Cranking Whatnot Prototype

Materials: Small recycled plastic chewing gum tub; found goose feathers and foliage; seaglass; wire; beads from old junk jewelry  

There is no better way to exercise your brain and get those neurons firing than trying to figure out how to build a little cranking whatnot. This one is a first stab and a prototype for a more complicated kinetic assemblage.  Turn the little crank on the side and the feathers and foliage go up and down (see video below).

Tweaked a bit with more foliage added.

The diagrams below should give you some idea of how it was done (though figuring out how to do this is source of the fun).

I wound thread at the bend in the wires as shown to form little barriers because the vertical rods kept slipping.

Here I've drawn in how the internal "gears" look.

And here is a very short little YouTube video showing the thing in action.