Well this did not go as I planned AT ALL!! If you know me, I always have to have a set plan before I actually dig deep into what I want to do... it helps me understand what I need to do for each step. Well, turns out that actually blew up in my face this time! I had a plan of what I wanted to do... laser cut maps. I wanted to get three maps cut, frame them and compare the growth of the cities. Then I realized I needed to make it interactive... i absolutely loved the idea my professor gave me... add lights that change with the temperature. Sounded so hard but I was determined. I ordered rgb led strip lights like he said and waited for them to come in for about three days. I guess the process of me deciding what to do took about a week and a half. I honestly was more focused on finishing my Sculpture and Printmaking projects because I just assumed this would be a simple project to complete, but now I know that this project was equally as much work as my other studio classes!
I learned how to make the lights changed based on temperature with the Humming Bird Kit. I was ready to hook up my RGB lights. Well guess what... it DIDN'T WORK! Apparently the voltage was too much, 12V, for the Hummingbird, 5V. My classmate tried to help me but said he didn't know what to do. Even my professor wasn't sure and was this point was lost on what I was trying to even do... also apparently I got the wrong lights even though I swear I was getting the right ones?? ): Well I was stuck because I was just sooo set on my map. My teacher was for sure worried about my project, mainly because t was due in TWO DAYS and my plan crashed and burned big time! I thought that maybe I could just build a circuit and put lights around the frame rather than making it change by the temperature? My teacher told em to just make a circuit and see how I liked that... just baby steps. So I built a circuit and got it to work and honestly loved it because I finally understood how to do it! It came pretty easy. He told me that maybe I should just scratch the maps and make a picture light up with a circuit because he was worried that I would have nothing finished and really wanted em to enjoy this project. I completed understood where he was coming from.
I stared to think of a different project that I could do in basically a day and actually ENJOY. I started thinking that maybe I should create an interactive book... with lights, circuits and switches. I knew I needed to start soon. After getting home I went straight to hobby lobby, bought a bunch of colored card stock ( I love card stock way better than construction paper because its much thicker) four glue sticks and I took some leds, copper tape, and batteries from our art room. I was ready to roll.
I thought about a story line I might want to do... I had red, blue, green and yellow lights. What objects or animals had lights or were those colors?? FIREFLIES! I decided to do a book about a firefly. My roommate/best friend is an education major and I knew she would have some good ideas too. We came up with the idea that this firefly, Fred, got captured in a jar and lost his family! Along the way he met some friends that helped him find his family. I began to work Monday night and then woke up early Tuesday and worked on it literally all day!
I wanted to have more than just one picture with lights. I wrote the story as I went along making the pages and circuits. I began to have so much fun with it... why didn't I decide to do this before?! It was so fun, and I know for a fact that kids would probably love to create their down interactive stories too!!! I began to get super excited on doing this with kids in the future.
Finally I was finished. I cannot believe I had actually done that in about a day!! I was proud for finishing it but also frustrated that I wasted so much time trying to figure out how to make y map idea work. Maybe next week I can go back to that, but for now I am very proud of my interactive book. I came into this class knowing absolutely nothing regarding circuits, leds, circuit oarfds, coding, etc. Now that I finally get it I am so happy and wish that I had not already taken physics, I finally understood circuits! Haha.
Upon completing this project I have learned that I cannot just spend too much time trying to plan out every detail. I have to start trying things out and seeing if it even works and if not then what can I do to fix it or alter it? I will absolutely do this project with my future kiddos. It was such a great learning opportunity and SO FUN!!!
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