Circuit Sculpture was one of our most anticipated workshops of Hackaday Remoticon 2020, and now it’s ready for those who missed it to enjoy. A beginning circuit sculptor could hardly ask for more than this workshop, which highlights three different approaches to building firefly circuit sculptures and is led by some of the most prominent people to ever bend brass and components to their will — Jiří Praus, Mohit Bhoite, & Kelly Heaton.

For starters, you’ll learn the different tools and techniques that each of them uses to create their sculptures. For instance, Kelly likes to use water-based clay to hold components in specific orientations while forming the sculpture and soldering it all together. Jiří and Mohit on the other hand tend to use tape. The point is that there is no right or wrong way, but to instead have all of these tips and tricks under your belt as you sculpt. And that’s what this workshop is really about.

First up is Mohit, who got into circuit sculpture through BEAM robotics. Mohit likes to give sculptures a personality in the form of color changing and other reactions. Need an easy way to straighten a coil of wire? Mohit chucks it in a drill and after a few turns, it is straight as can be.

Jiří tends to make sculptures that are symmetrical. He often starts with a sketch, and once the idea is realized in 2D will begin to make it 3D. Jiří likes to use 3D printed templates to help bend brass to specific angles or as a jig to create shapes.

Kelly is more of a free-form artist who tends to make organic-looking sculptures. Kelly frequently turns to Thévenin’s Equivalent and uses many resistors in series to make a single resistive element that looks complex but is electrically simple.

This workshop is all about mixing and matching the three styles to suit your creative vision, so check it out and have fun. The firefly template is available on the workshop page. If you make something, be sure to post it on Hackaday.io.