Paper Circuit Accordion Book
An hour or two
Ages 11+
What Will You Make?
In this tutorial, we will show you how to make a highly customizable paper circuit accordion book, with a series of connectable templates, powered by a single battery! An accordion book is a type of book that has pleated pages that are folded back and forth from one long continuous piece of paper.
What Will You Learn?
While making this project, you will learn how to create an interactive accordion book with pages that light up in different ways, using your own images and text.
First, you will learn how to construct several stand-alone circuits, some of which include switches and sensors. Afterwards, you’ll learn how to connect them together to create one highly interactive parallel circuit that only requires a single battery to power. You’ll even learn how to make a paper battery holder.
Practice with Templates
Tape Templates
Because familiarizing yourself with each of the paper circuit templates can help stimulate ideas, I suggest starting with them.
Set aside the Battery Cover Template; we’ll be coming back to it later in this tutorial.
Next, start adding Conductive Fabric Tape to the gray areas of each remaining template, noting that two have been left unfinished to allow you to customize your own circuit designs.
Because Conductive Fabric Tape is equally conductive on its adhesive side, you can use scissors to cut it, overlapping pieces on top of one another to ensure a solid physical and electrical connection.
Stay Below the Battery Outline
When using a Blank Template, design your circuit below the circular battery outline.
We suggest this, because the top two inches of each template will be used for adding power and ground lines that connect all of the templates together.
The circuit in the first photo is too high up on the template, but the circuits in the second photo are just right.
Add Components
Once you’ve taped your templates, the next step is adding your LEDs and a piece of Pressure Sensitive Conductive Plastic. I’m using axial LEDs for this project, but you might choose to use LED Circuit Stickers (or a combination of axial LEDs and white Circuit Stickers).
Like Circuit Stickers, axial LEDs are diodes, meaning that the direction in which they are taped down matters to the electrons trying to pass through them. While axial LEDs are not as flat as the Circuit Stickers, they have a slimmer profile than most through-hole LEDs. They are also more easily repositionable than Circuit Stickers, which is handy when you make a mistake.
Use small pieces of Conductive Fabric Tape to secure the LEDs on top of the conductive traces you added to the templates in the last step. Doing so will ensure a more robust electrical connection than Scotch tape.
Before taping down an LED, check its polarity. The negative leg of a prototyping, or axial, LED is marked with a small black line on its back side.
Check the Polarity on LEDs
Once you know which leg of the LED is negative and which is positive, place it on top of the template, spanning the LED outline.
Because axial LEDs can roll around, I use one hand to hold the LED down and the other to tape it down.
Test Circuits as You Go
Then, after placing each LED, I insert my battery, press down the right-hand corner of the template, and test each circuit as I go. Doing so makes it easier to troubleshoot potential problems, one circuit at a time, rather than waiting until the end.
Add Pressure Sensitive Plastic
The last component you’ll be adding will result in a cool fading effect.
The Switch/ Pressure Sensor Template has an outline for a piece of Pressure Sensitive Conductive Plastic.
In order to secure it in place, use a glue stick on one side of the plastic and place it sticky side down on the template.
Test the Sensor
When the switch containing the plastic is pressed over the plastic, the brightness of the LED will change in relationship to how hard or softly you push.
Making and Using a Battery Holder
Prepare Battery Holder
The next step is to fold and secure your battery holder. To get started, use scissors to cut out one of the cardstock copies to include in your accordion book and use the other as a visual reference.
Please observe that the Battery Holder Template used in this project, with the positive (+) lead on the right, has been designed to match up with the positive and negative traces of the Battery Cover Template.
Taping Battery Holder Step 1
After you’ve cut the battery holder out, add Conductive Fabric Tape to the gray area on the front, letting any extra hang down.
Next, turn the holder over to the back side. Add another piece of tape, starting from the bottom edge, following the direction of the arrow, and stopping where the gray outline ends.
Taping Battery Holder Step 2
Then, flip the holder upside down. Keeping the holder in an upside down position, fold the leg of the holder along the dotted lines to create a tab that will come in contact with the battery. When you make the final fold, flip the holder upright and allow the conductive leads to hang down. Lastly, add the battery (negative side up).
Battery Holder Continued
Leaving the battery in the holder, wrap the paper flap around to the back and secure it with tape. Verify that the battery is seated properly, between the back of the envelope and the little tab you folded. Tuck in the flap.
The Flap Acts as a Switch
If you are soon planning to use the battery to power your circuit, tuck the flap around the outside of the conductive tab. If you are not ready to use the battery, tuck the flap between the battery and the conductive tab.
Tips, Tricks & Call-outs
When preparing to use your battery holder to power your circuit, be careful to avoid tucking the paper flap between the battery and the folded tab inside the holder. Otherwise, the battery will be insulated from the rest of the circuit and the LEDs will not turn on. While it may take a little practice, one of the benefits of using this type of battery holder is that you can switch the circuit off and on by simply repositioning the flap. Having the ability to switch the battery on or off with the flap is a great way to conserve the life of your battery!
Add Battery to Template
After you’ve made your battery holder, place it on the Battery Cover Template, securing the back of the little envelope with glue or tape so that it doesn’t flop around.
Tape Down Battery Template
If you haven’t already done so, separate the folded accordion book pages and lay them on a flat surface. The top layer will hold the artwork and text, illuminated by the circuit layer below.
Adhere glue or a piece of double stick tape to the top back edge of the completed template, centering the template upon the first page of the circuit layer of your accordion book. Once adhered, there should be about ¼” of brown paper peeking out from under the top and bottom of the template. You’ll learn how to use this space to accommodate thin magnetic strips later in this tutorial.
Building the Book
Add Templates to Circuit Layer
Now that you’ve adhered the Battery Cover Template, the next step is adding the rest of your completed templates to the circuit layer page of your accordion book.
The order in which you place the remaining templates does not matter, in terms of how the circuit will function, although you may wish to alternate between switched templates and those without switches.
Tips, Tricks, and Call-Outs
While the circuit would still work electrically if the battery was placed on the last page, rather than the first, a benefit of placing it at the start of your book is that you may easily add more pages to the end of your accordion should you wish to.
When adding the next template, line up its top and bottom edges with the Battery Cover Template you’ve already tacked down.
Add Remaining Templates to Circuit
Carefully line up and add the next template, repeating this process until they are all placed. Adjust any templates that appear crooked.
Lastly, ensure that all of the templates are lined up neatly in the order that you want them.
Create Insulating Bridges
Before you can connect all of your templates together, you need to create some insulating bridges for the negative ground rail to cross over. Creating bridges to cover up the positive leads of the circuit will help you prevent a short circuit. To do so, simply cover the positive traces near each battery outline with a piece of washi or Scotch tape.
Connect Templates Together
The last step in constructing your circuit layer is to connect all of the templates together! In the process, you will be creating a very long parallel circuit!
Use Conductive Fabric Tape to connect the negative lead of the battery holder, crossing the bridges you constructed and connecting to each template by crossing over the positive battery outlines.
Repeat this process for the positive lead of the battery holder, by taping straight across the entire length of the circuit. As you work, press the tape down, ensuring that it is fully adhered to the paper and conductive tape that it is crossing over.
Avoiding Wonky Connections
Because you are adding Conductive Fabric Tape on top of itself, as you connect all of the templates together, it’s important to check your joints. If two pieces of conductive tape merely touch, rather than overlapping (depicted in the first photo), you will end up with a wonky circuit. As a result your circuit might not turn on, or it might only turn on intermittently.
To solve this problem, press down or add patches of conductive tape to areas with weak connections (depicted in the second photo).
Test Your Circuit
Finally, it’s time to verify that the LEDs in each of the connected templates are working. Place the battery in the holder, ensuring that the flap is not insulating the battery. When you press down the switches, do the LEDs light up? If not, check to see that each LED is well-taped, bridges are in place, and taped connections are overlapped and secure.
Add Magnets
I found that adding some thin magnetic strips along the top edge of my circuit page was a good way to keep the art layer in place on top of the circuit layer.
First, hold the magnet from a short end.
Next, cut it into halves; press the pieces together with the black sides facing inward.
Then, cut several 1/4″ tall magnetic strip pairs from the joined halves.
Adhere the magnets along the top edge of the circuit layer page.
I usually add one per page, with two on the front and back covers.
Align Layers
Align the art layer page with the circuit layer page, pressing down upon the magnets as you go.
Personalize Your Book
Laying Out The Book
Now that you have a functioning circuit, you can add artwork and text. I used a combination of hand-drawn designs, made with a white paint pen on black paper, and paper outlines that I cut out using a Cricut machine.
While brainstorming, I found it helpful to position the pages so that the art layer and the circuit layer were stretched out parallel to one another.
If you are working on a small surface, it might be easier to keep most of the pages folded, focusing upon one or two at a time.
Planning for Light
You may notice that I punched small holes in these pages, to allow more light to shine through. I’ll be explaining how to do this in the next step.
Since I have very large handwriting, I decided to glue typed text inside of little mini accordions that I made from printer paper.
Using a Screw Punch
If you want more light to shine through the art layer of your accordion, consider using a Japanese Screw punch to make small, neat holes, precisely where you want them.
Use a mat under a screw punch to protect surfaces. With the LEDs lit, use a pen to mark areas needing holes. Hold the punch over the marks and push down.
Lights will be more diffused in areas without holes. Lights will be brighter where you’ve punched holes.
Making the Cover
To make a book cover, fold the 6 ½” H X 12” W piece of colored paper so that it has a front cover, spine, back cover, and a flap. Since the accordion pages are 4 ½” W, the front and back covers need to be folded a little wider, at 4 ¾” W. If you fold the paper to accommodate a ½” W spine, the flap that will help keep your book closed (once it’s glued on) will be 2″ W.
If you’d like for your book’s cover to remain secure, you may tape or glue it on.
Do so by attaching the first page of the circuit layer down to the side of the colored paper cover without the flap. The flap, which should remain loose and unglued, was designed to wrap around the last page of the accordion, to keep if from flying open.
Enjoy!
Enjoy Your Finished Book!
What Is Happrening Here?
Storytelling and Electronics
This STEAM project combines the art and craft of story telling with electronics, blending them together to create an interactive piece of art in the form of an accordion book. Similar to the way you might add a splash of color to an illustration with paints, markers, or Crayons, it’s also possible to use LEDs, switches, and sensors to help convey an idea or tell a story.
Because there are different ways to approach this project, I’m going to mention a couple that might help you get started.
One way to begin is by brainstorming a concept or idea, imagining artistic elements that might match up with each paper circuit template, to help communicate a mood or illustrate a story. In my case, I knew from the start that I wanted my book to document my time in the woods.
Another way to approach this project is to construct the entire circuit layer, independent of any specific creative outcome, letting the functionality of each template stimulate ideas and inspire content.
While some people prefer to start out with a fully formed idea, others may feel more excited about having the electronics completed first, allowing them to focus completely on the content. No matter which entry point suits you best, the directions that follow will show you the basics of constructing an interactive accordion book that uses a single battery to power a series of paper circuit templates.
What Is Next?
Additional Resources
To take this project a step further, here are some ideas to consider:
If you used axial LEDs, try Circuit Sticker LEDs next time.
If you created the circuit BEFORE creating your artwork, try mixing up the order next time.
Once you’ve assembled a completed project using templates, try a different configuration next time, including more blank templates that you design yourself.
Experiment with hand-cut and machine-cut artwork.
Collaborate with a partner to write and illustrate the story & design the circuit art.
To see a more detailed version of this tutorial, please visit the original Chibitronics Accordion Book Tutorial.
Chibitronics Educators Guide
Chibitronics Paper Circuits STEAM Educator’s Guide is a FREE comprehensive guide to STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art and Math) learning with paper circuits!
This 185-page guide includes:
Overview and history of paper circuits, including materials, techniques and troubleshooting tips
Suggested learning standards
Resources on equitable teaching and collaboration in the classroom
7 detailed lesson sequences based on the Circuit Sticker Sketchbook in Part 1 Lessons
12 detailed lesson sequences based on Love to Code in Part 2 Lessons
6 Featured Projects: cross-curricular adaptable project inspirations
Printable templates for each lesson sequence
Throughout the guide, Chibitronics celebrates artists, educators, art techniques, and projects to showcase inspiring work in action. The arts are interwoven into each activity; STEM becomes a medium to ask and explore big questions about ourselves and the world, and nurture new forms of creativity!
Materials:
- 2 accordion book pages (6” H X 36” W). I’m using two pieces of brown craft paper, folded into eighths.
- 1 colored paper cover (6 ½” H X 12” W)
- Conductive Fabric Tape (10 meters/32 feet)
- 12 white prototyping/ axial LEDs OR 12 white LED Circuit Stickers
- 1 X 3V coin cell battery
- 1 piece of Pressure Sensitive Plastic (1 ½” H X ½” W)
- 2 printed battery holders (on cardstock) (see PDF)
- 1 X adhesive backed magnet (2″ H X 3 1/2″ W)
- 8 X printed paper circuit templates (see PDF) printed and evenly cut:
- Battery Cover Template, Paper Switch Template, Switch/ Pressure Sensor Template, Animation Switch Template, Parallel Circuit Template, Blinking Slide Switch Template, 2 Blank Templates
- Printer
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Washi or Scotch Tape
- Glue Stick
- Art supplies of your choice
- Double-Sided Tape (Optional)
- Japanese Screw Punch/ Push Drill (Optional)
