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Sparkle starry night - etextiles mixed media by Mimi Leinbach
September 11, 2013 Mimi Leinbach makes some pretty wonderful mixed-media scrapbooking projects, and we were delighted that she would put some Sparkle in a couple of her projects. The stars at the top of the house have holes punched to let the lights from Sparkle and leds shine through. We used a variety of led colors (white, blue, pink), and the program is simply (always (twinkle 2)) This time, instead of being attached directly unto the canvas, Sparkle is sewn to a white square of felt, which is then then stuffed between the canvas and frame from behind. Check out the tutorial. I gotta say, I love being able to quickly and easily write a tiny bit of program that can have a wonderful effect, and we're discovering that more and more people do too
Glam kits (felt and foam core)
September 09, 2013
These are complete kits that include Glam and all the pre-cut pieces (felt, foam core, adhesive, cotton ball, etc.) for a project. For now, all the projects require an adult to sew* the electronics with conductive thread, through a child can then assemble the felt pieces. We plan to release a new kit each week, starting with the Felt house.These kits are preprogrammed with a single pattern that cannot be changed. For instance, when activated the bright yellow window stays on, while the two puffs of smoke are animated. This runs for about 5 minutes before turning off. Activate it by waving your hands over the yellow window. * We've also got a flexible board in the works that eliminates sewing.
"Aniomagic Glam: Easy-Peasy Etextiles" by @punkin3_14
September 05, 2013 Aniomagic friend got some time to craft with Glam and wrote up a review of her experience and observations. I'll just add a few comments here as a way to reply and say thanks! The adhesive dot battery holder is very low profile & easy to install (the positive and negative threads are stuck to the battery with two stickers), but I’m not sure how easy it will be to change the battery, and whether or not the adhesive dots will also need to be replaced. Given the force (and potential damage to fabric) required to remove the battery, I wouldn’t recommend using these on fragile projects.We love the low profile of these adhesive dot holders, but we absolutely agree that the force needed to remove the battery is too much. We've been looking for a less-strong double-sided adhesive for the battery holder that would hold securely but allow for easy removal. Alternatively, you could first place the adhesive on a pair of jeans, then peel them off and attach to your battery... In about 20 minutes, my project had 3 working lights that pulsed and could be turned off, without any bulky componentry, or programming. Unfortunately, the external LEDs are addressed the same, so they always pulse in unison. However, in some of the patterns, the onboard LED pulses seperately, which adds a bit of interest to the pattern.Just to clarify, Glam and the two external LEDs are treated as 3 separate LEDs that pulse in different ways. If you string more external LEDs, (to the right for example) then yes, all the LEDs on the right of Glam would pulse in unison. Thanks for the awesome review!
Sparkle night sky - etextiles painting by Miyuki
August 31, 2013 This painting mimics what you might see in a bright night sky: mostly static lights, with an occasional shooting star. The lights are programmed with a fading pattern (always (repeat 4 (wait 90)) (right2)) so the shooting star appears once every few minutes. It's a wonderful effect - nobody expects to see this painting suddenly light up. This is the aesthetic we want to explore with ambient computing: incorporate electronics that add a little something, without removing focus from the actual object (in this case the painting). You can paint over all the LED boards and Sparkle board, leaving just the actual LED lights exposed. The tiny red-light and touch strip on Sparkle are not painted over, so you can reprogram it later. The conductivity of the thread doesn't seem to have been affected by the paint, but if you're worried, you can put a bit of masking tape on the connections before painting over them. Check out the tutorial
Sparkle Interface - Animated patterns
July 31, 2013 One of the most requested features for the Sparkle programming interfaces is an animated preview of commands. The Sparkle UI now has a nifty animation of the light patterns so you can see what they look like before programming your Sparkle project. When you press the menu to choose a different pattern, the popup shows a list of animations so there's no more guesswork. The speed of the animation is controlled by the speed knobs on the UI. The animation is currently used only for the sequencer section, though we plan to add it for sensor, code, and colorwell in the near future. Have fun, and let us know how you like it! |
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