A. MAKING THE LED CIRCUIT
Soldering setup
Final LED circuit
After a careful and stressful attempt at soldering a LED circuit, I managed to successfully complete the circuit and get the white LED to light up!
B. PLUSH PROTOTYPE – ANIMAL FORM
and placing on the short fur
fabric to estimate fabric
length needed.
pattern onto the fabric.
fabric pieces.
animal form and stitching 3
sides of it with a running stitch.
pieces to face each other
and doing a backstitch to
secure the edges.
both pieces, cutting off excess
fabric on edges while
leaving a margin.
Completed plush toy (Looks like a Mouflon on 4 legs to me)
C. PLUSH NIGHT LIGHT IDEATIONS
IDEA 1 – ‘Heart in the right place’ plush nightlight
- Target user – Children between the ages of 3-12 years of age
- Description – ‘Heart in the right place’ is a bunny plush made to appeal developing children, to make them more appreciative of their natural surroundings. The toy uses contrasting plain and patterned fabric to show the two sides of the world – with and without nature. The heart placed in the center has a soft illuminating glow that lights up to display warmth.
- Materials and parts – Potentially uses 5 yellow LEDs to help illuminate the heart. The main fabrics envisioned for this plush are Linen and Cotton to help soften the glow, making it subtle but present. Alternatively, I also envisioned using a patchwork of scraps to help give it more personality, promote crafts and help manage fabric waste.
IDEA 2 – ‘Matryoshka doll light’
- Target user – Children between the ages of 11-15 years of age
- Description – The ‘Matryoshka’ doll is inspired by traditional Russian dolls crafted in wood. The silhouette of the form is envisioned to be soft and huggable. The idea for this derives from my brief stay at Russia as a child, bringing me back to the nostalgic curiosity of the shape and stacking of these dolls. Traditionally, there are multiple sizes fitted one inside another, which can be thought of too. Essentially, I wanted to create a soft form that can be customized according to the child’s taste while still having some depiction of their cultural identity or personality.
- Materials and parts – Potentially uses 8 LEDs to help illuminate the neck and base of the doll. The form is made of fabrics such as felt or linen, while the customizable part can either be a zipper sleeve added externally or a whiteboard like material wrapped around it to enable the user to interact with the product.
IDEA 3 – ‘Tiffany lamp shade plushies’
- Target user – Not restricted to any specific age group
- Description – The ‘Tiffany’ Lamp shade is an age old glass cutting and forming method that uses tiffany glass, creating visually interesting and colorful pieces. This plush softens the same vintage art form creating a stained glass effect but in the form of a plush night light. I envision this piece to be a combination of colorful LEDs and felt fabric. This night light will not only create interesting patterns and have a vibrant appeal, but also, be a nice keep sake for people interested in the appeal of the traditional tiffany lamps.
- Materials and parts – Potentially has 10 LEDs in different colors to create interest and intrigue. The fabric thought of for this plush light is felt with certain cutouts in acrylic that can help disperse the light softly. The opacity of the felt fabric will help create a good contrast to the translucency of acrylic.
Great brainstorm, Mallika! I love all three of your ideas. Do you have a favorite among the three? I think the meaningfulness of the light is more clear in ideas 1 and 3. Although your lampshade proposes using some hard material along with soft, the transition between the two poses an interesting challenge, and you have easy access to the laser cutter.
Hello Becky! Thank you so much for the great feedback! I am personally inclined to make the first one because I really like animal forms and wanted to attempt making one! Yes, I wanted to mix a few materials to give a better effect. Will start working on the first idea and get the material as well as make a pattern for it! Thank you once again for your feedback!
Hi Mallika! I also like the animal plush idea the best 🙂 By “developing children” did you mean children who live in developing areas- or something else? I think it is well thought out and I love the scrappy look you are trying to achieve to promote reuse of materials and the aestheticizing of sustainability!
Hey Anusha! Thank you so much for the feedback! To clarify by “developing children” I was referring to the stage of development of children between infancy and adolescence, which is the stage and target audience I am focusing on! But thank you for asking that, I could’ve been more specific! Thank you so much for your feedback, I really appreciate it! I too am most inclined to make the animal plush light!
I prefer the Tiffany lamp design! I really love stained glass lampshades, and I think a plush version would be super cute with the vintage vibe, too.
Hey Jay! Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback! I love the Tiffany lamp idea too — stained glass patterns have such a timeless charm, and a plush version would be adorable. For now, I’d like to keep exploring the sewing aspect through the animal form, but I really appreciate your kind words and encouragement. Thank you once again!
I love the Tiffany lamp idea as well. It’s visually very attractive and carries a nice vintage vibe. Using just five different colors could work really well too. I was just wondering how you plan to combine the acrylic with the fabric.
Hey Yennie! Thank you so much for the sweet feedback! I really appreciate it! I did love the Tiffany lamp idea as well, and would’ve loved to make it so that you could keep it hahaha but I’m actually going to go ahead with the animal form night light because I feel like it would be a nice challenge for me! Thank you once again though!