The LEDs4N00Bs workshop was a real success, and thanks everyone who attended, built toy-boxes, and to Julius for giving a really wonderful first workshop at our new space in Long Island City.
I introduced the workshop and then Julius gave a 30-odd minute presentation about his art, and a little history and science of LEDs. We followed with the art/toy making session, which lasted for around 1.5 hours!
We weren’t able to acquire some .5W solar panels like in the image above, so we were relegated to 9V batteries which can be easily replaced, and combined with a switch are able to extend the longevity of both the battery and the LEDs. Our kits required: 9V battery, a pre-fabricated clip to draw power from the battery, a switch, LED and a resistor. From this people made some pretty interesting toys!
Visitors to Flux Factory were greeted by an evil flamingo! A working example of some found objects, scrap wood and simple LED hacking.
The lecture and presentation, Julius talking about his art.
A small sample of a complete circuit powered by a AA battery.
Then the hacking begins! Bit boxes, batteries, LEDs, soldering station!
Blue ‘bots! I like the switch hack: a hole drilled into the case so no need to open/close the lid.
Another hack in the works, a modded Obama chia-pet!
If only turning on democracy was this easy!
The circuit: you can see the negative wire (red) goes to the right eye, and the wire from the switch continues to the left eye and sequences like an eyeglass bridge.
And one of my favorite aspects of any workshop or classroom environment, the mess! The aftermath is always chaotic, but evidences the activity of life:
more work by Julius can be found at his website: http://www.urgu.de/