Tattoo technology has been improved in many ways over the last few decades. The tattoo guns are more accurate, the ink is more durable and vibrant, and the artists themselves are exploring new areas of skill and expression. Now, people who aren’t even what you would typically call a tattoo artist are getting in on the fun by exploring new areas of temporary tattoos, by designing them to be electronic circuits.
In the past couple years there have been a few people playing with this concept in different ways. Just this week, we saw Skintillates popping up on our social feeds with their nice temporary tattoos that have embedded LEDs.
Skintillates aren’t limited just to embedded LEDs. In their video they show a few other compelling examples of using temporary tattoos for computer input devices and sensors.
On the purely visual side, Sparkfun shared this project called ElectriCute last year. It is a tutorial on how to put an Electroluminescent Panel on your skin and cover most of it up with makeup to appear as though you have a bright, glowing, tattoo.
Chaotic Moon put together this great presentation on how they would use the technology. One thing that stuck out in my mind was the very first example showing how you can easily paint on your own circuits with conductive ink. They do a pretty decent job of mixing the circuits with some aesthetic bits.
DuoSkin really stands out with their designs. They have a few that only use the conductive material, but it is shaped in striking and pleasing ways. Then they go on to show a few other really cool examples, such as using material that changes colors when hit with heat.
Have you seen other examples of conductive tattoos? I’d love to seem them!
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