“ohne mich” (engl. “without me”)

Interactive Fiber-Optic Poetry in Motion

For the opening collection of our KOBA Maßschneiderei – an E-Textile Tailor Shop we are opening in Berlin very soon – we are prototyping the items in this collection. One of these is fiber-optic poetry, two words embroidered in fiber-optics cables, but overlaid so that you only see them when they light up, one after the other.

Flickr set: https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157690450178046

With only one word embroidered, you can already read it when it is not light up.

The overlay obscures the individual words, and the light reveals them.

For a first prototype I used Maurin’s Lulu module which is a bright SMD LED mounted infront of a tube socket that can then receive the ends of the fiber optic cables.
lulu: http://etextile-summercamp.org/swatch-exchange/lulu/
fiber optics: http://wiki.datapaulette.org/doku.php/atelier/documentation/materiautheque/materiaux/electronique_textile/actionneurs_textiles/fibres_optiques

For further prototypes I started to look at other ways to connect the LED to the optic fibers.

Looks like having some distance or a lense between the LED light source and the start of the fiber optic cable can be used to optimize all the light going into the fiber:
>> http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/~schubert/Light-Emitting-Diodes-dot-org/chap22

Forrest M. Mims III describes drilling holes into through-hole LEDs and shrink tubing the fibers into the hole:
>> https://makezine.com/projects/how-to-connect-optical-fibers-to-leds-and-sensors/

Bundeling multiple and casting into a tube:
>> https://www.riecktron.co.za/en/product/2931
https://www.riecktron.co.za/en/image/cache/data/products/12712-03a-600×600.jpg

Soldering leads to SMD LEDs:
>> http://www.nmra.org.au/Hints/SMDs/Using%20SMD%20LEDs.html
http://www.nmra.org.au/Hints/SMDs/2T.jpg

beginner guide
https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Beginners-Guide-to-Fiber-Optics/

optic fibers
https://www.conrad.de/de/Search.html?search=lichtwellenleiter&searchType=CAMPAIGN&category=%1Ft10%1Fc90694%1F2510440
https://www.leds-and-more.de/catalog/15mm-lwl-lichtwellenleiter-lichtleiter-seitlich-leuchtend-p-1937.html?osCsid=2me5dl4q5amcvgb6tnbqfd87i5#!tab1
http://www.lichtleitfasern.de/glasfaserkabel_lichtwellenleiter_dekolicht.html

LED
http://fr.farnell.com/osram/lcw-cq7p-ec-krkt-5u8x-1-k/oslon-80-ssl-eco-champ/dp/2078805