I used painting canvas and cardboard as materials to create the switch/sensor and it turns on the light bulb when you press it hard and turns off when you release you finger. I sewed on the edges of canvas to close it, with a cardboard and copper tape inside. And for the new skill, I practiced on sewing. In the beginning I found that it is hard to find a hole to pierce through but as I was getting more familiar with the technique, I get used to it by pushing the needle harder.
For this week, I created a node for battery with felt and conductive thread, then I made a node for LED with paper and copper tape.
Then I created three nodes(two kinds), the first two with felt and buttons, then one with wires, paper clip, and conductive fabric.
I’m using conductive paint spread on the fabric! and the thread.
belt type switch! using conductive fabric also. I liked that even a thin layer of the paint was able complete the circuit. I enjoyed hand sewing experience =].
For this week’s homework, I created a selection switch which allows the user to choose which light to be turned on. I used conductive thread and sewable LEDs.
And I then I made three identical ones, in which I used different materials to achieve the same effect.
For learning a new craft, I learned embroidery.
My favorite tool is X-ecto knife, because I really like working with paper and the knife makes it very fast and precise it could cut paper.
I think I would identify my practice as storyteller, maker, designer, and craftsperson. Since I came from a film background, it is quite important for me that my piece of work carries a story or some kind of narrative. I consider myself as also a maker&craftsperson because I am really into DIY culture and I’m passionate about figuring out how things work and constructing them.
I was so touched when I read the quote
“The little boy robot in Steven Spielberg’s 2001 film ‘A.I. Artificial Intelligence’ wants to be a real boy with all his little metal heart”
in <Outing A.I.: Beyond the Turing Test> by Benjamin Bratton.
In this project, I want to use the red led light to represent the emotion of love，with the copper tape compose a geometry and electronic-path-like pattern, to abstractly be a metaphor for the metal/ machine-made heart. When you press the battery, the led light up, making diffuse reflection against the pink red paper in the background, mimic the feeling of longing for love.
I explore the effect of how to work with paper and place the led to provoke an emotional vibe and feeling. Also tried to add blue led at the four back corners of the front main paper to mimic a feeling of emit the signal, try to add more feeling of the sense that it’s a non-organic creature.
【Process Documentation】
Started from the very beginning of concept sketching:
Tried different small scale samples to test the property and effect of the led light, compared with different background colors;
tested how many leds can be powered by one single battery; [it’s fun >▽<]
place the led the sketched places:
back of it:
tried out the blue leds:
Final:
The illustration and the soft circuit I built is based on the story of Alice in the Wonderland. There are four characters: Alice, the rabbit, the mad hatter, and the Cheshire cat. The story was set up in the way that all the characters were gathering around the table. When all the characters were at the right position, the LED in the teacup would be lit up.
I started by arranging the copper tape as the pattern on the carpet, and I made small breaks on each side as a switch for the character to move to the position to turn on. But I underestimated the complexity of arranging the circuit and the power source when it came to two layers. It was a quite struggling process. I took the advice of using thread to connect the copper tape between layers, and I did a little bit of soldering.
I am interested in how people communicate by using their facial expressions. Sometimes our facial expressions cannot reflect our thoughts as accurte as they were expected to be. That’s why we have the fake smile and genuine smile.
So my project tries to make a speculative mask to get avoid from such situation.
I was inspired by a song “twinkle twinkle little star” which written by Jane Tayler.
The sentence “‘Tis your bright and tiny spark, Lights the traveler in the dark” gave me the inspiration to make this shining star.
Hoping my shining star can light up everyone who walks in the dark.
The project I like the most is < La Porte Rouge > by Clement Cogitore. I first saw this piece of work during my visit to Palais de Tokyo in Paris.
It was installed in the middle of a pathway hall where every visitors have to go through this final door before being able to continue their journey in the rest of the exhibition.
A heavy, monumental stage curtain, decorated according to the lavish codes of the opera, opens then closes again mechanically, but also chaotically, in an asynchronous and irregular rhythm. As a large passage in the form of a stage entrance for the visitors, this curtain comes over as active, living, haunted element: here, it is the set itself that becomes a character, putting on a show.
This is a piece of work that I would say using the simplest effect to create a strong experience. I was totally shocked the first time I saw it and strong feeling of impression it brings to me still haunting around even when I left the scenario.
It was made by the film director and artist Clement Cogitore collaborated with Enrique Lopez & Germain Benoit – Manufacture Royale Bonvallet.
liquid MIDI is an experimental textile interface for sonic interactions, exploring aesthetics and morphology in contemporary design which made by EJtech.
The liquid MIDI is to create unique control and sounds through a medium.
I’m interested in this kind of technology is screen printed on the textile surface
directly, use Arduino mirco controller and MIDI protocol to communicate with the media. The interaction is the unique part of this project which makes medium be a part of the message.
Here’s the video of liquid MIDI project: