Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

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Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Izzie »

Hello everyone,

I am new to the Solarchatforum, so apologies if it feels that I am dumping this topic upon you without any prewarning. I am a keen solar astronomer but mostly, a STEM ambassador organising outreach events in schools or for public.

Stephen has messaged me after your meeting, telling me about the solar classification project which is very interesting – hence me signing up to the forum. He was asking about my project which I started pre Covid which unfortunately died a slow death due to school closures and me reaching my limits with technology. I am also not very active on social media and quite shy but after Stephen’s message, I decided to pluck my courage together and create this thread and see if there is any interest for people to participate.

What is the project about?

I would like to create tactiles for blind and/or visually impaired children to learn about the Sun.

I met numerous blind/visually impaired children in the mainstream school and felt sad that I couldn’t help them more understand. Often I wasn’t even informed of any pupils being blind and felt fairly stupid doing my talk using many images, whilst they quietly sat and just accepted that they could not follow or understand what I was saying. I started creating some individual ‘gadgets’ in the hope they could follow my talk. It was always well received, and kids wanted to keep these items. I learnt that there could be done an awful lot more for these kids. They all seemed genuinely interested in astronomy.

Trying to keep it short. I met a couple of times with the Head Teacher for the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh. She was really interested as were some local politicians responsible for Education (South and East Ayrshire).

I got in contact with my work (National Air Traffic Service) who were equally keen and sponsored a 3D printer. This is problem no 1 – I cannot for the life of me design tactiles!

I got a friend to create test tactiles for the solar surface (picture attached). I went to the Royal Blind School and got some feedback from kids and teacher.

Size and shape of tactile was okay but what’s on it is a representation of what we can see with our eyes and that makes no sense to these kids. I have also attached an example of a kid explaining to me what a fox ‘looks’ like to him. He recognises/describes the fox in individual parts. He recognises the head, the spine, the ribcage and the long bushy tail and also (quite gory) an axe….  The Sun’s surface as I created it on the test tactiles did not make much sense to them. It will have to be explained differently such as using grains of rice.

I have plenty of ideas but I cannot design it myself and need some help but I also have lost the mojo. In the first instance, I am trying to find out if this is a project that people would want to participate and maybe we can revive it? If you are interested in joining, it will be quite a daunting task as you will need a lot of imagination and really try (it is harder than you think) to create something the way you explain it and not make it look visually attractive to your eye. I am happy to talk about it in more detail on the next meeting.

Thanks for reading.

Izzie
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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by solarchat »

Thank you for posting Izzy!
Izzy is an air traffic controller in Scotland so we have the same career also as I am retired from Atlanta.
Let’s all welcome her to the forum.


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Montana »

A very warm and sunny welcome Izzie :hamster:
Wow!! what an amazing project, it would be fabulous to hear more about it at the next Zoom meeting :)

I'm wondering if you know Mary McIntyre, I am sure she makes textured surfaces for children to handle, but it may have been the Moon, I can't remember. She has an amazing gift at craft and art, I am sure she could help. I also know that a few on the forum here are 3D printer wizards too.

The granulation in picture 2 looks beautiful and I can imagine feels the same, but I think a nice sunspot with filaments all around would work really well. I wonder if it is possible to take a solar image, make a 3D map and print it. I have no knowledge of these things (I am sure you can tell).

It's fabulous work and thank you for sharing. You have made me think, I have to give a talk about the Sun to some very elderly folks in a month and I have a talk full of photos, I wonder how many of them have a problem with sight ;)

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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Izzie »

Hi Alexandra,
Many thanks for your reply. The two tactiles were actually images of the solar surface and I have lowered the sunspots in the hope to explain the difference - unfortunately it didn't work. It was not clear enough. There are no clear edges to feel a difference. Honestly it's a mindboggling subject. It's very rewarding when it works but it's not so straight forward as it sounds.... I really hope I can revive the project... Fingers crossed

And no, I haven't heard of Mary McIntyre. Textures are equally important as I found out.

Izzie


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by MAURITS »

A very warm welcome Izzie, what a wonderful project.


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by rigel123 »

Welcome Izzie, that's an amazing project. Although I am no artist I would think instead of simply a flat surface, something the size of a soccer ball could be designed with various depressions with radiating "rice-like" features fanning out from a somewhat circular depression could represent a sunspot and then low snake-like protrusions for filaments and taller, feathery features for prominences and sharper short spikes for flares might give them a better feel for what can be "seen".


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by nicspenceryork »

Hi Izzie, I’m delighted to hear about your work and see examples, I think it’s a brilliant idea.
I’ve forwarded a link for this thread to Mary who’s a friend of mine.
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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Mary McIntyre »

Hi Izzie,

Sorry for taking a while to get back to this thread - I was waiting for my laptop to finish a Windows update, then I had to register because I realised I hadn't already done that. Anyway, here I am!

I have made quite a few models of craters, asteroids, comets etc., but I haven't attempted any of the Sun. I have some ideas for this project for people with visual impairment, although my ideas are more how to create the things they can touch rather than knowing for certain what will translate well to somebody with those specific needs.

One way that I would approach making the models that I think would work better than 3D printing would be to start off with air-dry clay. You can sculpt that into whatever texture or patterns you like on little tableaus. You could try to create a three-dimensional version of what we see or make the different parts of an active region in separate areas. I also thought it would be great to try to recreate the magnetic field lines that you get when you put a bar magnet under iron filings. I say this because I saw a talk by Philippa Browning about 11 years ago and the thing that still has stuck in my mind is her 3D iron filings model that had a hole in the centre and when you poked the bar magnet through it created a full 3D magnetic field lines that represents what's happening around a sunspot. There are so many things you can do with clay like that, either full 3D models or flat tableaus. Once fully dried, you can then create a mould of them using silicone, and that would then give you the ability to cast as many as you wanted using epoxy resin, Jesmonite, eco-resin, plaster of Paris, etc. That would be brilliant if you wanted several sets of models for a larger group of people with visual impairment. Although the silicone isn't the cheapest, once cast it is pretty inexpensive to cast using resin.

If that all sounds awful and you only want one or two things, you could mould something from polymer clay. Again you can make it flat and carve into it, or make larger 3D shapes. Once baked they'll be pretty robust. Yet another idea is to make models using salt dough. Although harder to sculpt, I've made asteroid models with salt dough and it's really cheap to make. It did take 13 hours of baking to get my models to fully set, but that was with the oven on minimum temperature.

As I said, I've only really made models that look they we see the objects with our eyes, so my design ideas may not work in this context. However, the methods to create the final models should work with whatever textures you need for this project. I hope this helps a bit and please feel free to ask more questions; I'll do anything I can to help with this.

Mary


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Welcome to the forum Izzie. What a wonderful thing to do for kids who are blind or visually impaired. I certainly wish you luck on your outreach efforts to them.

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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Montana »

Thanks Mary :hamster:

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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Izzie »

Mary McIntyre wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 5:50 pm Hi Izzie,

Sorry for taking a while to get back to this thread - I was waiting for my laptop to finish a Windows update, then I had to register because I realised I hadn't already done that. Anyway, here I am!

I have made quite a few models of craters, asteroids, comets etc., but I haven't attempted any of the Sun. I have some ideas for this project for people with visual impairment, although my ideas are more how to create the things they can touch rather than knowing for certain what will translate well to somebody with those specific needs.

One way that I would approach making the models that I think would work better than 3D printing would be to start off with air-dry clay. You can sculpt that into whatever texture or patterns you like on little tableaus. You could try to create a three-dimensional version of what we see or make the different parts of an active region in separate areas. I also thought it would be great to try to recreate the magnetic field lines that you get when you put a bar magnet under iron filings. I say this because I saw a talk by Philippa Browning about 11 years ago and the thing that still has stuck in my mind is her 3D iron filings model that had a hole in the centre and when you poked the bar magnet through it created a full 3D magnetic field lines that represents what's happening around a sunspot. There are so many things you can do with clay like that, either full 3D models or flat tableaus. Once fully dried, you can then create a mould of them using silicone, and that would then give you the ability to cast as many as you wanted using epoxy resin, Jesmonite, eco-resin, plaster of Paris, etc. That would be brilliant if you wanted several sets of models for a larger group of people with visual impairment. Although the silicone isn't the cheapest, once cast it is pretty inexpensive to cast using resin.

If that all sounds awful and you only want one or two things, you could mould something from polymer clay. Again you can make it flat and carve into it, or make larger 3D shapes. Once baked they'll be pretty robust. Yet another idea is to make models using salt dough. Although harder to sculpt, I've made asteroid models with salt dough and it's really cheap to make. It did take 13 hours of baking to get my models to fully set, but that was with the oven on minimum temperature.

As I said, I've only really made models that look they we see the objects with our eyes, so my design ideas may not work in this context. However, the methods to create the final models should work with whatever textures you need for this project. I hope this helps a bit and please feel free to ask more questions; I'll do anything I can to help with this.

Mary
Thank you so much Mary for taking the time to explain. I have not considered these methods at all - I thought 3D printing was the way forward. I will need some time to read up about it as I am not familiar with air-dry clay. I have already ordered some and will give it a go. :D The idea with creating a mould is fantastic. I will have some time later this month to sit down and experiment - I might message you for more details if that is okay.

Much appreciated,
Izzie


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by marktownley »

Hi Izzy

Good to hear from you again and welcome back to solar chat.

I started to reply to this before work this morning but ran out of time, but in true solarchat fashion there was a wealth of things that have been posted since.

I was going to say if you were adamant to go the 3D printing route then short of getting a third party to do the designs and prints for you then you needed to consider to upskill yourself, i'm sure in the STEM amassador circles there are people who could specifically help with this.

The other thing I was going to suggest, and in my day job i'm a senior leader in a mainstream secondary school here in England, was to move away from the idea of doing a 'talk' to the children was to run hands on workshops instead. We have lots of people who always want to come in and talk to (at?) the children, and children will on the whole sit there politely and listen. Now, i'm not saying this is what you are saying you want to do, but I do find the smaller group / hands on approach works much more effectively than a larger group sat listening.

Mary has excellent suggestions, we use air dry clay regularly in our art and design department. Hands on and mucky hands with kids is always a winner for them.

Anything is possible, about 10 years ago we had a visually impared student who was virtually blind who decided wanted to go on our annual ski trip to the Alps, staff (including myself as a member of staff on said ski trip) were initially terrified by the idea, but at the end of it all, 5 days skiing, we couldn't believe the student could ski, and better than some students who were fully sighted. I'm not saying it's easy, but we don't do it because it is easy, the reward is pushing the boundaries and giving those less fortunate than ourselves opportunities they wouldn't normally experience.

Keep in touch on here, you have a lot of people with a wealth of experience that will help make these things achieveable.

Mark


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Montana »

I embossed in Photoshop a sunspot image that I took, if it was possible to 3D print it, I would have thought that it would be quite a tactile object?
2013-04-06 09-23-25 emboss.jpg
2013-04-06 09-23-25 emboss.jpg (943.91 KiB) Viewed 553 times
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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by rsfoto »

Hi Alexandra,

Great example and yes it is possible to print that using a so called Lithophane software.

https://itslitho.com/

I have never done it but already seen a huge amount of Photographs 3D printed and used as Lamp shades ...


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by rsfoto »

Hi,
I imported your image into Itslitho and below you can see how it looks. Now of course the question is how does the 3D print perform.

There is also the question of the size of the relief has to be so that a blind person can distinguish the differences. I have no idea so I guess some tests are necessary to find out the right settings like traducing the pixel of the image into a 3D object. I guess this depends of the sensitivity of the fingers of which I have absolutely no idea. I have always been wondering how Braile is read with fingers. For me I feel respect for those persons able to read Braile.

2013-04-06 09-23-25 emboss_litho.jpg
2013-04-06 09-23-25 emboss_litho.jpg (520.09 KiB) Viewed 543 times
below the *.stl file for printing. Rename the file by changing *.txt ending to *.stl if you want to 3D print. SolarChatForum does not accept files the *.stl type
ItsLitho_2013-04-06 09-23-25 emboss.txt
(66.63 MiB) Downloaded 16 times


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Izzie »

marktownley wrote: Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:34 pm Hi Izzy

Good to hear from you again and welcome back to solar chat.

I started to reply to this before work this morning but ran out of time, but in true solarchat fashion there was a wealth of things that have been posted since.

I was going to say if you were adamant to go the 3D printing route then short of getting a third party to do the designs and prints for you then you needed to consider to upskill yourself, i'm sure in the STEM amassador circles there are people who could specifically help with this.

The other thing I was going to suggest, and in my day job i'm a senior leader in a mainstream secondary school here in England, was to move away from the idea of doing a 'talk' to the children was to run hands on workshops instead. We have lots of people who always want to come in and talk to (at?) the children, and children will on the whole sit there politely and listen. Now, i'm not saying this is what you are saying you want to do, but I do find the smaller group / hands on approach works much more effectively than a larger group sat listening.

Mary has excellent suggestions, we use air dry clay regularly in our art and design department. Hands on and mucky hands with kids is always a winner for them.

Anything is possible, about 10 years ago we had a visually impared student who was virtually blind who decided wanted to go on our annual ski trip to the Alps, staff (including myself as a member of staff on said ski trip) were initially terrified by the idea, but at the end of it all, 5 days skiing, we couldn't believe the student could ski, and better than some students who were fully sighted. I'm not saying it's easy, but we don't do it because it is easy, the reward is pushing the boundaries and giving those less fortunate than ourselves opportunities they wouldn't normally experience.

Keep in touch on here, you have a lot of people with a wealth of experience that will help make these things achieveable.

Mark
Hello Mark,
Good to hear from you too. Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions. I think at this point, everything is fair game. I went to three schools to get some information and feedback. In the end I will have to decide where and how far to take the project. I absolutely agree, that hands on activities are very welcome. I lead two classes doing a space art.... Not quite the same but the kids loved it. :D I need to see how I get on with air dry clay. That is a good start for me.

All the best.
Izzie


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Izzie »

Montana wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 5:43 pm I embossed in Photoshop a sunspot image that I took, if it was possible to 3D print it, I would have thought that it would be quite a tactile object?

2013-04-06 09-23-25 emboss.jpg

Alexandra
Hi Alexandra,
That is quite amazing :D This is what I ideally intended to do. It is similar to the tactile I have created - that is also an image of a sunspot transfered to 3D printing. Unfortunately, the feedback was that there is too much information on it. eg surface and sunspots and they couldnt quite distinguish what is what. So, it will have to be presented separately.
Please please please I would like to keep your awesome skills though in the group :D :D
Thank you for the input


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Izzie »

rsfoto wrote: Thu Jan 12, 2023 6:33 pm Hi,
I imported your image into Itslitho and below you can see how it looks. Now of course the question is how does the 3D print perform.

There is also the question of the size of the relief has to be so that a blind person can distinguish the differences. I have no idea so I guess some tests are necessary to find out the right settings like traducing the pixel of the image into a 3D object. I guess this depends of the sensitivity of the fingers of which I have absolutely no idea. I have always been wondering how Braile is read with fingers. For me I feel respect for those persons able to read Braile.


2013-04-06 09-23-25 emboss_litho.jpg

below the *.stl file for printing. Rename the file by changing *.txt ending to *.stl if you want to 3D print. SolarChatForum does not accept files the *.stl type

ItsLitho_2013-04-06 09-23-25 emboss.txt
Hi,
How amazing are you guys on here :D All the skills I need are right here. Yes, so the feedback on this particular image was that the indentations were not strong enough and too much information on it. For expample, for us the solar surface looks like rice grains but it is too complicated for a blind person because all the 'grains' on the tactile are differently shaped and don't look like rice. Because I used 'rice grains' - the tactile literally should have shapes of rice grains. I hope that makes sense....
Your input is much appreciated. Thank you so much
Izzie


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by rsfoto »

Hi Izzie,
... for us the solar surface looks like rice grains ...
I have been always wondering from where did the expression come that the Sun's surface looks like " rice grains "

It looks like many things for me except rice grains. Rice grains are long and round. Maybe this confused your audience ?

What does the printing you have and the screenshot I send more in common to what it looks ... Perhaps the bed of a river covered with polished stones ... rather then rice grains ?

Also entering into the part of the solar spot we have long reliefs and then a flat surface ...


Image


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by rsfoto »

Hi Izzie,

Look here of a close up image of the sun Surface. For me it looks like anything except Rice grains ...


Image

and here a good example of a Sun spot


Image


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by rsfoto »

Hi,

I took the lower image and put it into itslitho


Positive version
Positive_Spot.JPG
Positive_Spot.JPG (280.38 KiB) Viewed 521 times


Negative version
Negative_Spot.JPG
Negative_Spot.JPG (279.46 KiB) Viewed 521 times


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by marktownley »

Looking at the lithos, maybe some local gaussian blur on the granulation to 'de-emphasise the relief there, that would make umbra and penumbra the main feature of the tactile?


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Rusted »

What a great subject!

However, Mark does raise a valid point.

We, the normally sighted, are often shocked by the sheer complexity of solar images. We often admire them for this very reason. We sing their praises! Even as we struggle to comprehend what it all means. I do and I've been interested in astronomy for almost 70 years.

The difficulty lies in passing this deeply layered information to the poorly sighted and blind. Tactile models should provide a series of stepping stones to greater complexity.

The learning curve of tactile, solar astronomy:

A few "simple" sunspots in white light could be step one. Step 2 might be a more complex sunspots again in white light. And so on, to eventually include surface texture, magnetic lines, light bridges, etc.

But only after the tactile reader has discovered and absorbed the basic idea of scale and relief. With supporting commentary and/or Braille text. AND getting lots of feedback as to what THEY sense from the material on offer. 3D printing often has "irrelevant" surface texture. But how can we be sure? It may actually help a tactile reader to judge depth and relief. Perhaps we should ask THEM?

More advanced H-alpha and Calcium renditions in relief could follow as advanced subjects. As the pupil advances up their own solar learning curve at their own pace. Just as the rest of us do in everything we try to learn from scratch.

Edit: My sincere apologies for my verbosity and repetition of former posts.

Inspired by Rainer's iLitho, it has now occurred to me that paper embossing/debossing between 3D printed plates. Might be a far more practical and economical way of spreading the relief/texture information to a much wider audience. It might also be possible to teach the partially sighted/blind to carry out the embossing-debossing themselves using only the simplest of tools. Even at the blind schoolchild level. And why not?

A simple "flower press," involving nothing more than plywood, coach bolts, coil springs and wing nuts may be enough. The 3D printed positive-negative plates would probably require standardised, reference guides/drilled hole positions. Gently spray your paper for malleability and insert between the plates in the press. Tighten and wait...

Who knows? There may be a whole industry or craft. Just crying out for embossing-debossing to become achievable. At an economical and practical level for all. Requiring only the invention of 3D positive-negative printing to make it an attractive proposition. For all of us. Not just the partially sighted solar astronomy pupil.

At the mass production/industrial printing level: Is there a system of 3D paper embossing using large numbers of computer-controlled pins?

A quick Google suggests that there are 30 millions blind/partially sighted in the European geographical area alone. There is a huge market for providing the partially sighted world with far more relevant material than Braille.


http://fullerscopes.blogspot.dk/

H-alpha: Baader 160mm D-ERF, iStar 150/10 H-alpha objective, 2" Baader 35nm H-a, 2" Beloptik KG3,
Lunt 60MT etalon, Lunt B1200S2 BF, Assorted T-S GPCs or 2x "Shorty" Barlow, ZWO ASI174.
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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by ffellah »

Izzy: welcome, you have a great project in your hands. You are making a very significant contribution. A question: is there already something similar that was done for the moon that may be modified to reflect the sun and what was children’s experience with it. Maybe there is something to learn.

Franco


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Rusted »

The absence of "tactile teaching materials" from an online search is simply unbelievable!
Though I did find this within the general context of this thread:

https://aas.org/posts/news/2022/04/tact ... l-teaching

Some YouTubers are embossing-debossing paper using 3D printed plates.
Usually of bold and simple designs for gift cards.


http://fullerscopes.blogspot.dk/

H-alpha: Baader 160mm D-ERF, iStar 150/10 H-alpha objective, 2" Baader 35nm H-a, 2" Beloptik KG3,
Lunt 60MT etalon, Lunt B1200S2 BF, Assorted T-S GPCs or 2x "Shorty" Barlow, ZWO ASI174.
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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Izzie »

Rusted wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 9:12 am What a great subject!

However, Mark does raise a valid point.

We, the normally sighted, are often shocked by the sheer complexity of solar images. We often admire them for this very reason. We sing their praises! Even as we struggle to comprehend what it all means. I do and I've been interested in astronomy for almost 70 years.

The difficulty lies in passing this deeply layered information to the poorly sighted and blind. Tactile models should provide a series of stepping stones to greater complexity.

The learning curve of tactile, solar astronomy:

A few "simple" sunspots in white light could be step one. Step 2 might be a more complex sunspots again in white light. And so on, to eventually include surface texture, magnetic lines, light bridges, etc.

But only after the tactile reader has discovered and absorbed the basic idea of scale and relief. With supporting commentary and/or Braille text. AND getting lots of feedback as to what THEY sense from the material on offer. 3D printing often has "irrelevant" surface texture. But how can we be sure? It may actually help a tactile reader to judge depth and relief. Perhaps we should ask THEM?

More advanced H-alpha and Calcium renditions in relief could follow as advanced subjects. As the pupil advances up their own solar learning curve at their own pace. Just as the rest of us do in everything we try to learn from scratch.

Edit: My sincere apologies for my verbosity and repetition of former posts.

Inspired by Rainer's iLitho, it has now occurred to me that paper embossing/debossing between 3D printed plates. Might be a far more practical and economical way of spreading the relief/texture information to a much wider audience. It might also be possible to teach the partially sighted/blind to carry out the embossing-debossing themselves using only the simplest of tools. Even at the blind schoolchild level. And why not?

A simple "flower press," involving nothing more than plywood, coach bolts, coil springs and wing nuts may be enough. The 3D printed positive-negative plates would probably require standardised, reference guides/drilled hole positions. Gently spray your paper for malleability and insert between the plates in the press. Tighten and wait...

Who knows? There may be a whole industry or craft. Just crying out for embossing-debossing to become achievable. At an economical and practical level for all. Requiring only the invention of 3D positive-negative printing to make it an attractive proposition. For all of us. Not just the partially sighted solar astronomy pupil.

At the mass production/industrial printing level: Is there a system of 3D paper embossing using large numbers of computer-controlled pins?

A quick Google suggests that there are 30 millions blind/partially sighted in the European geographical area alone. There is a huge market for providing the partially sighted world with far more relevant material than Braille.
This is exactly what I am looking for. Something to build up to from a basic fact. Spots, penumbra, magnetic field lines to surface and corona. I guess it will depend what the end product should look like. And I would like something that schools can use for their students such as a book that builds a story just about the Sun. I believe, that there are plenty of blind people interested in learning about the Sun in more detail. I really like your ideas.


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Izzie »

ffellah wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 11:21 am Izzy: welcome, you have a great project in your hands. You are making a very significant contribution. A question: is there already something similar that was done for the moon that may be modified to reflect the sun and what was children’s experience with it. Maybe there is something to learn.

Franco
Hi Franco,
Thanks for your encouragment. There are some tactiles available - mostly subject of the universe. I do have tactiles produced by 'Tactile Universe' which I can use for school visits for now. These tactiles are basically images of different galaxies with an overlay. Not quite what I would like to create. As far as I know, (I cannot find anything online) there is nothing tactile availabe to learn about the Sun in more detail. eg spots, the structure of a sunspot, surface, magnetic field lines, corona, etc. I believe people would appreciate that to have the possibility to 'see' the Sun in more detail.

Izzie


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Izzie »

Rusted wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 12:24 pm The absence of "tactile teaching materials" from an online search is simply unbelievable!
Though I did find this within the general context of this thread:

https://aas.org/posts/news/2022/04/tact ... l-teaching

Some YouTubers are embossing-debossing paper using 3D printed plates.
Usually of bold and simple designs for gift cards.
I know, and that's how I felt when confronted with my first experience of having a blind student in the class. Never thought about it. Yes, I have tactiles created by 'Tactile Universe' available to use but I would like to create something solely about the Sun. As explained above, the Sun in more detail such as spots, the structure of spots, surface, magnetic field lines etc. There are so many topics to cover just for the Sun. And I believe, there is nothing availabe (at least I have not found anything) I also, would not like to just take a picture and turn it into a tactile (kind of what I have done in my test tactile - the student couldnt follow all the details on it. There was too much information on one tactile) hope that all makes sense. I am gaining a lot of info by reading all the inputs from people. Thanks


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by Mary McIntyre »

Izzie, one thing about air dry clay is that it can forever to dry if you leave the pieces on a board. If you can put them on a cake cooling rack or drying rack of some kind so that the air can get underneath it as well, it will dry much faster.

The Works here in the UK sell Daas air dry clay and it's very affordable and quite nice to work with.

One thing that air dry clay takes well is impressions, so if you have something at home that is the right texture for what you're after, you can just make an imprint of it into the clay. I've seen people using rubber ink stamps, cookie embossing discs, those rolling pins that have cut outs in them for embossing cookie dough. There are so many possibilities.

Very happy to answer questions if you have any.
Mary


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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by rsfoto »

Hi,

The last example of the 3D sunspot print takes in my case about 2.5 hours to print. OK, I print a bit slow.

One printed and taking Mary's idea could be to make several dry clay plates from the 3 D printed one.

I think the best way to find out would be to involve the blind students and get more experience after they say what they " See ". In this way the models can be improved over time.


regards Rainer

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Re: Tactiles for blind/visually impaired children project

Post by rsfoto »

Hi,

It will get complicated when we advance in wanting to make prominences or filaments on the Sun surface ... but I think once the blind students get an Idea of the Sun surface and a spot, by explaining them the other features they will be able to " See " it too ?


regards Rainer

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