Flexinol moving fabric

I wanted to create a breathing effect with the fabric, so I sewed the flexinol wire directly to the fabric and connected it to the Arduino using alligator clips and jumper wires. When I ran the Fade example sketch, it worked (eventually)!

conductive thread test supplies

conductive thread test – it didn’t work

Copper bowl and magnet

copper bowl with paper and magnet (underneath) – It works

Copper tape on tracing paper in copper bowl test

copper bowl with copper tape – felt vibration and heard faint static

A headpiece that lights up with LEDs to create your very own wearable lamp.

1) Prototype – FLORA 

Flora and Neopixel prototype

2) Concept and design goal (What does your design seek to accomplish? Who are you designing for?

The concept for this headpiece (which may become a hat, depending on how the fabrication goes) is a update to ladies’ Art Deco headpieces and is meant to be worn as part of a costume or party attire. It will include a simple switch (metal snap that when connected closes the switch) to turn on the LEDs and may include a mic sensor that would add a whimsical element to it. The embellishments may include wool that has been folding using paper engineering techniques.

3) Materials list (What do you need to build your design)

• Flora and Neopixels (I’ve been a bit frustrated so far working with the Flora to be honest, and I may switch to an Arduino Trinket or other tiny Arduino along with LEDs)
• glass beads (reflects the light)
• mesh or silk fabric
• mic sensor
• wool roving (hand needle felted for the comfort of the wearer)
• metal snaps
• conductive thread

4) Prior art and precedents that inspired your design and direction.

Art Deco Headpiece

Kitsune with Heart Switch

This is a hand needle felted dancing Kitsune, a Japanese mythical creature whose tail lights up. Kitsune are known for being tricksters, at times malicious ones, but generally are playful. The rapid lighting of the LED (controlled by Arduino) signifies that this is a playful Kitsune.

felting needles, felting block, wool roving

wires felted inside the tail

Completed Dancing Kitsune

Playful Dancing Kitsune (no switch)

I redid my sensor test using conductive fabric. I hypothesized that the greater the surface area, the greater the Ohms when tested with a multimeter.

The result was the following:

Smaller amount of conductive wool: .007 Ohms

Larger amount of conductive wool: 0.32 Ohms