This plushie is designed for those who are struggling with mental illness to find comfort, as well as for loved ones of someone suffering from mental illness in order to gain some perspective on something that you may not know anything about or have experienced yourself. It is a dual educational and therapeutic tool, intended to “shed light” on the misconceptions of prescription medication, by getting to the core of their purpose.
For this project I used the following materials:
-Orange Linen
-White cotton
-White Linen
-Silk thread (in both white and orange)
-Acrylic fiberfill
-AAA battery pack
-Acrylic
-Stranded core wire
-Heat shrink
-Resisters
-LED’s
-Soldering iron
-Clothes iron
-Sewing needle
-Velcro
-Chip board
For this project I soldered, which I had never done before, sewed, which I had done sparingly in the past, and used the laser cutter which I had never done before. All of the new experiences were anxiety provoking to a point and then enjoyable for a while and then annoying. I enjoyed soldering the most however and would love to do more of that in future projects. The most challenging thing in this project was working with fabric, period. It is such a finicky medium and requires a touch that i have heretofore not acquired.
If I were to do this project again, I would one spend more time getting the seams just right on my piece, preventing the mistakes from snowballing down the road, and two add more LED’s (and add ones that aren’t red so I don’t end up with a more sinister message than I was intending).
