light emiting textiles and computational clothing

{via the craftster blog}

There are DIY versions on etsy. And check out the work of MIT professor Leah Buechley, who combines electronics with cultural products, be they textiles, like this:


or art (using conductive and resistive, or magnetic paint).

Check out the LilyPad sets! Allowing you to combine simple electronics like accelerometers, light sensors and temperature sensors into your sewed creations! You can make computational clothing. For instance, she made a bike jacket with imbedded LEDs which responds to the wearer's movement and signals for turning. Here is Beck Stern's embroidery:




They have a whole pool on flickr.

I think I need to go think about this for a while.

planes

Whoa! The snowbirds just flew past my window, in formation. That's distracting!

I saw one of the heritage planes earlier.

This morning, the children who live in the house behind me, whose combined age cannot be more than 12, were shouting, "Airplane!" every time one flew by.

Unicorn Amonst Umbrellas

For my 'U' panel of the alphabet quilt, I decided to carve a new block, which harkens back to my ATC for the Alphabet ATC swap. I need to get some double-sized interfacing. In the meanwhile, I am having some serious fun printing my block on paper. See:










This is the first way I interpreted this idea, for my ATC swap in 2006:


It's going to look awesome in my quilt. It looks like stained glass. :)


The first unicorn is here, the second unicorn is here and the third unicorn is here.

X is for Xiphias, and other Reflections

This is the lastest square in my on-going alphabet quilt project. X is for xiphias (or swordfish). When I came up with xiphias as a good x-word, it seemed obvious: two crossed swords make an 'x'. So I have depicted two types of xiphias leaping from the water and crossing swords in my block print. X is also for xylem - hence the wood pattern on the side panel with letterpress x. Also, a very nerdy joke with the x-shaped scissors (ctrl-x means cut).

So, I also printed this block on some Japanese paper with an irregular deckle edge (this is easier to see in person, than it is to photograph, as its sheen is more obvious to the eye than it was to my camera):



Also, I finished my series of reduction prints of the moon reflected on the water:


This is also printed on Japanese paper. The edition is of only seven prints. There is also one proof - the register is off, but it is interesting. This is a reduction print. That means that this series of seven is all there can ever be.

So long!

This sign, on a garage in North Saanich, which sells used cars, says a lot about BC, as well as about machines.

Instrument and cable on flatbed, Friday, about to leave for the graving dock and out to sea!

Nifty character in tiny window in Fan Tan Alley, Chinatown


Capital Iron, since gasolinequeen asked (it reads "Built 1863" by the way).

I had a great Saturday. Got up and ate some breakfast and then drove to Victoria with RM, to have coffee at Bean Around the World (best coffee in Victoria, btw), and read the paper. Sitting there in Chinatown on a patio, I loved watching a local kid walk up the reasonably crowded street with his surf board and near take out two tourists. Then RM drove up the the MTC to do some more work on his experiment, while I wandered the city. Went to Smoking Lily and bought myself a skirt. I also found a Marimekko umbrella, cause umbrella selection is superior in the Pacific northwest. Then I got a sketchbook and a few miniature canvases. I found this art gallery in Fan Tan Alley, which must be recent, because I would have noticed. They had an interesting show on; a collective working with wood assemblage and screen printing and graffiti. My favorite works were three masks, obviously inspired by native masks from BC (Haida, Salish, and so forth). The masks we large and made of old wood, posibly driftwood and re-purposed wood. They had radiating bands of vaneer covered in grafitti. The masks themselves were covered with screen prints, some mimicking Haida design. Great stuff! RM drove back down the peninsula and picked me up and I dropped him off at the ferry dock at Swartz Bay. Then I spent the evening with Fuzz and Lei and the monkeybabies (who really are getting too old for that name). We had time to talk and catch up and have a lovely meal of local salmon and vegetables from their garden. Then I flew home on the 11:30 pm flight.

I got in at 7:30 Sunday and went to bed. I got up for 1 pm for a virtual baby shower on Skype for Tanis. This evening we celebrated the DJ's birthday. Now, I intend to go back to bed.

I told the boss not to expect me this week - I will be asleep.

wet-test

Before

During

After


Good Canadian solution for ROV (remotelty-operated submersible vehicle) grab handles: hockey pucks, from Canadian Tire, of course


Sunrise this morning....
The sun rises over the mainland- the reflection between the trees is the Straight of Georgia.

chick-a-dee-dee-dee

The wildlife is less wary that I am accustomed to. You should see the deer saunter across the road, or the crows steal food from your hand. I was 60 cm from this little guy.