The world of wearables is becoming an increasingly popular way for makers to express their creativity. From custom watches and connected jewelry to full-body suits that allow you to interact with your environment, the possibilities are endless. Learning about wearable electronics can be a bit daunting for those who are just starting out – but it doesn’t have to be! Whether you’re looking for guidance on where to get started with Arduino programming or inspiration from some of the projects out there, this blog category has got you covered. Here we will provide tutorials and resources on creating interactive wearables as well as a look at the work of some inspiring makers that should give you the motivation to dive right in!
If you’re in NYC this weekend, check out Raphael Abrams’ soft circuit class at NYC Resistor. There are a few spots left! Learn to make soft, flexible and washable electronic circuits embedded right into common textiles! We’ll cover conductive thread, waterproof circuitry, embedded sensors and tactile feedback. Everyone leaves with enough basic knowlege to level-up […]
In celebration of our Geek Chic month here at MAKE, we’re bringing you the most massive collection of e-textiles ever to be found in one place! Tutorials and Projects CRAFT Video: LilyPad Arduino 101 Soundie the touch-sensitive hoodie Diana Eng’s LED Nightlife Necklace EMSL’s soft circuit merit badge LED Firefly Baby Booties Hannah Perner-Wilson‘s many sensor […]
One of my HacDC cohort, Erica Kane, did the Speed Vest project from MAKE Volume 19. We’re always thrilled when people do the projects in the magazine, document their builds, and share the results with us. Erica details her build on her family blog. She writes in email: As you suggested, I blogged about the […]
I’m interested in the idea that DIYers out there might be making their own functioning soft-circuit calculators, but there aren’t any that I can find. (Opportunity!) I did find one interesting, albeit non-functional, plush calculator from Flickr user caffaknitted, as well as one more commercial version, both of which are shown below.
Becky spotted these really cool potentiometers embroidered in conductive thread about a week ago. The device consists of a conductive and a resistive trace stitched into the material side-by-side. Maker Hannah Perner-Wilson explains, “any conductive object can be used to bridge the contact between the traces and measure the position/distance from measuring point through the […]
Our theme this month will cover high-tech wearables, soft-circuits, geek-centric clothing (science and tech T-shirts and jewelry, etc), and maker style (the clothes worn by makers that are optimized for work). We’ll have original soft circuits articles and projects, round-ups of the best projects and posts we’ve featured in the past, some great give-aways, and […]
While this dress by Abbey Liebman incorporating flexible photovoltaics for charging personal electronics is interesting, what really caught my eye was the fact that it uses an improved type of conductive thread based on a proprietary blend of polymers and nanoparticles.
You click on a link and buy some silver-based conductive thread right now, but over the course of years, the current silver-based threads will slowly oxidize in air and the conductivity will start to degrade. Presumably, the new material (from the Hinestroza research group at Cornell) does not.
About a year ago I was considering a tutorial for Make: Projects about making one’s own conductive thread using carbon nanotubes (CNTs). At the time, you could buy small samples of CNTs from several places around the web at “educator’s” prices. Research on CNT-based conductive inks has shown that carbon nanotubes dispersed in water bond strongly enough to cellulose in paper to resist washing and prolonged mechanical wear, and would also, presumably, show similar performance on cotton thread. So I’m pretty sure you could make durable conductive thread just by soaking regular cotton thread in a dispersion of CNTs in water. Unfortunately, more research has shown, pretty conclusively, that carbon nanotubes are bad for you. Which is probably why the supply of those accessible “educator” samples seem to have dried up. Oh well.
