I had so much fun learning to sew and solder last week! Little did I know that these new skills would also become very handing in my Artifacts class with Allan and in my Product class with Sinclair. So I am very grateful 🙂
Anyways here is my plush blob and circuit I made in class last week.
My blob looks kind of like a children’s sock haha!
I am really excited to start working on my plush light. I took a nice trip to the garment district and had so much fun picking out my fabric.
The theme I wanted to pursue with my plush night light is “Iridescence Shells”. Certain shells almost have this glow to them that I have always been captivated by. A pearl for example, does not produce light, but its material and composition has this shine that when external light reflects from it almost looks like its glowing.
Here is an image of my pattern and brainstorm sketch. I have also included text in my sketch that provides
I will be moving forward with idea #1.
The circuit for this idea will be simple, it only needs one led light that will sit in the pearl.
When thinking of this design I think the target audience would be ocean lovers and shell collectors, but I was also thinking this could be a great product for giftshops to sell in small costal towns.
The materials I plan to use: 3 different types of silk fabrics, one for the exterior of the shell, the interior, and then the pearl. I will also need one LED light circuit and a ping pong ball to diffuse the light within the pearl. Finally I will need filling to create the 3d form.
Rock on, Lauren! Glad to hear you had fun fabric shopping. Your plan sounds great, can’t wait to see your fabrics. Fun video that explains well how iridescence works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rklMjEtrn4
Lauren!! This is such a cute idea. I love that the pearl is the part that glows. I think it would be cool to make a V2 of this prototype with some sort of opening and closing mechanism. I think using a soft material (similar to a Squishmallow) would make this perfect!
Hi Lauren – I really love the cute iridescence shell idea! It reminds me of little mermaid. I especially like how you plan to employ two types of fabrics for the interior and exterior part of the shell to boost the glow effect. I think it would be cool if the pearl could move around inside the shell (maybe by slightly elongating the connecting wire) 🙂
! I really love this idea! It’s really clever! The luminous design also works well with the pearl. Very cute and elegant. At the same time this looks like a big project, it would be great to bring out the three-dimensional sense of the shell! Looking forward to it!