Problem: I choose and ill fitting bra and placed the sensor in the triangle between the cups, where it didn't touch my skin. Solution: I moved it! Simple, I know, and barely worth saying, but the sensor location isn't something I considered past the ease of setting up the circuit, figuring that the bra touches my skin pretty much everywhere. Since it didn't touch my skin, it was more exposed the air than it was to me. The pocket created between my skin and the bra was warmed than regular air, but not by enough of a margin that the sensor was good at distinguishing. To remedy this, I moved the sensor between the triangle between the cups to the inside of the cup on my right. This seemed to work well, and I was a little nervous to move it again and mess anything up. This probably doesn't work as well, because as you might know, boobs are mostly fat, and I am not sure if anyone else has noticed this, mine tend to be colder underneath than the rest of my body. I used a long line bra, which is like a regular bra, but it has support boning going vertically down the band. If I were to do this again, I would move the LilyPad up and put the temp sensor below it, so no matter what it would be against my skin in a warmer spot on my body. Problem: Cheap conductive thread is really itchy on skin! My Solution: I was gifted really nice conductive thread! Its soft and silky, and it is some kind of magic witch craft. Unfortunately, I did all the stitching with the cheaper stuff, and i was not about to take it out, because stitching the LEDs in took forever - so, I ended up gluing a layer of fabric onto the top, which worked well. * I saw my solution because this is by no means the only solution, but it is the one that worked best for my skill and my project. (: Fun Fact: If you wear the wearable with the conductive thread next to your skin while it is programed, it gives you a nice little shock! Nothing jolting, just enough to notice. I had not noticed this before with other wearable projects, but they also were not in such sensative areas of my skin. Questions I got:
Q: Isn't the LilyPad uncomfortable? A: Not at all! It feels no less comfrotable than a zipper. The thread on the other hand...
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Project from a while ago. "its like Facebook, but on a wall" - Poor pictures, as my phone case camera cover (look at that alliteration!) is quite scratched.
Non tech, but still fun
Dress created for my friend's (@atlasworld) halloween costume as Felicity fox from Mr. Fantastic fox! I sewed the dress, taught her how to use the machine, and she sewed on the pocket and painted the apples. Happy (Belated) Halloween! Left picture is before the final fitting, and on the right is on halloween, completed and dully made up. What you need: EL Wire Panel Wire Cutters/Scissors Electrical tape Scotch tape Sharpie Design File for Arc Reactor and backing Acrylic Laser Cutter Soldering Iron Solder You don't need, but it is nice to have... - Hookup wire - Extra 4 prong short button How to do it: 1. Laser cut the design file. I used extruded, black, non-see through .111in acrylic, but also did a test cut with mat board, which seemed like it would work, but I wanted it to be able to get mildly sweaty (delicious, I know, but it is a consideration) without getting gross. 2. Trace the top of the reactor onto the EL panel. 3. Watch this video to cut EL panel. The highlights are, only cut when the power is off, and tape all the edges with scotch tape so that when you do turn the power on, you don't electrocute yourself, and don't cut the copper tape on the back of the panel - doing this cuts the power to the panel. 4. Tape the backing, arc reactor face, and EL panel together with black electrical tape 5. Wear it around, like a badass. Pro Tips/ What I would do next time to make this better - A friend of mine also made one of these, but cut two rings about 3mm thick, glued on top of each other, to create a 4-layer tall reactor, lined it with tin foil, and soldering blue LEDs together. It also looked really cool, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures. - I noticed that when I stuck the inverter down my shirt, my boobs kept turning it off. So, I took apart the inverter, desoldered the button that looks like Abraham Lincoln's hat and replaced with a shorter one that looked like that of a well respected pilgrim. I then replaced the top of the inverter without screwing the screws back in, so it would gently pop on an off. - The wire connecting the panel to the inverter was also really short, so I cut the wire, and soldered a little bit more wire, and individual heat-shrinked them. (If YWhile making I kept putting my needles in my mouth, and occasionally poking myself harder than I was okay with, I had seen my hair dresser with a similar contraption, and this certainly isn't a new idea, but here is how to make it!
What you need: - About 3 inches of velcro - Thread - 8x4in of fabric of your choice - A small magnet - Sewing machine or needle How to make: 1. Fold the fabric in half the long way (if this were a piece of paper, the"hot dog" way and sew a line about an inch an a half away from the edge of the folded edge to create a tube of fabric 2. Trim off the excess fabric, and turn inside out. (If you have never turned inside out a tube of fabric, you can use a safety pin on one side and thread it through to the other side. Or just shove it through.) 3. put the magnet inside the tube in the middle, and sew to bars perpendicular to the length of the tube on either side of the magnet. 4. Measure to your wrist, with about 2-3in overlap of the ends. 5. On one side of one end, sew one side of the velcro. 6. On the other side of the other end, sew the other. ** When sewing velcro, sew a square around the area of the velcro. 7. Trim, and you're done. I also have one of these at home that I use to put bobby pins on - when I am doing up doos' for me or friends. But I have also use this one around the lab to hold/not loose small screws, too. You know all those warnings to use resistors? This is why! Sometimes, connecting a 5mm LED to a 9V battery just makes the LED spark, and never turn on again. This time, it blew the top off!
A silly interview of me in our "Interview Chairs" (good napping chairs) of the princess crown I made - with Alicia Gibb. ** This is also the crown I am wearing in my Meet Me section
How to bend acrylic; 1. Heat an oven (or toaster over, which is what I used) to about 350-375F 2. Put your piece in the oven on a piece of tin foil for about 10-15 minutes (I had .111in extruded acrylic). The 10-15 minutes is also a little generic, it should just be kind of floppy when you take it out. I have a bad habit of forgetting things in the oven, and do this for everything from cookies to acrylic, so having it in longer won't hurt it... But just keep an eye on it. Side note - thicker acrylic will need more time. 3. Take it out and shape it to whatever you want. You have about a minute to shape it. With my princess crown, I grabbed the edges of the tin foil to do the majority of the shaping, and then when it was cooler, but still malleable, I put it on my head, so it would have a nice head shape. Pro tips: 1. Some acrylic bubbles. Not sure why. The acrylic we were using we were pulling out of a scrap acrylic. Typically in the lab we have extruded acrylic, because that is what is safe for our laser cutter, but that obviously doesn't guarantee that all the acrylic is extruded. 2. Running it under cold water makes it cool faster. This seems like kind of a 'duh!' thing, but, incase you were wondering, it works. 3. If you hold objects against the acrylic when it is hot, they will leave an imprint on the acrylic, but if you put it back in the oven to heat it up, the acrylic will go back to its previous shape. |
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