People seem to be fascinated with topiaries, but I have often thought it would be a lot of fun to have them moving and doing things. Imagine if that big dinosaur could move his tail around, or Mickey Mouse could wave to children.
Built into the wire forms would be movable joints at places like the arms, legs, and neck or around the waist area. There wouldn’t be large movements that could break the plant, but subtle movements as I mentioned, like waving or nodding. These movable parts would be attached to small motors with cables. There could be several settings so it wouldn’t appear too mechanical, possibly even some voice activated ones to startle onlookers when they said something or made a noise.
(Loud burp...and W takes a bow)-- xandram, Feb 24 2007 I thought about making these with mechanical movements Kama_20Sutra_20Topiary_20Garden [xandram, Feb 24 2007] Cinefantastique cover on King's attack topiary http://cgi.benl.eba...87275QQcmdZViewItem [jutta, Feb 26 2007] You want to make robot tree porn? And I thought you were such a nice girl...-- wagster, Feb 24 2007 A plant that scares small children! How mean. I love it. Do you hang a sign on the fence 'Beware the ficus' Hmmm-- the dog's breakfast, Feb 25 2007 Genius. At last I can fire those guys I have standing around in tree costumes to scare little girls when they walk by. Thank you [xandram].
<mutters to self>Damn Wizard of Oz rejects, always complaining, "It's too hot!" "I'm on fire!" "My zipper's stuck!" "I'm gonna die, oh God, I'm gonna die!" blah blah blah. Good riddance to the whole lot of 'em. <mts>-- NotTheSharpestSpoon, Feb 25 2007 Good one, [xandram]. Brian Ferry has a line on one of his songs, "house and garden, topiary"...now I have a different picture of that house.-- normzone, Feb 25 2007 Real topiary is pruned shrubs. Fake is forms with vines trained onto them. The fake ones could wiggle all over, especially if the vines were not woody. This would be good.-- bungston, Feb 25 2007 This is very cool. I'm picturing pruned gargoyles lining a driveway that seem to reach for an approaching vehicle.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 25 2007 I'm glad you guys liked this, too. I was rather shocked that at least someone hadn't tried this already. [wagster] I still am a nice girl just a weird inventor!-- xandram, Feb 25 2007 I thought it was already done too - but so what ? +-- xenzag, Feb 25 2007 Please post a link if you can find it. Otherwise, I'm going to sell this to Disney!-- xandram, Feb 25 2007 Oh... I am a buyer of this idea for my front yard. Especially with the addition of red motion senor lights (as eyes) to [2 fries shy...]'s gargoyles.-- gummyjane, Feb 25 2007 I met a bush once that curled its leaves when you touched them.-- wagster, Feb 25 2007 Yes, [2 fries] idea is really cool! (btw, I'm not selling Disney the Kama Sutra Motionary rights.)-- xandram, Feb 25 2007 Stephen King's book "The Shining" and its 1997 television miniseries remake had moving topiary attack the boy Danny. (Kubrick opted for a labyrinth instead.) I couldn't find a photo, but the topiary monsters did make the cover of Cinefantastique magazine; see link.-- jutta, Feb 26 2007 Great find, [jutta] thanks. I noticed this got moved to the topiary category, but I really hadn't meant it for the *home*, which is why I put it in *public*. It's OK by me, though.-- xandram, Feb 26 2007 Yeah, I figured keeping the topiary ideas together would be worth the occasional private/public mismatch. I could make Culture: Art: Topiary or something, but then it would move away from the rest of gardening. *Shrub.*-- jutta, Feb 26 2007 [jutta] No need for another category, like I said. I really appreciate your input!-- xandram, Feb 27 2007 The slight difference between this and the Kind miniseries is that this wouldn't be made using pretty rubbish CGI.-- hidden truths, Feb 27 2007 Twas a typo. Was meant to say 'King'.-- hidden truths, Feb 27 2007 Check the link, [bigsleep].-- wagster, Feb 27 2007 I could see this working well in a Candid Camera episode.-- RayfordSteele, Feb 27 2007 I could see this working well with taxidermy.-- Hunter79764, Feb 28 2007 Wow, you have all come up with such great ideas, I'm really impressed. (and laughing,too)-- xandram, Feb 28 2007 Are these robotic topiary to be controlled remotely? If one were, say, controlled by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld...-- Jinbish, Feb 28 2007 Up next: Knock'em Sock'em Shrubbery !-- NotTheSharpestSpoon, Feb 28 2007 Have you ever seen the Rose Parade in Pasadena, CA?
Giant parade floats, covered entirely in plants of some sort, that not only roll down the street, but also have all kinds of moving parts and gadgets and geegaws.
So, not exactly the same, but I bet a lot of that float technology could be used in the moving toparies.-- Osomatic, Feb 28 2007 I once saw the floats after the parade, so they weren't moving, but another good idea.-- xandram, Mar 01 2007 random, halfbakery