"Tag Team" Rolling Ball Sculpture #359 by Matthew Gaulden

Tag Team - Rolling Ball Sculpture #359 measures 24" high x 16" wide x 16" deep and features two tracks with colorful 1" glass marbles. This is a semi-automatic desktop Rolling Ball Sculpture, which makes it a little different from most of my other pieces. There is no powered lift. Instead, the marbles are loaded by hand into a long queue at the top, which can hold more than 48 marbles. Press the release lever to start the first marble, and from there the sculpture operates by itself until the queue is empty. As each marble reaches the bottom, it presses a mechanical lever that releases the next marble waiting at the top. With more than 48 marbles loaded and only one marble traveling at a time, Tag Team can run for well over 20 minutes before it needs to be reloaded. Once the marbles finish their paths, they collect at the bottom and can be placed back into the queue by hand. Track one sends the marble directly into a tall, narrow funnel that works very much like a gravity well. The marble circles around the inside of the funnel, gradually dropping lower as the opening becomes narrower. As the diameter decreases, the marble picks up speed and can remain inside the funnel for 20 to 30 seconds before finally dropping through the bottom. From there it falls into a tipping arm, travels across a short section of track, and reaches the release mechanism at the bottom. Track two takes a much longer route, wrapping around the entire sculpture and changing direction several times along the way. This track includes a long section of wavy track, smooth curves, changing elevations, and a tight hairpin U-turn. Eventually the two tracks merge onto a short stainless steel plate and head toward the same final lever at the bottom. Each marble finishes its trip by releasing the next one, almost like one teammate tagging in another - which is where the name Tag Team comes from. Like all of my Rolling Ball Sculptures, Tag Team is built from stainless steel and TIG welded by hand in my shop in Lakeport, California. Rolling Ball Sculptures are also known as marble machines, ball machines, marble runs, and kinetic sculptures. See more of my work, available pieces, and custom commissions at RollingBallSculpture.com.