Building Mechanical Animals in W

A stone-walled workshop builds clockwork animals by lamplight. Blue technical drawings of birds hang on the beams beside a pegboard of gear templates, and finished creatures perch everywhere: a brass owl with a wide eye, robins and swallows on stands, a hummingbird mid-flight, tortoises, a mouse and a small dragon. The long bench is scattered with cut gears, screwdrivers laid in a rack, pliers, an open drawer of parts and rows of spools in soft colours. Behind it, a cabinet of labelled drawers and shelves of jars holds springs, screws and beads sorted by size. A craftsman in a green apron sits at the right with a winged bird in his hands, tools beside him. Gear brass, painted feathers and pale stone stay distinct, giving the eye three clear families to sort by.