[accessibleimage] easy drawing tablet - doodle pad

Hi
I have been working on making a drawing pad for the blind. It is based on 
the pad (I think) that Quantum   makes which accompanies the wooly pen
that they sell.
The pad is very easy to make and seems quite effective. I made it based on
  Lucia Hasty's  description of the wooly pen and board (earlier mail). 
I think anyone can make this tool and is very cheap. To make a pen to
accompany I have taken a ball point pen, removed the ink cartridge and etc
and just threaded the yarn through. However you don't need to use the pen
you can just place it on the board,   finger painting
 
The following is a description of how to make the board

Veltex (in Europe it is called  Velour)  is a finer type of velcro. I have
used the 20 cm wide, but believe they also sell it in sheet forms 
Strong double sided tape - here you need a pretty heavy duty type, not the
double sided that is used with paper
Backing - have used a thin plywood, thick plastic would work. 
Scissors to cut tape and 

To make the work easier I have used a board that is double so high as the
veltex width. Happily the double sided tape was the same width.
Cut the board to the desired length. Sand edges. Place double sided tape
on, remove the protection on tape. Place veltex on the tape, carefully so
not to make bumps and the widths right next to each other.
Press down.
Finished. 

Drawing tool
Cheap ball point pen 
ball of wool yarn, so far I have just tried wool yarn and this works very
good, a polyester wool might also work fine, just think it needs to be
similar to wool. Cotton string does not seem to work

remove ink cartridge
thread end of wool through empty pen. Put a small not at that end, so that
it doesn't go back.

That's it.  Start to draw.  The yarn will get a bit harry after awhile,
but just through away afterwards.

You will have to have a scissors on hand to clip the yarn.

I think the important point about this is that it is a cheap and easy tool
to make and gives immediate feed back. Good for doodling, quick drawings
for class rooms, quick maps etc.

Am working on ideas for the sketch pad, ie cover the back of cloth or
paper with  the fuzzy bit of velcro, clip out shapes from the cloth/paper,
stick to the board.  Will send ideas later, if anyone has any ideas,
improvements would like to hear.

Best regards,
Lisa



Lisa Yayla
Huseby Kompetansesenter 
Oslo Norway
lisa.yayla@xxxxxxxxxx

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