It worked!

@ Spring Show

Not your granny's fanny pack.

At abut 85% of full potential, 50% of the time. Video to follow

the artist's statement

      I will get some video up shortly. The jacket is functional, though temperamental, and complete with a fanny-pack to hold the tri-field.  After some testing I decided that I need to fix the code to get faster responses from the BlinkMs. A more "fluttery" response would be helpful, particularly in light of the statement I put together. It is as follows:

Helen Gilbert, "The Grandma Jacket," 2011, wearable electronic sensory system           

            We learn the function of sensory systems in the human body in grade school: visual, auditory, somatosensory, gustatory, olfactory. They are part of the nervous system. Sensory receptors take in stimuli and pass a translation on to neural pathways for processing (e.g. how much pain am I feeling? Where is that sound coming from? What does that smell remind me of?) and we react accordingly by, say, taking our hand off of the stove top.

            Mediums and psychics claim to be specially endowed with a sixth sensory system, apparently entirely within the mind, which allows them to recognize the presence of disembodied spirits, aka ghosts, but the rest of us have five. 

            The Grandma Jacket is, indeed a jacket that belonged to my grandmother. I have augmented it with an additional, electronic, sensory system that is receptive to electromagnetic fields. Why electromagnetic fields? Electromagnetism is one of the "Four Fundamental Forces" that govern the interactions of matter (along with gravity and the strong and weak nuclear forces), and perhaps this somewhat mysterious and powerful categorization is responsible for the more direct reason I chose elecromagentic fields: they are associated with ghosts.

            The meat of this system's circuitry is a hacked TFM3 "Tri Field Meter" from Ramsey Electronics, who encourage the belief that the meter can be used for ghost hunting. Their online store markets the product as such:

"If the TFM3C looks familiar, it's probably because you saw it in use on the CBS show Ghost Whisperer! … it is believed (by the believers!) that ghosts give off an electric field that can be detected with the appropriate equipment. Even Thomas Edison believed this as he made recordings of "voices from beyond". In the electric mode, the TFM3C's displays will wander away from zero even though there isn't a clear reason for it (not scientifically explainable, aka paranormal!). This would mean something has begun to give off an electric field. What it was in the Ghost Whisperer was a friendly ghost. What it will be in your house... who knows!"

            The strength of these readings is processed with a microcontroller, which then translates that information to color feedback for the wearer. The LED "cuff-links" are a base-state blue when the jacket is not picking up a discernable electronic field. They fade  purple when something is detected, and indicate a strong electromagnetic presence with red. What that means in this gallery... who knows!

:)

      I'm tired and focused so I'm mostly going to let the photos speak for themselves. I ordered the low-resistance thread that sparkfun sells and I pulled out my stitches and started over. I think the stitches themselves look quite beautiful. 

Don't mind the cord, I just forgot to unplug it.

Thread

 

      I looked around the Net for info on conductive threads, to see what I could see. I found some useful review-type sites like Fashioning Technology, which had a nice overview. WOW there is a huge range in conductivity. I might just spin my 2 ply into 4, but it would be easier to just buy a bulkier thread. 

To give you an idea (The clothes are Lynne's work):

Useful for something delicate like this.

Resistance: ~ 75-85ohm/foot  

--->

Resistance: ~ 14 ohms/foot

--->
 

Totally fine for this get-up. 

 

 

 

 

Stiching for Conductivity 101.. Maybe 100.

      So those threads ever-so-loosely clinging to the fabric? I thought to build the leads like so.
      Turns out, they're nowhere near as conductive as I need them to be. For one thing, in the Instructable I have been using for guidance Leah uses 4 ply thread, and I have a lowly 2 ply. For another thing, her sewing was a bit closer knit than mine, each stitch kind of on a diagonal.  The line still attached to the needle is perhaps excessive, but it's the right idea.
      Oh, for the ability to run this through the machine.

Why do I do this to myself?

conductive thread (thanks, CTP) + needle
Lilypad Arduino
Lilypad power source
USB connector break out
BlinkM LED

       I optimistically stitched a line for + and - from the Lilypad to the BlinkM, across the length of the sleeve. It didn't work. I didn't feel like testing it with a multimeter, since I knew I hadn't been careful about shorts at the connection points (tiny spaces between holes, thread very close together) so I ripped it out right quick and I'm going to start with a much more manageable distance and CAREFUL connections.
      Also, I know nothing about sewing (sorry Mom, I guess I never paid attention to those lessons). Everything Lynne mentioned in class is coming back to me now (I wasn't paying much attention to that, either) She warned us to wax threads so they won't tangle, particularly conductive thread, and to pull thread particles out with tape as we go because they'll build up and short our circuits...  Why don't we remember these things until we've experienced the frustration of not doing them?
      Anyway, here's hoping.

MORE

     I got one BlinkM to respond correctly... how about 4??  From the BlinkM manual:

To add multiple BlinkMs to a circuit, connect their I2C SDA and SCL together and run those two lines to the SDA and SCL pins of the I2C master controller. The Arduino is the I2C master. The two 2.2k “pull-up” resistors are necessary to help the Arduino talk to multiple BlinkMs.

       Here is my first attempt @ an electrical layout:

This is me figuring out that I should turn the Lilypad 90 degrees clockwise—it makes a big difference for crossing wires

      In my first drawing I included 6 potential LED spots, because I have 6 BlinkMs. I'm actually going to use 4, which is more than enough to handle, thank you.