Papier - Machine

PAPIER - MACHINE is a book collection of twelve electronic toys made out of paper – all meant to be cut, drawn, folded, built and destroyed. Each toy explains one or several electronic principles. All the toys are working prototypes. They are silkscreened on paper with silver, carbon, cadmium and thermo-chromic ink. PAPIER - MACHINE is the result of an impossible quest to make all the existing electronics components out of paper and specific inks. Its objective is to show the chemical and physical principles of electronic components as something beyond “magical”. The five toys in the book are: 1. Pinball for two players: The objective is to make the opponent’s colour disappear. Steel marbles are thrown to close the correct circuit. When the circuit is closed, the thermo-chromic ink disappears. The game is over when one of the colours has completely disappeared. 2. Playing a piano by blowing on it: The speaker here is made with printed silver conductive ink and a simple magnet. Different shapes of resistant ink create different sounds when one blows on them. 3. Target working with papier mâché: When moisture is detected on the whole surface, the different thermo-chromatic ink zones are switched on. 4. A “toboggan” for steel marbles: The silver printed circuit could be augmented with the graphite from a pencil. Each time the marble closes the circuit by touching the hatches, a sound is produced. The circuit is now a partition, and the steel marble is a reader head. 5. Half bed-light, half hovercraft. The vehicle lights switches on and moves when the captor detects obscurity. The light sensor on the surface of the object is made with yellow cadmium ink.