approximately $5000

$1100

$1100

$450

$450

$850

Reach me at woodyartist@gmail.com


    Mechanical Amusements are custom made, one of a kind, animated, miniature "theatrical" dioramas, featuring your story. Your memories and photos help determine the details that will decide the design.

   How much do they cost? You decide how much you want to spend. The complexity and number of details determine the cost. Simpler scenes (2 to 5 characters)  start at $400 to $950. More complicated scenes may be $1000 or more. Many customers have found the $600 and $1200 range best tell their stories. Some price examples (approximate) are shown throughout these pages. 

   Larger more complex scenes demand more detail and time to build. The most popular sizes run $3500 to $6000. Satisfaction guaranteed. I've only had one item returned in 30 years. And I solved the problem in 2 days.             

  . 

  

WINDERMERE HOUSE (Canada)

MARRIOTT'S KAUAI BEACH CLUB

HOTELS (lower page)

    These are just some of the over 5000 stories I've told over the last 30 years of making Mechanical Amusements. They are a mixture of images, both old and new, which display the variety of stories which can  be told with the wooden sculptures I make.

I look for the humor in one's story. The sort of thing that brings out the joy in your story. If you have an interesting story I can give your version ( I will tell the story your way, never mind what others say). If you don't have a really good story on hand I'll help you find your story or be happy to make one up for you. "Enhancing" the story is my favorite part.  Let's talk.

HARVEY'S MARKET INC. PROVIDES RETAIL AS WELL AS WHOLESALE MEATS.

CARAVAN BAKERY SUPPLY PROVIDES WHOLESALE INGREDIENTS AS WELL AS EQUIPMENT TO THE INDUSTRY.

SEABOARD FARM is a wholesaler to all major grocery chains. They purchased 140 of these scenes for their advertizing campaign.

WHOLESALE FOOD & BAKERY

YOUR STORY TOLD BY AUTOMATA

FRENCH COUNTRY RESTAURANT

 FAT MA'S

I spent my summers as a kid helping out around the family business. Once in a while my uncles beer joint would be shut down because someone forgot to hide the slot machines before "our cousin the sheriff " dropped by.  We could reopen as a new business under a new name after paying a fine. My job was to paint a completely new name on the sign. I found the fastest way was to rename the place each time was to go from "RONNIE'S to JONNIE'S to LONNIE'S to DONNIE'S" and so forth.  I still got paid for a full sign.

These automata were made for the owners of the restaurants and cafes. Each was constructed using photos of the place itself. The people included in the scenes are usually family, friends and long time employees. The CHRONICAL RESTAURANT had burned many years ago with few photos of the interior so I used newspaper photos to complete the scene. Some of the places have changed hands or names but their owners still have their scenes to remind them of the hard work they put into building something great.

RESTAURANTS 

Take a look at some of the over 5000 different stories I've produced 

$6000

approximately$5500

$6000 to $7500

$5000

$7000 to $9,000

$6500

$9000

HOTELS

Each scene is an animated carved wood sculpture depicting the clients unique story. People, places and scenery are made to resemble actual folks,locations and items of special interest.