Skyberries and Voidmelons or Voidberries and Skymelons

The Musical Ballpit was a ballpit that made sounds as you moved in it, which deathboy and I created for EMFCamp 2016 in the summer.

My inspiration for the musical ballpit came from a talk by Di Mainstone at Dorkbot in London last December.

At that Dorkbot, I remember there were talks about emotive wearables, molerats, and snowflakes and I attempted making a sputnik bauble.

But the talk that inspired me the most was during the Open dorks section, by Di Mainstone, who has created wonderful projects such as the human harp on Clifton Suspension Bridge. She spoke about how she was looking for collaborators to work on a project that would make sounds as you moved through sand. I wondered about this, and then concluded that making sounds as you moved through balls in a ballpit would surely be easier.

I suggested it to deathboy, who was also at Dorkbot that night, even though I thought it was a bit of a silly idea. He convinced me that we could make it possible and we should take it to EMFCamp the following August.

I started telling friends about the musical ballpit, and found I was quite enthusiastic about the idea, and realised it was something I should actually try to make happen.

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