1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,160 [Music] 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:06,640 Welcome to The Circuit Python Show. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:08,400 I'm your host, Paul Cutler. 4 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:10,320 This episode I'm joined by Erin St. 5 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:12,400 Blain. Erin is a light artist who 6 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:14,480 creates sculptures, costumes, and artwork 7 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:16,240 with programmable LED lights, often 8 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:17,360 including interactivity and data 9 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:19,680 visualization 10 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:21,760 to bring her creations to life. Erin's 11 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:23,200 mission is to inspire more young makers, 12 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:25,280 especially girls who are under 13 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:27,200 represented in the STEM world, to use art 14 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:29,280 and technology to make their own dreams 15 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:32,240 come true. Erin, welcome to the show. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me. 16 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:36,360 How did you first get started with computers and electronics? I've always 17 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,360 liked computers. My parents were early adopters. We had like an Apple IIe when I 18 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:44,960 was a kid. I used to play games on that thing all the time and just learned DOS 19 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:49,960 when I was in high school and really just always get into it. It was it was 20 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,960 the new exciting thing when I was a teenager. I've always enjoyed using 21 00:00:53,960 --> 00:01:01,720 computers. Getting into electronics was kind of a different sort of backdoor thing. I was a 22 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:07,320 professional fire dancer and doing a lot of fire shows around the San Francisco Bay Area. 23 00:01:07,320 --> 00:01:13,320 It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of places where I just couldn't perform with fire. Fiery can 24 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:18,280 be a problem. They don't want to let you in doors with it. You know there's insurance, there's fire 25 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:19,660 or marshals to deal with. 26 00:01:19,660 --> 00:01:23,500 So I was looking for some kind of other show, 27 00:01:23,500 --> 00:01:26,000 some kind of other revenue source 28 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,860 where I didn't have to deal with the fire. 29 00:01:27,860 --> 00:01:30,580 And back in the early 2000s, 30 00:01:30,580 --> 00:01:35,300 there weren't fancy LED flow props like there are now. 31 00:01:35,300 --> 00:01:37,920 And so I mostly got into electronics 32 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,240 because I wanted to make myself some poi 33 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:41,480 that I could use inside 34 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:45,060 that would rival the coolness of the fire show. 35 00:01:45,060 --> 00:01:47,780 And then after I started playing around with that, 36 00:01:47,780 --> 00:01:50,220 I started realizing I could do costuming too. 37 00:01:50,220 --> 00:01:52,600 And I did a lot of other kinds of events. 38 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:54,780 We performed at a lot of corporate shows, 39 00:01:54,780 --> 00:01:56,260 that sort of thing in the Bay Area. 40 00:01:56,260 --> 00:01:58,160 So started making light up costumes. 41 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:02,340 And then what really like made me jump into, 42 00:02:02,340 --> 00:02:03,660 off the deep end, I suppose, 43 00:02:03,660 --> 00:02:07,180 was I'm a professional mermaid as well. 44 00:02:07,180 --> 00:02:09,580 My mermaid shows, 45 00:02:09,580 --> 00:02:12,060 I go to little girls' birthday parties in a mermaid tail 46 00:02:12,060 --> 00:02:14,340 and sit in their mansion pool or whatever 47 00:02:14,340 --> 00:02:16,820 and be Ariel or whatever that was. 48 00:02:16,820 --> 00:02:20,460 And I decided I wanted to do a light up mermaid tail 49 00:02:20,460 --> 00:02:22,860 and combine my two passions. 50 00:02:22,860 --> 00:02:25,060 And man, that was a hard project. 51 00:02:25,060 --> 00:02:28,280 It was, yeah, I didn't know what I was getting into. 52 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:32,480 I feel like if I had known how hard it was going to be 53 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,240 to make an electronic addressable mermaid tail 54 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:36,260 that worked underwater, 55 00:02:36,260 --> 00:02:37,820 I would have given up before I started. 56 00:02:37,820 --> 00:02:40,660 But luckily I had no idea how hard it was gonna be. 57 00:02:40,660 --> 00:02:43,420 At the same time, I met a couple of Adafruit folks. 58 00:02:43,420 --> 00:02:45,860 Phil Burgess from Adafruit lived just down the street 59 00:02:45,860 --> 00:02:52,340 me and he was a real instrumental in helping me. I had so much help. And I remember in the early 60 00:02:52,340 --> 00:02:59,780 days, like going online and finding so many people online that were ready to help me with my projects. 61 00:02:59,780 --> 00:03:04,580 I didn't know anything about coding, but you know, the fast led community online was really active 62 00:03:04,580 --> 00:03:09,460 and really wonderful. And everybody was super excited about my projects. Not a lot of artists 63 00:03:09,460 --> 00:03:13,940 were doing electronics at the time. Hopefully there are a few more out there now. I'm starting 64 00:03:13,940 --> 00:03:17,700 to see a lot of stuff, but when I started it was kind of a blue ocean. 65 00:03:17,700 --> 00:03:22,980 So you have over 100 projects in the Adafruit Learn Guide. Where do you find your inspiration 66 00:03:22,980 --> 00:03:29,940 for all of them? Oh my gosh, everywhere. I was just at a Santa Cruz regional burn at Unscrews 67 00:03:29,940 --> 00:03:35,300 this last weekend and walking around looking at everybody's light-up coats, and now I'm dying to 68 00:03:35,300 --> 00:03:41,220 do a light-up coat tutorial. That's going to happen soon. Every place I look, every place I go, I just 69 00:03:41,220 --> 00:03:46,020 get ideas all the time. When I first started, of course, I had to kind of come up with my own ideas 70 00:03:46,020 --> 00:03:52,580 and it was this event company that I was running. I wanted to come up with a really great 71 00:03:52,580 --> 00:03:57,540 costume that I could wear to the Exploratorium for a big corporate party. So doing costuming was 72 00:03:57,540 --> 00:04:02,980 really a big part of my initial inspiration. And now I'm well known enough, I guess, that people 73 00:04:02,980 --> 00:04:06,980 will email me with their ideas, which is great. I don't have to come up with my own inspiration 74 00:04:06,980 --> 00:04:14,900 anymore. Also, I work with a lot of the folks on the Adafruit team and I get to do a lot of 75 00:04:14,900 --> 00:04:18,660 way more complicated projects than I'd be able to do by myself because I get to work with the 76 00:04:18,660 --> 00:04:24,100 engineers. And it's real nice being on that team because I'm not an MIT graduate. I don't have a 77 00:04:24,100 --> 00:04:28,500 big background in coding and engineering. I don't know how this stuff works from the ground up, 78 00:04:28,500 --> 00:04:33,380 but they don't know anything about vinyl cutters. They don't know anything about sewing, right? 79 00:04:33,380 --> 00:04:35,060 So my skill set is real nice. 80 00:04:35,060 --> 00:04:38,780 Like it, it compliments a lot of the engineers that work for Adafruit and we 81 00:04:38,780 --> 00:04:41,740 can work together and create things that none of us could do on our own. 82 00:04:41,740 --> 00:04:45,400 For those just getting started with NeoPixel or LED projects, what 83 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:46,620 advice would you have for them? 84 00:04:46,620 --> 00:04:49,020 It's not going to work the first time. 85 00:04:49,020 --> 00:04:51,320 You need patience. 86 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:55,940 You need patience and you need to be able to fix things. 87 00:04:55,940 --> 00:05:00,400 Man, I can't tell you like the fire shows that I used to do. 88 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:02,140 You soak that thing in gas, you light it up. 89 00:05:02,140 --> 00:05:08,620 it burns every time. I developed a whole LED light show with persistence of vision poi and 90 00:05:08,620 --> 00:05:13,100 light up costumes. Everything was supposed to sync together. You know, I think maybe that 91 00:05:13,100 --> 00:05:20,540 show has gone off perfectly one time in my whole life. Electronics is hard. It's really frustrating. 92 00:05:20,540 --> 00:05:26,220 It really takes time consuming. It's a detail-oriented thing. You really need to be 93 00:05:26,220 --> 00:05:32,460 able to be in that brain and it's worth it. It's really worth it. When I get out there and I'm 94 00:05:32,460 --> 00:05:37,180 wearing my light-up corset at this event everybody they're following me around people are just 95 00:05:37,180 --> 00:05:42,540 drooling over this stuff. It's really putting the time and energy in is uh is worth it. 96 00:05:42,540 --> 00:05:47,580 You mentioned being a mermaid. What were the challenges with the LEDs that you referenced? 97 00:05:47,580 --> 00:05:54,300 Oh my goodness um LEDs and salt water are not supposed to go together and I wanted to be able 98 00:05:54,300 --> 00:05:59,140 able to take this thing into the ocean. I mostly at first performed in pools and 99 00:05:59,140 --> 00:06:03,360 that kind of thing and even chlorine it's not good for LEDs either. I was 100 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:08,260 doing so much research I found myself on like Navy SEAL websites researching 101 00:06:08,260 --> 00:06:11,900 open-rove projects you know anybody that was trying to do DIY electronics 102 00:06:11,900 --> 00:06:16,080 underwater and there really wasn't much out there. I was also learning a lot of 103 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,660 different arts I was learning how to work with neoprene I my first monofin I 104 00:06:20,660 --> 00:06:24,260 tried to do fiberglass on my own you know and learn how to do that so there 105 00:06:24,260 --> 00:06:30,900 challenges on every single level. That tail took me two months to make of working on it incessantly. 106 00:06:30,900 --> 00:06:36,900 And it broke every single time I used it. As soon as I'd get in the water, it would work for 10 107 00:06:36,900 --> 00:06:41,860 minutes and then it would flicker and go out and then I'd pull out my enclosure and it'd be flooded 108 00:06:41,860 --> 00:06:49,140 with water and man there was just so many learning curves. And I just recently did a new tutorial on 109 00:06:49,140 --> 00:06:57,140 about LEDs in harsh environments, where I took a lot of the things that I learned over the last seven years of fixing that tail, 110 00:06:57,140 --> 00:07:05,140 and made a new version. I threw the old one away, I made a whole brand new one, which it still has its problems, 111 00:07:05,140 --> 00:07:12,140 but it is built in such a way that I can work on it real easily. It's really easy to change out light strips, and it's a lot more reliable. 112 00:07:12,140 --> 00:07:18,140 more reliable. I work as a mermaid at the mermaid bar in Sacramento. There's a mermaid bar called 113 00:07:18,140 --> 00:07:24,700 dive bar right in downtown Sacramento. We have a 40 foot saltwater aquarium above the bar where 114 00:07:24,700 --> 00:07:29,900 they have mermaids that swim every single night. And it is a saltwater aquarium and I will wear my 115 00:07:29,900 --> 00:07:34,700 mermaid glimmer. That's her name. My light up mermaid glimmer tail in the aquarium, 116 00:07:34,700 --> 00:07:40,220 you know, usually mostly for special events. I don't do it with every swim, but it's still 117 00:07:41,180 --> 00:07:45,660 a lot of wear and tear to get that thing running and to keep all the lights on and because of 118 00:07:45,660 --> 00:07:51,260 course it you know being an led artist it bugs the heck out of me if one of the light strands goes 119 00:07:51,260 --> 00:07:56,540 out but you know another another thing that i've learned over the years of fixing this tail is how 120 00:07:56,540 --> 00:08:02,300 to make it fail gracefully so when one of the light strands went out on my initial tail everything 121 00:08:02,300 --> 00:08:06,620 downstream of that light you know because that's the way neopixels work if you lose one connection 122 00:08:06,620 --> 00:08:12,220 everything else goes out. The way I built this new one is all the lights are more in a starfish, 123 00:08:12,220 --> 00:08:14,940 you know, sort of configuration. So if one of the light strands goes out, 124 00:08:14,940 --> 00:08:21,900 only up to 20% of the lights will go out if one light breaks. So a lot of things like that. And I 125 00:08:21,900 --> 00:08:26,780 feel great that I was able to work all this out. It was so much frustration over the years, 126 00:08:26,780 --> 00:08:31,580 but now I'm able to share that with people and hopefully save other people a lot of headaches 127 00:08:31,580 --> 00:08:35,900 by writing it up in the tutorial and really getting, you know, some of that knowledge out 128 00:08:35,900 --> 00:08:41,020 there so that hopefully other makers won't have to go through some of the frustration that I went 129 00:08:41,020 --> 00:08:46,860 through. Speaking of sharing knowledge, you just released recently a learn guide about LED and 130 00:08:46,860 --> 00:08:52,060 NeoPixel diffusion. What tips and tricks do you recommend when it comes to diffusing LEDs? 131 00:08:52,060 --> 00:08:58,220 Get creative. I just went around my house and I'm a crafter so my craft room is pretty epic. It has 132 00:08:58,220 --> 00:09:02,940 a lot of stuff in it and I just tried everything. It's a pretty great tutorial. Check it out on the 133 00:09:02,940 --> 00:09:07,780 on the Adafruit Learn system, I went through maybe, I don't know, 30 or 40, maybe 50 different 134 00:09:07,780 --> 00:09:13,820 materials and just, you know, took some photographs of and video of what it looked like real close 135 00:09:13,820 --> 00:09:16,620 up, what it looked like with a little space. 136 00:09:16,620 --> 00:09:23,500 With diffusion, it's half about the material and half about the distance between the pixels 137 00:09:23,500 --> 00:09:24,820 and the material. 138 00:09:24,820 --> 00:09:29,620 A couple of inches of space makes a huge difference. 139 00:09:29,620 --> 00:09:32,140 You know that there's so many different things out there. 140 00:09:32,140 --> 00:09:37,140 There's no way to make a comprehensive, this is how everything gets diffused tutorial. 141 00:09:37,140 --> 00:09:40,500 But it's a good place to start, take a look and just get creative. 142 00:09:40,500 --> 00:09:43,740 Come up with all kinds of, any material that you look around. 143 00:09:43,740 --> 00:09:47,560 You got to kind of get your diffusion eyes on, go to the craft store and just stroll 144 00:09:47,560 --> 00:09:50,280 around and try stuff. 145 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,100 You're going to come up with something that nobody's ever thought of before. 146 00:09:53,100 --> 00:09:56,300 With over a hundred different learn guides that you've published on the Adafruit Learn 147 00:09:56,300 --> 00:09:59,180 System, do you have a couple that are your favorites? 148 00:09:59,180 --> 00:10:00,180 Let's see. 149 00:10:00,180 --> 00:10:03,780 I really enjoy some of the super simple ones. 150 00:10:03,780 --> 00:10:07,540 I have a unicorn horn that I have a capacitive touch on. 151 00:10:07,540 --> 00:10:09,060 You touch it and the tip lights up. 152 00:10:09,060 --> 00:10:10,980 And little simple stuff like that. 153 00:10:10,980 --> 00:10:12,740 They're so much fun to make. 154 00:10:12,740 --> 00:10:16,820 I really like the tutorials that are good for you to make with your kids. 155 00:10:16,820 --> 00:10:21,140 I like seeing some of these projects out there in the wild. 156 00:10:21,140 --> 00:10:25,620 I went to Maker Faire and I saw a kid running around in my unicorn horn 157 00:10:25,620 --> 00:10:29,060 because dad made it for her and it was just the sweetest thing. 158 00:10:29,060 --> 00:10:35,140 I feel like if people can, you know, find a way to connect with their loved ones through 159 00:10:35,140 --> 00:10:39,300 building presents for them or building tutorials, I really, I really like that. 160 00:10:39,300 --> 00:10:45,300 My other favorites are the ones that have inspired some of the bigger makers. I just showed, 161 00:10:45,300 --> 00:10:50,100 I have, I've been getting into making large scale art. I have a big large scale jellyfish 162 00:10:50,100 --> 00:10:56,900 swarm installation with 50 large iridescent jellyfish that are all interconnected and they 163 00:10:56,900 --> 00:10:58,260 and they run animations through the swarm. 164 00:10:58,260 --> 00:11:00,780 And I put this up at the Autumn Lights Festival 165 00:11:00,780 --> 00:11:03,860 in Oakland last October. 166 00:11:03,860 --> 00:11:07,460 And a lot of the other artists and makers at that 167 00:11:07,460 --> 00:11:08,940 came over and sought me out. 168 00:11:08,940 --> 00:11:10,300 And they're like, "Erin, you're the one 169 00:11:10,300 --> 00:11:11,700 that got me started. 170 00:11:11,700 --> 00:11:13,300 This was my favorite tutorial." 171 00:11:13,300 --> 00:11:15,140 And then I would go and look at their art piece 172 00:11:15,140 --> 00:11:17,180 and I'm like, "Oh my goodness." 173 00:11:17,180 --> 00:11:19,700 It is just, it's beautiful to see 174 00:11:19,700 --> 00:11:21,740 how people can get inspired by, you know, 175 00:11:21,740 --> 00:11:23,780 whatever it is, the ukulele tutorial, 176 00:11:23,780 --> 00:11:25,980 the, you know, the unicorn horns, 177 00:11:25,980 --> 00:11:28,220 whatever it is that catches people's fancy. 178 00:11:28,220 --> 00:11:30,960 And I love seeing people take that and run with it 179 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:33,980 and create something that I never even dreamed of. 180 00:11:33,980 --> 00:11:37,120 I just think that's, it's just beautiful when that happens. 181 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:38,980 - I was sharing before we started recording 182 00:11:38,980 --> 00:11:41,620 that your Sound Reactive Ukulele project 183 00:11:41,620 --> 00:11:44,620 was one of the first ones that I deconstructed as well. 184 00:11:44,620 --> 00:11:46,900 So it's gotta be pretty cool to come across people building 185 00:11:46,900 --> 00:11:49,260 your projects that you see out in the wild like that. 186 00:11:49,260 --> 00:11:50,300 - It really is. 187 00:11:50,300 --> 00:11:51,740 It's real special. 188 00:11:51,740 --> 00:11:53,060 Before I started working for Adafruit, 189 00:11:53,060 --> 00:11:55,480 I did a mermaid tail tutorial as well. 190 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:58,540 and I've been to some mermaid conventions and events 191 00:11:58,540 --> 00:12:01,140 where I've seen other tales made from my tutorial 192 00:12:01,140 --> 00:12:02,180 and I can tell, right? 193 00:12:02,180 --> 00:12:03,980 I can see the way they did the paint, 194 00:12:03,980 --> 00:12:06,540 the way they did the model fan, everything is, 195 00:12:06,540 --> 00:12:08,540 and I love just going over and taking pictures with them. 196 00:12:08,540 --> 00:12:09,980 It's so fun. 197 00:12:09,980 --> 00:12:12,380 It just tickles me to no end 198 00:12:12,380 --> 00:12:14,860 that people are taking this stuff and using it 199 00:12:14,860 --> 00:12:16,620 and putting their own twist on it. 200 00:12:16,620 --> 00:12:18,860 - Last question for you. 201 00:12:18,860 --> 00:12:20,300 You're starting a new project. 202 00:12:20,300 --> 00:12:22,580 Which microcontroller do you reach for? 203 00:12:22,580 --> 00:12:25,380 - Almost always the Circuit Playground Express. 204 00:12:25,380 --> 00:12:27,740 That thing's got capacitive touch, it's got buttons, 205 00:12:27,740 --> 00:12:30,300 it's got switches, it's got sensors built in. 206 00:12:30,300 --> 00:12:32,360 It's really easy to alligator clip to, 207 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,140 so I can prototype with it really well. 208 00:12:35,140 --> 00:12:38,500 And it runs Circuit Python, it runs Arduino, 209 00:12:38,500 --> 00:12:43,140 it is just this fantastic prototyping board. 210 00:12:43,140 --> 00:12:46,400 And it doesn't always make it into the final project, 211 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:48,180 because it is a little bit bigger 212 00:12:48,180 --> 00:12:49,460 and a little more expensive, 213 00:12:49,460 --> 00:12:54,460 but the amount of prototyping ability on that thing 214 00:12:54,980 --> 00:12:56,260 is just amazing. 215 00:12:56,260 --> 00:12:58,900 And with all the sensors already included, 216 00:12:58,900 --> 00:13:01,700 it's one of my, definitely my go-to. 217 00:13:01,700 --> 00:13:04,400 If I'm teaching people how to use microcontrollers 218 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:07,740 for the first time, that is definitely one of the ones 219 00:13:07,740 --> 00:13:10,180 that I think people should always start with. 220 00:13:10,180 --> 00:13:11,500 - That's the one I started with. 221 00:13:11,500 --> 00:13:12,740 - Yeah, absolutely. 222 00:13:12,740 --> 00:13:14,780 Easy to use and just full of features. 223 00:13:14,780 --> 00:13:18,020 Make code, you know, all kinds of options with that book. 224 00:13:18,020 --> 00:13:20,420 - Erin, thanks so much for being on the show. 225 00:13:20,420 --> 00:13:21,740 - Thanks for having me. 226 00:13:21,740 --> 00:13:24,060 - Thank you for listening to the Circuit Python Show. 227 00:13:24,060 --> 00:13:29,700 You can find out more about Erin and her work at her homepage at erinstblaine.com. 228 00:13:29,700 --> 00:13:32,980 For show notes and transcripts, visit circuitpythonshow.com. 229 00:13:32,980 --> 00:13:34,940 Until next time, stay positive. 230 00:13:34,940 --> 00:13:38,020 (electronic beeping)