I always loved to jump rope. Jump rope can be played with one or more people and it is a fun and good exercise for kinds in urban setting. In Japan, jump rope is very big among kids. They take this simple exercise very seriously(as you can see below). Growing up I learned a lot of fun jump rope skills.
Here’s my movie. I had so much fun making this movie.
I decided to go back to my original concept of making LED Jump Rope after trying few things. I looked at existing LED Jump Ropes and thought that I can make something with less colors that are beautiful to look without too much distraction. Here are couples of examples I looked at. The first photo is a typical LED jump rope for children. The 2nd photo is a jump rope with LED handles. The 3rd one is jump rope in action.
I am going to make a clear (not white) picket fence yard for my dunnies and smoking bunnies. The white area shown on the rendering will be made of clear acrylic panel and the grass area will be made of a box structure covered with felt. There will be flexi-LED strip inside the grass, so it will lit up with a contact(or other sort of interaction).
White picket fence is a symbol of the ideal middle class suburban life, with a large house and peaceful living. David Lynch used the fence as an icon in his film, Blue Velvet. I thought it would be fun to take my dunnies out of the regular context(urban) and place them inside this yard.
My original plan was to create arm warmers that I can use for night running on trail. When hurricane Sandy hit, I didn’t have any flashlights and I was out of batteries for my headlamps (which I use for trail running). That lead me thinking about using this piece as emergency lights when power goes out in emergency situations(if batteries work). You can use this wearable piece for going up stairs or in restrooms and they keep you warm. 
Here are some of the process photos. I made my first prototype too small for my arms, so I revised the pattern.
Added erratic trims for better adjustment.
Hand saw lights around the perimeter.
Emergency lights in a restroom.
Arm warmers that keeps you warm in winter whether you are running or indoor.
I really liked the simplicity of Hobo lantern that I posted earlier and the heartfelt lantern made for Japan. The idea that the lantern can light up people’s mood appeal to me. I want to make a bunny lantern that can function as an arm warmer. The elliptical holes enable this piece to hang from wall to act as a night light, but the shape is such that you can wear it on your arm. There will be a bunny face on the palm side. I thought of this idea while running at the crack of dawn where I really need to pay attention to my surroundings. I didn’t happen to wear anything reflective and since I lost my arm warmers at the last year’s NYC marathon, I thought it would be a good idea to make one for myself.
Nendo created the series of lamps made by a long-fibre non woven polyester that can be formed into any shapes when heated. The website mentioned that the technique is similar to blown glass technique. They reminds me of mushrooms or kodama, which is a forest spirit in Japanese animated film called Princess Mononoke.
LED integrated light carpet can be found in Boeing’s new Dreamliner.
I really like the aesthetics of the Molo Felt Bag. This lantern/bag can be plugged into the wall or battery powered. The lighting shows off the fiber and the material beauty of the fabric when lit. The 2nd photo shows the Heartfelt Hobo Lanterns that was donated in support of Architecture for Humanity’s reconstruction efforts in Japan. I like how this piece can be a beautiful fashion product as well as the functional product that can supports disaster relief efforts.
I enjoyed reading these tips from well-known star runners on running and racing. I liked the simple layout of this site where there is a short quote underneath the picture of the runner. If you want to read more about the runner, there is a link that takes you to a different site where you can read more ind depth. I am going to incorporate more website links to my instruction.
Revised Instruction “How To Run A Great Marathon”
My tutorial needs better photos in general so I went to a 10k race this weekend to take additional photos. Since I don’t have a DSLR camera, it was still hard to get a shot that I wanted to include in this instruction. It takes some practice taking good photos of a moving object or people. I know that a team photographer of the Dashing Whippets Racing Team (I recently joined but I haven’t raced any with the team) has some amazing photos, so I asked for a permission to use his photos. I added inspirational quotes,additional links along with few roll over squares on photos to make the tutorial more engaging. However, no one commented on this so It apparently still needs more work 😉
