Myriam – The dying arrow – prototypes 2-3

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The dying arrow is a wall decoration made of 10 red jumbo Leds.

for my second prototype, the I found a wooden box where I drilled 10 holes in arrow shape, for the Leds to pass through. The breadboard I had was big enough to contain all the Leds in the arrow shape, so I just put it next to the whole to see test the effect. 

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I did several prototypes with different wires and placements, but still, the Leds were not stable. I didn't know if it was a problem of connections or code.

Being sure of the aesthetics of my box, I decided to stick the Leds to the holes.

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When I then connected the wires to the breadboard, I figured out that during all this time, my breadboard was broken. I replaced it orderd properly the wires and my design finally got stable.
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I connected a switch to turn on and off all the circuit and arduino board.  

My prototypes is made of two boxes: the top one with the arrow, and the second one behind it where are enclosed the breadboard and the arduino board.

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In the bottom box, I drilled a hole for the main switch on the right side of the design, and a two holes for the USB and power plugs of the arduino board on the down side of the design 
for a rapid programing and display.

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I used mirrored paper all around the sides to emphasize and reflect the red light, and to add a dramatic aspect to the piece.
When it is one, it recalls a religious mexican iconography.

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The switch turn the circuit on and displays "the dying arrow". The Red pushbutton on the top displays a cross shape, turning off Leds 7 and 9.
The Black pushbutton is the rebirth of the arrow. All the Leds are off and turn one to one on.

The "dying arrow" displays all the Leds on, and they blink to off one after the other, at different speed. It imitates different single lives that end individually.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3454511&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
The dying arrow from maryam aboukhater on Vimeo. 

Here is my code, but the button don't work yet.