Dress to Prototype Workshop
Album
The theme of the Dress to prototype workshop was wearable breadboards. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
The wearable breadboards could be made, for example, in the form of a wristband or a belt. These two pieces served as inspirational examples. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
The materials used for the breadboards consisted of basic electronics materials such as perfboard, pinheaders, connectors and wire. Components such as an ATtiny85 microcontroller, a small speaker and LEDs were used for prototyping circuits on the breadboard. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
The first step in making the breadboard was cutting a suitably sized piece of perfboard. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
The edges of the perfboard piece were filed smooth in order to make the wearables more comfortable. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Producing happily pieces for the breadboard. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Lot of female pinheaders were used for the holes of the breadboard. They needed to be also cut into suitably sized mini-strips. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Once all the breadboard pieces were prepared, it was time to have a look at the board layout an figure out how to solder the parts. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
The breadboard layout schematic. The long sides contain plus and ground lines and the green blocks in the middle are for connecting components, mimicking the common layout of breadboards. The wristband/belt is also part of the plus connection, which enables turning the board 'off' by disconnecting the band. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
The board layout in a more comprehensible form. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Soldering with full concentration. The power lines are already there, next up wristband connectors. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Soldering the middle parts. I could not believe that she was soldering for the first time, as it looked so professional! / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Finishing off the middle connections on the backside of the board. Here you can see also the male pinheaders on the sides, which were used for connecting the wristband/belt to the board. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Insulation-displacement contacts (IDCs) were used for connecting the wristband/belt to the breadboard. The easiest way to construct the band was to use ribbon cable meant for such connectors. A more tedious alternative was to stick individual wires into to the connector (with a small screwdriver) and weave the band. Thankfully the whole band served as the plus connection, so we did not have to care whether the insulation was removed exactly. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Weaving a wristband with wire. Black is always a classic choice. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
A colorful version of the woven band, matching the fingernails. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Once the breadboards and the wristbands/belts were ready, it was time to start figuring out how to prototype some miniature circuits on it. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
An easy way to start prototyping was to make a minimalistic one-LED circuit. Blinking RGB 'rainbow LEDs' gave a more flashy effect for this one. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
An example circuit with a pre-programmed ATtiny85 was also available for experimentation with the breadboard. The ATtiny contained a simple program which produced random LED blinks and random tones. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
The example ATtiny circuit on the breadboard. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
At the end of the workshop we had thankfully still a bit of time for a fashion photoshoot. The workshop venue with its vintage atmosphere and walls with cracked paint was quite perfect for this. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Not only can the breadboard be worn on the wrist, but also on the head. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Woven black wire and yellow LEDs look great with leather. Perfect for a geeky chic look. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
This wearable followed a philosophy where the exact position of the breadboard was not determined beforehand. Instead, the band was made in random length (which also suits the example circuit), and the aim was to let it find its place depending on where it fits. For example below the knee... / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
…or around the neck - although the knee position was slightly more comfortable. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
Here the colors are also just perfect. / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
And here we got some cyber-tribal looks! / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
This is the family version where the family members can also exchange the components... / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
… or one member can take all of the breadboards and look supercool! / CC BY Kati Hyyppä
