Art Workshops

Lit From Within

The “Lit From Within” workshops, hosted twice in the past by Dr. Weitnauer, allows students to familiarize themselves with hands-on skills, such as soldering and electrical wiring, to create a laser-cut glowing medallion powered by two AA batteries.

The medallion is rocker-switched controlled and contains 20 small LED lights that illuminate the cut-out design. The medallion can be displayed as an ornament or hung from a window or the ceiling!

Materials

  • Slab of opaque acrylic or wood material
  • 2 AA batteries
  • Battery holder
  • 20 LED “fairy lights”
  • Black enclosure box
  • 2 pieces of long jewelry wire
  • Voltage regulator
  • 2 pieces clear heat shrinking tubing
  • 4 pieces black heat shrinking tubing
  • 1-inch square of sandpaper
  • Electrical wire
  • Resistor
  • In-line rocker switch

Optional Materials for Braiding

  • Wire strippers
  • Wire cutter
  • Needle-nosed pliers
  • Clamp

Optional Materials for Loom

  • Cardboard
  • 20 x 3 = 60 nails
  • 4 pieces of 10-inch jewelry wire

Instructions

Laser Cutting

  1. Design a medallion cutout for the top and bottom disc.
  2. Create 4 rings: 2 with a slot and 2 without a slot.
  3. Convert the medallion design into an SVG file to be laser-cut onto wood or acrylic.

Example SVG file: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xm43r31kdn3v6fm6u9hpi/._custom-design-template.svg?rlkey=9wc04o9zc0s1j87cxz8gvlwv5&dl=0

Acrylic Cement

Ensure you are working in a ventilated area with the proper safety equipment, including gloves and safety goggles!

  1. Arrange the bottom 5 discs in a stack (the 2 slotted rings should be at the top)
  2. Unstack one by one and glue together using acrylic glue
  3. Press firmly for at least 15 seconds

Wire Loom

Because fairy lights can bunch, a wire loom can be used to evenly distribute the lights.

To create the loom:

  1. Stack and glue two pieces of cardboard (at least 5 x 5 inches)
  2. Group nails into clusters of 3
  3. Create a circle with the clusters of nails
  4. Lay 4 10-inch pieces of jewelry wire in a tic tac toe pattern across the board
  5. Tape down the wire around the edge of the loom

To loom the fairy lights:

  1. Turn on the fairy lights
  2. Start with the end of the lights that is not attached to the switch/battery pack
  3. Weave gently between the nails
  4. Take up to 3-4 inches of wire between lights
  5. Un-tape the jewelry wire, tie the ends of the jewelry wire to secure the light cluster
  6. Carefully lift the lights off the loom

Optional: Braiding

  1. Strip the wires 1/2 inches from their ends
  2. Twist 1 piece of jewelry wire around 2 wires and string to create a tie that is 1.5 inches from ends of wire and 1/4 inches from end of string)
  3. Put twisted strands into the clamp
  4. Gently braid the wire
  5. Tie the finish braid with 2nd piece of jewelry wire (about 1.5 inches away from ends of shortest strand)

Soldering & Shrinking

  1. Use the diagram to assemble the circuit
  2. Turn on the lights to test them before soldering
  3. After the pieces are assembled, wrap the shrink tubing as indicated in the diagram
  4. Use a heat gun to shrink the tubings in place

Additional detailed instructions can be found here!