on the other hand_
	home events works research workshops : on the other hand cvs contact		on the other hand is a workshop in collaboration with school groups. This workshop for children covers the following issues: storytelling with handmade thaumatropes, optical & mechanical toys & games and solar power. What we would like to do: We would like you to tell us a story, for instance: – a Scottish fairy tale or just a story about your town or the school, or – a story about travelling around the world, or – you could invent a story about insects, fairies, dewdrops and miracles in a meadow of Scottish wildflowers. (we will choose when we will meet for the first time) We don't know very much about Scottish stories, so we are very curious. We like moving pictures and we are fascinated by optical illusions. But we do not make films, we work with thaumatropes – they are an older media than film. A thaumatrope is a toy that was popular in Victorian times. A disk or card with a picture on each side is attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to combine into a single image due to persistence of vision. They are recognised as important antecedents of cinematography and in particular of animation. The coined name means roughly "magic disk" in modern Greek. (wikipedia) Our work ume was made with 50 of these thaumatropes – as you can see on the images. We would like to make a similar work (but more colourful!) with you. In the beginning we will show you how early kinds of cinema and optical illusions like zoetropes, praxinoscopes and flipbooks work. Then we will put it into practice and make some experiments with self-made stamps and drawings. You will see which designs are suitable for thaumatropes. You will learn how to make your own manual thaumatropes with a disk and two pieces of string. We will find out which miniature moments in your favourite story or situation could be painted or printed. It is important to find out two elements in each moment you would like to illustrate (by painting or printing) on each side of a disk. When you are super-skilled in making thaumatropes we will make a long chain together of all your favourite thaumatropes – each telling one part of the chosen story. We will put them together on a long rod. We install this rod (or a group of thaumatropes, it mustn't be a line) together with a low-voltage motor at one end of the rod (or the group) and a wired solar panel. If the sky is bright the solar panel will make enough electricity for the low-voltage motor to move the entire string. All your thaumatropes will spin, showing the whole story in moving pictures. Your drawings will come to life! We will also show you how you can make eco-friendly electricity out of sunlight, lemons or other stuff from the kitchen...