Creating Wonder - the Petrosains Blog: 'My Monster Comes to…Light!'

Soft circuit has always been an interesting “experiment” for me to explore. I dug up my old circuit case recently, and ended up creating a light monster! Then, I thought, I should put this on the blog so that others can share or even try making this cool project using soft felt, conductive thread, LEDs and coin batteries.

Let’s get started!

Wool batting

Felting needle / barb needle

First, you need to get familiar with “Needle Felting” tools, which can easily be found in craft stores.

Pitstop! What is needle felting? It’s a process where barbed needles are used to interlock the scales on wool fibers to form a denser material (in this case, it’s felt!). As the felting needle is moved up and down, the barbs on the needles catch the scales to entangle them into place.

Foam pad – to place your felt and to protect your fingers from being poked!

Now, let’s practice this basic needle felting technique:-

Start with a small amount of batting. Gently and tightly roll it into a cylinder.

Carefully poke the batting with your needle and roll it into a ball (or a shape of your choice). Gradually add more batting to reach your preferred size. The more you poke the needle in the same place, the more compact the area becomes. Why? The needle is actually a special needle that looks like barb along its stick. When you poke the needle, the barb will cut the felt wool and entangle the tiny wool together.

Repeatedly poke a small amount of wool batting while slowly shaping it into a small ball to make the body. Gradually add wool batting to your preferred size.

To make the monster’s head, form a smaller ball using the above technique. Attach the head to the body by poking the continuing joint with a needle until it is secured.

Details can be added by placing a tiny amount of batting onto the desired spot and poking it repeatedly until it is firm and secured.

Now, it’s time to tinker with circuitry and make our monster come to …light!

You will need:-

1)

Conductive thread and needle

What is conductive thread?

A thread made from either silver plating or stainless steel that can carry current the same way that wires can. It can be used to sew a circuit together, creating flexible circuits that require no soldering.

2)

Coin battery holder

Coin battery

LED Diode

Here's how we do it:-

Sew one side of the battery holder to the base of your monster.

From the battery holder, insert your needle through the monster’s body to its head.

Sew the LED on top of the monster’s head.

Fix any loose batting to tidy up your monster.

Insert the battery.

Watch your monster come to… light!

What makes your monster come to light? The LED can only light up with a complete circuit and that is when it is connected to a battery. A complete circuit is like a circle. Electricity starts at a particular place, and then travel around the circuit and return back to the same place. Have fun!