1386 beautiful light emitting diodes! wrapped in luscious pink bubble wrap.  As you may remember from my 8 February 2013 post I love pink bubble wrap so much a friend gave me a bag full! best gift ever ever!

Charged electrons flow from the power source along the negative trace (green) thru a resistor to the cathode. Like excited lemmings they jump the P-N junction emitting light. Finally, the spent electrons slide along the positive trace (red) to get charged up at the battery.         KEY battery is black negative trace is green resistor is blue […]

If you’ve ever had the good fortune of entering The Gas Station you know that my workbench is 20 feet long. This space is always a flow of projects, but this morning I noticed it was magnificently mashedup with materials. paints, solder, silk organza, great grandmothers silver sewing tray, conductive paint, Maxbotix and of course GLITTER!  Why the glitter?  I […]

I use a lot of expensive thread. I waste even more. In this picture there are five kinds of conductive thread. You can identify the stainless steel thread because of the whiskers. Those pesky short circuit makers! I keep a scrap box of tangles, tails and tatters. When sewing small repairs and adding hardware to and electrical trace I use […]

Ying Yang After a day of textiles I am programing ATtiny45’s to use at the Tasmeem workshop in March. ATtiny45’s can be easily programed using your arduino. Just follow the tutorial at MIT Media’s High-Low Tech Lab. Data sheet found from Atmel. You can purchase 100 for $63 USD at digiKey

  This year’s eTextile Valentine is posted with my favorite DIY, How-To, Git’r’Done website. Instructables! Step by step instructions on how to se conductive thread, LEDs, 3V coin cell battery and your imagination to light up Hello Kitty! Now go. Make the world a more beautiful place!     Instructable

  Are you ready for this year’s Valentine’s Day project? I bet you’ve been waiting all year for this PUNCHY interactive Instructable! Beware tho – eTextile Love Hurts! Unlike last years STABBY Valentine this time – you will have to sew with poky pricky needles. Will you make a badge for your coat or a pillow for your love? Maybe […]

After sewing a piece of hardware into your textiles take your needle and thread and back stitch along the electrical trace to bury your thread tail. THEN clip the excess thread. This helps prevent short circuits because you don’t have loose threads near your hardware connections. Bonus – you don’t need unsightly messy fabric glue. ewwwwwwwww!