MAKE LED Graffiti Because they are so efficient, LEDs (light-emitting diodes) are used in digital clocks, Christmas lights, flashlights, traffic signals, and all sorts of electronic devices. With the help of a cheap lithium battery and some tape, LEDs can also be used to build tiny “glowies” that shine colorfully in the dark. Add a powerful magnet, and, like some guerrilla artists do, you can make temporary “graffiti.”
CODE RED! Some grownups are paranoid about
devices made of LED lights, batteries, and tape; they’re worried they might be explosive devices. So don’t use these devices in airports, or attempt to carry them onto airplanes. And you might not want to bring them to school, unless you have permission from your teacher to do so.
You’ll need: 2.
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Try this: 1.
tudy your LEDs. Each one has a longer leg S (known as the anode) and a shorter leg (known as the cathode). Anode
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tudy your batteries. A disc-shaped lithium S battery’s positive (+) terminal extends around the sides of the battery; its negative (-) terminal is smaller.
tudy your magnets. They are very powerful, S so don’t place one near a card with a magnetic strip—you might ruin the card. Same thing goes for computer hard drives. Touch the LED’s anode to the battery’s positive terminal, and its cathode to the battery’s negative terminal. (Careful! If you touch the cathode to the battery’s positive terminal, you might ruin the LED.) If the LED doesn’t light up, try another LED. Experiment with adding more than one LED to a single battery. eeping the LED’s legs in place, wrap a small K strip of tape tightly around the battery. You’ve just made an LED glowie.
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Illustrations by Mister Reusch
• At least 20 10mm diffused superbright LEDs. Try to get a mix of different colors. These are available at electronics stores, and also many websites—including Amazon. • 20 3V lithium batteries, size CR2032. • 20 nickel-plated, disc-shaped, 1⁄2" diameter x 1⁄8 " thick “rare earth” magnets. One example of a rare earth is neodymium (chemical symbol: Nd). So when shopping for these magnets, one description you might see is: 1⁄2" diameter x 1⁄8 " thick NdFeB Disc Magnet, Ni-Cu-Ni plated. Another description for the same magnet might be: Neodymium magnets, 1⁄2" x 1⁄8 " disc. • Strong 1" wide tape. Use strapping tape, duct tape, or electrical tape.
lace a magnet on the battery’s positive termiP nal (over the tape). Wrap some more tape around the magnet. Now you’ve converted your LED glowie into an LED throwie.
Lightly throw—that’s why they’re called “throwies”— your LED device onto the refrigerator door, or other ferromagnetic surfaces. (Why won’t magnets stick to some metals? Look it up!) Walk around your block tossing throwies onto appropriate metal objects (not cars, you might scratch the paint). Try to form patterns and designs. When you’re finished enjoying your throwies, take them down again, otherwise your neighbors might object. Take your glowies apart when you’re not using them, so the batteries will last longer.
BATTERIES
When the lithium batteries in your glowies/throwies stop working, don’t throw them out with the trash. Batteries contain a number of heavy metals and toxic chemicals; when they are thrown out, they can contaminate the soil and pollute groundwater. Instead, drop them off at a household hazardous waste facility, or participate in one of the many mail-in or take-back programs that are available. Many stores that sell electronics have recycling receptacles that will accept most types of batteries; if the battery is not recyclable, the store will get rid of it safely. One of the recycling processes available for lithium-containing batteries involves recovering the lithium and selling it back to battery manufacturers.
Cathode you
Goof Off
you
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Graffiti bombing outside the Sydney Opera House
JOIN THE WOOL
REVOLUTION! BECOME A . R E B M O B YARN
One of Magda Sayeg’s favorite projects: a bus in Mexico City
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If anyone in your family knits or crochets, yarn bombing is a great way to use up leftover yarn. You can start your own yarn bombing projects to cover less-than-beautiful items in your house or yard or apartment building. Or you can head out and bring some woolly sunshine to other parts of your town. Posts, door handles, fences, street sign poles, statues, trees, bike racks: knit or crochet cozies for whatever’s out there! (You can sew the ends together with a large embroidery needle, or use buttons if you know how to make buttonholes.) Just remember to never cover the words on a street sign; you wouldn’t want someone to blow through an intersection because the stop sign was covered in an afghan. Yarn bombing is also a fun way to leave something beautiful behind on your vacations. Photograph your tags (that’s what yarn bombs are called) to keep a unique record of where you’ve been.
Photography by Magda Sayeg and Cesar Ortego (bus). Reprinted with permission.
Also called yarn storming, guerrilla knitting, and graffiti knitting, yarn bombing started in Houston, Texas, when knitter Magda Sayeg decided that the neighborhood where she managed a clothing store was ugly and depressing. To perk it up, Sayeg knit a pink and- purple cover for the store’s door handle. “People wanted to come by and touch it and talk about it,” she says. Those positive reactions were all Sayeg needed to start covering other public structures with yarn. She and her knitting group made striped sleeves for parking meters in Brooklyn (New York). They knit caps for the pylons surrounding the Sydney Opera House in Australia. They inspired other needle crafters from Canada and England and elsewhere to start their own projects across the globe.
Q&A WITH MAGDA SAYEG
Illustrations by Mister Reusch
No, yarn bombing isn’t about pelting your enemies with balls of wool. It’s a creative, fun, and easy way to add color and beautiful textures to otherwise grey urban landscapes. The “bombing” part comes from street slang; it means to “tag” a public space with graffiti.
Cover less-thanbeautiful items in your own yard or building
UNBORED: How did you get the idea for yarn bombing?
UNBORED: What do you say to people who say yarn bombing should be illegal, like graffiti?
SAYEG: The city around us is made out of concrete and steel. I wanted to put something warm, fuzzy, and handmade into it to remind people that everyone has responsibility for the world we live in.
SAYEG: Knit graffiti doesn’t harm anything. It is not permanent, and it doesn’t use anything like paint or glue that is bad for the environment. If someone doesn’t like it, knitting is easy to remove.
UNBORED: Do you have a favorite project?
UNBORED: How long should yarn bombs be left in place?
SAYEG: My favorite project was a bus in Mexico City. We wrapped the entire bus in knitting, and there were art classes inside the bus so that everyone in the community could be involved.
SAYEG: It depends on the place. If the knitting is exposed to bad weather and sunlight, it might start to fade after a month or two. If your installation starts to look like trash—if it’s making things uglier instead of more beautiful—then remove it.
UNBORED: How can kids get started with yarn bombing? SAYEG: Learn how to knit! The best way is to use your fingers instead of needles—it’s called finger knitting. Search “finger knitting” on YouTube for some demonstrations.
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