Arduino Decor

This summer I’ve spent a lot of time reorganizing my workroom/office space. After getting all my tools in order and rearranging furniture, the last step has been to add inspiring art and decoration. Awhile back I had the idea to make big, squishy pillows shaped like Arduino boards, inspired by Blythe Church’s amazing hand sewn felt electronics. In my spare time, I’ve been working on a large LilyPad floor pillow. It ended up being a great way to practice my stitching and adds a much-needed soft element to the space (which right now is mostly desks and tables). After many hours of embroidering and hand stitching onto felt, I finally finished it up this afternoon. Here are a few pictures of the finished piece:

That’s the actual LilyPad board on the right.

The pillow is about 20″ in diameter and 3.5″ thick, with some memory foam inside to make it really squishy/huggable. I’m hoping to make some more in the shape of the other Arduino boards and have a whole collection of them around the workroom.

DIY Tech Footwear Round-Up

Lately there are an increasing number of shoes on the market that incorporate technology, from running shoes that sync with your iPod to high fashion illuminated heels. Here are a few cool tutorials that show you how to build your own tech-infused footwear.

Light Up and Glowing Shoes

DIY Flashing Shoes

Image via Instructables

This Instructable shows you how to repurpose the electronics from a pair of kid’s light up shoes and put them into your favorite pair of sneakers.

LED Shoes

Image via Instructables

Another pair of LED shoes, this tutorial has you build the circuit from scratch using conductive thread, LED sequin beads and puff paint (for insulation and decoration). Metal snaps in the tongue creates an on/off switch.

Rodarte Style Light Up Heels

Image via I Heart Switch

Alison Lewis of I Heart Switch shows you how to achieve a look inspired by Rodarte’s high fashion light up heels.

El Wire Shoes

http://blip.tv/play/gfkN7cpIAg

Diana Eng’s book Fashion Geek has a project that uses electroluminescent wire instead of LEDs to add some glow to your footwear.

Sound

Get Smart Shoe Phone

Image via Instructables

Honestly, who doesn’t want to make a shoe phone? Instructables member gardners has a series of Get Smart projects that look like a lot of fun. This one uses a mobile phone and bluetooth headset.

Beat Sneaks: Musical MIDI Shoes

Using force sensitive resistors and an Arduino, these cool sneakers translate your toe-tapping into triggers for sounds.

Motion/Other Interactions

Power Laces: The Auto Lacing Shoe

I love these ‘Back to the Future’ inspired sneakers that have been getting a lot of press lately. Great use of a servo and zip ties!

Joy Slippers

Image via Instructables

Hannah Perner-Wilson’s tutorial uses conductive fabrics to make analog pressure sensors in custom slippers. These can then act as controllers for a drawing program in the Processing environment.

Power Generating Shoe

Image via Instructables

This project hacks parts of a crank flashlight and places them in the heel of the shoe for a boost of power when you walk.

For more reading on technology in footwear check out:

• History of the “Smart Shoe” at Fashioning Technology
• History of Musical Shoes from 1930s to Today at Fashioning Technology
• Shoes category on Talk2MyShirt blog
• Rambler Shoes: microblogging sneakers by Ricardo Nascimento
• Footprint: power generating shoes by Marc Beaulieu
• Energy Harvesting Dérive: kinetic shoes by Christian Croft and Kate Hartman

Project: ‘Talking’ Sock Puppet

Today I made a sock puppet that makes sound when you open its mouth. I used one of those greeting cards that plays sounds when you open it, some felt, and plastic buttons. It was a quick project for a rainy day and is a great way to use up old cards. I’d like to make another version with a card that you can record your own sound into. It would be fun to place the record button in the puppet’s ear and maybe have some light up eyes too. Visit Make: Projects for the full tutorial.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

Project: WiFi Sensing Bracelet Hack

Last week I found some WiFi Detecting Keychains on sale for $5 and decided they would make a fun weekend hack. I personally don’t like keychain gadgets, but they are great for incorporating into wearable projects because of how small and compact the circuit boards are. Here is a short video of it in action before I took it apart: http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377

The LED at the bottom is red and only lights up when there is no signal. The row of LEDs above indicates signal strength. If you hold the button down an LED at the top acts as a flashlight.

After opening up the casing, I found that the board was nice and compact. At first I thought I would be able to desolder the LEDs and arrange them in a new configuration on a bracelet, but they ended up being too small for my current soldering set up and skill set. For now, I am just focusing incorporating the board and it’s current function into a wearable bracelet.

I soldered some wires to the battery terminals and switch so that I can create soft battery holders and a soft switch. Then I cut out a piece of neoprene with holes to embed the board and batteries in. This gives the bracelet a bit of cushion for the components and keeps everything at a consistent thickness. I placed some conductive fabric and thread to act as battery terminals, and sewed a simple pouch to hold them in place. Finally, some metal snaps connected to the batteries will act as a power switch so that it is only on when the bracelet is being worn.

Unfortunately, during my prototyping/experimenting process, I left the batteries in and one of the loose wires shorted out the board. However, I ordered a second keychain just in case I had any accidents, so I will be trying again soon. The dead board gives me an opportunity to try and get those tiny LEDs off and brainstorm a better design for the final version.

More Maker Faire Pictures

I recently received an email from Lee Guichan, who attended the Soft Electronics Demo at the Craftzine booth during Maker Faire. Lee sent some great images of Becky and me presenting soft circuit techniques to share on the blog.

All images courtesy of Lee Guichan.

Bio:

Guichan, Lee Guichan is based in San Francisco, CA.

Photographing special events and editorial. Has photographed local and known personalities such as super models. Freelancing since 1990, Lee’s photographs have been published in local and national magazines, and used both for editorial as well as advertising purposes. Participation with an artist at the De Young Museum, San Francisco in a visual photo essay.

Lee’s goal is to capture the main action of the moment and the subjects’ expressions, approaching events in a photo journalistic manner.

Maker Faire 2010 Recap

This week I’ve been transitioning back to the ‘real world’ after spending the weekend in California and experiencing two full days of Maker Faire. There were so many amazing projects and demos, I was only able to catch a few of them, but what I did see was fantastic. I focused mostly on the soft circuits and wearables side of the event, but was able to catch a lot of other wonderful projects, shows, and happenings as well. Here are a few highlights (with more video coming soon!):

E-Textile: A Wearable Computing Fashion Show

From left to right: Skirt Full of Stars by Shannon Henry, LED vest by Erik Johnson, GER: Galvanic Extimacy Responder by Kristin Neidlinger, Soft Electric Capelet and Sessile Handbag by Grace Kim

The e-textile show was a hit, showcasing some projects involving lights, sensors, and augmented clothing. I snapped a couple of pictures after the show; these are only a few of the projects that walked the runway. I had a great spot in which to view the show, but unfortunately, a large garage door was open directly behind the stage. The light pollution kept those of us in the audience from the full experience of the light up projects. ArtFuture was able to capture a good video of the show and they will be uploading interviews with the designers this week.

Anti/Surveillance Fashion Show

On Sunday, a different kind of wearables show hit the runway – this one based around either evading or inviting surveillance. I really enjoyed the thematic element and the creative ways the designers thought to affect surveillance methods such as cameras, face recognition software, and even watermarking on currency.

eTextile Electronics Materials and Portable Lab w/ Adrian Freed

Adrian Freed gave a great presentation on e-textile materials, sourcing, and applications. He showed a few of his own pieces that involved using e-textiles as musical controllers and introduced his portable lab (which he was even able to bring on an airplane). I was able to capture most of it on video (aside from a few minutes of the question and answer session at the end).

Part 1:
https://blip.tv/play/AYHknBIC

Part 2:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110908062609oe_/http://blip.tv/play/AYHknHUC

Intro to Soft Electronics

Helping Becky out with her Craft demo. More pics here.

Becky Stern’s demo of electronic embroidery was a lot of fun. I was able to act as an extra set of hands for her while showing the audience how to sew with conductive thread, and passed things around to the crowd to check out. I brought a couple of my projects along with me to add to Becky’s soft circuit examples. Below are a couple of video excerpts (the whole demo was about 45 minutes long).

Working on the electronic embroidery example: http://blip.tv/play/AYHixWIC

Showing examples of soft circuit projects and sensors: http://blip.tv/play/AYHixjIC

Meeting the Makers

Nwanua from Aniomagic shows me the Soft Remote kit working with an iPhone

The best part of Maker Faire was talking with fellow makers and tinkerers who share my excitement for creating and experimenting. In addition to watching some fabulous demonstrations, I was also able to catch up with some soft circuit peers that inspire me and with whom I share projects through twitter, facebook, and flickr. Syuzi Pakhchyan of Fashioning Technology, Nwanua Elumeze of Aniomagic, Shannon Henry of Polymath Design Lab, and Lynne Bruning were some of the great people whom I finally got to meet in person.

Here are some more soft circuit/craft/sewing photos from the faire, and I have an album for the rest of Maker Faire over on flickr.

Countdown to Bay Area Maker Faire!

Today I started packing my bags for my first trip out to San Francisco. I’m flying out Wednesday to visit a friend, do a little sight-seeing, and check out the Bay Area Maker Faire. It’s going to be a ton of fun! I’ll be armed with my camera, a camcorder, and lots of energy as I visit as many booths/demos as possible and try and meet some of the makers who have been inspiring my own projects.

Here are a few of the things I plan on seeing:

Shows

E-Textile: A Wearable Computing Fashion Show
Lynne Bruning, textile enchantress and soft circuit superstar, has organized the Maker Faire’s first wearable computing fashion show. I’ll be there to see some of these pieces in person, and if time allows, meet and talk to a few of the designers.

Anti/Surveillance Fashion Show
Noisebridge, a San Francisco hackerspace, is also putting together a show called Anti/Surveillance “a runway show that explores the role of and our relationship with surveillance in our society.”

Demos

eTextile Electronics Materials and Portable Lab w/ Adrian Freed

Conductive Fabric: Methods and Materials w/ Lynne Bruning

Intro to Soft Electronics

Learn about crafty conductive materials and how you can integrate them into your projects! CRAFT Associate Editor Becky Stern with special guest Angela Sheehan will show lots examples of conductive thread embroidery, soft switches, and other craft-tech goodies.

Becky was kind enough to invite me to show a couple of my projects during her demo – I’ll be bringing the Musical Jellyfish and the Temperature Sensing Tea Sleeve as examples of crafting with electronics.

Maker Booths

The Bespoken: Wearable Adaptive Technology by Lynne Bruning
Skirt Full of Stars by Shannon Henry
Kimono Monsters by Sarah Din & PoChen Lin

And of course there are a ton of other non-soft circuit projects and demos happening that I will be scoping out as well. I won’t be making a post during the faire, but I will probably be posting a few pics on my Twitter. Stay tuned!

Why is Maker Faire so exciting? Check out this video from last year’s faire:

Paintable Electronics Workshop

Last weekend my friend Erin and I attended the first public workshop on paintable electronics/paper computing held by the High-Low Tech group at the MIT Museum. Part of the Cambridge Science Festival, it was a day-long (10am-5pm) demonstration and work session using conductive paints, batteries, and computing components to make interactive paper artworks. When I attended the TEI Conference back in January, I was able to play with the Electronic Popables project by Jie Qi; it is a truly phenomenal example of combining paper engineering/pop up techniques with electronic components and conductive materials. I was so excited to participate in this workshop and try my hand at this new way of combining craft and technology.

Electronic Popables via High-Low Tech

For the first part of the session, Leah Buechley and her graduate students Hannah Perner-Wilson, David Mellis, and Emily Lovell showed us some examples, including a paper piano, light-up flying spaghetti monster painting, and a piece of paper with a bend sensor built in that changed tones as you moved it.

Paper Piano by Hannah Perner-Wilson (image via High-Low Tech)

We then used sticky notes to practice painting conductive paints and started to draw/paint a simple circuit with an LED in it. Getting used to working with the paint was tricky and it took awhile to dry, but after a little practice we were creating interesting designs. We then moved on to making switches and battery holders by painting the conductive paint on pieces of paper that we attached to parts of our circuits.

My first experiments with a painted circuit.
We glued down LEDs and literally painted the traces on top of the leads.

Testing out a circuit. Conductive paint under the brad allowed me to slide it and turn on a LED when I lined up the paths. You can see a few places where I was still learning to use the paint and it got a little messy. The white stickers under the LEDs covered some mistakes/spills that shorted out my lights.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_gella/4590345158/in/album-72157623977452522/
Here’s a video of Erin’s circuit, a mix of origami and drawing to make a lily pad design.

After lunch we were given kits that included LEDs, a speaker, a chip pre-programmed with some functions (fading/blinking lights, an input for a switch or sensor, and an output for a speaker) and made more complicated paper circuits. I kept mine simple with some lights, but there were some really creative and interesting results from other participants. Erin made an awesome jukebox that incorporated the painted traces beautifully.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_gella/4590345806/in/album-72157623977452522/

The participants were a mix of people who were interested in art, engineering, and science; a few had worked with sewing circuits and some had never worked with electronics at all. It was a lot of fun walking around and seeing all the different ways we used the components to make our projects. Leah and her students were really engaging and helpful and took the time to help each of us troubleshoot our circuits and offer advice and hints on working with the conductive paints.

I had a great time at the workshop and am hoping to purchase some of the paint we used and gather some friends to experiment with it at home. One problem that I was discussing with High-Low Tech student Emily Lovell was the fact that the paint oxidizes and you have to use it before it goes ‘bad’. Right now the paint is sold in fairly large quantities so I would have to do a lot of painting or find a lot of people to paint with me. Another issue was that the paint tended to separate, so the bottles we were using to apply the paint with needed to be shaken frequently or the traces would not work as well.

Working with electronics and paper made me realize how much improvisation goes into my soft circuit projects. Since the connections were painted, it meant I had to plan and sketch out my ideas in advance. Most of my sewing projects are pretty flexible/adaptable because I can take out a seam here or there, and thus I sort of make them up as I go along. It was an interesting exploration and I can’t wait to see more from the High-Low Tech as they develop the Teardrop paper computing kit and components further.

Here are some more pictures and videos:
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649There are also some photos of the workshop on Hannah Perner-Wilson’s flickr account.

Weekends in Boston

Last weekend was the Cambridge Mini Maker Faire, which took place as part of the Cambridge Science Festival. A bunch of Boston-area makers were there to demo their projects and talk with the kids, families, and science-curious who came to the festival. I made the trek down from New Hampshire and spent the day hanging out and talking about my Soft Circuit Saturdays projects. Here are a few pictures from the event:

Photo by Chris Connors

I brought an improved Drawdio Jellyfish Puppet

some LED Jellies (though with the bright day they were hard to see light up)

Temperature Sensing Tea Sleeve (not functioning for the faire, I didn’t want anyone getting burnt)

and the Soft Circuit Scrapbook (with some additional pages since last week’s post).

The visitors to my booth had fun interacting with the projects and they inspired some great conversations. I had a chance to talk to an aerial dancer who was working on incorporating a LilyPad and accelerometers into her performances. I also met a few teachers who work with kids and engineering, lots of parents who loved the idea of using technology with crafts, and kids who build their own electronic projects. A lot of people asked if I held workshops or classes. I don’t right now but I’d like to organize some, so that is now on my to-do list. I was even invited to a kick off party for a new community workspace/makerspace happening this weekend. I’m so glad for the opportunity to participate in a mini maker faire and I think I’m going to apply for the World Maker Faire in NYC this fall to meet even more makers.

The best part about the whole day was really the kids. Most of my projects aren’t necessarily made with kids in mind, they are more for my own explorations and play, but they were engaging and accessible to a younger audience as well. I think the only child who had interacted with my pieces before the faire was my younger sister. I was happy that the kids enjoyed visiting my booth and a lot of them knew some of the technologies or had kits with similar bits and pieces (such as the Drawdio).

You can check out more pictures from the Mini Maker Faire over at the Boston Maker Faire Flickr Pool.

This weekend I’m heading back down to Cambridge for another Science Festival Event with the High-Low Tech group at MIT. My friend and I signed up a few weeks ago but were waitlisted for the Paintable Electronics Workshop; I just got the news yesterday that there was a cancellation so we are in! It’s going to be a lot of fun and I will be blogging about it later on in the week.

See You at Boston Mini Maker Faire!

This weekend has been all about preparing for the Boston Mini Maker Faire. I have been gathering up all the projects I want to bring, getting some fresh batteries, and making some fun stuff for my booth. Here is the felt banner I made to put over my table.

While packing up my projects and doing a bit of spring cleaning, I came up with the idea of a portable scrapbook/notebook as a better way to house all my favorite techniques, prototypes, components and samples. I really enjoy the computational sketchbooks and electronic pop up books that Leah Buechley’s High-Low Tech research group have created as a way to demonstrate paper computing techniques. Why not make my own using the soft circuit materials I have on hand? It is a great alternative to digging through tool boxes, bins, and drawers when I need something specific.

Inspired by textile sample books, I decided to use a three ring binder with removable pages as a storage solution for my ‘must have’ items. This way when I want to bring some samples along to an event like the maker faire or the NH Media Makers meet up, I can easily toss it in my bag and head out the door. The most important thing to me is that the components and parts are functional within the pages themselves. Here are a few pages I have made so far:

The thread page has bobbins that I attached with snaps, I can remove them to show others or to grab a small sample to take if I want to sew outdoors or at a craft group. The Bekaert threads came in ziplock bags and giant cones, so I am really happy with this alternative storage.

The battery holder page has two of my favorite methods for making soft coin cell holders. I attached one finished/functional holder with elastic loops (on the left), and then an exploded view to show how the pieces work and are constructed. Seeing them side by side is good for a quick reference of techniques.

The zipper page (in progress) is the first of the more interactive pages. This is an example of a digital zipper sensor technique created by Joo Youn Paek that I made into a module by sewing on neoprene and metal snaps. The module can attach to the page for a quick demo and then removed for prototyping a project. This particular zipper was a little hard to work with, so I’m going to try and find one with bigger teeth so that the conductive thread doesn’t interfere as much with the motion.