The August 8th and 22nd workshops at Ingenuity Cleveland will feature two of my LED projects. The Wall of Stars and Constellations is a sub-project of the Cryptid Forest Stage (aka the Cabaret Stage). For information on the other workshops and the 2026 Festival, see the event page and https://www.ingenuitycleveland.org/programs/ingenuityfest/. My other workshop project is a mesh network of small "jellyfish" creatures in a building-wide network.

A prototype of a prototype

The idea is to create an LED starlight installation on the wall of the Cryptid Forest stage. Large pieces of black mesh fabric will be attached to the existing wood strip framing, stretched vertically to create a night sky. "Round Christmas-style" LED lights representing stars will be mounted to cloroplast or cardboard boards and the boards, along with microcontrollers/ will be mounted to the wall behind the stretched fabric. The stars will be programmed and animated using FastLED. The idea is to create several real constellations (Big Dipper, etc.), several "cryptid" constellations (a Mothman, Bigfoot, etc.), and general stars. The installation will run throughout the festival as part of that overall stage, and be more prominent at night when the lights dim. We will likely need to lightly outline our constellations with white paint marker to "sell" the effect, especially with fake .

In the workshop, we will design and build elements of this installation:

  1. The backdrop - large sheets of mesh + furring strips. Mounting to the existing furring strips, checking show-through, leaving access to lights.
  2. The LEDs - demo basic setup and programming. This installation will have 1 mode, starlight/twinkling light, but can have an alternate mode.
  3. Mounting - work out details and demo the mounting of lights and controllers.
  4. Design - help design the constellations and overall starlight effect. This installation is a bit more complicated than it may first appear. The biggest consideration is going to be the balancing of brightness (it is next to a stage with stage lights, etc.) and the tuning of the overall effect.

No experience is necessary or expected. We will adapt the LED workshops as needed for all levels of involvement. This workshop is paired with a similar LED workshop focused on expanding a mesh network of LED "jellyfish" creatures. We will have things to do both weekends.