How this quest started…
Every Valentine’s Day I like to make a special valentine with my son’s portrait. It usually involves some sort of crafting. This year (2018), I resolved to do something entirely different!
It wasn’t long before I was CIRCUIT OBSESSED and was, constantly, looking for things to ELECTRIFY! I advanced from one LED to many, from series to parallel circuits, from copper tape to solid wire, from one battery to multiple batteries with switches, buttons and dials, sound, lights and motion.
Halloween got the circuit treatment…
As did Dia de los Muertos…
Even the Coney Island “Put On A Funny Face Mask Contest”…
https://www.coneyisland.com/awards
Soon I was hacking everything in sight.
An Indian Buddhist shrine I’d rescued from the trash years earlier…
Two Exploratorium and one Chibitronics course later…
Exploratorium & Electric Circuit Boards:
SNOWFLAKE CIRCUITRY:
Five SENSES CIRCUITRY:
For the Pre-K
CITY CIRCUITRY MAP:
Inspired by the Paris Metro System
Sewn Circuitry:
To view with SURPRISE! AR feature: upload Metaverse app & scan QR below.
Chibitronics Paper Circuit City:
From a photograph my mother took in Indonesia
For the 2nd grade Brooklyn Bridge Unit: Experimenting With Programmed Circuitry FIREWORKS!
Illuminated Mandala Magic!
Illuminated Mandala Portrait
Interactive Illuminated Mandala
Can’t resist resistors if you want an illuminated RAINBOW mandala! No other way around that circuit! When using a combination of LEDs with varying frequencies, resistors help regulate the flow of electricity so that it gets distributed accordingly/efficiently.
Resistor resources:
To calculate resistor value/Ohms, given voltage supply & voltage drop. Click screenshot below. My parameters: 6 volt power supply, varying voltage drop values depending upon color and necessitating a dedicated resistor per LED and the ability to illuminate 8-9 5mm LEDs. A series circuit would have required considerably more voltage, but a parallel circuit required soldering a dedicated resistor to EACH LED.
To identify resistor value by color code. Click screenshot below.
EXTRAS:
For a Chibitronics course: Programmed Circuitry
#1 in a series: Tribute to My Brother
#2 in the series: Tribute to My Brother – Circuit Doppelganger
CIRCUIT SAMPLER – for an Exploratorium Course
LIGHTS! MOTION! SOUND!
AMNH course –
Genetics, Genomics, Genethics
As part of the final project, I devised an Alien Genetics Assessment that included options for illuminated alien DNA traits.
