I’m really excited to be taking Tech Crafts this semester. I learned so much in Physical Computing last year, so would love to build on top of that knowledge and get more comfortable with building circuits. I also know nothing about textiles and materials at all so I’m looking forward to having my eyes opened in that area as well.

This week’s assignment is to “find an ubiquitous material/object and imagine an alternative use for it. Post a description of the material and use (w/ an optional photo) on the class blog.”

Browsing through some of the suggested blogs and projects, I found someone using a zipper as a potentiometer. My idea is is to have a sweater with electroluminescent material which will react to the zipper. When you zip it closed, presumably you are cold and sweater will reflect one color. As you unzip the sweater it will gradually change colors.

Two strips of two different colored EL wire will wrap be wrapped around each other. To create the effect of one color blending into the other, the zipper will turn one color brighter and the other color lower as it slides up and down. The wires themselves will run along the front of the sweater and around the hood.