Feeling the Stars: 2013

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

An exciting end to 2013!

This year has been one amazing journey! We kicked off Feeling the Stars (we've run the program an average of once a month now since it premiered, with more bookings in place already for next year!), the program has gained interest in other states, and best of all, a new audience of kids have been inspired to seek careers in Space Science!

I'm excited to share a couple more things that have happened this month to close out the year on a very happy note. First and foremost, Lighthouse for the Blind Saint Louis has generously given us more money to begin tactling Phase II of Feeling the Stars. Phase II will enable us to reach a larger portion of our audience who may be blind or have low vision. We will be able to purchase tactile Astronomy books that can be used with our shows or by visitors before and after the shows. We will also be able to create a Braille exhibit guide and audio tour that visitors will be able to use to help them explore the exhibits more independantly as well as gain a more meaningful experience through detailed descriptions. These guides will start in the Planetarium, but they will eventually branch out to the other galleries in the entire Saint Louis Science Center! Once again, the generosity of LHB Saint Louis has been just phenominal! I cannot thank them enough for their kindness and support and excitement over the last two years!

We also got to run Feeling the Stars for The Little Star That Could for our first family that was not part of a school group. The little boy was SO enthusiastic about space, and he very much wants to become an astronaut one day. It was very cool to work with Jacob* and his family (including an eager little sister who wanted to do everything her big brother did). The children were incredibly smart and the family seemed very appreciative that the experience existed. It was quite different working with just one family. It enabled me to allow each child to hold both Big Daddy and Mr. Angry Blue-White Star at the same time and then Little Star immediately afterwards to gain a true appreciation of the difference in temperatures. I got to talk more one-on-one with the kids as well which was cool. Jacob has a little vision so he used one of our iPads to watch the show which his mother said worked well for him. Jacob's sister, used one of the tactile follow-along books so she could have something as well (Jacob's sister has sight). Each child also hung on to one of the plush characters during the show as well. I was happy to hear that they are going to try to find more for Jacob and his siblings to do that will help him have more meaningful experiences back home in their own museums. I hope they are able to find the interactions they need back home and that we might be visited by the family again here in the future. A big thank you to Jacob and his family for spending so much time with us here in the Planetarium and working with us!

Finally, Little Star and I would like to thank you all for your support. Hearing from you is inspiring! We wish you all the best in 2014!

It is an overcast and cold afternoon. On the left side of the image on top of a white pole of about six feet in height sits Little Star. He is a yellow star that is about the size of a baseball. He has big white eyes the size of nickles with brown around the black pupils. He has a small oval nose and plump cheeks. He has brown eyebrows and a tuft of blond hair. He has rays coming out from him that are also yellow. Little Star is also smiling. Behind Little Star is the James S. McDonnell Planetarium. It is a white building in the shape of a hyperbaloid of one sheet, which looks like a cone, but instead of narrowing at the top it flairs back out again to a circle that is not quite as wide across in diameter as the circle of the base. There is a big gold bow around the Planetarium for it's 50th (and golden) anniversary year. There is a small bare tree of about seven feet to the right of image.

Little Star says "Thank you and Happy New Year!" from outside the Planetarium on the last day of the Planetarium's 50th Anniversary Year

*Names have been changed to protect privacy

Friday, December 20, 2013

Double the groups, double the fun!

The Saint Louis Society was back today with a lot more kids to explore the Science Center. They came in two groups to experience the Feeling the Stars program. I was excited to see so many new and eager faces as well as a couple I met the last time in each group today.

I had several kids who eagerly volunteered knowledge of what average meant (and who explained it more succinctly than I did in one case). It was really cool to get to work with all these kids and most of them enjoyed the show at least "a little bit" (kids are very honest and to the point which is fantastic because they do not hesitate to tell me what they do and do not like). Many of the kids however also said they very much enjoyed the program and the show.

Devon* was back as well for the show. I met Devon the first time the Saint Louis Society came and was excited to hear he wanted to use one of the tactile books again. As soon as I handed him the book he immediately opened it and started reading it aloud again. After the show I was very excited to hear him singing loudly about stars. I hope he and the rest of the kids will continue to come back and see us in the future again.

I love that I have the opportunity to work with so many visitor who are so passionate about Space Science, and I truly hope that I will continue to see these kids in the future at the Planetarium!

*Names have been changed to protect privacy

Saturday, November 2, 2013

A Visit from Delta Gamma Center for Children with Visual Impairments Saint Louis

Due to the nature of this post dealing with child visitors, there will be no pictures.

Today we had a visit from the Delta Gamma Center for Children with Visual Impairments. Children ranging from five years of age to fourteen experienced both the Feeling the Stars Program as well as an adapted version of our Boeing Space Station Kickstart tour. The kids were great about jumping into the program. They answered my questions and asked a lot of their own and volunteered stories. The kids seemed to gain a lot from the tactiles as well as the show. The program runs smoother and smother every time as well!

The kids from DG also got to experience our Boeing Space Station Kickstart which is a program school groups can book. The program takes visitors through our space station exhibits, explaining how astronauts eat, sleep work and even use the bathroom in space. The kids all got to touch space food, try using tools while wearing spacesuit gloves, and they even had to practice using a space toilet (a chair with a cardboard target and a positioning device) just like real astronauts have to practice before going into space. The kids and adults alike giggled and cheered each other on or commiserated when a "mess" would have been made.

By the end of our time together a lot of the kids were exclaiming that they wanted to work for NASA when they grew up; as an astronaut or as a scientist or in Mission Control. I related to them that they should strive to reach those goals and that there is a woman right now working in the ISS Payload Mission Control in Huntsville, AL who is totally blind. I also reminded them that if they wish to acheive those goals that they need to study hard in school, especially in Math, Science and also in English and Foreign Languages (it is the INTERNATIONAL Space Station after all). Many of the kids exclaimed that they would. I hope they do. I hope to hear that they are working for NASA 10 or 15 years from now. I saw a spark in them that tells me I will.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Working with sister organizations

I had the joy of meeting with many of my colleagues from the other Saint Louis Zoo-Museum District (ZMD) institutions today to share Feeling the Stars with them. It was great to hear what they they have already done in terms of Universal Design and what they would like to do.

Each institution has done something to help visitors with exceptionalities. The Saint Louis Art Museum has special tours, the Missouri History Museum has Brailled many of their exhibit labels in the past, the Zoo has an amazing pictorial tour map for visitors who have an Autism Spectrum Disorder, and the Missouri Botanical Gardens has guided tours and a few line drawing tactiles.

The group experienced the program just as the visitors would, pausing to ask questions as we went. The Botanical Gardens was especially excited to get started making their own tactile books and has planned to come back in the future to see how the EZ-Brailler thermovac machine we have works.

It was really uplifting to meet with colleagues from around the city and see how they all are really trying to make a difference for all of their visitors too. Here's to Saint Louis' cultural institutions becoming more and more accessible to all visitors!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Feeling the Stars at the Great Lakes Planetarium Association Conference 2013

I went to my first professional Planetarium conference last week to present my paper that led to the creation of our Feeling the Stars program for The Little Star That Could. It was a fantastic three-and-a-half days of learning entirely about best practices in the Planetarium and museum field. We got to discuss what we do for our visitors and we talked a bit about how Universal Design is the best route as helps not just its intended audience.

Little Star also got to make a couple early debuts and meet some colleagues outside the Planetarium world. The conference paired at times with the Illinois Association of Museums (IAM) as well, so he met many professionals from museums, zoos and NASA as well.

Little Star sits on a silver metal fence railing in a very brightly lit room. The walls are an off white and there is a tall silver metal garage door in the background. Little Star is yellow and about the size of a baseball. He has big eyes, brown eyebrows, a small nose and plump cheeks, with a tuft of blond hair and spiked rays coming out from him. One ray is flopped over on top of his head and it gives him the appearance of having a raised eyebrow. Coming towards him is a very tall male giraffe. Only part of the giraffe's neck and head can be seen. The giraffe has a long slender face and incredibly long neck of probably at least 5 feet. He stands probably a good 20 feet tall and has beautiful medium brown spots all over that look a bit like stones with white dividers between them. He has small ears and two small straight horns on the top of his head. He also has a short black mane.

Is that giraffe going to eat me?! Seriously, he's walking over here!

A blonde woman of about 5' 4" in a purple tshirt and black skirt stands smiling holding Little Star with a man of about 6' 2", graying hair, a gray mustache and who is wearing a blue astronaut flightsuit. Little Star is yellow and about the size of a baseball. He has big eyes, brown eyebrows, a small nose and plump cheeks, with a tuft of blond hair and spiked rays coming out from him.

Little Star meets Astronaut Scott Altman, commander of the last servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope

Many of my colleagues told me as well over the first couple days before I presented my paper that they have shown or currently show Little Star in their own Planetariums and that they were curious about my paper.

I was very grateful for their encouragement in the days leading up to my presentation because I was pretty nervous. I've always loved public speaking/theater/teaching, and speech giving has always come naturally to me. This was the first time, however, that I presented an academic paper or spoken in front of my colleagues in my chosen field. So maybe nervous is an understatement - terrified probably sums it up better.

Fortunately, my father had a lot of practice presenting academic papers over the years and helped me prepare for the best and the worst, so at least I had that in my back pocket. I also had a lot of friendly faces in my audience (which normally scares me more to have people I know listening, but this time it was also nice).

When the time came, I presented my paper (which I know was recorded and if I find a copy I will try to post here). I covered all the details I could in my ten minutes; making sure to discuss why reaching out to visitors who are blind/have low vision is important, how it fits in with elementary school science standards, how the program works and the results of the first couple of runs of the program.

A blonde woman in a light purple shirt stands behind a tall podium made of light colored wood (the podium is only about a foot shorter than she is). She holds a model of the Zeiss Universarium Mark IX in her right hand as she speaks into a microphone. Behind her on the wall are two photos. The one on the left is of the Zeiss projector in the entire exhibit which is a The black box casework sits at about 34" by 34" by 34". On the front wrapping around the corner to the right side of the casework is the curved single sheet hyperboloid shape of the Planetarium in white. On the top of the casework is the black dome with all the stars of white rivets sits upon the purple wall and grey carpet. In the middle is the Zeiss model. The teal oval StarBall on stilts sits on the two smaller black wedges and the teal eight planet projector vertical boxes sit on the long black wedge. Next to it on the carpet sits a small white exhibit text panel of about three inches by one-and-a-half inches. It has Braille and large print marking the StarBall as exhibit one and the Planet Projectors as exhibit two to correspond to the other exhibit text. To the right of the model is the exhibit text. There are three visible rectangles of large print and Braille text framed by black. The image on the right is an up close picture of the model: The black dome with all the stars of white rivets sits upon the purple wall and grey carpet. In the middle is the Zeiss model. The teal oval StarBall on stilts sits on the two smaller black wedges and the teal eight planet projector vertical boxes sit on the long black wedge. Next to it on the carpet sits a small white exhibit text panel of about three inches by one-and-a-half inches. It has Braille and large print marking the StarBall as exhibit one and the Planet Projectors as exhibit two to correspond to the other exhibit text.

Talking about the 1:40 Scale Model of the Zeiss Universarium Mark IX and Orthwein StarBay of the McDonnell Planetarium

Presenting all the tactile and microwavable star characters

Talking about the tactile follow-along book in twin vision

When I was done there was some time for questions and I braced myself not knowing what to expect. I had three questions posed to me:

Q) "Is this program available to other Planetariums?"

A) My goal was to have the program available to other planetaria world wide once I got it going at my own. The time for it to start making its way into the world is quite soon now, I think!

Q) "Who makes the tactiles and would it be possible to get a set of the star characters and/or a book?"

A) I currently am the only one making all the components of the program. I would be happy to make some for you but in all honesty it might take me a while.

Q) "Could you explain Lighthouse for the Blind - Saint Louis' role a little more?"

A) LHB was absolutely wonderful in providing insight into the program and giving advice on what would and would not work. The support they provided, both financially and otherwise had been incredible. They are the reason that the program was able to take off and start reaching its target audience. Without LHB, this program would still be a dream that I turned in as a paper my first semester in grad school.

And then my time was up. It went far better than I expected! I received nothing but kind words and excitement that matched my own about my program. Several of my colleagues have now expressed interest in having the program at their own Planetariums and I hope that very soon we can make that happen! It was absolutely amazing to have the program recognized so highly by my colleagues!

The other really cool thing was that I got to meet representatives from Audio-Visual Imagineering (AVI) - the company that re-produced The Little Star That Could in 2005 to update the changes to Pluto and make the show full-dome. They were incredibly kind and it was a lot of fun to show them what I'd made. Later in the day after my presentation, they also offered to help me with Feeling the Stars! Hopefully this really does mean that soon there will be more Planetaria with my program, reaching out to their own visitors in need of the adaptive elements! I was so excited and moved by everyone's generosity, excitement and kindness!

I know I end a lot of my posts with thank yous, but I could not have gotten the program to where it is without the people I thank...

I have to thank Seiler Instruments for your generosity in helping me get to GLPA, for believing in me and my program and most importantly, for believing in my Planetarium. I also want to thank my mentor, John, as well as Brian for your continual encouragement and support of me and my program and Bill and Eric for your support and for covering for me in my absence. Thank you to Ann and Wilfried from Carl Zeiss too for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to my paper! Thank you to my parents for your continued support - especially my dad for helping me prepare for my presentation. And finally, to all my colleagues from GLPA who have given me so much encouragement to continue with my work - I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Little Star makes more friends

Due to this post talking about children, there will be no pictures.

Today, Little Star had some visitors come for the Feeling the Stars program from the Saint Louis Society. Only one of the seven children who came had low vision, but all of them had an exceptionality. Their group leader asked for the program due to its tactile nature, as she thought the kids would benefit from it.

The children all touched the model and the tactile stars, enjoying the different touchable sensations. The stars were very popular, especially Big Daddy (because of his "cool shades") and Mr. Angry Blue-White Star. They also noticed the temperature differences too.

Even though all the children could see the projections on the dome, they all received a tactile follow-along book to use during the show. The books may have gone over best of all! The kids loved studying both the raised images and reading the printed text on the large-print pages.

The kids enjoyed the story, picking out favorite characters and recognizing some they met in the plush characters before the show. They also really liked the stars and when the outlines of the constellations would appear in the sky.

A very special moment occured during the program as well; I was informed by one of the teachers that the book worked better than we expected for one of the little boys. Devon* has Autism, and I was told he is for the most part, non-verbal. When he received the book, he turned to one of the counselors who were sitting with the kids and started reading the book aloud. We aren't sure what about the book encouraged him to start reading to the counselor but it was a reminder that we never can predict perfectly what will truly benefit our visitors.

This is why Universal Design is SO important in the Museum world and the field of Education. The more options to access information a person has, the more likely they are to succeed and gain meaning.

The Feeling the Stars program may have started as a program for visitors who are blind or have low vision, but today taught me that its potential to reach so many more audiences expands past its original audience. I thank the Saint Louis Society and all the wonderful children I was privileged to work with this morning for opening up even more doors for different audiences to come and explore the universe with The Little Star That Could.

*Names have been changed to protect privacy

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Learning from kids at Space Camp - SCIVIS Year Two

Little Star made his way back to Space Camp this year again this year for the Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students (SCIVIS). We were with high school kids this year, so he mostly hung out in my bag, but he made a few apperences. Even the high school age kids thought he was a great idea and useful (high praise indeed!).

In a wooded area with many large green trees is a telephone pole that can be climbed if one is in a harness. Coming down from the pole are the safety lines which are grey and orange. Sitting in the safety lines is yellow Little Star. He is about the size of a baseball, has big eyes, a small nose, plump cheeks and a smile. He has a tuft of blond hair on top of his head and rays coming out from him. The lines holding Little Star are dangling about four feet off the ground. In the background are two of the crew trainers for the ropes course. One is a tall man of about 6' 2" wearing a light blue shirt and the other is a slightly shorter man in a dark blue shirt.

Little Star wants to climb the Pamper Pole just like the fearless vonBraun Advanced Space Academy team before him... too bad he doesn't quite fit in the safety harness...

The kids helped me a lot this year though by teaching me how to give better description of objects, how to give better directions (i.e. when directing someone around a star chart verbally) and they helped me figure out how to create better tactiles. The young adults I worked with were patient with me in helping me to figure out how to best get the ideas of our live planetarium shows across to them when using a tactile star chart.

Furthermore, I got some incredibly helpful pointers from some very kind TVIs and O&Ms this year as well for how to create more effective star charts. Once again, simpler is better. It was suggested that I make several charts showing just a few constellations at a time, and then one overall chart that shows how they all fit together. All of a sudden, every problem I'd had was solved and what I was trying to explain made more sense to those experiencing my explanations Hopefully with the knowledge I gained, I can make some leaps ahead with adapting our next show - our Live Sky Tonight show!

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Little Star spends the day with eight eager children and their families

Due to the nature of this post dealing with child visitors, there will be essentially no pictures.

The day arrived! Lighthouse for the Blind Saint Louis helped me reach out to their community and eight families responded that they wanted to come experience the first run of the program! The children ranged from 11 months to age 9 and had varying levels of visual abilities. All of them were VERY excited (and so were the family members and friends who came)!

I was also excited to host John, Angie and Stephen from Lighthouse for the Blind Saint Louis for this first show, as well as our amazing volunteer Deb and the creator of The Little Star That Could, Laura Kyro.

In a large dimly lit room stands two women of about 5' 4". The one on the left is blonde and wearing a blue flightsuit and NASA patches. The woman on the right has dark brown curly hair that is shoulder length, long dangling earrings and a floral print shirt. Behind them is a blue metal fence closing in the star projector which is a very large blue ball with small black round lenses covering it. It is raised up off its black platform on long blue stilts and stand at least another eight feet taller than the women.

Laura and I with Little Star in the Orthwein StarBay of the McDonnell Planetarium at the Saint Louis Science Center

We did a full run through of the program. Starting in the lobby with the model of the Planetarium, I talked a little bit with the kids about where they would be going and what they would see. We all then went up to the StarBay in the elevator and sat down to talk about the characters. All the kids "met" the main five characters, learned a little about their colors and temperatures and got to handle the plush characters.

Finally books and iPads were introduced to the kids and they were told how to follow along with them during the show and we began.

Of course, there were unforseen issues as with any first run, but now that we know about them (i.e. the program on the iPads was too easy to exit out of and the kids kept losing their personal view of the show). I now know that this is an issue that can be rectified in the future.

Once the show was over, the kids got to meet Laura and she spoke to them briefly. The kids and their families then offered me their opinions on the program, and they told me what they liked and what they would like to see change. I received some wonderful feedback from everyone and I now know what I need to do next. We're just getting warmed up here at the James S. McDonnell Planetarium, and it can only get better from here!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Little Star Graduates

Okay, so I know it's not entirely with the theme of the blog, but since he spent all of grad school with me (quite literally - I created the program my first semester of grad school), I thought it might be fun to post a picture of Little Star with me at the Johns Hopkins Masters in Museum Studies Graduation:

In a room that has green walls with white trim and glassed in book cases in the walls stands a woman of about 5' 4" with blonde hair. She is in a black graduation gown with a black and gold hood wearing a black mortar board. She is holding up the plush of Little Star next to her face and smiling. Little Star is a yellow star about the size of a baseball with a small nose, plump cheeks, a smile, big eyes and a tuft of blond hair at the top of his head. He has rays coming out from him and wears a small black mortar board too.

Little Star, our adventures are just beginning: shortly after the two of us walked across the stage to have my degree conferred (yes he's wearing a mortar board too)

The cool thing, is that at this point, anyone in the program who had a class with me (or was an instructor for my classes) knew about Little Star and seemed glad to have him with our graduating class. For a Little Star he certainly does get around!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Awash in Tactile Stars

So many stars! I feel like I should start this post by apologizing to my high school sewing teacher. Mrs. Foster (as well as Live Oak High School and the Morgan Hill Unified School District for forcing me to take an applied art), if you ever see this, thank you for what you taught me. I always questioned why I HAD to take sewing to graduate but man am I glad I did now! I don't know how I ever would have gotten these stars made if I didn't! I've now made a full set of characters out of the final materials.

I did manage to break eight needles for my sewing machine in the process (and also learned that there are denim needles which would have prevented breaking so many). Seeing the final materials come together in the form of the characters though was pretty cool.

On a green cutting board with a white grid overlay sits four Big Daddy Plush Star Characters. Three sit together in the middle and one is set apart to the top left. The three are the new stars that will see programs with children and the one apart is the original prototype. All four stars are made from a red satin and are slightly larger than a softball. The stars all wear sunglasses, have a black goatee and eyebrows, small eyes, a large nose and straight mouth. Each star has rays protruding from it as well.

Three new Big Daddy plushes with my original prototype off to the left

I did have to make some modifications though. Each star now has Velcro up the back so that the rice can be removed and heated separately and the characters can be washed after being handled.

Hopefully the visitors will like the stars and find them helpful! A big thank you to Chris from our Production Department for donating the industrial strength denim!

On a piece of wood sits a set of the star characters, complete and ready for their first program. They sit in a row ranging from coldest star to hottest star going left to right: Big Daddy the red star is made of satin, has a large nose, small eyes, sunglasses and a black goatee and is the size of a softball; Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star is the size of a cantaloupe and has old, half closed eyes, a hooked nose, a couple moles (one on his nose and one on his large chin), and big fluffy white eyebrows and a big white mustache; Little Star the average yellow star is the size of a baseball and is made of a quilted yellow cotton with ample cheeks, a smile, brown eyebrows, a small nose and big eyes and a tuft of yellow hair at the top of his head; Pearl the white star is the size of a basketball, is made of white velvet, has a large pointy nose, white hair in a bob fashion, oval feminine eyes with eyelashes and dainty brown eyebrows and a weary smile; Mr. Angry Blue-White Star is made of light blue denim and is a bit bigger than Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star, with glaring eyes, a very large nose, a grimace for his mouth and furrowed white eyebrows.

A complete final set of star characters! From left to right (and coldest to hottest): Big Daddy a Red Star, Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star, Little Star/Sol a Yellow Star, Pearl a White Star, and Mr. Angry Blue-White Star

Monday, May 20, 2013

The Tactile Follow-Along Books are Bound and Beautiful!

The books are DONE! Let me tell you, even though each page only takes 5 seconds to form, the 25 tactile pages per book did not take just a few minutes to make (as a certain blog author thought they would). In other words, the books took a smidge longer to create than I expected, especially with a few hiccups along the way.

My original molds, first off, started falling apart with repeated use and subjection to extreme heat. Luckily though, thanks to the knowledge I gained from watching the model being built, I knew how to cast new and more durable plastic molds to use from old pages. Man was that a lifesaver!

On a desk sits a tan colored piece of Braillon paper (a plastic feeling paper) with the image of Little Star (a circle with a face and rays of light like spikes coming out of the circle). On the paper is a white cup with a trial of white plastic that is about 1/4 inch thick in diameter extending to a blob of the white resin substance that rests in the face of Little Star on the Braillon paper. The blob is about 1.5 inches in diameter and about half the size of the star's face that it is supposed to cover.

Oops... the resin solidified faster than I expected!

On a green cutting board sits two pages of tan Braillon. Each page is acting like a mold. The page on the left has two of Mars' moons (lopsided and oval in shape), a canyon (oval and bumpy with a smooth crevice in the middle), and a 2.5 inch in diameter circle filled with the white casting resin that will become the new mold of the character of Mars. The page on the right features Little Star being born and the white resin is pooled in a smaller circle of about 1.5 inches in diameter and in curved lines spreading away from the circle - 3 on each side).

Take two... The resin is poured into the pages of Braillon in time and is now starting to solidify in the shape of the characters on the pages.

A tan page of Braillon shows the face of the character of Mars raised out of the page. He is about 2.5 inches in diameter and has two large open eyes, a big nose and a wide open smile with a small chin. Next to him on the right is a white duplicate of him sitting on top of the Braillon - this is the new mold that will be used to create more pages of Braillon with the tactile image of Mars.

Success! mars now has a new mold to create many more tactie pages!

In the end, 25 new molds were made and after an entire day, all the tactile pages were created.

Finally, a screen shot from each scene of the show was taken and turned into its own page with large print that says exactly what the Braille says on the tactile page. This created the complimentary page to make "twin-vision" in the book so that anyone, no matter their ability to read Braille or print or to feel images or see them, can use the books.

Each page for all seven books was then placed in the correct order and I headed off to Office Depot the next morning. They were BEYOND kind in helping get the regular paper pages laminated and all the books bound together. They are absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

Sitting on a desk of dark wood is a completed tactile follow-along twin vision book for The Little Star That Could Planetarium Show. The book has a black spiral binding on the left side and the cover, which is all that is visible of the book, is tan and plastic-like Braillon. It has the raised image of the Little Star That Could show poster, featuring Little Star, a circle of about 2.5 inches in diameter with a smiling face and rays protruding from the circle, Mr. Angry Blue-White Star, a circle of about 1 inch in diameter with a frowning face and rays protruding from the circle, Big Daddy, a circle of about 1 inch in diameter with a smiling face, sunglasses and rays protruding from the circle, and Pearl, a circle of about 1 inch in diameter with a smiling face and rays protruding from the circle. The title, "The Little Star That Could," appears in contracted Braille at the top of the cover, with the tag line, "Sometimes being average can also be special," in contracted Braille below the raised images of the stars.

The Tactile Follow-Along Twin Vision book is complete! :D

The tactile follow-along twin vision book lays open to the pages where Little Star meets Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star. On the left page is a color image of the two characters meeting from the video. The Orange star is on the left, a circle of about 1 inch in diameter with a wrinkled face and white mustache, Little Star the yellow star is on the right, a circle of about 1/2 inch in diameter with a face holding a smile. Each character is labeled in large print and large print also appears above the image reading: Little Star meets Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star. Below is "Page 3" in Large print as well. The same image appears on the right page, but this time the image is on Braille and it is raised so that the detail can be felt. The same titles also appear in contracted Braille, with only the page number changing from 3 to 4.

Little Star meets Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star... in large print AND Braille!

The tactile follow-along books is now open to the next two twin vision pages. On the right page near the top in large print is the caption "Mr. Old-Timer Orange Star is the star Arcturus in the constellation Bootes the Herdsman. Below the print is a diagram of the constellation that looks a bit like connect the dots to form a drawing that looks like a kite. An arrow points to Arcturus, which is an orange star in the diagram at the base of the diamond part of the kite where the tail would attach. Page 5 is at the bottom left side of the page. On the left side of the book, the same caption appears at the top of the page in contracted Braille and the same constellation drawing appears, but raised from the Braillon with a tactile arrow pointing to the star Arcturus. Page 6 is at the bottom right side of the page in Braille.

Every star is based off of a star in the real night sky, so this is also noted in the book in both large print and Braille

The book is open to a page later in the tactile book. On the right page is the image of the character of the planet, Mars. He is a circle of about 3 inches with raised eyebrows, relaxed eyes, a large nose and a wide open smile. Below him are images of Mars' moons, phobos and demos as well as Valles Marineris, the canyon on Mars. Each image is labeled in large print and at the top of the page in large print is the caption, "Little Star meets Mars." At the bottom of the page on the left is "Page 43." The page on the right contains the same images raised up from the Braillon page. Each is labeled in contracted Braille as is the caption at the top of the page. Page 44 is in Braille on the bottom right side of the page.

Little Star meets Mars and learns about the planet's physical features and its moons

A big thank you again to Lighthouse for the Blind Saint Louis, Thom and Ian for your help in learning how to make molds, Deb for your fantastic work in Brailling (and helping me learn to read Braille so I knew what I was doing!), and Jo from Delta Gamma Saint Louis and the TVIs from Saint Louis' Special School District for your advice on how to best create the twin vision books! A very special thank you as well to the technicians at Office Depot who looked at my unbound pages, asked me, "You want us to do what?!" and then took on the challenge to polish the pages into beautiful books. I couldn't have created these books without you all!

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Finishing the StarBay and Zeiss Model

Time flies! I apologize for the hiatus in posting and appreciate your patience; between finishing up the major parts of the program, preparing for and carrying out the 50th Anniversary of the Planetarium Celebration Week and finishing my Masters degree this poor little blog slipped through the cracks. I've got some great (in my opinion) updates for you all though!

Building accessible and durable casework took a bit of planning but it was worth it.

On a table sits to pieces of wood at a right angle. Each is yellow and measures 34 inches by 34 inches by 34 inches. There is a long metal weight along the piece lying parallel with the table to help support the one that is perpendicular to the table. There is a belt sander in the background which has a wheel about half way up a post that has the belt used for sanding on it. There are also grey cabinets along the walls.

The casework starts coming together

On a table sits the casework. It is a yellow box with no top that measures 34" by 34" by 34". A young man in a long sleeved dark blue shirt stands behind it on the table measuring the diagonal distance between two points on the top of the box with a yellow tape measure. A bottle of yellow colored wood glue can be seen in front of the box and the grey cabinets can be seen on the wall in the background.

A box is formed

On top of a wooden work table is the top of the casework. It is basically a lid of yellow wood measuring 34" by 34" by 34" with a lip about two inches wide by one inch thick. This is the bottom side of the lid. In the center is a black Sharpie sketch of the Zeiss star projector - an oval ball on stilts with eight square boxes in front of it. Next to the lid is a yellow tape measure and a young man's hand rests on top of the lid.

The top is made

A large yellow wooden box of 34" x 34" x 34" sits on the ground with a large black clamp and a silver square weight holding it together. There is no top or bottom yet to the box so a thin piece of wood about two feet long can be seen in the box leaning against the side. The floor is a grey concrete and there are paint splatters on the floor. There are cardboard boxes behind the wooden box and a sanded down wooden post as well.

Casework being assembled

A young man wearing a blue long sleeved shirt's arms can be seen. He is wearing plastic cloves and using a dark green spray gun with a back cord to spray a whispy yellow adhesive to the brown back of the laminate. Another young man's hands can be seen holding the laminate while the other young man sprays.

Applying adhesive to the back of the black laminate

The casework lies on its side and the inside of the box can be seen, and now there is a bottom to it. One young man in a dark blue long sleeved shirt is smoothing down the laminate as the other young man in the same shirt slowly lowers the black laminate down on the box.

The black laminate is applied to the wooden casework

Once the laminate has been applied, what hangs off the edge of the box must be cut. A young man in a dark blue long sleeved shirt is using a router - black cylinder with a sharp silver rotating bit - to cut off the excess black laminate from the yellow box.

The black laminate is is trimmed to size

The crescent shape of what will become the Planetarium's walls is sitting on a wooden table with blue paint splatters on it. The concave curve of the walls has a green putty like material on it preparing it for paint. There is a piece of cardboard next to the wall with the green putty in a puddle and two popsicle sticks that have been dipped in it to apply it to the wall.

The Planetarium's walls are prepared for paint

Once the casework was built and the walls of the Planetarium ready and waiting for the dome to arrive, it was time to continue figuring out how to cast our mini Zeiss. The process required the creation of a positive which was then submerged in the silicon material that would solidify to become the mold.

The hands of a young man wearing clear plastic gloves are seen pouring a thick blue liquid with the help of a stick out of an opaque white container with measurement marks along the side. The liquid is collecting in a purple wooden box and covering the positive which is now not visible. The box sits on a wooden table in the shop with an orange metal clamp near by and two more pieces of the purple wood. In the background is a tactile model of the Planetarium building from the outside - a curved shape called a single-sheet hyperboloid.

Making the Mold

When the positive is removed, the mold is ready to use, at which point the casting can begin. The casting liquids are mixed and poured into the mold where they set as hard as a rock, creating the model.

On a grayish brown table sits a cardboard box and a rag with a stick on it. There are also four blue rubbery molds, each one a rectangular shape. In each mold is a different shape though; a couple wedges of different sizes, a rectangle with eight perpendicular rectangles sticking out of it, and another with a blue rubber lid on it with a whole and a triangle, circle, square and x marking each side of the lid. All but one wedge are filled with a clear, yellowish liquid that will soon solidify and turn hard and white to become the model.

The Model is Poured and Cast from the Molds

It took a few tries as you may have seen in previous posts...

A Zeiss StarBall that did not form properly out of the mold sits on a red palette. There is half of a white casting of the Zeiss StarBall that is half an oval ball with many raised circles for "lenses" sits in a puddle of white casting material. It looks as if the Starball melted.

Half of a Zeiss StarBall

In the end though, the final product turned out great.

On a piece of light brown wood sits a successfully cast piece of the model - the Planet Projectors. These are white and there are eight vertical boxes that are in two rows of four and measure about one inch high and two inches long. They sit on top of the blue rubber mold they came out of which is a square of about 4 inches by four inches by three inches. The impression of the cast model can be seen in the mold's center.

Success for the Planet Projectors!

Around the time the casting was wrapping up was when the dome finally arrived. It came clear and cut in half as we desired. A map of the Northern Hemisphere's night sky when fall is turning to winter was printed out and I drew the constellations on the dome with Sharpie. Ian was then able to drill holes where the stars (painted rivets) would go.

The clear half dome has a piece of blue paper covering the outside of it. On the paper that can be seen through the dome are constellations. Each star on the paper has been marked on the inside of the dome with green pen. The dome sits on top of the finished planetarium dome with an unfinished model of the Zeiss and a pair of safety goggles. The walls of the planetarium are dark purple and the floor is the black laminate at the moment.

The dome gets mapped

The dome was then painted black and many rivets of different sizes were painted white (with a blue one for Sirius, an orange one for Aldebaran and a red one for Betelgeuse).

The dome has been painted black but specks of white light can be seen from where the holes were drilled for the rivet stars to be inserted later. The black dome sits upon the purple curved wall of the Planetarium and the floor is now a grey carpet just like what is in the real planetarium. The black laminate that it sits upon is a little dusty from being in the Exhibit Production shop and fingerprints can be noticed here and there on the casework because of the sawdust.

Holes for the stars are drilled and the dome is painted black

The rivets turned stars were then cemented into the previously drilled holes in the dome, creating the tactile stars.

The exhibit text also had to be created at this time. The text needed to be descriptive and explanetory, but also concise so that both the large print and Braille would fit. Our wonderful volunteer, Deb,created all the Braille we needed from the text I wrote. Ian then took the Braille and created mold and cast our exhibit panels with the Braille on it.

A rectangular box of about 5" by 9" sits on a wooden table. In the box is the blue mold making material. It is over a piece of plastic with the desired Braille for the exhibit text and will create the mold for the cast of the exhibit text that will go on display.

The mold for the Braille exhibit text is made

Mr. Smith very kindly helped us get the printed text set up to be back printed on no-glare plex.

In large print and Braille reads the following exhibit signage: "The Zeiss Star Projector. The object in the center of the StarBay is the star projector. Pinpoints of light from the ball (Exhibit1) create stars. The eight separate boxes (Exhibit 2) focus light in the form of planets, the sun and Moon."

Exhibit text explaining the Zeiss Star Projector

In large print and Braille reads the following exhibit signage: "Touch the Night Sky. This is a model of the James S. McDonnell Planetarium's Orthwein StarBay. Feel the night sky on the inside of the model's half dome."

Exhibit text explaining the purpose of the model

In large print and Braille reads the following exhibit signage: "Can You Recognize the Constellation? Groups of stars create the constellations our culture recognizes, like the constellation Orion the Hunter to the right." To the right of the text is a raised version of the constellation Orion like what would be found inside the dome made of black rivets on the white panel of text.

Exhibit text explaining the constellation

In large print and Braille reads the following exhibit signage: "A Dome of Perforated Aluminum. The Planetarium's dome is metal with tiny holes to minimize weight and allow for better sound. Feel a piece of perforated aluminum to the right." To the right of the text is a piece of silver aluminum with many small holes in it for visitors to feel.

Exhibit text about the dome

It was then time to assemble everything.

A young man's hands can be seen holding a white rag and carefully wiping down the black laminate of the casework; preparing it to roll out on the floor.

The casework gets spruced up for its opening

On top of the lid of the casework sits the purple wall of the Planetarium model with out the dome on top. On the grey carpet in the middle sits the pieces of the Zeiss model waiting to be assembled and fastened to the floor of the model. There are the two smaller black wedges and the long black wedge as well as the now teal colored eight vertical boxes for the planet projectors and the oval ball on stilts for the StarBall which are also teal. There is also a white Allen wrench set sitting on the carpet. Around the sides of the walls, also on the black lid of the casework, sits the white text panels that contain the Braille exhibit text.

Some assembly required...

On top of the lid of the casework sits the purple wall of the Planetarium model now with the dome on top . On the grey carpet in the middle sits the Zeiss model which is now assembled and fastened to the floor of the model. There are the two smaller black wedges and the long black wedge as well as the now teal colored eight vertical boxes for the planet projectors and the oval ball on stilts for the StarBall which are also teal sitting on top of the three black wedges. There is also a white piece of paper sitting on the carpet which is holding all the extra rivets and hardware needed to secure everything. Around the sides of the walls, also on the black lid of the casework, sits the white text panels that contain the Braille exhibit text. A young man's hands can be seen fastening the dome to the walls. All the stars are secured in the dome as well.

The dome is secured

The model is now out in the Planetarium's lower level in the lobby! The black dome with all the stars of white rivets sits upon the purple wall and grey carpet. In the middle is the Zeiss model. The teal oval StarBall on stilts sits on the two smaller black wedges and the teal eight planet projector vertical boxes sit on the long black wedge. Next to it on the carpet sits a small white exhibit text panel of about three inches by one-and-a-half inches. It has Braille and large print marking the StarBall as exhibit one and the Planet Projectors as exhibit two to correspond to the other exhibit text.

Ready for my close-up!

The exhibit is now out in the Planetarium lobby. Other casework that is light brown can be seen behind it in the background as well as a black wall and a red pillar. The black box casework sits at about 34" by 34" by 34". On the front wrapping around the corner to the right side of the casework is the curved single sheet hyperboloid shape of the Planetarium in white. On the top of the casework is the black dome with all the stars of white rivets sits upon the purple wall and grey carpet. In the middle is the Zeiss model. The teal oval StarBall on stilts sits on the two smaller black wedges and the teal eight planet projector vertical boxes sit on the long black wedge. Next to it on the carpet sits a small white exhibit text panel of about three inches by one-and-a-half inches. It has Braille and large print marking the StarBall as exhibit one and the Planet Projectors as exhibit two to correspond to the other exhibit text. To the right of the model is the exhibit text. There are three visible rectangles of large print and Braille text framed by black.

Waiting for its first visitors to arrive!

Words truly cannot express how excited I am about how well this turned out in the end. It seems just like a mini version of the real StarBay and Zeiss Projector! So many people brought it to life. I have to give huge thanks to Lighthouse for the Blind Saint Louis for generously funding the project. A big thank you to Dave in Electronics, Chris in Production, Justin for your advice, Pete and Thom for you extra hands and help, and Mr. Smith for your advice and help as well. Deb, so much thanks goes to you for your consulting, your advice and all the Brailling you did. Finally, thank you Ian. When I told you my idea and gave you the drawings for this exhibit, I never guessed it would turn out even better than I could have imagined. You brought this model to life.

Since the model has gone on display, visitors who are blind or have low vision and visitors with sight have both explored the model with their hands, prompting questions from children and adults alike about the Planetarium as well as Braille.

If you are in Saint Louis, you can experience the exhibit yourself in the lobby of the Planetarium at the Saint Louis Science Center.