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  • A Kit-of-No-Parts at Weissensee
  • Absurd Musical Interfaces
  • Action Hero Tailoring
  • Adopting Swatches
  • All your segments are belong to me
  • Arduino meets Wearables Workshop
  • Beautiful Circuits
  • Bend, sew, touch, feel, read
  • Bike+Light Workshop
  • Blurring Boundaries
  • Card Weaving Workshop
  • Chic bend and Sleek stretch
  • Chip-Man-Band
  • Communicating Bodies
  • connecting bubbles
  • Crafting Robots
  • Crocheting Electronics
  • Crochet and Code
  • DEAF: Crafting the Future Workshop
  • Designing for the loop Workshop
  • DressCode Workshop Shambala
  • DressCode Workshop Berlin
  • #e-textile-adventures
  • E-Textile Meet-up
  • E-Textile Open Lab at CNMAT
  • E-Textile Summer School in France
  • E-Textile Tooling: ohmHook
  • Electric Embroidery Tuesday
  • Hybrid Jewels
  • Electric Embroidery Monday
  • Electronic Textiles Live
  • Electronics as Material I
  • Electronics as Material II
  • Electronics as Material III
  • Electronics of Materials IV
  • Electronics Surgery
  • E-Textile Pecha-Kucha at Schmiede
  • Elektronik und Handwerk
  • Embroidered Speaker Workshop
  • Engineers for Social Impact workshop at Mumbai : e-Diwali
  • ETextile CARD10
  • E-Textile Knitting Circle
  • eTextile Summer Camp 2013
  • eTextile Summer Camp 2014
  • eTextile Summer Camp 2016
  • Everything is Talkative
  • fabric meets electronics
  • Fabricademy: Soft Circuits and Textiles Sensors
  • - faser - faden - fiktion -
  • Fluffy MIDI
  • from SPACE to SPACE
  • From Swatches to Pockets
  • FT1 - Material Mechanisms for Utopian Uniforms
  • FT1: Moving Fabrics with Electrons
  • FT1: Tailoring with Electronic Textiles I
  • FT1: Tailoring with Electronic Textiles II
  • Game controller hack
  • Games Workshop II
  • Handcrafting a textile sensor from scratch
  • Handcrafting Textile Mice
  • Handcrafting Textile Sensors from Scratch
  • Handcrafting Textile Sensors in Vienna
  • Handedness
  • Human Hacked Orchestra
  • I <3 ATtiny
  • I AM Learning
  • In All Different Colors
  • Interactive Solar T-Shirt
  • ITP camp Workshops
  • Adventuring with Materials
  • Kinder Egg WishLab
  • Knitting, hacking, hanging, sound
  • KOBA School of WickedFabrics
  • KOBA School of Wickedfabrics: TAILORING
  • KOBA Winter School of Wickedfabrics
  • least likely
  • Light Dependent Relationship
  • LilyPad Arduino Programming
  • Sewing an electronic circuit
  • Make your own multi-touchpad
  • Making and Animating Dioramas
  • Making Textile Sensors from Scratch at TEI
  • MAKING TEXTILE SENSORS FROM SCRATCH at LIWOLI
  • Animating Textiles
  • Material_Adventures
  • MATERIALS & CRAFTMANSHIP
  • Meet the Materials Workshop
  • Moving Textile
  • Nature's Wearables
  • #paper-adventures
  • Physical Computing Stammtisch
  • Piano T-Shirt
  • PIFpack Workshop
  • Playing with electronic textiles
  • Pulp in Motion
  • Relief Embroidery Workshop at Summercamp
  • School of Wicked Fabrics: FOUNDATION /01
  • School of Wicked Fabrics: FOUNDATION /02
  • School of Wicked Fabrics: FOUNDATION /03
  • Sensing with Textiles
  • Sensitive Puppets
  • Sewing Fabric Sensors
  • Shape and Memorize
  • Smart Rituals
  • Soft & Tiny Pillow Speaker Workshop
  • soft interactive technologies
  • Soft Interactive Technology at Weissensee
  • Soft Interactive Technology Course at KHB
  • Soft Interactive Technology I
  • Soft Interactive Technology 1 at KHB
  • Making Soft Noise
  • Soft Sensors for Soft Bodies
  • soft soft
  • Soft Sensors for Soft Bodies II
  • Soft & Tiny Arduino Workshop
  • Solar T-shirt Workshop
  • Sounding Textiles
  • Spekulative Objekte
  • Stitching Electronics | Woolly Noise
  • Taking Parts Apart Workshop at TH Nürnberg
  • Technical Intimacy
  • Technology + Textiles
  • Textile Sensoren und Aktuatoren in Handarbeit
  • Crafting Sensory Surfaces
  • The Sound of Nature
  • Three Perspectives
  • Tinkering with Textiles & Electronics
  • Tone of the Things
  • Tool time
  • Touch the Tone
  • Toy Piano T-shirt workshop
  • Traces with Origin Workshop
  • Transparent and Dangerous
  • Transparent and Dangerous II
  • under the influence
  • Wearable sound experiment
  • Wearable Sound Experiment II
  • Wearable Sound Toy Orchestra
  • Wearable Studio Workshops at ARS
  • Weigh, Measure, Count
  • Textile Sensor Indulgence
  • Wireless Workshop
  • Wish Lab Workshop
  • WishLab II Workshop
  • Embroidery gone Electronic
  • Woven Paper Cup Speaker Workshop
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    Content by Mika Satomi and Hannah Perner-Wilson
    E-Textile Tailor Shop by KOBAKANT
    The following institutions have funded our research and supported our work:

    Since 2020, Hannah is guest professor of the Spiel&&Objekt Master's program at the University of Performing Arts Ernst Busch in Berlin

    From 2013-2015 Mika was a guest professor at the eLab at Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee

    From July - December 2013 Hannah was a researcher at the UdK's Design Research Lab

    From 2010-2012 Mika was a guest researcher in the Smart Textiles Design Lab at The Swedish School of Textiles

    From 2009 - 2011 Hannah was a graduate student in the MIT Media Lab's High-Low Tech research group led by Leah Buechley


    In 2009 Hannah and Mika were both research fellows at the Distance Lab


    Between 2003 - 2009 Hannah and Mika were both students at Interface Cultures
    We support the Open Source Hardware movement. All our own designs published on this website are released under the Free Cultural Works definition
    Welcome to the KOBAKANT DIY Wearable Technology Documentation

    This website aims to be a comprehensible, accessible and maintainable reference resource, as well as a basis for further exploration and contribution.

    Most Recent Posts

    Workshops

    Fluffy MIDI


    Date: June 19/20 2024, 18:00- 21:00Location: RADIONA, Zagreb, Croatia In this two evening workshop, Mika will introduce how you can turn stuffed animals into digital musical instruments. Soft flexible familiar objects turn into MIDI interfaces which you can connect with your favorite synthesizers. The magic is made with e-textile materials: embroidery, needle felting, crochet… choose […]

    Workshops

    Three Perspectives


    Sketching interactions for young audiences Young theater audiences enjoy participatory forms of theater that allow them to engage with content in interactive and playful ways. We want to get to know this young audience and understand how they engage with interactive technology and live actors in theatrical settings. Over the course of a 3-day kick-off […]

    Workshops

    Playing with electronic textiles


    14+15.4.2023 at the Art and Work Education Conferences Tirol “material matters” This two-day workshop provides an in-depth introduction to the materials as well as design and didactic possibilities of electronic textiles. Participants will develop object-, body- and space-oriented projects involving textile sensors, circuits and sound, which will serve as examples for later use in schools. […]

    Circuits and Code

    RabbitControl on Bela


    Bela Mini Board (https://bela.io/) is a super nice tool to read textile sensors, and generate sound on board. Bela can run Pure Data, and this is becoming my favorite toolset. One problem of working with Bela is that it does not have monitor, so you can not easily see in realtime what value your sensor […]

    Circuits and Code

    Rabbit Control Client on Bela


    Since the Rabbit Control Client is hosted on the web, if you are offline (for example in network that is not connected to internet) you can not access the client. In this case, you can host the client directly on the Bela board. Download Rabbit Control client from here http://client.rabbitcontrol.cc/client.zip Connect Bela to your computer […]

    Workshops

    Tone of the Things


    This is a part of the winter semester course 2022/23 at the Weissensee Art Academy Berlin. The workshop takes place on the October 24/26 at the eLab, KHB Berlin. ARDUINO 101 “Arduino is an open source computer hardware and software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for […]

    Workshops

    Wireless Workshop


    TH 28.4.2022, 11-14:00 (3h) + FR 29.4.2022, 10-15:00 (4h) ((( This workshop is only open to S&&O students ))) This 2-day workshop aims to give an overview of a selection of wireless communication technologies good for sending sensor data between small devices and computers, and provides concrete examples for a subset of the selection. For […]

    Workshops

    Sensitive Puppets


    „I could never be on stage on my own. But puppets can say things that humans can’t say.“ – Nina Conti (born 25 August 1973) is a British actress, comedian, and ventriloquist. Dieser Kurs birgt Raum, Zeit und Material um spielerisch auszuprobieren wie Sensorik/Elektronik und Puppenbau zusammenkommen können. Wir werden eigene Sensoren aus Papier, Pappe, […]

    Workshops

    Stitching Electronics | Woolly Noise


    SVITAVA transmedia art lab, Brno, Czech, March 26/27, 2022 Meet the Material In this workshop, we use two resistive materials as our main materials. Both of them contains 20% of stainless steel fibers which are conductive, and 80% of non conductive fibers (wool or polyester). As the contain only 20% of conductive fiber, it has […]

    Workshops

    Beautiful Circuits


    a very short KiCAD workshop 9+10.3.22, 10-15:00 (it is possible to join only for the first day) Spiel und Objekt Ladenlokal Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch Zinnowitzer Str. 11 10115 Berlin This very short intro workshop to the free and open source Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design software KiCAD (Version6) focuses on how to design […]

    Workshops

    Handedness


    This is a 3 days hands-on workshop held on January 26-28 2022 at the Interface Culture, Art University Linz Austria as a part of a course Fashionable Technology. Schedule:Day110:00 – 11:00 meet the materials11:00 – 13:00 building textile sensors (digital/analog)13:00 – 14:00 lunch break14:00 – 15:00 Arduino intro (students who are not Arduino beginners can […]

    Sensors

    dangle data gloves


    photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157713884362741 ideas for how to solve the sensing and connections to the sensors: knitting pattern for two gloves joined at the fingers: making-of:

    Example Projects

    Bend Sensor Glove


    This is a quick way to make bend sensor embedded gloves. In this example, I embedded 4 sensors on finger joints, on Thumb, Index finger, Middle finger, Ring finger. I skipped pinky as it is hard to move it alone… (at least for me..) Materials: 2 sheets of 2 way stretch jersey/lycra about 20cmx20cm 1 […]

    Technique

    ETextile Tailoring


    An attempt to describe a process of designing, prototyping, testing and producing etextile garments.

    Meet the Materials

    Meet the Materials : Note


    This is a course note for the Soft Interactive Technology course at the Art Academy Weissensee Berlin. The course is normally given as a series of hands-on workshops, but due to our difficulty of meeting each other in physical spaces, it is developed as an online course for the year. It was first given in […]

    Tools > Wireless

    MQTT client


    This post is a follow up to mqtt broker post. The devices that are connecting to MQTT broker (ESP, computer.. etc) is called “Client”, and on client side you will be running some kind of software that act as a MQTT client that publish/subscribe data to broker. For example, on ESPs, we used “espMQTTclient” library […]

    Workshops

    Communicating Bodies


    This two-week (5day) workshop brings together textile, costume and product design students from Weissensee University, and students from the MA program S&&O of the performing arts university berlin. Together we want to play with body language, textile sensors and sound. Given a new medium such as wearable technology, what new ways of communicating emerge? Screen […]

    Tools > Wireless

    MQTT Brokers and Clients


    These are out notes from working with various MQTT Broker options, which we have used mostly to publish sensor data wirelessly from a Client running on an ESP32 Dev Module (programmed with Arduio) and then subscribe to this data from various other Clients: – another ESP32 dev module – a Processing sketch on a computer […]

    Connections

    Spaghettimonster


    the spaghetti monster is basically the idea to use 3.5mm audio sockets and cables to make 2/3/4-way connections between the gpio pins of a microcontroller board and textile/wearable sensors & actuators mounted around the body. specifically a first instance of this idea was designed to breakout 6 analog pins of an ESP32 Devboard to connect […]

    Tools

    ESP octopus sewable breakout


    A first quick version of a sewable breakout board for the ESP32 DEVKIT V1 38pin board. This board was designed in a bit of rush, so it is far from well thought-through and designed. photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157719749335407

    Actuators

    Paper Lazer Projector


    An Experiment:-) Inspired by Vaclav and Bernhard’s DIY laser projector with speakers and mirrors project at PIFcamp 2021. Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157719708791131 Video taken in rush, showing the speakers playing the L and R channels of this sine-wave sample from youtube and a laser shining into one mirror, bouncing off the second and landing on a […]

    Sensors

    Skin Sensor


    Instead of using fabric as the base for the sensor, it is funny to use transparent medical foil for skin protection. it creates sensors that is proximate to skin like tattoos. I bought this medical foil at the local Apotheke (drug/medicine store) in Germany. I have also asked the Tattoo shops near-by. They were happened […]

    Sensors

    Stocking Skin Stretch Sensor


    A stretch sensor made of skin colored stockings and thin resistive yarn (Bekinox BK50/2) embroidery.  It is sensitive to stretch and distortion of the main fabric.

    Workshops

    Touch the Tone


    2 days workshop organized at the Alanus Hochschule für Kunst und Gesellschaft from May 29 – 30th 2021. The workshop is open to the students at the Hochschule. In this two days hands-on workshop, you will be introduced to Capacitive Sensing technique(https://playground.arduino.cc/Main/CapacitiveSensor/) using Arduino. It is a simple but powerful technique to create objects and […]

    Workshops

    I <3 ATtiny


    May 20th 2021 at Code & Context, TH Köln – University of Technology, Arts, Sciences, invited by Christian Faubel A 1hour ode to the ATtiny 45/85 microcontroller which I’ve been having an on/off affaire with the past 10 years, since we first met in 2010. here is an old love letter i wrote to the […]

    Workshops

    #paper-adventures


    paper-adventures puppe

    this course is part of the contemporary puppetry department program at the university of performing arts Ernst Busch berlin. #paper-adventures mit hannah perner-wilson & julian jungel im gestaltungsprojekt 2021 begeben wir uns auf abenteuerreise mit paper & elektronik. wir wissen nicht wohin uns diese reise führen wird, aber wir werden den weg dorthin gut dokumentieren, […]

    Circuits and Code

    What is Variables?


    When starting to learn programming, one of the concept that is hard to grasp (it was hard to grasp for me…) is “variables”. “In computer programming, a variable or scalar is a storage location (identified by a memory address) paired with an associated symbolic name, which contains some known or unknown quantity of information referred […]

    Circuits and Code

    Bits and Bytes Binary numbers


    Computers and microcontrollers internally represent numbers (and all the data) with 0 and 1. This is because these chips are made of a lot of switches that has two states ON (1) and OFF (0). If you look at the historic photos of early computers you will see a lot of switches and operators manually […]

    Sensors

    Paper + Aluminum foil pressure sensor


    This is a quick way to prototype pressure sensor with velostat/ESD foil. You will need a piece of velostat/ ESD foil, Aluminum foil, a sheet of paper, stick glue and scissors. (the photo below does not include velostat!) In this example, I am using 5cm x 5cm piece of velostat. The size and shape could […]

    Sensors

    Paper + Aluminum foil contact switch


    This is a paper contact switch made with a piece of paper and aluminum foil. You will need a piece of Aluminum foil, a sheet of paper, stick glue, scissors. If you do not have stick glue, you can also use any sticky tape. Cut out strip of paper. this will be a base shape […]

    Circuits and Code

    My First Arduino Connection Check


    When you first start working with Arudino, you can do the following to check if you computer connects with Arduino Connect your Arduino with your computer through USB cable. Open your Arduino IDE (download from here), and open blink example sketch from File/Examples/Basics/Blink. It will open a Blink sketch window From Tools/Board choose Arduino Uno […]

    Workshops

    Weigh, Measure, Count


    This workshop is held as a part of the semester project course “Weigh/Measure/Count” at the Weissensee Art Academy Berlin during the Summer Semester 2021. You can use electrical sensors to measure, count and weigh objects or environment. These sensors often use unique properties of materials, that changes its electrical property like resistance, capacitance, luminescence.. when […]

    Workshops

    Everything is Talkative


    We like to embed electronics in everything these days, and while we’re at it why not include wifi so that everything can communicate with everything via The Internet. This is a short introduction, as part of a 2-day workshop, to how things are talking with each-other using electricity. how things are talking with each-other using […]

    Workshops

    Light Dependent Relationship


    This workshop is a part of a course UltraTools at the Product Design department of the Weissensee Art Academy Berlin, held on April 19th and 21st 2021. Designing Interaction How you interact with an object/ device and how it responds to you is a big part of how you perceive the object. For example: If […]

    Meet the Materials

    S01E02 metal wrapped threads


    mtm-S01E02

    see also our post on Meet the Mateirals of Electronic Textiles >> https://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=8012

    Meet the Materials

    S01E01 steel and wool fibers


    mtm-S01E01

    see also our post on Meet the Mateirals of Electronic Textiles >> https://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=8012

    Sensors

    interested sensor #2


    interesting sensor #2

    read more >> http://etextile-summercamp.org/swatch-exchange/interested-sensors/ interested sensor #1 >> https://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=8770 photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157719264482974

    Sensors

    interested sensor #1


    read more >> http://etextile-summercamp.org/swatch-exchange/interested-sensors/ interesse = inter as ‘between’ + esse as ‘be’ = to be between Interested sensors are sensors expressing their interest in things without knowing in advance why the things are of interest. The process of making and using the sensors is the act of discovering what is interesting. Interested sensors are […]

    Tools

    multimeter hat


    this multimeter hat allows me to visualize the conductivity of a material i’m holding in my hands. the only problem is that i can’t see the visualization myself since it happens ontop of my head. thus i rely on the faces of the people looking at me, interpreting their reactions. the tip of this hat […]

    Sensors

    extreme knobbly knee sensor


    as you can see the knob of this knee is so extremely knobbly that is detaches from the knee almost completely. the result are unique sensing properties that include being able to tell which direction the knob is knobbling. based on the same construction as the interested sensor nr2 but connecting to different pins of […]

    Example Projects

    soft walk socks


    a pair of socks for soft walking and drawing while walking. pressure sensors under the heel and toe regions of both feed sense the steps being taken. a knit stretch sensor on the elastic band that connects the feet senses the force and size of your steps. an ESP32 and powerbank are housed in a […]

    Workshops

    soft soft


    This workshop is part of a course at the Ernst Busch Hochschule in Berlin. It is only open to students of Spiel&&Objekt. SOFT TECHNOLOGIES FOR SOFT BODIES is a 2week course and a place for *making-believe* that SOFTness is the solution to our HARD problems. we will set ourselves up to indulge this fantasy so […]

    Example Projects

    lulu masks


    Bare-bones thick copper wire circuitry that doubles as both structural frame and circuit traces. And the Lulu Bumblebee optic-fiber connector PCB works great for soldering to the thick wire! Flickr set >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157677471035377 i scream your scream >> https://www.plusea.at/?p=7346 mask option 1: mask option 2: mask option 3: Initial sketches for the masks: RELATED WORK […]

    Circuits and Code

    Voltage Divider with Arduino


    You can divide the voltage with 2 resisters. The voltage gets divided according to the ratio between the 2 resisters. Let’s make an experiment. Here, 5V is divided with 2 resisters. both of them are 10k ohm, so ratio 1:1. I connect the middle to A0, which we are reading with the current code on […]

    Workshops

    I AM Learning


    This is a course note and a documentation of the 4 day workshop at the Interface Culture, Kunstuniversität Linz, Austria. The course takes place from January 26 – 29, 10-17:00 Online. The course is given only to the registered students at the Kunstuniversität Linz. AI and Machine Learning is any longer the technology that belongs […]

    Workshops

    Making Soft Noise


    In this 2 days online course, we cover the basic introduction of Arduino, how to connect and read e-textile sensors and how we can use them to control sound synthesis with Arduino. Starting to work with Arduino Connect your Arduino with your computer through USB cable. Open your Arduino IDE (download from here), and open […]

    Sensors

    Kinesiology Tape bend sensor


    When prototyping quickly and rehearsing with performers to test out different sensor placement set-ups, I do not always have time to create whole sensor garments. I learned about this kinesiolosgy tape from a fried who had a muscle injury. The tape is made so that by taping on body directly it supports and massages muscle. […]

    Sensors

    crochet crotch lemon


    i learned the term “crotch lemon” from rachel freire. a lemon shaped insert to the crotch to avoid wear and tear from leg movement…. the perfect position for a sensor! i made this sensor as part of the goooch suit:

    Workshops

    under the influence


    _______________MATERIAL_ADVENTURES_______________ ………………the boardgame adventure for humans and other materials LEVEL2_ THE REMAKE you set off on a journey with another material you wish to make with . the goal is to return with an understanding that you are equally remade . As etextile practitioners we engage with other conductive materials on a regular basis and […]

    Announcements

    ETextile Swatch Exchange 2020


    What have you been up to this past year? A wide open call for samples of your etextile craft _deadline: January 7 2021_ At the end of a year in which the diverse measures taken to live with the covid virus have changed the ways in which we are able to be together with other […]

    Workshops

    least likely


    This workshop is part of a course at the Ernst Busch Hochschule in Berlin. It is only open to students of Spiel&&Objekt. least likely scenario is a 3week course that introduces how computers work and immediately challenges you to imagine how we could interact with them differently.

    Workshops

    connecting bubbles


    This semester, we are sitting in a strange bubble at home. No casual coffee with your friend between the lectures, no physical exchange of cool weaving trick to speed up your assignment, no hugging, no kissing… Instead of crying over all the things we lack, we can try to use the situation positively, as a unique experience of being isolated, connected only (or mostly) via internet with your friends and colleagues, but somehow share the experience together. Perhaps this is a chance to think about how we can design such an online, remote, yet connected experience. This is my proposal for this semester.

    Sensors

    DON’T TOUCH, MOVE


    6 really wearable sensors The textile sensors on our website are often not designed to be manipulated with your hands. In an attempt to move away from manual control, towards bodily entanglement, this post shows 6 wearable textile sensors that are designed to be worn on different parts of the body. The idea being that […]

    Workshops

    soft interactive technologies


    This is a course note for the Soft Interactive Technology course at the Art Academy Weissensee Berlin. The course is normally given as a series of hands-on workshops, but due to our difficulty of meeting each other in physical spaces, it is developed as an online course for the year. It was first given in […]

    Workshops

    #e-textile-adventures


    This workshop is part of a course at the Ernst Busch Hochschule in Berlin. It is only open to students in the departments of Contemporary Puppetry and Spiel&&Objekt.

    Sensors

    Sole Sensing


    Sole Sensors

    Rather simple way of making insoles with 3 pressure sensors located at different pressure points of the foot on the ground. The entire circuitry is sewn with conductive thread on sewing machine. The piezoresistive (pressure sensing) material is taped in place until finalized and can then also be sewn in place by machine (with regular […]

    Actuators

    Vibe Modules


    DIY Data Gloves

    How many times I’ve made various little vibration-motor break-out modules like these so that they can be snapped into wearable projects….. Using either Sugru silicon or Shapelock/polymorph/friendly plastic/thermoplast…… or casting resin ontop.

    Workshops

    from SPACE to SPACE


    with NO SCREENS? 5. – 7.05. & 12. – 14.05. 11:00 – 13:00 & 14:00 – 16:00. This workshop is only open to S&&O students This workshop was born out of the social distancing restrictions we are practicing to delay the spread of the corona virus. It is an attempt to teach a very materials […]

    Announcements

    OPEN CALL: Study eTextiles and Play


    Come study eTextiles in the context of play, theater, participatory performance, storytelling and material puppetry in Berlin! In march 2020 Hannah started a new job, and is now professor in the masters program Spiel&&Objekt (Play&&Object), situated in the contemporary puppetry department of Berlin’s performing arts university Ernst Busch. It’s a new program and our first […]

    Sensors

    VOLTAGE DIVIDER worksheet


    Ohm - Volt - ADC worksheet

    A worksheet for taking note of: The electrical resistance range of an analog sensor (Ohm). Picking a mean resistance in that range. Using a resistor of that resistance to build a Voltage Divider that will translate resistance into voltage. Taking note of the min and max voltage range this gives you. Connecting this variable voltage […]

    Example Projects

    Breathing Belt


    Very simple solution for capturing the movement of the chest or stomach breathing using a stretch sensor knit from a stainless-steel & polyester yarn “sensor yarn”. Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157713915361228 HOW THE SENSOR WORKS The stainless steel fibers in the yarn are short, and the electrical resistance between them is high (when relaxed <1M Ohm). And […]

    Announcements

    Textile Summer School in Kyoto Japan


    FYI: Open call for KYOTO Design Lab Textiles Summer School 2020 is out. The deadline is on the May 7th. https://www.d-lab.kit.ac.jp/events/2020/tss-2020/ It is the midst of crazy situation, and it maybe hard to think of the summer now… But if you are interested in visiting Chirimen weavers in Kyotango, one of the Japan’s traditional textile […]

    Workshops

    Material_Adventures


    the_boardgame This workshop-as-boardgame was developed during corona times as a means of teaching remotely with as little screen-time as possible. #noscreens MaterialAdventures >> https://www.plusea.at/?p=6605

    Workshops

    Making and Animating Dioramas


    This workshop is only open to students of the Spiel&&Objekt master program at the Ernst Busch Hochschule in Berlin.

    Sensors

    Donut Pot


    Crochet donut potentiometer

    A potentiometer, a potential devider, with the resistive track as the big donut and the conductive wiper as the small donut.

    Power

    Sewn USB Plug


    USB plugs are surprisingly easy to make yourself. You might have already seen some versions made directly on a PCB – either milled or etched (or scraped by hand) from copper laminated FSR board. But you can also sew a USB plug with some thick conductive thread (or wire) and some wood in which you […]

    Actuators

    Overview: Electromagnetic Actuators


    Flipdots, flap, jumps, speakers, motor, fur…

    Workshops

    FT1: Moving Fabrics with Electrons


    January 2020, hosted jointly by Interface Cultures and Fashion and Technology departments at the Art University Linz, Austria * * * This workshop is only open to Art University Linz students. Students should only sign up for this course if they can commit to attending the full schedule (see bellow). * * * In this […]

    Actuators

    Jumping in a Ring


    Jumping in a ring
    Actuators

    Flapping Wings


    Flaps

    Multiple of these: Flapping Wing Swatch Example >> https://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=5900

    Actuators

    Fabric Flipdot with H-Bridge


    H-Bridge soft-circuit

    H-bridge circuit diagram: Flipdot mechanism: Super simple with single transistor flips one direction only: With h-bridge circuit build on breadbaord (2 NPN transistors, 2 PHP transistors): MAKING-OF

    Workshops

    Spekulative Objekte


    18 Nov – 6 Dez 2019, course taught by Clemens Winkler and Hannah Perner-Wilson at Spiel & Objekt Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157712439878226

    Tools

    ETextile Tester Bracelet


    Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157712300020868 HANDOUT English Handout Text eTEXTILE TESTER BRACELET Explore the world of electronic textiles! The eTextile Tester Bracelet is a tool for testing the conductive properties of materials. The bracelet itself is an electronic textile: a felt band with a soft circuit sewn into it. Wearing and using this simple tool becomes means […]

    Conductive Materials > Meet the Materials

    Meet the Materials


    ETextiles rely on the existence of electrically conductive fibers, threads and fabrics that can be used in combination with textile techniques such as sewing, weaving and knitting. Most of these conductive materials are produced by industry for anti-static and EMF shielding purposes. The development and production of materials for crafting soft circuits and sensors is […]

    Workshops

    Shape and Memorize


    This is a 4 days workshop at the Weissensee Art Academy Berlin as a part of the Textile and Surface design course. The workshop will take place from December 9th to 13th. In this workshop, we will look into using Shape Memory Alloy (SMA), understanding the basics of SMA, how to set/memorize the shape, how […]

    Circuits and Code

    Graphing and Drawing Sensor Values


    CODE EXAMPLES ARDUINO Single Analog Sensor Value Smoothing a Single Analog Sensor Value Multiple Analog Sensor Values Smoothing Multiple Analog Sensor Values ARDUINO —> PROCESSING Graph Single Analog Sensor Value in Processing Graph Multiple Analog Sensor Values in Processing ARDUINO Single Analog Sensor Value Examples: Communication –> Graph This example contains the code you need […]

    Connections

    Super Stretchy & Robust Conductor


    This is NOT a stretch sensor, but rather the opposite, a way of making a stretchy connection/lead/trace. A tube knit from conductive thread with round elastic inserted. Before finishing the ends, the knit tube is stretched to it’s max and elastic’s max stretch (or other max can be taken) and then fixed. You can work […]

    Connections

    Felted DIP socket


    When using microcontroller for embroidery circuit projects, sometimes you do not want to directly solder them on the embroidery as you need to take it out to change the program on it. For this, sockets are convenient, but it is also bulky on the fabric. I used 5mm felt, that is as thick as the […]

    Announcements

    Stories from an etextile tailor


    (German version bellow) Stories from an e-textile tailor Make your tech and wear it too! In this talk I’d like to give an introduction to the materials, tools, skills and energies involved in making electronic textiles and tailoring wearable technology, which has been my practice for the past 13 years. I spend my days crafting […]

    Circuits and Code

    pressure matrix code + circuit


    matrix illustrations

    In this post I want to try and explain how a pressure matrix built from conductive rows and columns with a piezoresistive material (Eeonyx, Velostat) in between works, how to wire it up to an Arduino and write the Arduino code that will parse through the rows and columns to read the individual pressure points […]

    Workshops

    Taking Parts Apart Workshop at TH Nürnberg


    11 December 2019, 15-18:00 at TH Nürnberg, Germany Download PDF documentation of outcome >> http://kobakant.at/downloads/PDFs/20-takingPartsApart_THnurnberg.pdf Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157712797821188 A hands-on exercise in getting to know the electronic parts that make up the technologies we use every day. After understanding how they work, can we re-imagine them to be made in different ways? Links: >> konp.plusea.at/ […]

    Thinking Out Loud

    ohm’s law


    ohm's law illustration

    An attempt to combine three iconic illustrations of ohm’s law into one: annotated in german (english coming soon): ORIGINALS: the best: forrest m. mims Getting Started in Electronics >> https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5jcnBPSPWQyaTU1OW5NbVJQNW8/edit the water analogy:

    Sensors

    Copper Pompom


    copper pompom

    Copper of thread, pigment of change…..

    Tools

    Tester Tool: circle


    etextile testers

    All from one circle….

    Tools

    Tester Tool: bracelets


    etextile testers

    A simple LED circuits with an interrupted connection that can be worn as a bracelet.

    Actuators

    Critical Critters


    critical critters

    A collection of simple circuits (power, actuator) that are missing a part of their connection. Intended for visualizing the effects that variable resistive sensors have on the amount of voltage that reaches the actuator.

    Actuators

    Button Lights


    button LEDs

    Three techniques for mounting LEDS on top of buttons. 1 sew buttons with a solderable conductive thread and solder LEDs afterwards to the thread. 2 prepare button with copper tape and solder LED first and then sew to make contact to the copper tape pads. 3 same as 2 but mount LED underneath button facing […]

    Workshops

    – faser – faden – fiktion –


    -f-f-f-

    October 2019 – January 2020, a course in the department of Gestaltung: Technik-Textil at the Kunstuniversität Linz, Austria This course is only open to students of Gestaltung: Technik-Textil. This course pursues an exploratory approach to introducing electronic textiles (E-Textiles) as a material practice. Taking the analogy of an expedition, students will depart on a journey […]

    Sensors

    Spinning Sensor Yarn


    Piezo/resistance

    A little goes a long way. Stainless steel fibers blended with wool roving and spun and plied on on a drop-spindle. Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157711023086991 This is not a recipe but an attempt to share things to think about when you approach spinning your own conductive yarn. Or “sensor” yarn in the sense that it’s electrical conductivity […]

    Technique

    Hydrogen Peroxide Etching


    Polymerization

    Hydrogen Peroxide Etching Conductive Fabric. Part of a counterchemists collaboration. Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157710980633483 copper riptstop: silver lycra (front): silver lycra (back): silver lycra (stretched): materials: High acidity vinegar (24%): look in the cleaning section of your local supermarket for vinegars used in cleaning. Hydrogen Peroxide (Wasserstoffperoxid Lösung) 30%: ask at your local pharmacy and let them […]

    Thinking Out Loud

    Speculating about Piezoresistance


    Piezo/resistance

    Together with Maurin we have been wondering what exactly goes on inside a piezoresistive material – or where the piezoresistive effect takes place. >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piezoresistive_effect Ideas for why/where changes in resistance are happening by Maurin Donneaud: The information I bring here comes from my intuitions that I have not yet had the time to confirm […]

    Example Projects

    Tie-Poly Leggings and Dataglove


    A pair of leggings and a glove made conductive (with piezoresistive properties) via a technique of polypyrrole polymerization, using tie-dye technique to create areas of non-conductivity.

    Technique

    Poly Resist Techniques: tie and wax


    Two techniques for resisting In-Situ Polymerization of fabrics: “Tie-Poly”: tie-die binding Batik: application of hot wax Part of a counterchemists collaboration. Photos >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157710354823622/page4/ VIDEO “Tie-Poly” Tie-dye is a technique of binding off parts of a fabric in order to prohibit the water dye from penetrating into these regions. Scrunching the fabric and tying string […]

    Technique

    In-Situ Polymerization


    Polymerization process sketches

    Part of a counterchemists collaboration. Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157710884689521 Polymerization of PolyPyrrol materials: Pyrrol Polymerization agent tools: DIY Magnetic Stirrer https://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-DIY-Magnetic-Stirrer/ POLYMERIZED FABRICS: Knit Viskose – 95% viskose, 5% elastan Knit Bamboo – 95% bamboo, 5% elastan Shieldex® Technik-Tex P130 – 78% Polyamide, 22% Elastomer, 99% pure Silver Powermesh – 82% nylon 18% spandex Shieldex® Kassel – […]

    Sensors

    Needle Felt Squeeze Sensor


    felt

    A Pressure Sensor made with conductive wool. You can mix a bit of wool to increase the range of resistance change.

    Actuators

    TEXTILE ACTUATOR BOTS


    Crafting Robots

    Three robots encased in clear tupperware as an easy means of experiencing how textile sensors can be used to control textile actuators (well the LED BOT is not really a textile actuator – but could use fibrous stuffing to diffuse the light!) Textile LED Bot Textile Servo Bot Textile Speaker Bot Textile LED Bot Textile […]

    Connections

    Lulu as 4-Way Adapter


    Pin Potentiometer

    Instead of soldering the LED to the tip of the Lulu BEE you could solder the ends of 4-wires to the pads on the PCB. Thus the Lulu becomes a 4-way e-textile to wire adapter… connector… breakout…

    Sensors

    Pin Pot


    Pin Pot

    A lengthy pin potentiometer. Something like a slug on the back of your hand. Filled with polenta. You poke the sharp pin through layers of conductive fabrics (and the polenta), one is highly conductive the other has lots of resistance. The pin is conductive and makes an electrical connection from the conductive wiper layer to […]

    Workshops

    Crafting Sensory Surfaces


    A part of textiles summer school at DLAB KIT Kyoto Japan. August 19 – 30, 2019 Textiles stand at the forefront of material technology offering a staggering range of characteristics for designers to exploit: touch, fold, stretch, stroke, squeeze, scrub, etc. We manipulate textile surfaces that surround us in various ways. By embedding e-textile materials […]

    Workshops

    ETextile CARD10


    ccc camp 2019 Extend your CARD10 wristband out into the world….. of etextiles! friday, 22-8-19, 19:00-20:30 in the CARD10 village saturday, 23-8-19, 18:30-20:00 in the CARD10 village >> https://card10.badge.events.ccc.de/en/workshops/ bring (if you have): – your CARD10, USB-C cable, laptop – “normal” LEDs – scissors – pliers – sewing needles step-by-step: More photos: https://flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157710505658161 STAGE 1: […]