[dorkbotsea-blabber] Conductive thread

[Wim Lewis]

A while ago I saw a link (probably on a MAKE-affiliated website) to  
some pom-pom shaped touch lightswitches made from conductive yarn[1].  
Pretty neat, but although the company[2] is in Seattle there doesn't  
seem to be a way to buy the stuff except in "pom-pom light switch  
kits"[3]. More recently I saw some of their switches (but not the pom- 
poms) at the Cephalopod Appreciation Society do[4]. They work pretty  
well and the conductive fluff is soft --- it doesn't feel wiry,  
although apparently it's made by weaving very fine wire into the  
thread, rather than by some sort of conductive coating treatment. But  
the other day I noticed that SparkFun (which sells random hard-to- 
find electronic parts) is now selling spools of conductive thread[5].  
I don't know if it's the same stuff, but it seems like something fun  
to experiment with.

FWIW, the McLeod Residence show (in Belltown) has a few nice  
dorkbottish things (and nice non-dorkbottish things for that matter).  
I got a kick out of the nifty video-mosaic "mirror" in the bathroom.  
Plus the giant squid of course.

[1]  http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2005/08/fuzzy_light_swi.html
[2]  http://www.ifmachines.com/
[3]  http://www.ifmachines.com/products_puffKit.html
[4]  http://blog.mcleodresidence.com/2007/11/giant-squid-ope.html
[5]  http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8544