately starts the process which unfolds in time as I watch. In the same way,  the picture knows what it is going to be like immediately the pen starts moving. It unfolds in time only.  Edward Lias believed that the shape of a rose petal is formed as the growing rose moves and vibrates on its stem. Ernest Holmes said "We are old even as we are born,"   meaning that within a newborn  exists everything it will become.  We unfold in time. The instructions for what we will look like when we are old are already built in to us when we are born. Just as inside each one of us (and in each cell of my body) lies a template of good health, harmonious relationships, and perfect expression, this is also true of every harmonograph picture. As soon as the pen touches the paper, the machine knows what the finished picture will look like. Every part of the picture contains evidence of its own completed state. In the same way, I believe, there is a spiritual force which drives each one of us toward good health, harmonious relationships, and perfect expression. All I need to do (as Ralph Waldo Trine says in "In tune with the infinite" ) is to get out of my own way and allow this force to work through me, so that my life becomes in tune with universal laws.  For more detailed instructions on how to build a harmonograph, click here http://peterjoyes.com/harmonograph%20kit%20instr.htm

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