Documentation of the thermo ink and sound – Ezgi, Juno, Birce

Experiments in Thermochromic Nonsense: Difficulties. Difficulties, galore.

Ok, I started with the idea that I would paint Kermit and reveal an xray below him. Which would be a hand. Classic puppet joke. So I mixed yellow thermochromic pigment, yellow acrylic paint, blue acrylic paint, and mod podge. Which, as we all learned in kindergarten, makes green. Kermit green. I painted Kermit on top of the skeletal hand and let him dry.

Then I tried it out with the heat gun. No dice. Here’s the problem: the paint wasn’t going anywhere, only the pigment itself would disappear. Lesson learned. Onward! With constraints built in of only having yellow and red available, I made an apple. Beneath the red pigment (mixed with mod podge) was the image of an apple core. Heat it and the apple is eaten. Tried it with the heat gun. Bam. Apple gone, core here.

Next! Let’s add the Arduino and a button. Simple, right? No. I wanted to heat the entire area of the apple, so I tried using copper taffeta. Fail. It doesn’t heat it up. Fine, I will sew with conductive thread. Cool?

NO. It heats in a very specific line, mysteriously reflective EXACTLY of the thread. The heat doesn’t spread. Fine. This would work to heat a very specific line. I’m done here.

Flexinol / ThermoInk Assignment – Bikini Kill Critical Design Piece

Will be embroidered with the words "Resist Psychic Death" in Flexinol wire (once it is functional)

Bikini Kill Bra (critical design piece) — Will be tailored to fit and embroidered with the words “Resist Psychic Death” in Flexinol wire (once circuit is functional)

It works!

Bikini Kill Bra - will be embroidered with the words "Resist Psychic Death" in Flexinol wire

Bikini Kill Bra – RE embroidered with Flexinol wire to test (did not work when Blink sketch was uploaded to Arduino)

circuit

Week 12 Slides: Heat + Motion

Resources:
How-To: Work with Shape-Memory Alloy by Jie Qi, SMA Queen (MAKE)

SMA Smocking

Assignment
1. Work with a partner/group to experiment with different substrates, methods for movement, and thermochromic ink using PWM on the Arduino.

2. Keep a running list of strengths and weaknesses of the flexinol.

3. Document 3 of your findings in a group blog post.

4. Come prepared to present your final project concept to a small group next class. Please bring any precedents/inspiration and 2-3 prototypes. Prototypes include storyboards, sketches, physical objects, user scenarios, etc.

HW arduino+conductiveThread+button

my HW for using arduino, conductive thread and ink and a button.

a statement for the piece,

“there are times that we want to look tough, but the more you want to look tough, we actually are very fragile than usual. ”
-Gi

tough and powerful rose on top

when you apply heat,

fragile flower reveals.

arduino + button + conductive thread

it works!

Week11: Thermo Ink

Thermochromic Pigment

For this project, I decided to have the message revealed to be raise awareness about the importance of organ donation. The fact that someone has to push a button to see the message symbolizes the effect of individual contribution. I mixed thermochromic pigment with blue acrylic and painted over the message I wrote on a piece of canvas. I sewed around the words with conductive thread and stitched it to a shirt. After connecting the circuit I did not see any result but I am not sure exactly where the error is.