Light Up Waterfall Card

Please visit the tutorial I created for Chibitronics if you'd like to see how I created these light up waterfall cards (or make one yourself).

Paper Circuit Accordion Book

 

I recently completed a new tutorial for Chibitronics, featuring a light up accordion book powered by a single coin cell battery.  If you'd like to see how it was constructed or learn how to make your own, please visit the Chibitronics blog or go directly to the Paper Circuit Accordion Book tutorial.

Spooktacular Special Effects!

I recently created a couple of Haunted House tutorials using Circuit Stickers and pressure sensitive conductive plastic, which combine to create amazing special effects!  I hope you'll check them out.

Haunted House Pt. 1: Intro to Pressure Sensors

Haunted House Pt. 2:  Light Colors in Sequence

I've also create an Instructable that features much of the same information, in case you are interested.

Flying Fish Concertina: Light-up Accordion Book

This is another example of an illuminated flying concertina book; this one features orange and pink Circuit Stickers sandwiched between collaged fish!  (See my last post for the tutorial). In this model, I made a couple of improvements that will increase the beauty and durability of the book.

After reinforcing the Circuit Sticker with conductive fabric tape, I covered the entire sticker and the conductive fabric patches with a square of clear packing tape.  This will help ensure that the fabric tape and sticker will not eventually come loose.

I also added a little piece of white vellum to the side of the fish that comes into contact with the LED.  The vellum creates a subtle diffusion of the light.

Flying Concertina Accordion Book Tutorial

 

If you'd like to learn how to make a fluttering, light-up accordion book like mine, I've created a couple of different tutorials to help you get started.

The prettiest tutorial lives on the Chibitronics website, along with a multitude of resources related to paper circuits!

A version with more photos, and a downloadable PDF, lives at Instructables.

I hope you'll give this project a try and let me know what you think!

Light-up Australian Piano Hinge (Accordion) Book Instructable

It's been a while since I've added anything to this blog!  I've been binding a lot of books, some containing circuitry; but, I haven't been great about documenting my process!

One of my newest electronic experiements adds LED goodness to the "Flat-Style Australian Reverse Piano Hinge" binding, more easily referred to as an "Australian Hinge" or "Australian Piano Hinge" structure.

If you'd like to learn more, you can view my latest Instructable!

Light-up Monsters: Altered Books

In the spirit of Halloween, I've created a couple of altered books with circuits built into the covers.  Glow-in-the-dark polymer clay makes up the eyes, tongues, and teeth.  To create the light-up effect, I drilled holes through the eyes, inserted LED bulbs into them from underneath, and then poked the legs through the front covers.  I used hot glue to secure the eyes to the tops of the books and to fill in the drill holes.  

My first monster model uses a 5V Trinket with a Micro-Lipo Charger soldered to it.  The two LEDs are then soldered in parallel to analog pin one.  I used Arduino sample code to achieve a creepy fading effect.  After completing this circuit, I decided that the use of the charger was overkill, adding more bulk than I wanted.

The second model substitutes a Trinket with 3V logic and a switched JST breakout board.  This method is less expensive and more compact.