How can simple circuits add meaning to an image?
I think simple circuits add meaning to an image because it emphasizes a specific thing’s importance. Say, if you have a drawing, but you really wanted to highlight a heart or something that was drawn in there, you could make it light up, and suddenly the meaning of the entire piece changes into something symbolizing love, or love overcomes all, etc. Simple circuits have a wonderful way of changing the entire story to a piece, especially with the led light. It kind of gives it a softer, cuter essence, while still making a bold statement.

When making the first circuit card, I was kind of scared because I have literally never heard of soldering before. But, I do have an obsession with working with tools so I was excited! I know I have made LED lights light up before, but never in this way. At first, I was admittedly very confused, but once I soldered everything and folded the paper over the battery, to my surprise it worked! I knew this was only the beginning to a possibly very confusing project, so I was nervous but took in my success for as much as I could.

The next card: pretty much make up any design we wanted. I wanted to be experimental, but not TOO experimental because I knew keeping the copper tape parallel would be a little restricting. I figured, what symbolizes light better than stars? Plus, I love the stars, and almost everyone I know hates be because I point out the same constellations every night. But, it gets me excited! So I did a big star. I didn’t think the corners of the star would be so far away, but thankfully the led lights still reached. I definitely had to solder a significant amount more, not because of the presence of more lights, but because I kept accidentally ripping the copper tape while putting it down! I also had to strategically place the lights because for some reason there were little spots that when placed, didn’t even light up. Eventually, once everything was put together and soldered, it worked! I kind of wish I added another light to the last corner, but for some reason I thought it was going to be covered anyway. Oh well! I was still super proud of the result.

The last card: make a card for a person you care about. I decided to do one for my boyfriend, as his birthday is coming up very soon. An image popped up in my head of a cat playing with koi, and I figured the koi would be a cute representation of our trip to Japan together, and my boyfriend is obsessed with cats. I didn’t really know what to do at first, but then I saw the array of papers and materials we were given. I pretty much chose whatever items correlated to whatever color the material was. It worked out, because I used the foam for the bricks and water, tissue paper for water, and cellophane to help the water look more reflective. I also made the koi out of tissue paper because I feel like it gives it a more “watery” feel to it. At first, I was going to outline the (horribly done) cat with the copper tape, but I wanted to emphasize the LED light more, and a copper tape outline would take away some of the light; there would be less contrast. So I decided to hide the copper tape and have the switch on the other side of the paper that I will glue it to. It all ended up working out! I kind of wish I drew the cat better, but it’s hard because I needed a reference photo and I feel guilty taking my phone out in class. As long as it looks like a cat, though, I’m satisfied. Overall, I’m proud of how well the card came out!

In terms of learning from this project, I definitely learned a lot. I learned how to solder and how to properly make designs that will accommodate with the LED light and copper tape. The most challenging was finding a way for the copper tape to still be parallel enough to the point where the LED light will reach across and still actually work. The most fun was soldering for sure!

This whole thing honestly did not connect to any prior art education knowledge I had. I never really did much involving lights and circuits, but soldering was a definite no-no. To use this in a classroom, I feel like this would be super fun for middle school/high schoolers. I would definitely be iffy with soldering because some students can’t exactly be trusted with such a hot object. A high schooler maybe, but if I were to do this lesson in middle school, I think I would stick to tape to connect the light and battery.