This weekend we learned all about conductive textiles and all of the wonderful ways you can employ them. For the first lab we learned the basics of making soft circuits, and (among other things) we learned how to make three kinds of digital soft switches.
In the above digital switch, you can see pretty explicitly how it works. Two pieces of conductive fabric are connected to the breadboard, and when the other piece of conductive fabric (in the form of a sort-of finger puppet) touches the switch, it completes the circuit and the LED lights up.
This is another digital switch. This one has conductive material inside that is separated by felt spacers. When you push the center, the conductive fabric touches and you get a connection, completing the circuit.
This is a “fold-switch.” You just fold the fabric square so that the connective parts make contact, and then you’ve completed the circuit.
