The project is a sound installation consisting of five hand-made speakers. Each speaker will be set to play a stanza from a poem (Loteria by Adrian Coto), with each stanza focusing on an aspect of human experience and emotion. The audience will be encouraged to figure out how to close the circuit to hear each stanza.
SPEAKER 1 Stanza:
La Pera I watched a man choke on a pear, and hoped for 6 or 7 minutes that someone else would help him.
Description:
La Pera deals with my sense/flaw of inaction and indecision. While the scene it portrays is a hyperbolized, actual event, it highlights my fear of squandering potential or not helping others due to not being decisive and confident.
SPEAKER 2 Stanza: El Músico The guitar was called Mojave. It had 10 strings with 4 broken. The perfect sound to reverberate against an audience of sand.
Description: El Musico focuses on the use of injury or setback to channel creativity. I sustained a hand injury, which left me unable to play guitar, but as a result found alternative and new ways to express myself. Such setback reminds me of the need to express myself for myself, without any regard for who might or might not be listening.
SPEAKER 3 Stanza: La Muerte Ya me cansé. Espero que Dios me lleva bien pronto, said my grandmother after a discussion weighing the benefits of weed over painkillers.
Description: La Muerte highlights a strange view of death that I developed as a teenager and early adulthood. This view consisted of an unsure, uncertain idea of death, but that what was certain was that death would be rest from the hardship of life. It also speaks to the almost universal aspect of people finding respite from life in various diversions, drugs, or escapes (in this case, my use of drugs vs. my grandmother’s use of drugs).
Visual descriptors: escape / weary / hidden
Sketch:
SPEAKER 4 Stanza: El Nopal Let whoever reads this understand that when the desert took me, it left me with only a lighter and a friend.
Description: El Nopal references a previously written poem, but speaks to dynamics of family and friendship. Namely, that it is inevitable that family and friends hurt one another, or suffer for one another.
Visual descriptors: painfully precious
Sketch:
SPEAKER 5 Stanza: El Alacrán I found one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms embracing a small ranch in Tapalpa. In the darkness I heard two scorpions dancing, singing, We have not been before, and we will not be again.
Description: El Alacran brings about a more refined and comforting, yet fatalistic view on death. It shows that life is and always will be finite, and that our connection to the cosmos, whether we are consciously living or not, will be infinite.
We started with a rough cardboard prototype to get a size and positioning reference.
From there we began working on a neck piece that would control and/or turn on the helmet device. It consisted of materials such as plastic, metal (aluminum and copper) and foam.
Here we used the PVC pipe to shape the form of the metal to best fit our needs.
Below is the plaster moldering process.
Here we moved to using .003mm copper sheets.
Finally we began working with a capacitive touch sensor
It’s a drum machine fabricated as a table runner. It’s an exploration in soft circuit and new instrument.
I wanna create a new drum machine that helps musicians (users) break through their habit to create music. So hopefully it can give more opportunities for creating fresh music. I have made a MIDI glove last year. It is more for easy playing. But after that project, I realized instrument is not for easy playing, It’s more for fun and providing more opportunities to break existing habits.
For the technology part, there are 4 potentiometers and 1 press sensor cooperating through Lilypad Arduino. Each potentiometer connects the main circuit by magnet. Arduino can send signals to GarageBand for creating sounds. This drum machine can play sounds in sequence and loop. By rotating potentiometers, it can change different sounds in each position for creating new sequence patterns. By pressing press sensor, it can switch the 4 sounds to another 4 sounds. We even can pull potentiometers out from the main circuit and put them back to different positions for making new sequences. So it can help us create more different sequences for fresh music.
In Class Feedback
I was suggested to use one potentiometer to set sounds for each position. For example, I can set a value on the first position by attaching and rotating potentiometer. Then set another values for the second and following positions. That is a interesting way for triggering sounds. But I think if I can use multi potentiometers to change sounds on each position, that will be faster. Besides, I am also limited by time. So I keep my original idea.
Here is the documentation for my design process. The video below is testing the function part on breadboard. The drum machine can trigger sounds like this finally.
The video below is for testing the connection on soft circuit.
The video below is for testing the potentiometer on soft circuit.
Then I changed the way for connecting modules. I tried 3 ways for connecting potentiometers with the main circuit. Finally I find the most suitable one in my 3rd prototype.
Now I have done the main circuit. I’ll make the potentiometer modules in the following days.
For the Computational Craft final project, I am creating an interactive installation use silk organza as the material to make a large scale living creature, through participants interact with this living creature to simulate that human’s sexuality reaction. There will be two three parts of the project- Stroke sensor, silk organza bubbles and blowers behind the bubbles. The whole pice would be look like human’s internal organs. When participants stroke the Stroke Sensor, it will trigger the blowers start blowing the bubbles being inflate and shrink like breathing. I envision this piece will give participants a very uncomfortable atmosphere and very private experience, I wanna my piece visually looks very creepy so that it can make people feel disturbing.
The purpose of this project is to create an artefact for the purposes of controlling a sensory environment. It’s a wooden slab, laser etched, with a copper overlay in a geometric pattern that functions as a touch circuit.
Why make it?
The slab is designed to reconfigure our typically relationships to technological control. Sociologist Anthony Giddens describes technology as having a disembedding effect upon people. By this he means a separation of ourselves from our bodies, time and space and that this is an uneasy condition created for economic expediency rather than a conscious desire to meet needs. It’s part of an investigation into re-embedding – bringing our bodies time and space to a focal point.
It attempts to reorient experience along the following lines
Using materials derived from nature or containing references to nature
Revealed circuitry rather than encased
Intuitive touch rather than utilitarian touch
Specificity in artefact rather than unsigned mass produced objects
Process To make the underlying slab of wood I’ve cut a live edge piece of black walnut, my plan is to laser engrave the geometric pattern upon it. Then upon the raised edges I plan to coat the raised edges in copper conductive paint.
Big(36″ x 36″) and small(12″ x 12′) felt sheets – polyester and wool
Wool roving rolls
Feltworks replacement needles and multi-needle / embroidery needles and threads
An Embroidery hoop
A sponge or a felting mat – it helps smooth needle-punching works into your base fabric
Pins
Cotton
An Iron and a thin fabric scrap
Iron-On Adhesive
Poppers and conductive threads
A solder
Hot glue gun
Conductive ink and stencil sponges
A table lamp
Foam sheets
Hook wires
A plier
– You can buy materials for fletwork at Michael’s and Amazon. (Tip: If you joinMichael’s membership, it will send you discount coupons)
Sketch
how to build circuit and put all layers together
Ddesign Execution
Cut felt into 12 circles to make faces. With a felt needle ( there are different needles: coarse and fine) make patterns you want. Tip: keep poking!
This is the video of how I did felt work.
[TIP: When you cannot find certain colors in wool or polyester felt, don’t worry. You can add wool on other felts and needle it to make your own color. (Example: scared face with green color and Lonely face with violet below)]
If you use polyester felt, be careful to use iron because iron heat will melt polyester felt. I knew iron heat melts it, but made this mark on Happy face. You need a thin fabric scrap and out it between iron and your felt to iron.
I learned how to blanket stitch through This video. It’s easy to follow.
[Embroidery threads and needles] let’s do blanket stitch. I used an embroidery hoop and pins to hold face onto top layer while stitching, which made work so much easier and fun!!
Aligned faces with the circle.
[Cotton puff] – Don’t finish blanket stitch!! Have to add cotton stuff to fill faces. THEN complete stitching!
With felt scraps. Made the seat for the kid in the middle of the mat. I used iron-on adhesive in order to put all the scraps together onto the top layer. It was way faster than stitching. [TIP: Use a cotton fabric scrap when ironing felt. If you use polyester felt, you MUST use a cotton fabric sheet to iron. If not, iron will burn your felt]
the top layer final
Process of Making Circuit
Sewed male poppers onto the fabric and soldered hook wires to female poppers
sewed hook wires connected from the board to the circuit to fix the wires onto fabric, in order for the users to make fold and unfold the play mat easier.
PROBLEMS
I found the FIRST problem when testing sounds as Jane, Charles and Wes pointed out when the group feedback: on the underbelly of the project, the wiring and mechanics.
Connectivity between under faces and poppers was unstable when people pushed faces because of popper’s location. Ichanged the popper position from the circle border to the center in order to enhance pressure sensors.
Used hot glue to hold wires in the fabric as a circuit. This wouldn’t aesthetically look good (future iterative: improvement necessary), but it anchored wires better in the fabric and it was better for usability. Previously I said, it was uneasy to fix wires onto the circuit fabric with sewing because they twisted and moved.
The SECOND problem was sound. Some sounds didn’t work, after connecting wires to the board and poppers. After investigating the circuit, I found the culprit of the issue. It was that wires touched each other, hindering inputs from flowing through wires. I used hookup wires for five faces and standard household wires for seven out of twelve faces. I found that faces with standard household wires connected to the board didn’t work, but with hookup wires did. Therefor, I separated each wire and fix each of them on the circuit with hot glue.
I tried to build a couple of circuits with conductive ink, conductive fabric and threads. But They didn’t work. The problem was the wiring underneath of the play mat. Due to the seat, when the kid sits on the seat, he cannot hear certain sounds that he is sitting and pressing buttons at the same time.
Wired each line to the board. Connected each wire to each signal on the board.
Made a pocket for the board not to move around the underneath of the play mat. It allows me to fold and unfold the play mat without worries about what if all the wires and the board are tangled.
Later I unstitched the left side of the pocket to make a hole for ON / OFF switch and speaker / headphone jack to reach to power sources.
[Iron-on adhesive and iron] In order to glue the circuit to the bottom layer, I used iron-on adhesive and an iron.
[feltwork title] I printed and cut out the title and then used it to needle wool on the top layer which made my work look neat. [TIP] You could make different patterns as well as typography, which give you a lot of opportunities to create different designs.
Finalization
TOP layer
CIRCUIT
CUSHION
Narrative in emotional vocabulary
I selected 12 emotions out of 15 and Daniel J Edwards, a musical and voice actor in Pokemon(XY), Yu-Gi-Oh(Zexal Arc V) and Psychic School Wars (TBA 2016), recorded this script.
I Feel Many Different Things During the Day
When I tickle my daddy (daddy laughing) in the morning, I feel SILLY. When do you feel SILLY?
Before I eat breakfast (growling/rumbling), I feel HUNGRY. When do you feel HUNGRY
When I hear a loud noise, (door banging) I feel SURPRISED. When do you feel SURPRISED?
I feel HAPPY, (music playing) when I hear music. When do you feel HAPPY?
When someone takes away my bucket(/toy) (“GIVE THAT BACK!!”) I feel MAD! When do you feel MAD?
When a dog comes running after me (dog barking), I feel SCARED! When do you feel SCARED?
When my friend cries (sob sob), I feel SAD. When you do feel SAD?
When I help put my toys away (toy sounds), I feel GREAT. When do you feel GREAT?
When my mommy is on the phone (phone ringing “uhum, uhmm”) I feel LONELY. What do you feel LONELY?
When I think about what I want to be (“Oh oh oh!!” (something find)), I feel EXCITED. When do you EXCITEDfeel?
When grandpa visits (muack muack), I feel SPECIAL. When do you feel SPECIAL?
When I hide behind the couch (shh~~~), I feel SNEAKY. When do you feel SNEAKY?
When I hit my sister (“Hey stop it!” (annoyed)), I feel SORRY. When do you feel SORRY?
At the end of the day (YAAAWN), I feel TIRED. When do you feel TIRED?
When I see garbage on the floor, I feel DISGUSTED. When do you feel DISGUSTED?
Sanie’s feedbacks from Artisan Tech
Hi Binna!
your process is really well illustrated, detailed, and executed from start to finish. As a product, it works well aesthetically and catches the attention of children and adults alike. The pattern in the center is especially well done, and your care and handling of technique really comes through. Even your considerations for the childrens’ safety is spot on.
My only question is how did you come up with the sounds and the emotions for the faces (did you record/create them or take them from somewhere)? It seems that the voice recordings are a bit too detailed and might not be relatable to all children – is there any variation in the phrases? –
Overall amazing and beautiful work!
Q – It seems that the voice recordings are a bit too detailed and might not be relatable to all children / is there any variation in the phrases?
– My answer: a vocabulary of feeling words on the play mat should be detailed moments for kids to grasp and further use them. Hence, I got the ideas of narratives from daily life where kids generally experience.
I agree with what Sanie pointed out. I believe that the twelve audios with limited stories in each emotion could limit kids to fully understand and related to each situation.
I need to add more contexts for kids to perceive feeling words in accordance with meaning of behavior, contextualizing behavior, and consequences of behavior.
In the future, there is no rain in the world. The only things we have are the extreme hotness of day and extreme coldness of night.
People desire the memory of rain. This box can convert sunshine to the memory of rain. When we put this box under sunshine, the drops on the cover can show themselves by changing color. When putting it to shady area, it can play “Singin’ in the Rain” for helping prayers enjoy the beauty of rain.
PROCESS
At the beginning, I use shower curtain to make speak. The volume of sound it triggers is too low.
Then I change it to wax paper.
But for the final piece, I replace it with a manufactured speaker attached with magnets for stronger volume.
My final project is a cape drum machine. Literally it is a wearable MIDI for drum machine. It is a instrument and toy for introducing drum machine and electronic music to children.
[ A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums, cymbals or other percussion instruments. Drum machines are most commonly associated with electronic music genres such as house music, but are also used in many other genres. They are also used when session drummers are not available or if the production cannot afford the cost of a professional drummer. In the 2010s, most modern drum machines are sequencers with a sample playback (rompler) or synthesizer component that specializes in the reproduction of drum timbres. Though features vary from model to model, many modern drum machines can also produce unique sounds, and allow the user to compose unique drum beats and patterns. ]
Coming back to my project, the interface is a cape. When sticking the modules on, the cape can trigger sounds and loop them through GarageBand (a musical software in computer).
I am interested in creating an interactive sound installation in which users can listen to multiple perspectives on one topic that others have left and then record their own perspectives as well. Users will respond to a specified topic.
The piece will have three different speakers made by me that the user will need to get very close to. There will be two buttons with each speaker, one “listen” button that allows the user to listen to a randomized perspective and a record button that allows them to record their own experience and add it to the grouping of perspectives. The speaker will be soft and will require the user to get up close to it to hear it, making it a very intimate experience.
Speaker and Button Setup
General Idea of Installation Setup
One precedent is “Subway Stories” which allows a user to “navigate through a subway car” through sound and hear what the different people are thinking during their journey.
And another is called “Life in Transition” in which Asian women that have emigrated to England for work shared stories about their experience living in a new and unfamiliar place.
My final project will be a sound piece consisting of several soft circuit speakers. Each speaker will play a stanza of a poem called Loteria.Loteria is a Mexican game of chance, similar to bingo, but using images on a deck of cards instead of plain number on ping pong balls. In the poem, each stanza is dedicated to one image from the Loteria. For the project, I will be building one speaker for each stanza. The materials that I will choose for each speaker will go accordingly to the image and what is saying in the stanza. I am not sure yet if the speakers will all be hanging similar to a clothesline where the person would walk alongside to hear the sound or if each speaker will be a separate unit that the person will be able to pick up or get close to it.
Excerpt of Poem:
La Pera
I watched a man choke on a pear, and hoped for 6 or 7 minutes that someone else would help him.
El Músico
The guitar was called Mojave. It had 10 strings with 4 broken. The perfect sound to reverberate against an audience of sand.
La Muerte
As a sickly child chillin in a hospital bed, I realized that Seben-Ahp y caldo we’re no longer suitable stalling tactics.