Soft Circuit Workshop

Final Project Idea and Related Projects

My final project is going to be a wall hanging that doubles as a lamp. It consists of 25 fabric squares with either 2 or 3 LEDs on each square. The idea is that when you have all the squares snapped together the light is very bright (or brighter than it was, I don’t know how bright they will be until I’m finished). If you would like it to be dimmer or you want to create some mood lighting, all you have to do is unsnap a square. The circuit is created using conductive fabric fused to the top of the squares. Power and ground run down either side and the squares. continued from one square to the next through the snaps, and the LEDs will run in parallel when snapped to together. The power source is at the top and will either be plugged into the wall or run on batteries depending on the power requirements.

This project uses the traces for power and ground to add to the aesthetics of the piece instead of hiding them inside. We have an opportunity to use the materials in ways that don’t look ugly to techy and incorporate the components in an aesthetically pleasing way.

When I started thinking of my final project I saw this and liked the modular quality to the squares. My project uses the same snap connections, but the function is different.

http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~buechley/projects/snaps/quilt_snaps.htm

I haven’t come across much in the form of lighting that is soft. I’m still poking around and will post anything I find.

Here are some sketches and diagrams of my project: