Brainwave-Controlled Paper Garment 2014
{ REVEALUXION #1 }
Arnold Hall, New York, NY
The Brainwave-Controlled Paper Garment is an experimental interactive wearable paper garment for performance, which uses thermochromic pigment, soft circuits, and Arduino connected to my vital signs, brainwaves.
My concept is all about self-esteem, self-portrait, aesthetic emotions, and human connection. I express my internal feelings and emotions in front of audiences through the garment which means to reveal my true self as the second body instead of myself sealing, faking or hiding behind the technology. Ultimately, I aim to find ways to reach healing moments with audiences through empathy.
Audiences might feel LEDs bring out more aesthetic qualities. However, I realized LEDs connected to sensors exist already and are no longer attractive to me. So, I followed another line of inquiry like thermochromic pigment for my prototypes.
At the beginning, I focused on materials and power tests. Originally, I wanted to connect a Pulse sensor. But, I realized that I need to figure out more specifically emotions and human vital sensors. So, I tried to test out a Neurosky of the meditation Journal that can be concentrated on myself. In this part, Birce and Fito supported me fully. (Thanks a lot, guys! I really appreciate your help!)
I need to build clear circuits for aesthetic wearable designs. I learned a lot of weak points and limitations to wearable technology through this project. In my next steps, I will go deeper, and I wish to develop a beautiful paper garment.
Instructables Version: http://www.instructables.com/id/Self-portrait-1/
I have won a prize in the Papercraft Contest on January 27, 2015. Of the 400 entries received, my project named the Brainwave-Controlled Paper Garment has been selected as one of the 23 prizes. http://www.instructables.com/contest/papercraft/
At first, I wanted to create a dress using thermochromic ink connected to soft circuits and computer chips. However, I realized that thermochromic pigments are difficult to integrate into a wearable garment because they require a lot of voltage (over 18V) in order to illuminate large areas of the paper. The ink normally requires a temperature of 33 degrees Celsius to activate. If the ink comes in contact with the skin, it could be potentially uncomfortable. However, the most interesting part is that the thermo ink can draw dramatic effects or lyrical expressions like traditional paintings.
I tested the thread lengths according to the power. I then painted thermo ink on paper and attached conductive thread on the backside of the paper. If it had 9 volts of the battery power, then the ink disappeared up to 25 inches. When it was connected to two batteries over 16 volts, then the ink receded up to 36 inches.
How could I create a large surfaced garment? The thermo ink on a paper garment needs a lot of power to heat up and would ultimately burn up. Creating a solution, I made a thermo paper on small pieces of chipboards.
I made ten copies of the heating circuits for lower power and longer threads.
Heating Circuits: Transistor TIP120, Resister 100K-Ohm, Resister 100Ohm, Diode IN4148, Copper Tape
I focused on small shapes and the idea of decalcomania popped up.
Laser cutting using chipboards and paint. The shapes came from skeleton, natural and organic forms.
I set up chipboard on a dress. I painted four different colors on thin paper. Then, I modified the colors because the audience could not see the color changes.
On the first layer, I painted with normal acrylic colors and on the second layer, I covered it with thermo ink. When it heated up, the bottom layer appeared. When it cooled down, the thermo ink covered the acrylic ink again.
I taped conductive threads on a paper as condensing coil style and inserted circuits on the backside of the feathers.
When it heated up, the ink needed twenty seconds and for cooling down, it took thirty seconds. Although it took time, I thought that the pigments expressed warmer and more dramatic emotions than LEDs.
The threshold of the Neurosky was 50. If the number goes above 50 with the electric current, the colors illuminate brightly. When cooling down, they were covered by the black thermo ink again.