I’ve wound off 20 yard bobbins of Mitsifuji conductive thread.     This thread is 9.5 ohms/foot and can be used as the top thread in a home sewing machine. Unfortunately, this thread is no longer manufactured.  

    Documenting the final numbers for resistance on ALL the conductive threads. ALL of them!

    Comparison testing a variety of conductive threads available from ebay, etsy, and online retailers. Unfortunately, many of the the threads are not conductive and can not be used for eTextiles. I’ll start posting results next week.  

  From left to right Bamboo and Stainless, Silver taffeta, copper taffata, silver non-woven, velostat and bottom left silver lycra.   Alll from LessEMF in Albany, NY.

    Detail of how I use conductive thread strung with crimping beads in the warp to insert and secure the thru hole quadrate LEDs.  

After teaching around the world and back again I found that people are still buying anti-static or metalic looking threads believing the fiber is conductive and will work for eTextiles, wearable computing, and craft -tech. Its an easy mistake as there are more vendors on ebay and etsy selling fake ‘conductive’ thread than I ever imagined!  Unfortunately, this ignorance and […]

  We collected some of the conductive thread, copper foil and battery waste from the eTextile workshop at the Surface Design Conference. How we recycle eTextiles and wearable computers continues to perplex me. I don’t have an answer, but at least I am asking the question! Article from NYT ‘Could Smart Textiles Prove Toxic?‘ 2 November 2011. ‘The Environmental Cost […]

  Painting connections from ATtiny45 hardware to conductive thread with Bare conductive paint.    

Tonight at the Denver Art Museum – Untitled Flower Power – an eTextile interactive art piece On the Bridge connecting the North Building to the Hamilton Building. Other artists at Current are: The Matter of Music Energy by Musica Sacra Chamber Orchestra, with a special installation by artists Annica Cuppetelli and Cristobal Mendoza. Imagine 40 musicians playing pieces inspired by the […]

  Lolwa Hassan Jamal made an eTextile lighthouse from conductive thread, ATtiny45 and a craft tech pressure sensor of conductive fabric and velostat. AWESOME! view on youtube By pressing on the light house door the user activates the LEDs to flicker. She made this three days after being introduced to an LED and 3V battery. I am so impressed!! I […]