Puttering with Paper Circuits: The Sea Turtle Book is Finished

My Completed Book!

  

This is the first book that I've made, integrating an Attiny85 into the design!  To see an explanation of how I constructed the circuit, you may visit an earlier blog post.

I cut out parts of the cover board to inlay the microprocessor, a battery, and a switch. As predicted, the front cover is a bit lumpy.  I'm not sure how durable it will be, considering I did not inlay the copper tape or LEDs.

I sewed the covers using a Coptic stitch.

While I am happy that the experiment worked, especially the switch, I am still trying to come up with a work-around that allows access to the battery. While there is currently a flap of paper on the inside of the cover that leads to the battery, there isn't enough tension on the copper tape connections to eliminate the need for a paper clip.

Although the thin white watercolor paper allows the lights to shine through, I am not a huge fan of the way that the colored pencil looks.  I added a glitter glaze to try to jazz it up, but I am still craving deeper colors. This is a sentiment shared by my daughter, for whom I made this book.

I'm wondering whether I might next try cutting a hole in a more vibrant cover material and attempting to hide the circuit with a tissue paper collage.

FLOG ALERT:
I had a great deal of difficulty in the early stages of creating the circuit.  Because I used a copper tape that doesn't have a conductive adhesive backing, I had to do a lot of soldering.  Because I inadvertently missed some wonky connections early on, I had to spend a great deal of time problem-solving in order to fix the resulting breaks in the voltage flow.  I really need to learn how to use my multimeter!

I need a better way to conceal the battery, while allowing access to it.