Creative Switch

Creative Switch: Catching Fireflies

Posted by Cheri on

When I think about the concept of a switch, turning a light on and off, I think about my terrible grammar growing up. “Open the lights,” My mom would tell me. “Close the lights,” I’d imitate her. So I thought about an action that would mean “To open and close.” I also thought about light meaning life. I thought about the phrase, “Light of someone’s life,” meaning a person someone loves very much and who makes him or her happy. I thought of happiness. Life- Happiness-Open-Close. I came up with the concept of “catching fireflies.” It is difficult to catch a bug flying high above your head, a quick snatch and one can find the light at the palm of their hand. The feeling of excitement as a child captures this creature, they want to show it to their friends. However, in this narrative, When the hand is opened the lights are not lit. The bug is dead. The excitement took its life. 

This is a simple series circuit applied onto a glove.

Materials:

  • Conductive tape
  • Pen
  • Two 3v cell batteries
  • Two LEDs (preferably yellow)
  • Heat Shrink Tubing
  • Soldering Iron
  • Soldering Wire
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Hot Glue sticks
  • Scissors/Wire Cutters (Something to cut with)
  • Glove (Sturdy material)
  1. I began the project by making a blueprint to assure that the LEDs are placed correctly and then transferred the drawing onto the glove.
     
  2. Following the blueprint, lay out the conductive tape onto the glove. Leave gaps where the LEDs will appear. In this model, the LEDs are on the side of the palm, so that the light can be seen through the gaps of the hand. I marked out the path with a pen, so that it will end where the fingers will meet the palm.
  3. Attach LEDs. This can be done by soldering onto the conductive tape or by attaching it with electrical tape. Please note that electrical tape will make it more prone to falling off. (Note: in this project that the Negative end of the left LED is distal to the wrist. And the Positive end of the Left LED is proximal to the wrist. The Right LED has the Negative end of the LED proximal to the thumb and the Positive end of the Right LED is distal to the thumb. )
  4. Cut holes in heat shrink tubing. This allows the tape to touch the batteries, while the batteries are attached onto the glove. Make sure the positive and negative end of the batteries are exposed when placing them into the tubing.
  5. Using the heat from the soldering iron, add heat shrink tubing over the batteries. 
  6. Attach the battery onto the circuit. This can be done with hot glue or electrical tape. We want the positive end of the two 3v cell batteries to touch the end of the conductive tape on end by the LED. The negative side of the battery will touch the end of the conductive tape that starts at the finger.
  7. Open and close your hand. The finger with the conductive tape should fall above the negative end of the battery. The LEDs will light up. The lights can be seen from the sides of the palm. (Below is a video of the glove lighting up)

Tanamal_CS_Video