A Study: Starry Light
2011-Apr-06, Wednesday 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chebeThis project came about basically as culmination of lots of different techniques I wanted to try out;
1; sewing on really slippery, delicate fabrics
2; using the satin-stitch on the sewing machine to couch conductive thread, as seen in the Sparkle-TuTu instructable
3; determining some method/sensor for detecting movement
4; trying out the Aniomagic LED-sequins that had just arrived
5; playing with my new glow-in-the-dark thread
6; utilising an old dreamcatcher that improper storage managed to render into a simple ring
7; trying a new battery holder for the larger 24.5mm rechargeable coin cells
Insomuch as I managed these objectives it was a success. However, the end product doesn't work as I'd hoped, so a final product is further down the line.
I present to you the first prototype of 'Starry Light'. The concept; a night-time wind-chime, that instead of making sounds when moved by the wind, lights up some LEDs.
Construction
Draw the circuit guide out on soft tracing paper (this is the paper I use for clothes patterns). The pink circle along the outside represents the metal ring that makes up the core of the ex-dreamcatcher ring. There will be eight spokes, each with a break in it, into which space the LED sequins will be sewn. The blue parts of the spokes will be stitched in blue thread. The pink bits in purple glow-in-the-dark thread (forming an eight-ray star). At the centre will be the metal contacts, in this case jump rings.
I take my delicate fabric that I've had stashed unused for years, pin it to the paper, and begin sewing in the conductive thread as described in the Sparkle-TuTu instructable. Except my machine doesn't have a satin stitch, so I got as close as possible with a wide zig-zag stitch.
The conductive thread was just laid down under the presser foot, and the needle goes from side to side encasing it. This method actually turned out to be very wasteful for the very short traces in this project. Threading the conductive thread after machine stitching would have been more economical and saved time. However I am looking forward to trying this technique on larger projects with non-straight lines.
Hand secure the LED sequins and jump rings in. Make sure the LEDs are all inserted the same way. In my case that's positive connected to the blue thread, and negative to the purple thread.
Machine stitch around the outside of the circle, to stabilise the fabric. Next, very gently, begin to remove the paper. Use tweezers to remove from between the stitches, and tug gently. If a piece doesn't appear to move try a different angle/side/approach. Take your time. Pulling too hard will rip the fabric.
Stitch the panel to the ex-dreamcatcher ring; connecting the conductive thread to the metal core. This results in your 'positive side'.
Next, make the 'negative side'. Take a metal bead/finding for the centre of the piece that will make contact with the jump rings. Bring the conductive thread up to where you will place the battery, and make sure it won't touch any of the other side. I tried this by threading plastic beads, using rubber tubing, and coating in clear plastic-y fabric paint.
Make the battery holder, similar to the basic one I described before, except after you make the contact pads simply add metal snaps on the outside. Then this piece will snap in and out of your project.
Attach the battery holder to the project, somehow, and complete the circuit. Test it. Here I'm only using the bottle of nail-polish to weigh the finding down and guarantee connection with the jump rings.
Here's an idea of how it would generally work, with only some of the jump rings being in contact with the central metal finding, completing those circuits, and lighting up those LEDs. The ones lit up should change as the piece is moved about by the wind.
And just in case there's no wind, the star shape should glow in the dark.
Problems
The 'negative side' is too heavy, too stiff. It doesn't move in response to wind as much as I'd hoped. You can see my frustration in the video.
Conclusion
There is room for improvement but still, it's very nifty, and I've learned a lot. My initial objectives have been reached, and now I feel better able to use them in the other projects I have in mind.
Also, unintentionally, my method for detecting movement turned out to be quite similar to the Tilt Sensing Bracelet by Plusea. I only discovered this half-way through, but think it's kinda cool.
Speaking of which, if you haven't seen her Tilt Sensing Quilt check it out.
1; sewing on really slippery, delicate fabrics
2; using the satin-stitch on the sewing machine to couch conductive thread, as seen in the Sparkle-TuTu instructable
3; determining some method/sensor for detecting movement
4; trying out the Aniomagic LED-sequins that had just arrived
5; playing with my new glow-in-the-dark thread
6; utilising an old dreamcatcher that improper storage managed to render into a simple ring
7; trying a new battery holder for the larger 24.5mm rechargeable coin cells
Insomuch as I managed these objectives it was a success. However, the end product doesn't work as I'd hoped, so a final product is further down the line.
I present to you the first prototype of 'Starry Light'. The concept; a night-time wind-chime, that instead of making sounds when moved by the wind, lights up some LEDs.
Construction
Draw the circuit guide out on soft tracing paper (this is the paper I use for clothes patterns). The pink circle along the outside represents the metal ring that makes up the core of the ex-dreamcatcher ring. There will be eight spokes, each with a break in it, into which space the LED sequins will be sewn. The blue parts of the spokes will be stitched in blue thread. The pink bits in purple glow-in-the-dark thread (forming an eight-ray star). At the centre will be the metal contacts, in this case jump rings.
 |
I take my delicate fabric that I've had stashed unused for years, pin it to the paper, and begin sewing in the conductive thread as described in the Sparkle-TuTu instructable. Except my machine doesn't have a satin stitch, so I got as close as possible with a wide zig-zag stitch.
The conductive thread was just laid down under the presser foot, and the needle goes from side to side encasing it. This method actually turned out to be very wasteful for the very short traces in this project. Threading the conductive thread after machine stitching would have been more economical and saved time. However I am looking forward to trying this technique on larger projects with non-straight lines.
 |
Hand secure the LED sequins and jump rings in. Make sure the LEDs are all inserted the same way. In my case that's positive connected to the blue thread, and negative to the purple thread.
Machine stitch around the outside of the circle, to stabilise the fabric. Next, very gently, begin to remove the paper. Use tweezers to remove from between the stitches, and tug gently. If a piece doesn't appear to move try a different angle/side/approach. Take your time. Pulling too hard will rip the fabric.
 |
Stitch the panel to the ex-dreamcatcher ring; connecting the conductive thread to the metal core. This results in your 'positive side'.
Next, make the 'negative side'. Take a metal bead/finding for the centre of the piece that will make contact with the jump rings. Bring the conductive thread up to where you will place the battery, and make sure it won't touch any of the other side. I tried this by threading plastic beads, using rubber tubing, and coating in clear plastic-y fabric paint.
Make the battery holder, similar to the basic one I described before, except after you make the contact pads simply add metal snaps on the outside. Then this piece will snap in and out of your project.
Attach the battery holder to the project, somehow, and complete the circuit. Test it. Here I'm only using the bottle of nail-polish to weigh the finding down and guarantee connection with the jump rings.
 |
Here's an idea of how it would generally work, with only some of the jump rings being in contact with the central metal finding, completing those circuits, and lighting up those LEDs. The ones lit up should change as the piece is moved about by the wind.
 |
And just in case there's no wind, the star shape should glow in the dark.
 |
Problems
The 'negative side' is too heavy, too stiff. It doesn't move in response to wind as much as I'd hoped. You can see my frustration in the video.
Conclusion
There is room for improvement but still, it's very nifty, and I've learned a lot. My initial objectives have been reached, and now I feel better able to use them in the other projects I have in mind.
Also, unintentionally, my method for detecting movement turned out to be quite similar to the Tilt Sensing Bracelet by Plusea. I only discovered this half-way through, but think it's kinda cool.
Speaking of which, if you haven't seen her Tilt Sensing Quilt check it out.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-06 08:50 pm (UTC)/me goes back to underlining
no subject
Date: 2011-04-06 10:04 pm (UTC)I'll have to make to a crafting session and see your progress. You're now officially kicking my ass at the sew-along, so I'll have to come get pointers from you :)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-06 10:40 pm (UTC)Actually you'll be very proud to know I levelled up at the sewing machine \o/ I figured out a few things by osmosis on Tuesday and I'm suddenly doing much better, weird but what a relief. (I took notes too!)
Also... Gertie mentions using silk thread a lot. I'm not sure why (do you know?) but I guess I will buy some :O
Happy awesome-project-building!
no subject
Date: 2011-04-06 11:23 pm (UTC)Silk thread is like, em, supposed to leave no marks once removed. So if you're basting and then take it out, the marks shouldn't be noticeable. But you really only need it on delicate fabrics as far as I can tell. Not even sure where you'd get it here.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-07 07:13 am (UTC)Would you have any tip with regard to basting settings for our SilverCrest? I use the longest length but it still looks nothing like on Gertie's pictures and would not be that easier to remove. Maybe I should read the names of all the different stitches we've access to, I always stick to A :S
Sewing FTW!
no subject
Date: 2011-04-07 09:21 am (UTC)She's being super-lazy, basting is a hand stitch. Just a really long straight/running stitch (A on the machine) that you snip at both ends and pulls out in one piece. Ideally.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-10 04:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-07 11:59 am (UTC)Would be interesting to get a wind chime next to it and try to get them to be similarly responsive, once the Starry Light gets a bit more tuning.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-07 01:03 pm (UTC)I'm liking the scientific comparative study :)