RIT SHED INSTALLATION
In spring 2024, I began working as a Maker Mentor in the Student Hall of Exploration and Development (SHED) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
​
On my first day, my boss Mike Buffalin stated that he would like a mural to fill a space on a blank partition wall in the Textiles and Electronics workspace. I volunteered, and he told me to go for it.
I started with a couple of plans for an actual painted mural, asking my peers and coworkers about what would make an interesting design to properly represent the workspace I was designing for.
Eventually, I tried out a third design of a circuit board, which featured what we call the "RITchie Circuit Board": a competency test and training tool we give students in order to allow them to solder in our workspace.
I had still intended for this artwork to be painted until I decided to think a bit more about the Textiles and Electronics space itself...
​
I wanted to showcase not only the "electronics" side with the circuitry, but I also thought it would be interesting to show the versatility of textile materials.
​
I asked my boss, "What if this was a 3D mural?" He loved the idea, so I made plans for materials and construction.
It took several months for the materials to come in, and plans also changed during that time.
​
Painting the wall itself would've been an issue with the campus aesthetic organizers, which was a headache we decided not to deal with. So we decided to make the piece an installation instead, using a large piece of plywood that would fit the partition wall.
Moving into the summer semester, I was given proper time and space to be able to work on the most tedious part of the whole installation: the circuitry.
​
I would be cutting, pinning, and gluing yarn to the board to make the traces of the circuit.
​
I would start by projecting points onto my board that I would use as pin guidelines. After the marks were transferred, I began working on the traces.
Along the way, I made the RITchie circuit board component that would be attached to the board, and elevated out from the board on some dowels.
​
The board was laser-cut and engraved to provide tactile references as to where I'll be placing the fabric detailing.
We wouldn't be able to make the eye actually light up, since there's no proper place for power on the partition wall, so to create a "glowing" illusion, behind the eye I placed a semi-sphere covered in glittery reflective fabric.
For the components on the board, the design was initially going to be a lot more complex, but I wound up dialing it back since the components got a bit too noisy, and were detracting from the RITchie board in the center.
​
I stuck to simple integrated circuits made out of foam, a ribbon cable, and a few capacitors I modeled.
​
The prongs on the circuits were intended to be made with real zippers, but none of the zippers I came across had large enough teeth to be significant, so I 3D-printed zipper teeth to craft that illusion.
On the RITchie circuit itself, I wanted to recreate its components as accurately as possible.
For the resistors, I used beige spooled thread and wound stripes with the proper colors. For the light sensor, I used the base of a plastic jar, and an empty spool of thread in order to mimic the clear appearance of the diode.
Come the fall semester, more changes were planned for the destination of this installation. The front partition wall began being used as a poster wall for events and announcements, and new equipment and room rearrangements made the placement of this installation less than ideal since students could potentially damage it.
​
My boss and managers decided it would be best displayed towards the back of the room on top of cabinetry that held a lot of our electronic components.
I'm grateful to have been given a chance to work on such a grand project for the newest RIT workspace. I'm glad to have left my legacy behind at my school, and I'm thankful to all of the people that have assisted me with this project.
Special Thanks:
Mike Buffalin, Jim Heaney, Chris Vorndran, and the RIT SHED Makerspace Summer Crew
​