Tools

This course is heavily based in materials. I will provide samples for you to experiment with, but you will be responsible for purchasing materials for individual projects. Look at the materials page for much more.

Please purchase the tools, materials, and hardware under “Required” ASAP and bring them to every class.

REQUIRED

TOOLS

Embroidery needles (like these)
Scissors
X-acto Knife
Paint brushes
Ruler
Seam ripper
Multimeter
Hot glue gun
Small needle nose pliers (such as those used for jewelry making like this kit)
Wire snips
Wire strippers
Tweezers
Alligator clips
Soldering iron (this can be a cheap iron, nothing fancy like this or even a USB power one like this)
Straight pins

MATERIALS

Paper (range of weights, colors, textures, etc e.g. tracing, vellum, cardstock, etc.)
Assortment of fabric (muslin or cotton is fine)
Tape (single, double sided, and/or glue dots)
Masking tape
Clear nail polish
Copper tape (1/8 – 1/4″ width with conductive adhesive)
Heat’N’Bond (you can buy in pairs and split this)
Fabric glue
Thread
Beeswax (for threading conductive thread or you can get a regular needle threader)

HARDWARE

A variety of LEDs of your choosing. Keep aesthetics in mind and default to diffused! I usually get one of the big kits from Evil Mad Scientist, but you can source Sparkfun, Adafruit, SuperBrightLEDs, Ebay, and more for deals. For example:
- 5mm LED Assorted (Sparkfun)
- 10mm LEDs (whatever colors you’d like)
- SMT Cool White 5050 LED (I usually get one of the big kits from Evil Mad Scientist)
Resistors:
- 220 Ohm Resistors (red, red, brown)
- 10 K Ohm Resistors (black, brown, orange)
- Sparkfun has a lovely resistor kit that I *highly* recommend
3V CR2032 Lithium Batteries
Coin cell battery holders (at least 3)
Breadboard
Jumper cables
Arduino Uno + USB cord
Adafruit Flora or LilyPad (Be prepared to purchase another microcontroller such as the LilyPad, Gemma MO, Teensy for final projects)
Lead-free solder