Busy hands | Disquiet mind

It's (roughly) the mid-point between EMFcamps. Let's tend to that fire burning in our hearts by talking about the badge.

In 2024 they decided to do a really cool thing; make the event badge reusable, creating a stable platform for people to learn, and build projects upon. I love this idea, because I personally hadn't had much success with the badges. The 2014 badge was my first ever, iirc, event badge, from any event. I was made up just getting it working. Which it did, occasionally. I actually wrote a little app for the 2016 badge, at camp. But never got to making use of the hardware. (I also never fixed the neopixel.) 2018 I failed to obtain a badge. 2020, well, yeah. The 2022 badge only had a USB-C plug connection, and I didn't have a USB-C socket, so I couldn't do anything with it. 2024 decided to flip the script, with the Tildagon. The idea is a pair of boards; the base board being the main platform, paired to a faceplate, with the screen, LEDs, themed artwork, etc, that will be updated for each event.


( Badge )

Tildagon, in operation
Photo by chebe

( Hexpansions )


( Case )

EMFcamp should have been this weekend. But like most gatherings this year, it has been cancelled. It only happens every second year, so the next one isn't until 2022. Which feels longer away than it is.

( 2014 )

( 2016 )

I found my way back in 2018, posted about my projects; Colour Stealing Underskirt and Colour Stealing+ Cyberpunk Headpiece, but didn't get around to writing about the event itself. So here goes.

( 2018 )

I think everyone who has been is missing EMFcamp about now. A deep longing in our souls. I'm going to try and focus on some project work, in tribute. Now, go lose yourself in the past talks.

TOG photos; 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018.

I've had an idea for an elaborate electronic skirt for, literally, years now. And no matter how long I waited progress just wasn't being made. At one point I realised that EMFcamp was fast approaching and I needed something for it. So I scaled back my ambitions, found a white tulle/net skirt on sale, and got to work.

I had a few Neopixel strands laying about the house, and found to my surprise that each 20 pixel (2" pitch) strand was almost exactly the width of my skirt. Two strands would completely encircle it. Rather convenient. And I wanted to be able to set the colour of the Neopixels from things around me, so I needed a colour sensor. I also wanted a potentiometer so I could adjust the brightness depending on ambient light, and would need a button to change between modes. Oh, and a microcontroller to make it all work. Which gave me this circuit.

( Details )

But white is very much not my aesthetic. Which is a large part of why I made this an underskirt. You can use this one underskirt with a variety of overskirts to achieve different effects. Here I've used a black crushed velvet skirt with uneven hem so that some of the glowing tulle/net still peeks out. In dark enough environments, there is a side benefit of seeming to exist in a puddle of light on the ground. (Which can be handy when trying to navigate a campsite.) Overall this skirt is fun, but not the most practical. Though I do foresee it coming in handy from time to time.

Skirt
Photo by chebe

Parts;
Fabric scraps
Petticoat
Skirt

Potentiometer
Adafruit Flora
Adafruit Neopixel strands
3-pin JST SM Plug + Receptacle Cable Set
Adafruit Colour Sensor
LilyPad Button Board

Post Dublin Maker I haven't exactly had much of a chance to rest.

TOG had a stand at Dublin Comic Con (out near Swords), where we dazzled people with many, many LEDs. At least I think that's why people seemed confused that we weren't selling anything. I was impressed by the quality of the costumes; both the professional ones on display, and the ones worn by attendees. I attended a panel on Special FX, and was charmed by both Al Matthews and Virginia Hey at another. I may have acquired one or two (too many) books on art/design/costumes of various films.

Rob and the blinky LEDs
Photo by chebe

Two weeks later I attended Shamrokon (a literary con, and this years Eurocon), and was a talking head on three panels; 'Wearable Tech', 'Back to the Couture', and '3D Printers and Copyright Law'. (Name drop; two of which were with Charlie Stross, a delightfully contrary man.) I attended two long days of great panels, my favourite probably being 'Peaceful Science Fiction' and 'Genre Toys'. It was also good to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in a while (who were mostly busy running the con), and to meet a few people I know mostly online (*waves at vatine*).

The only proof that I was there at all
Photo by Joe Mansfield, source

The next week Tog Duck (and some tog members) migrated East to Bletchley for EMF Camp. It was camping. With internet. I made it through two nights this time (yay, improvement!). But it was still camping. The trip also included many hours of driving (omg the M6, the horror, the horror!) and a couple of ferries. So it was fairly exhausting overall. But a good time was still had. There were interesting talks (including the inner workings of Quasar, and Bletchley Park), and Saturday night had people out displaying their finest light-up wearables. There were hats with chasing RGB patterns, animated dot matrix displays, a green EL wire outfit (waistcoat, tie, and hat), and a superb EL wire dinosaur wire mask (with operational jaw). I ran around the motion sensitive LED-poles Grid, and generally marvelled at peoples' projects. But I missed chances to catch up with people, so hopefully there will be another chance at the next run of events (April seems so far away...).

( pics )

Also took the opportunity to visit the National Museum of Computing and marvel at the old(est) computers still running (both original and resconstructed). And Chester as well, because it was on the way and contained hotels.

I'm running real low on reserves, so I'm trying to take it easy over the next while. If that happens there should be more blogging happening here. Should.