Music Glove Prototyping by Brenna Gera

I have been trying different fabrication methods for my music glove project and currently finished laser cutting the circuit from conductive fabric.

My original design was a hand embroidered circuit, couch stitching stainless steel coated conductive thread. The result was aesthetic and the thread was reliable, however hand embroidering was time consuming and didn't move with the stretchy fabric well. It also was easy to short out since the circuit was exposed and wasn't stitched well. Thus, I explored other methods that might be easier and work better.

For laser cutting the circuit I had to design a vector image, so I drew over a picture of my hand using Inkscape and replicated the circuit. In my original prototype I stitched underneath the fabric where the wires would intersect but with this method that wouldn't be an option, so I had to create two overlapping layers of the circuit and insulate between them. The conductive fabric had an iron-on adhesive with it so once it was cut I attached it to the stretchy fabric and cut around it. I am really happy with the result it's very solid and flexible, not to mention looks very sleek.

I plan to continue using this fabrication method. My next steps are to sew a test glove, create pressure sensors, finalize the fabrication and code it.