My goal for this week was to finish the stepping stone lanterns. Making the lanterns ended up taking a lot longer and was more complicated than I originally thought.
The process of making lanterns included
- bending bamboo
- cutting bamboo to arrange into a “star” base
- creating lantern form using hot glue and dixie cups
- cutting and gluing fabric onto lantern
The last two lanterns I really like so if I have time I might go back and replace some of the lanterns to get a more uniform look. They’re all a little lopsided but I think that’s something I can fix/hide during the arrangement and photo process. Something that I hope I can capture well during final documentation is the fabric because it is such a beautiful fabric that I was amazed by the whole time I was working with it this week.
I also soldered enough LEDS to very long wires so that I can have a lot of freedom when arranging the lanterns and LEDS.
I’m pretty confident in each part of the project, I just have to do final touches for aesthetics and put them all together. There’s still a lot to do but my general plan is:
- final touches on stepping stone lanterns (cleaning up edges)
- paint moon lantern and cut out a sturdier man silhouette
- combine LED and motor code sequence on Arduino
- arrange the lanterns
- hide the wires, final touches to take a nice photo
- take and edit photos!
I think it would look really good if the lantern with the animation of the man walking would look really good as the front and center lantern in your arrangement and the other ones being a little more in the background. That way all of the focus would be drawn to the animation.
The fabric you chose is beautiful! I also like how you are giving yourself room to experiment with the LEDs
Your lanterns look so good!! I think that since your moon lantern will be spinning and there will be a scene that the viewer will experience, having a video in addition to photos would be cool to have in your final presentation!
The fabric you are using is so pretty and I love how you explained in class how you are using the bamboo sticks. I am wondering if the patterned cup will be visible at all from the outside of the lantern when it is lit up.
How easy is the bamboo to bend without breaking? I imagine it must be fairly thin