This week’s projects…

Wrapped up a heart shaped word clock (commission). Heart clocks are hard. I have not yet gotten the kinks out of the design from an “easy to build” perspective. Getting the sides to meet at the top and tuck into the valley at the top of the heart is still tricky. I keep making adjustments so it is getting easier but I have not made enough of these to have it dialed in. Despite the struggles, this one came out ok in the area, so I must be getting close. This one features some wings added to the side. I tried for an art deco look on the wings by using layers and contours. Alyssa Crosby painted the face and the wings. Her part came out great. I am happy with this one.

Worked a bit on some patterns for the big matrices. Actually, “reworking” old patterns with new ideas is a better description. Of late, I have been using an additive approach. This method adds new elements on top of existing elements. This is different than the more common approach of writing over what was there from previous frames. These require a bit of attention to prevent the additive approach from creating a giant blob of white, which on top of not being interesting, draws a lot of power, which is not a good thing. So, watch the brightness and fade prior frames harder to keep a lid on things.

Also, given how “different” the afore mentioned additive approach makes some patterns look, I started thinking about adding a very simple user interface to the matrix projects. The idea is to allow the viewer to pick from some subsets of available patterns via a button. So, breaking down the patterns into several lists and writing the code to move from one list to the next list via the push of a single button. So, designing a mount for a button while thinking about how to code this. Should be relatively simple but I always start out thinking that.

Push button mount for matrix. Attaches to the 2020 rail.