Bex’s Blog Takeover Week 8 - Stealth Training Suite

Welcome Boom! Friends to Stealth Training. This week we are going to create some motion and vibration sensors. These can be used around your house as motion checks surrounding your treasure or connected up with wires and such to create your own obstacle course.

 Let’s get started……

You will need paper, a pen, tape, straw/stick/feathers, a bowl/cup, clingfilm or similar, some light beads/dry rice. I also recommend some string.

First the vibration sensor. This is often used in science classes as a simple seismograph to teach about earthquakes. I’m hoping it will be sensitive enough to pick up footsteps.

Attach your pen to your bottle with the stick keeping both upright. Make sure you tape them firmly together. Add water to the bottle. I couldn’t find any fill limits but would recommend filling to the straw height. Make sure your pen is only just touching the paper and can move freely.

Second the noise sensor. Once again this is stolen from science classes. Cover a bowl with a single layer of clingfilm, keep as tight as possible so it looks like a really light drum.

Gently place light beads on top. Once in place any loud noise should cause the beads to move as the “drum” vibrates.

Once you have made your sensors you will want to test them. This will give you a chance to make sure they work and test there sensitivity. I used my Bunnies as test subjects and set up a small course in their room.

As well as our two sensors I also added a trip string with floating straws to pick up any air currents. The straws are light enough to fall if disturbed with the lightest breeze. You can also use feathers and small bits of paper for this.

My test failed.

My test subjects came over, ate the beads (tried to, I did just manage to catch and stop them) bit through the trip string and didn’t trip the vibration sensor even when dancing around it.

So as a awesome blog project it failed, as an experiment it means I need to try again.

Where did I go wrong? Were my test subjects to light? Obviously beads and bunnies don’t work so how should I fix that?

Did I use the wrong kind of pen? Should I attach bells to highlight smaller movements?

So my stealth suite didn’t work for me. I am going to have to go away and try some other options. This shows that even an experienced artist doesn’t always get it right first time. We keep trying until we are happy with our results. So should you!

Always experiment in Art, practice your crafts and see failures as a chance to improve.

And to show that I am willing to learn I want your advice. Can you get the stealth suite to work? Let me know and send in your recommendations to help me git it better next time.

Two weeks left guys. Share your favourite Bex's Boom! Blog Takeover stories with us. We want to hear them.

(p.s. Trip strings are dangerous if left unattended and should not be left, or placed carelessly. Talk to your responsible adult if you are unsure about best placement.)

As always please send comments to heather@boomcommunityarts.com

And we’d love to see what you have made, share your creations with us twitter @boom_arts or www.facebook.com/BoomCommunityArts