Smart Crafting

So tonight I’ve made the majority of the hat for the iPod hat. I’ve taken a few photos through the process. Since pictures are worth a thousand words here they are.

Patterns I’m working off

Outside pieces of the hat

Sewing together the side pieces of the outside of the hat

iPod Shuffle kindly loaned to me by my Sister

Lining of the hat sewen together

Outside of the hat sewen together

Me modelling the hat

So I plan to put up the second half of the photos once I complete the hat. My sewing machine seemed to be having a spasm when I was creating darts on my felt material (or it could be I’m just too tired). I’ll try again tomorrow if I get some time.

I also have a friend coming down hopefully this weekend from Auckland to help me out to try to get some prototypes and demo’s out.

So I had of hoped my projects would of ramped up however it’s gotten worse and I feel bad having done not much at all.

I’ve been super busy with my job (having to cover for a few guys on leave) so it’s left me with little time to do some crafting.

But on a side note talking to my Dad he has a lot of electrical gear so I will be “raiding” his gear to see what I can use to my advantage. Plus my Dad and my partner have offered to help teach me to solder as apparently it’s harder than it looks.

Anyway – I’m still alive, I’m not dead, just super busy

So Dave kindly brought my Conductive Thread he received while in San Francisco down to me today. I gave him a Chocolate fish for all his help

Was quite interesting to get the package opened and see the Conductive Thread. I’m going to have a good look at the thread with a magnifying glass but it’s very thin and light. Looks like it’s two threads of cotton wrapped together, one of the cotton threads is intertwined with thin wire. But my eyesight seems to be getting worse so I need a magnifying glass to see how it’s put together exactly.

Pictures of the thread is here, also pictures of the thread against a pen to show you how thin it is.

The other day I explained that I sat down with my friend Selina and worked out 4 – 5 projects that I can start making. I wanted to outline them here:

1. Cushion – Lights up the edges when you sit on it
2. Laptop Bag – Lights up when your cellphone rings
3. Handbag – Lights up when you open it
4. iPod Shuffle Hat – you can control your iPod shuffle all from a flower
5. Cat Toy – Toy vibrates, fun for kitties

These are the projects I’ll be working on for the next month or so. For each one I will be taking photos (video where possible) from start to finish to show you guys what I did and how it’s going.

I was asked to speak at the Girl Geek Dinners on Wednesday. My speech was on the Corporate World and how to get things done but I ended off the session talking about some of my Personal Projects. One of the items I talked about was Smart Crafting, what it is and some of what I’m planning to achieve (opensource smart crafting).

From the speech I got an offer to exhibit some smart crafting goodies. I’m very grateful for the offer however it’s kicked my ‘making’ into 3rd gear and I’ve been talking to my friend Selina this afternoon about items I can make. We’ve now go a list of 5 – 6 items we will aim to get crafting and we’re now trying to source electrical components and materials to start making them.

I’m excited to get the opportunity to at least talk about exhibiting some goodies but it’s more about what I can get organised to create in time by late August.Thanks to Selina for helping me and if all goes well she will hopefully be able to come down to Wellington to help me exhibit.

If you’re interested in the exhibition I’ll post details of ‘when & where’ when I have a clearer understanding of if I will exhibit or not.

I have managed to find the Switch Craft: Battery-powered Crafts to make and sew book in my local library. I’ve hired it out today and it is a very interesting book with 20 great projects for me to get my teeth sunk into Smart Crafting.

I’m looking at a few of the ‘easy’ projects comparing materials that are required and the availability of electronic materials with costs.

While googling for Fashion Geek book I managed to find another book called Switch Craft: Battery-Powered Crafts to Make and Sew.

Switch Craft Book Title

Having a preview through the book it seemed to have a few great projects inside that I liked straight away.  Doing some research it looks like this book is available in New Zealand. It’s available via Whitcoulls (however not online, store only) and I’ve found that it’s in my local library! How cool is that? So I’m going down tomorrow to sign up for the Library and this will be my first book to hire (as long as their search online is correct and it is available).

I’ll be looking to make something pronto (as I’m chomping at the bit now) so if I get a chance to I will post some ‘as I go’ pictures.

So here is a great video clip that I came across a while back. It’s of Diana Eng who was apart of Season 2 of Project Runway. Although I never saw Season 2 of Project Runway I love this tutorial

On a side note if you love DIY clothing you should really visit Threadbanger as it’s awesome for all DIY.

By now I potentially sound like a broken record but all the research I’ve completed has shown that Conductive Thread is the ‘key’ to smart crafting and is a vital tool.

I have now placed an order through SparkLab Electronics for the Conductive Thread- 117/17 2ply. Huge thanks to Dave for being my delivery address in the US and bringing me back the thread in July.

Now all I can do is wait until Dave enters the country. While I wait all I can do is brush up on my research on Smart Crafting and ensure I know what kind of a ride I’m in for

So I’ve been on the lookout for materials in New Zealand to help me create conductive thread. I managed to (through Geekzone) find a gentleman named Thomas who not only knew what I was talking about, but actually could point me to where I can purchase the right materials. Thanks for you help Thomas. Jaycar appears to have the wire thin enough for me to twist with cotton to create my own conductive thread.

On a side note a colleague/friend of mine at work has a friend living in the US until July. He could be a delivery address for me until July in which he returns to New Zealand. So potentially I could get some REAL conductive thread. My thoughts are that I’m really keen to do this because I’ve never made Conductive thread before and how am I suppose to know what it’s suppose to be like? It’s always nice to have the “end product” beside you while trying to mimic it.

While finding all this out I’ve been reading through what I can of the ‘preview’ of Fashioning Technology the book I’ve asked for.

Talking to a few friends it’s become clear that Smart Crafting is not familiar in New Zealand and they have no clue what it is. Maybe I’ve been put here to make sure they know now

So I have been doing a lot of researching across multiple websites lately. It has become apparently clear that with ‘Smart Crafting’ or ‘Wearable Electronics’ that one of the major tools that is used consistantly across all projects is Conductive Thread (sometimes referred to as Conductive Yarn).

So with a quick google search it’s pretty easy to realise that Conductive thread is not readily available in New Zealand (or even in Australia). To import one from the US would cost $19.95US for the product and $23.00US for shipping.

Refusing to buy something that costs less than the International Shipping fee I decide to research the possibility of being able to make conductive thread myself. I stumbled across Instructables tutorial on how to create Conductive Thread. Looking at the steps it doesn’t seem too hard, more a DIY put together but it seems to do the job. Over the next month or so I’ll start to collect items to try this out, unless I get fed up and just order the Conductive Thread from the US.

Just a note, if you’re ever looking for a Craft DIY tutorial, Instructables is an awesome site to find just about anything you’re looking for.