Thursday, October 25, 2012

Little Star and Friends Come to Life

This post will be more pictures than writing.  I've been working on creating the five main stars from The Little Star That Could and I've finally worked out patterns and created a prototype for each one.  


The five main stuffed animal star characters sit on a table.  They all have human like faces (eyes, noses, mouths and some have hair).  A softball sized red stuffed animal star (Big Daddy) sits on a desk.  He has a black goatee and wears sunglasses.  Next to him on the right is an orange stuffed animal star (Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star) which is slightly bigger than the red star and has a white mustache and looks tired and old.  To the right of the orange star is a yellow star (Little Star/Sol) who is about the size of a baseball and is smiling.  To the right of the yellows star is a basketball sized white star (Pearl).  She has eyelashes, a pointy nose, is smiling gently and has cheek length hair that is also white.  Next to the white star on the right is a blue star (Mr. Angry Blue-White Star) who looks angry.  He has a bulbous nose and squinting eyes.  Behind all the plush stars is a picture of the stars all lined up together in the same order (red, orange, yellow, white, blue) pulled from the planetarium show, "The Little Star That Could."
Big Daddy, Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star, Little Star/Sol, Pearl, Mr. Angry Blue-White Star


Some will have some changes made in the future (i.e. the first couple made will look better).  My sewing skills have definitely improved since I started (at least I think they have).  
Three versions of the Little Star plush character sit next to each other on a white desk.  The first version on the left is the original hand sewn version.  It is a darker yellow than the other two.  His nose is very flat, as are his eyebrows and hair.  His mouth is just a simple sewn line of thread, but his eyes are the same as the other two versions, big white ovals with brown irises and black pupils.  There are rays/prominences shining out from around him.  The second version is in the middle has a lighter yellow color than the first.  His nose is now prominent and he has noticeable cheeks.  His lips are also bigger but his eyes remain the same as the first version's.  His rays are much smaller than the first version's and he lacks eyebrows.  His hair is very big and obvious.  The third version is on the right is very similar to the second version but with much more obvious rays and eyebrows.  The lips are toned down to a normal size and the hair is also smaller.
Little Star Version 1 (hand sewn, was with me all the way through being awarded the grant), Version 2 (first attempt at pattern making), and Version 3 (the one that came to Space Camp that the kids tested out for me)


Anyway, without further ado, let me introduce you to the Little Star character prototypes...




Big Daddy
Red satin fabric starting to be sewn into a ball shape sits on a sewing machine with black sunglasses nearby.


The red satin ball now looks more like a star.  The black eyebrows and goatee are attached and the face is complete with a nose, mouth and eyes.  The black sunglasses are nearby.


The red satin star has been filled with stuffing and awaits his sunglasses.  A silver needle with black thread sticks out of his nose waiting to sew the glasses in place.


The red satin star is now complete.  He has rays protruding out from him, a large nose and lips, a black goatee and eyebrows and black sunglasses.  This is Big Daddy.



Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star
Some orange fabric is being sewn together into a ball shape.  It has a piece missing from the bottom of the ball as that is where the star's mouth will go.  Above where the piece is missing is the nose which sticks out a little.


The orange ball is now sewn together and white eyes and a white mustache have been added to give the star a face.


The final stitches are been machine sewn into the orange ball.  Some white and black pins stick out from the orange fabric.


The orange ball now has rays protruding out from it.  The eyes are old looking with brown irises and black pupils.  White eyebrows have been added and the whole character has been stuffed.



Pearl
A large piece of white fleece is draped over an off white sewing machine.




The large white fleece now has a pointy nose and cheeks.  It is being held in front of the off white sewing machine.


The star is now sewn together, has eyes and eyelids.  There are rays along the sides of her and she has a mouth that is smiling and hair that goes to her cheeks now too.  She remains flat however as she is unstuffed.


The white fleece star, pearl is finished.  The star is now stuffed and has eyelashes (which are the false kind one finds in the cosmetics department) and brown eyebrows.



Mr. Angry Blue-White Star
Mr. Angry Blue-White Star is halfway complete.  The star is a medium to light blue.  He has small rays and is sewn together to be a ball but remains unstuffed


The star has a scowling mouth, squinting eyes, angry white eyebrows and small black pupils with brown irises on the whites of his eyes.  He has a wide nose and puffy cheeks.



Little Star/Sol (version 2)
Many small pieces of yellow fabric lie on a table and sewing machine.  Several are pinned with white and black pins and there is a pair of blue scissors and a green seam ripper on the table as well.


Two halves of a ball of yellow fabric are complete and hang from the sewing machine.  One has a nose and cheeks on it.


Little star is stuffed and gets eyes and a tuft of hair.  He is smiling and has plump cheeks and no eyebrows.  He has very small rays protruding from around him.

The finished yellows star sits in front of a board that shows his cartoon image and a swatch of yellow fabric under it.  The star is smiling, small, with small rays, plump cheeks, and big eyes.  He has no eyebrows (however the cartoon version does have brown eyebrows).




Little Star/Sol (version 3) and the Blog's Author look down a ladder (both smiling) from up in the cockpit of a Space Shuttle simulator.  The author is blonde and wearing a grey tshirt with planets on it and holding Little Star out down the ladder.  Little Star is yellow, and looks much like version two with big eyes, a nose, plump cheeks, and a smile, but this version has smaller hair, brown eyebrows and larger more noticeable rays around the sides of him.  In front of the author and the star is the grey and white rung of a metal ladder.  Behind the pair is a white ceiling with grey panels of metal switches, buttons and knobs.  White writing and Braille label every switch.
Little Star/Sol (version 3) and the Blog's Author in the cockpit of the Space Shuttle Endeavour Mockup at U.S. Space Camp


The blog's author, a woman of 5'4" with blonde hair, sits in a chair in her cubical.  She is wearing a blue NASA flight suit and is holding all of the plush star characters.  On her right leg is Pearl, the white star with eyelashes, white cheek length hair and brown eyes.  On the author's left leg sits Mr. Angry Blue-White Star, the blue star who has angry white eyebrows and squinting eyes.  On top of Pearl sits Big Daddy, satin and red with black sunglasses, a big nose and big lips.  On top of the blue star sits Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star with his white eyebrows and mustache and tired looking eyes.  On the author's head sits Little Star version 3 - smiling with big eyes and plump cheeks.  The blog's author is looking up at Little Star and smiling.  Behind the woman is an original poster for The Little Star That Could from it's second run in 1990.  The black background features cartoon images of the character that sit as plush toys in her lap and the words "A Children's Planetarium Show the Whole Family can Enjoy" in white.  A pink stripe runs across the top of the poster that says, "The McDonnell Star Theater Presents..." in white as well.
Blog Author with the Little Star Family (that is a poster for the show from its second run in 1990 behind me)

It was a lot to come up with the patterns since I haven't really sewn for close to 10 years, but it was also a lot of fun.  It was great to work out the patterns, see the characters come to life and figure out what needed to be tweaked here and there.  I can't wait to make the final versions in more durable upholstery fabric!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

It's Here! It's Here!

The EZ-Form Brailler and Tactile Duplicator is here!  I'm so excited to start making books!  This machine will be what I use to produce the books that will contain tactile images from the show as well as tactile star charts.  It was like Christmas morning!



A 5'4" blonde woman in a blue flight suit is opening a very large brown cardboard package. The package is about three feet tall and two feet wide and across.
Opening the EZ-Brailler


A 5'4" blonde woman in a blue flight suit is pulling dark grey packing foam out of a very large brown cardboard package. The package is about three feet tall and two feet wide and across.
Unpacking the EZ-Brailler


The EZ-Brailler (a square black object) sits in the large 3 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot box.  It is surrounded by clear bubble wrap.
Wondering how I am going to get all 108lbs of the EZ-Brailler onto my desk (thanks for your help, Justin and Andrea)!
The EZ-Brailler (an object that looks like a black box with control dials on one side on a red plate attached to the box.  The top part of the box slides back to reveals the inside where the Braillon paper goes to form tactile book pages which currently has a tan piece of Braillon paper in it with Braille instructions on it), sits on an off white desk with the instruction booklet (which has a red binding) sitting next to it.
Ready to produce books!

Hopefully I will start creating the tactile follow-along books on Friday!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Little Star Goes to Space Camp

A yellow star stuffed animal sits on a black counter with a black headset on as if he is using it.  There is a sign in front of the star that reads, "Flight Director."
Little Star as Flight Director
in Mission Control
After being awarded the grant for "Feeling the Stars," the president of Lighthouse mentioned he takes a group of children who are blind and have low vision to Space Camp every year through SCIVIS 
(Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students).  He then asked me if I would like to chaperone.  He mentioned that it would of course be great for me to learn from some of the children "Feeling the Stars" will aim to serve when it grows past Little Star, and also to learn from and network with the Teachers for the Visually Impaired (TVI) and/or Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Teachers who I will most likely start seeing next year (at least the Missouri ones) with their students at the Planetarium.  Of course I said yes and prepared to help chaperone 32 children to Huntsville, Alabama for a week.



The entire week was INCREDIBLE!





A star stuffed animal sits on a red helmet.  There is a very tall brown wooden wall behind the star with multicolored rocks attached for climbing.  There are wires hanging down for safety when people are climbing the wall.
Little Star contemplates the
climbing wall the Mach III
Aviation Challenge teams
are about to climb
I don't just mean being at Space Camp and Aviation Challenge (although that was fantastic too).  The kids.  I learned so much from them and the wonderful other chap-erones who were all TVIs and/or O&Ms.  The teachers were very kind and 





supportive, and some have already expressed interest in the program!  The kids there threw themselves into everything and grew so much during the week.  It was the second day that they all learned that I work at the Science Center and why I was there with them.  They were excited to hear about the program being created for them.  They also then started offering me advice and were so sweet in helping me learn as well!  
The yellow star stuffed animal sits under a tilted Apollo 16 capsule.  The capsule has the shape of a chocolate chip and is large enough for three people to fit inside.  It is brown and grey in color and is old and beat-up looking from re-entering Earth's atmosphere.
Little Star under Apollo XVI
They learned that I'd been wanting to go to Space Camp for 20 years and that it was my first time there too which was exciting to them as well.  By just a few days in they were checking to make sure I was going to try all the simulators with them and asking me questions 
about space 
and astronomy.  
They explained to me what they could see in the way of stars (i.e. no stars, a few of the brightest stars as faint pinpoints, most of the stars but no color), and how those stars appeared to them as well.  







A blond woman of 5'4" wearing a shirt with a screened pink, purple and green feather pattern and a black jacket and dark blue jeans is lying on her back in a seat in the Apollo Capsule mockup.  The yellow stuffed animal star is on its back in the seat next to the woman.  The woman is flipping metal switches that are on a metal panel above her.  The entire Apollo mockup is made of silver metal and some of it is painted white.  The seats are made of a shiny black vinyl-like material with silver metal frames.
The Blog Author and Little Star in the
Apollo Mockup








Of course I brought my prototype microwaveable plush of Little Star with me.  Some of the kids were really kind and helped me out by field testing one of my prototypes.  They studied Little Star, feeling his features and holding him close to their eyes.  HE PASSED THEIR TEST!  They said they could feel his features and tell that he was smiling and had cheeks and eyebrows and everything (although they suggested thicker eyebrows and using stuffed animal fur for his hair).  They liked Little Star and said he was good as he was and would be better with their two suggestions.  I was ELATED to know that the plush characters are heading in the right direction.



Thank you doesn't even begin to say enough to Lighthouse for the Blind - Saint Louis.  Your generosity and kindness are very much appreciated!  




The week was something I'll never forget and will always treasure.  These kids were some of the best teachers I've ever had.







Everything is moving forward!

Sorry for such a hiatus from posting.  For a while there was not much to update and then all of a sudden things became very hectic!  I'm going to break it up into a few posts over the next few days.

In my last post I mentioned that we would like to have some tactile models of the Mercury and Gemini Capsules, as well as of the Blue Angel.  In the end it turns out that our own fantastic in-house production staff can create the models!  I'm very excited about this, since they do great work.  The first model will hopefully be started next month and I can't wait to see how amazing it will look.


While waiting for everything to work out with purchase orders, I've been prototyping the microwavable plush characters.  They're getting better (I think) and with each one I'm learning.  I'll have a whole post on them later in the week (hopefully) once I unite the last character with the rest of the bunch at work and can take many pictures.


I did have a surprise waiting for me on my desk on Saturday when I got into work; the electronic Brailler we ordered had arrived!  I didn't expect it to get in so quickly and was quite excited.



A white box marked "Braille Paper" sits on an off-white desk with a legal pad of yellow paper on a clipboard to the left in a metal basket, as well as a roll of scotch tape in a dispenser, a white hole puncher and a calculator.  There are also some papers with the NASA logo just behind the white box.
I thought I'd received the Braille Paper we ordered but soon discovered otherwise...


A smaller brown box with black writing that reads, "Braille Labeler" sits on the same off-white desk.
Yay!  It's the Braille Labeler!


Now upon the same off-white desk, the small brown box is open and inside is a blue oval object which is the Braille Labeler, some black wires and white Braille tape, extra brown cardboard, a cd to install the program for the labeler with a white label on it, an instruction manual with a white cover and another instruction manual sticking out of another brown box that was inside the first box and contains the manual in Braille and has a blue plastic binding.
Everything needed to get started and the labeler itself (the blue object); there was even an instruction manual in Braille included.

Our wonderful volunteer, Deb, who does all our Brailling (and has been teaching me to read and write Braille) will be so happy!  She's been labeling everything in Braille by hand!  This will allow her to do more in a short amount of time and will keep her hand from cramping and hurting.


Okay, I promise there will be more updates this week.  Until then!