Red Nose Day: Man from Lewes encourages people to donate using handmade automata

A man from Lewes has recorded a video of his automata machines to encourage people to donate to Red Nose Day.

Ivan Morgan, 76, has been making automata since 1997 and said he has handmade over 80 of the mechanisms, which he keeps in his house.

To watch the Red nose day video made by Ivan, click here

An automata is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations.

Ivan said: ““If you have a nice big collection of automata like I have you want to show it off really. So I like making different videos of them and occasionally I think it would be nice to bring them together for a specific occasion.

“I like to put out little compilations to show them off, it would be a shame for them all to be stuck in boxes in my house.”

Ivan says all of his automata are based around quirky themes/names, such as Ed Shearin – which is international artist Ed Sheran shearing a sheep.

Ivan said: “They have quirky names – like pig iron [a pig ironing] and pigaso [a pig painting a picture] – sometimes I think of the model first, other times I think of the name first. Usually it’s some sort of pun/funny title.”

Ed Sherain features alongside many of Ivan’s automata in the video, wearing red noses and being hand-operated by their creator.

At the end of the video, Ivan encourages viewers to donate to the Red Nose Day cause, which takes place on Friday, March 18.

If you are interested in making automata, click here

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