The Prototype (Bad Dog)
Proof that an idea is only an ‘idea’ until you execute.
My dog didn’t dog so well in the end. It would appear that all of the narrow forms and shapes that were easily defined in the hand sewing stage didnt make it through to the outside form upon flipping the fabric. In the next phases I will need to create more bodied shapes with less fine details in order to get the silhouette across effectively.
The Circuit Diagram
Plush Night Light Ideas
Piece of Toast
I often forget to eat in the mornings and therefore I’d be designing for myself a night light which is a piece of toast. It lights up in the mornings around 7am and sits in their space or at their desk as a reminder to eat breakfast in the mornings before work/school/starting the day in general.
Materials: Brown fabric for outer ‘crust’ and white for the inner bread area.
Light: The arduino box will be housed in the center of the plushie with lights glue to the box itself for easy access. The lights will glow through the fabric to give a warm/diffuse glow to the entire piece.
Kewpie
Do I even need to explain — Its a kewpie bottle for people who love cute cooking products. The front text and image will be embroidered into the fabric. This is a great opportunity to learn how to raster images in embroidery using the VFL tools.
Materials: White fabric for the body and red/yellow embroidery thread for the text and mayonaise portion
Light: The arduino box will be housed in the center of the plushie with lights glue to the box itself for easy access. The lights will glow through the fabric to highlight the kewpie logo.
Japanese Lamp
I personally don’t resonate with plushies and soft toys. I think this option would lean into that, using metal wire and sewed fabric to create a hollowed but still soft body lamp that can stand on a desk, table or shelf and illuminated from the center. I used to make Japanese paper lamps and always appreciated their structure and paper construction.
Materials: White fabric for the body and thick gauge wire for the overall strucutre. This option is devoid of internal stuffing as it relies on the wire for structure
Light: The arduino box will be housed in the center of the plushie with lights attached to the wire for stable housing. The lights will glow through the fabric to illuminate the space.
Please pick the Kewpie mayo idea! The toast would be fine too but because it’s flat, it’s going to be hard to get even light diffusion (unless it’s a thicc piece of toast). And the third idea is not soft plush! Sorry, we will be continuing deeper outside of your comfort zone, but you’ll end up better for it. I loved your reflection about your dog prototype. Oh and we won’t be putting our Arduino inside the plush, just the LED circuit like the one we built during our soldering workshop– except with more than one LED, if you wish. We will do a bit more Arduino lesson work before applying those skills in a project.
I think your ideas are super cool and really practical! The toast light is such a fun and useful reminder, and the kewpie is super cute. Even the Japanese lamp idea is really special—the shape feels unique and stands out. No matter which one you choose, it’s gonna turn out great!
Tristan, these are really great ideas, and very unique. I was looking through the submissions last week, and your Bad Dog really stuck with me. It’s a shame that it didn’t turn out–my original idea faced the same issue as well. I agree with Becky that Kewpie is a winner. From speaking with you it’s clear you have a clear picture of what you want, and understand the challenge spots. I think this will look great–psyched to see the end result!
That’s a great idea to choose a project so connected to daily life. I love your concept of using the squeeze of a Kewpie bottle as a sensor to turn on an LED.
How do you plan to implement this? I’m curious to know what kind of sensor you’ll use to detect pressure across the entire bottle. I’m excited to see how this project comes together!