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Light Makers @ Your Library

Light Makers @ Your Library is a National Science Week public makerspace event being held at Curtin Library. Throughout the week we are running free sessions and workshops which involving making neat things to do with light. Join us to make, tinker, experiment, learn – and most of all, have fun!

See all our free sessions on Eventbrite. They are also detailed below.

All sessions are being held in the Curtin Library Makerspace on the entrance level of the Robertson Library (Building 105)

Flower Power: Create illuminated Origami flowers

Monday 17th August, 10 – 11 am

Make an origami lily or lotus flower, and then illuminate it with an LED light. If you get inspired, then add a battery holder and a switch. You might even want to design your own origami light creation. You’ll not only develop some origami skills and learn how to create a simple electrical circuit, but have something pretty to take away – this workshop is guaranteed to light up your day! Facilitated by Jenny Lee. Register for this free workshop.

Makey-Makey magic!

Monday 17th August, 12.30 – 1.30 pm

Ever played Mario using cutlery or Frogger using fruit? Come along and make yourself a play dough piano and Whack-a-Mole with some potatoes! Turn yourself into a human circuit and make your own light switches- then record your feedback using stress balls. This workshop is perfect for anyone who wants to combine creativity, science and gaming! Facilitated by Katie Marshall and Jayden Tan. Register for this free workshop.

Circuits Ole’!: Exploring sewable electronics

Monday 17th August, 2.30 – 3.30 pm

E-textiles or ‘soft circuits’ are a form of wearable electronics that is creative, expressive and engaging. In this workshop we will experiment using a battery, LED and conductive thread to learn how to connect a circuit and work it on to a wearable item or soft item. You can make a bracelet or arm band that lights up when you put it on – from there, the sky’s the limit to what you can do! Facilitated by Leah Irving. Register for this free workshop.

Master the Light with Arduino

Tuesday 18th August, 10 – 12 am

In this workshop you will have a hands-on experience with Arduino, the single-board computer that is transforming the world of hobbyists and robotics enthusiasts around the world. Write your first Arduino program and have fun controlling lights and other devices. Facilitated by Cesar Ortega-Sanchez. Register for this free workshop.

Bring your words and images to light with paper circuitry

Tuesday 18th August, 1 – 2 pm.

Paper circuitry combines art and electronics by adding lights to drawings, text or papercraft. Make a simple electrical circuit on a flat piece of paper, using copper tape, a coin cell battery and surface-mount LEDs. You can bring your own picture, create one in the workshop, or use one of ours. Perhaps you could write out a favourite quote to light up (try out our calligraphy pens!). Whatever you choose to do, it’s bound to be a luminous adventure! Facilitated by Jo Comerford. Register here for this free workshop.

Ideas Clash: Lighting Collaborative Spaces

Tuesday 18th August, 6.30 – 8.30 pm

Are you interested in innovation and creativity, and the process of developing ideas to solve problems? Facilitated by the community based collective, enkel, this session will bring together three innovative ideas in lighting collaborative spaces to unlock unexpected areas of possibility and potential. After the presenters share their ideas, the group is divided into teams, who each imagine a combination of these ideas – it’s a fun exercise in both lateral and systems thinking within a friendly, laid back environment. This session is great for ideas people and edge thinkers alike – no matter what background you are from. Join us as we turn your little-bit of crazy creativity into something change-making! Facilitated by Adam Jorlen and Jordan Ivatts. Register for this free session.

Building Bright Bunnies

Wednesday 19 th August, 12 – 2 pm

Make a cute stuffed animal that lights up when you feed it a carrot! This workshop, which is based on the Sparkfun Bright Bunny Kit is a great introduction to electronic circuitry, and a fun way to learn both soldering and hand sewing. If you haven’t soldered before, then it might be useful to read the ‘Soldering is Easy’ comic before you come. We’ll be meeting first in the library makerspace, then moving to an engineering lab to do the soldering, before returning to the library to sew the bunnies and put it all together. Facilitated by Andrew Kelly. Register for this free session.

Make like Picasso: Light painting with your mobile device

Wednesday 19 th August, 3 – 4 pm

Unleash your creativity and paint with light! We’ll be using apps like Forge of Neon, Revolution of Neon, Spawn Glo, Lume, and LightBomber to make some dazzling images, and then set them free on the Curtin Library instagram account using the hashtag #curtinlightmakers. We’ll also share with you our favourite mobile light games. You’ll need to register for the workshop if you would like to use one of our ipads, but if you are able to use your own device, registration is not essential – just come along, join in and help light up the internet! Facilitated by Marie Clarke. Register for this free session.

Immerse yourself in Virtual Reality

Thursday 20 th August, 10 – 11 am.

Google cardboard is a low cost virtual reality (VR) viewer made from foldable cardboard and 45 mm plastic lenses into which you slip a smart phone and run apps designed to work with it. Make a Google Cardboard viewer, then use your smart phone to create your own 360 degree panoramic photo, which you can then experience in 3D through the viewer. We’ll also investigate other apps that can be used in the viewer, such as the official Google Cardboard app. Required: an iphone with Photosynth, Round me and Google Cardboard installed (all free apps). OR Android phone with 360 Panorama (free), VR Panorama viewer ($1.20), and Google Cardboard (free) installed. Facilitated by James Ward. Register for this free session.

Mini Hack: Bringing treasures into the light using the Trove API

Thursday 20 th August, 3 – 5 pm

Come join us and discover how you can reuse the tremendous online resources in Trove, a collection of digital treasures maintained by the National Library of Australia. The Trove API provides data in a machine-readable form, enabling you to make great things like web applications and visualisations. A starter kit will be provided to participants prior to the event. Bring an idea and a laptop, team up with other participants and turn your novel ideas into reality! Graphic designers, programmers, data visualisation enthusiasts, application developers, researchers, or anyone interested in playing with data are welcome. Facilitated by Janice Chan. Register for this free session.

Drop in session: Try a bit of everything!

Friday 21st August, 12 – 2 pm

For those who are unable to attend a workshop, we are running an open session with self-guided activities. Come along and do some ‘light making’ – illuminate an origami flower, create a spider with eyes that light up, tinker with arduinos and LEDs, paint with light using apps, play the laser maze game or our Edison robots, invent with makey makeys, experiment with paper circuitry, or try out the Google cardboard VR viewer. We’ll have some friendly library staff on hand to help if you need it!

Our collaborators
Light Makers @ Your Library has been funded by a National Science Week small grant. Curtin Library is partnering with Enkel, a Fremantle based community collective which facilitates and hosts the discovery, development and implementation of innovative ideas, and Thornlie Public Library. Within Curtin University itself, Curtin Library is working with Curtin Teaching and Learning, Curtin Science and Engineering Outreach and Curtin AHEAD.