Different Formats, Different Stories
Today I had the fantastic pleasure of teaching my first section as Designer in Residence at the Journalism+Design program at the New School. One of the amazing professors I’m working with is Kia Gregory who is teaching a senior capstone class. The goal of the class was to prepare students to start thinking critically about […]
eTextiles as a Site for Speculative Storytelling
I wrote this recently for an application and while I have no formal, more contextual place to share it at the moment, it sums up much of the thinking I have been doing over the last 6 months. The power of speculative fiction lies in its ability to suspend the ingrained stories we tell ourselves […]
Tell Tale Quilt Process
Here is the technical documentation for the Tell Tale Quilt project: DESCRIPTION We use quilts to memorialize histories and tell stories, to protect us and comfort us. But quilts also lay silently, storing our memories. They know how we sleep, when we get cold, when we cry into them, when we need protection, how many […]
Soft Circuit Storytelling at Virginia Children’s Engineering Conference
Overview I was invited to give a workshop by the wonderful folks at the Virginia Children’s Engineering Conference to 50 elementary school teachers. Participants built blinky name tags that showed our emotions, learned about how electricity moves, questioned how different LEDs “eat” voltage, collaboratively wrote stories, and created our own interactive storybook covers out of paper, […]
Computational Craft Zines!
This summer, Becky Stewart gave a wonderful workshop on the Math Behind Circuits. Instead of lecturing us at a white board (which she would never do anyway), Becky busted out that wonderful little nostalgic nugget of punk self-publishing: the zine. So broadly applicable, so unintimidating – a perfect format for teaching complex topics to novices. […]
eTextile Spring Break
eTextile Spring Break is a weeklong gathering of intermediate and expert eTextile and electronic craft practitioners in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. Spring Break is a time to rejuvenate, reflect, and welcome spring through community participation and celebration. This event offers an opportunity for participants to take a break from their daily lives […]
Pressure Sensor Matrix
This pressure sensor matrix allows you to detect where pressure is being applied in a specific location. It is an adaptation of Kobakant’s pressure sensor matrix (design here, Arduino code here, and Processing code here). Materials + Tools: + Stretchy Conductive Fabric from lessEMF + Eeontex Stretchy Fabric from Sparkfun + Karl Grimm Conductive Thread […]
Sonic Quilt Resource Gathering
Below are a collection of resources for the Sonic Quilt project. Following the first exhibition of the prototype, I found there is much room for iteration. In the second prototype, the goal is to embed each individual quilt square with its own audio player. The initial version used the Audio FX Board by Adafruit, but […]
Crafting Technology 101 Workshop
On August 9, I had the delightful honor of presenting to a group of young ladies (14-15 years old) who are participating in the GOALS for Girls program housed at the Intrepid Museum. A big part of this program is to bring field experts and mentors in to speak to the girls about different disciplines […]
eTextile Swatch Exchange 2017: At the Fringes
Title: At the Fringes Credits: Liza Stark Year of Invention: 2017 Description: Fringes hang beneath. They create the boundary between finished object and the outer world. They give movement to otherwise static textiles, unmasking the potential for action. This swatch employs a pulling mechanic to turn fringe into a switch. Ribbons, fabric scraps, and other […]