[Wei Chieh Shih] really moves the needle when it comes to wearable technology. His textile design project entitled I Am Very Happy I Hope You Are Too is a striking marriage of masterful hand embroidery, delicate circuitry, and careful programming.
[Wei] is using an Arduino micro to drive a matrix of surface-mount LEDs in the Hello, World video, which is a ramp-up to the scrolling text version that’s in progress now finished. That full version is part of his residency project at Arquetopia in Oaxaca, Mexico and displays snippets of emails from his past relationships. It’s huge, with multiple matrices as large as 8×25 pixels!
No build notes could be found for this or any of [Wei]’s similar projects, like this awesomely dangerous 200 laser diode jacket or this eerily beautiful light installation on Taiwan’s north beach. Based on the pictures, our speculation is that he is using ordinary 6-strand embroidery floss to make stem or half cross-stitches on all the paths. He then runs very thin, flexible conductor underneath the channel of stitches and solders the wires to the component pads.
If [Wei] wants another way to wear his heart on his sleeve, he could investigate these dynamic LED clothing hacks.
Update: [Wei] has completed this project, and has more information available at his Behance site.
[via adafruit]
The laser jackets, finally, when a reviewer writes of a “blinding performance” it can literally be true. ;-)
Does he have one tailored for sharks?
Too much red tape.
Wait until someone makes a 20,000 laser ballgown.
And a 1kW continuous power supply/battery pack for it. That would be one flashy dress.
From the close up shot it looks like really thin wire and conductive thread run under the traditional embroidery. From the look of it, it is silver plated nylon or polyester, which is a bummer as it tarnishes and loses it’s conductive properties over time.