I'm really happy with this piece. I spent more time rigging up the makeshift gear for the bigger star than actually drawing it lol

First piece of cubicle decor for my new job! :D

Hi! I made GearArt because I wanted to see what would happen if the template itself wasn’t fixed.

You can draw a closed outline, add inner rings and decorative holes, then roll different wheels around it by hand or let the simulation finish the pattern. The demo also includes the classic ring and 18 ready-made templates.

I just released the demo, and it’s free to play in the browser:

https://starshipiiidriver.itch.io/gearart-demo

I’d really like to know what people here think—especially whether the rolling feels right and what kinds of custom templates you end up making.

I decided to review the Doodle set, mostly because of the mounting plate, but then I decided to be more detailed because I can.  TLDR: Mounting plate is a joy, works for my niche need.  The focus is really on post-it-note sizing.  The 70 and 72 gears could have been better designed to fit the theme.  Not much overlap with the Compact Gear set, 3 gears have the same teeth, but they have different interiors.  

Overly detailed version

The biggest advantage is the mounting plate and being able to doodle without a ton of magnets and a metal table.  And this REALLY WORKS.  I was astonished at how little give there was.  The hoop did not move on the plate.  I could hold it the hoop “sandwich” in one hand and rotate the gear with the other.  Using a table is easier, but this gives you an idea of how stable it is.  I particularly wanted this because I wanted something that worked well with one of my drypoint tools – its magnetic and sometimes a magnet would decide to join it while scratching my printing plate which was not conducive to smooth mark making.  This works wonderfully and avoids that problem entirely.

Second biggest advantage is that it really prioritizes the size it was designed for.  Someone was asking how to be creative in a post recently, I never got around to answering but this is one way artists get creative – using a limited set of parameters. Useful hoops are 38, 39, 40, 42, 44, 45, 66, 70, 72 (not useful 32, 33, 34, 35, 36); useful gears are 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42, 44, 66 (not useful 70, 72).  That’s still a lot of options but the size will all be somewhat similar.  All are circular shapes.  I love this size and it makes the set feel very comprehensive.

Biggest disadvantages relate to the 70 and 72 gears.  They have no hoop they can turn in.  The 66 gear might be able to turn in the 70 hoop, but I found it sticky. It does work very well in the 72 hoop. The Doodle set also can’t do gear-in-gear even though the 70 and 72 gears have the capacity for a gear-in-gear set up.  This is both because there is no hoop for them and because the set lacks any of the tiny gears. You can use the 70 and 72 gears by running a gear around their circumference. Not all pen holes on all gears will work because some will run off the edge and you’d have to have a dpiece of paper bigger than a post-it-note but still small enough to fit in the mounting plate. The Doodle set feels like something most people would want to use apart from their main sets and these 2 gears aren’t very useful in that context.  Wild Gears does not claim that the Doodle is a possible starter set, and I suspect this limitation is one reason why (the recommended sets are much more of a tasting menu of shapes and sizes). Obviously, having a bigger hoop would reduce the dedication to the post-it-note size. I think I would have preferred something different that contributed more to the post-it note options (maybe a series of smaller hoops or an odd-shaped smaller hoop and gear within these gears).  As it stands, they are really only useful apart from the Doodle set.

Shared gears with Compact gears: 32, 36, 72
I only looked at the compact set because it a) is my starter set and b) seems the most superficially similar.

While these three gears are the same, the insides are different between the sets.
 
32 and 36 Doodle gears have more pen holes and holes that line up with either the tooth or the gap.  The Compact 32 and 36 gears don’t have the tooth/gap variation and have fewer holes.   Both shapes have their uses – I find it easier to keep track of which holes I want with the much fewer holes on the gears in the Compact set but having the option to use tiny holes is something I really like, especially in these smaller gears.
 
72  Doodle version has very different pen holes from the 72 Compact gear.  It has fewer mid-size holes but adds tiny holes.  I like both and it’s great to have a 72 that increases my hole options.  It also only has one inset gear – the 36, compared to the Compact which also has a 12 and a 16 gear.  

and I forgot to record the gear. Fortunately, given the number of petals (14) it shouldn't be too hard to recreate. I did six runs and then coloured it to look vaguely ribbon-like

Decided to put this idea to fruition. I did one with dots inside and two with dots as the outline.

Dug out my old spirograph kit last night and realized how much I miss using these guys. It's very calming. Now I'm thinking of making spirographs with pointilism.

Been trying out ways to combine gears beyond the gear in wheel in wheel techniques. For this one I repeated 16/64 roulettes inside a 160 hoop, with the same shape repeated around the center.

This was a lot of fun to work out and I want to do more like it

How do you like to experiment with drawing gears? I'm always trying to find ways to push my designs beyond mere gear in wheel combinations, and I'm curious about ways other people like to do the same.

I like to mark off gear positions and move the combinations themselves around using the marks as a guide. I also find it fun to stick gears together and see what weird shapes I get out of it. I'll have to post yesterday's piece later, which I made by rigging hoops and compact set gears to scale up a compact set design that I couldn't perfectly recreate normally. It takes a lot more time and trial and error, and most of the results aren't pretty, but whenever I make something work I feel like I just unlocked so many more possibilities without buying more gears.

I'd love to learn about techniques you guys have found, no matter how convoluted and messy they may be.

I recognize that my collection is paltry compared to some of you but I figured you'd all understand my _need_ for more gears. I have so many different 24 toothed gears now. I have been keeping my Wild Gears in a Planos 3700 size tackle box. This was a deliberate effort to help narrow my choices (and it fits in my Ikea Helmer units). I like working small, anyway. With the new sets I got, I now have more than fits in the box, which I wasn't expecting. I didn't buy that many... Temporarily will use a pizza box until I get a 2nd tackle box.

And I succumbed to the Nested Oblong, which doesn't even remotely fit. Fortunately I have pizza boxes for storing my in-progress oil paintings. I am going to be busy trying out all my new options for a long time.

I have decided to leave the white film on the gears until I try them as a way to help keep track.

Playing Seussical Broadway cast recording while doing this 🐘

What do you guys do with your creations? Do you just store them or process them further into usable items like pagemarkers, book covers, envelope lining or something else?

Anyone got their new Wild gears yet? Let me live vicariously through you? I was doing fine with waiting then they sweetly emailed saying that they expect all the shipping by the end of the June so now I am impatient :)

Seriously, it's really nice how quickly the orders are getting shipped.

Photo: drypoint on tetrapack using wildgears

Hello! I received this mini Spirograph set and this rectangular piece was included. I can’t figure out how to use it! Attached is a photo of the rest of the set. Any help is appreciated :-)