For my final project, I will continue with my EL wire gloves.
The suggestions during the critique really helped me think about how to
continue this project. As suggested, I will be changing the color of the thread
that I used to sew the wire to the gloves. I will use a darker color, such as
blue, instead of the light pink I previously used. I will then figure out how
to make the gloves portable with the Arduino. I have two ideas for carrying
this. The first idea: Using the excess fabric at the end of the gloves, I will
make a pocket that will be used to place the Arduino and the inverter. The
second idea: I will make an arm strap that will carry these items and it will
be a pocket, just like the gloves. My only concern will be about how secure it
will be on the arm, because of how much I’ll be moving my arms. A question I
was asked during critiques was asking about what I was going to do with the
excess EL wire from each number. From the very beginning, my plan has been to
make somewhat of a hole in the glove and feed the rest of the wire in to be
placed under the glove. That way, when a pocket is made, if I choose to use my
arm, it will be a lot easier to connect the EL wire to the Arduino because it
will already be at the end of the glove. There was also a mention that I could
use some tape to cover up the excess wire that would be lit up. I will probably
use something like black tape to cover the wire so that it doesn’t light up
through the inside of the gloves. I have considered a few options for closing the
pocket, such as velcro or a larger button to make the inside contents removable
and accessible if any problems occur. Once I get the wire sewn back on with a
different color thread, I will begin the code portion of the project. I have
thought about possibly using something to take advantage of the sound portion,
such as making the wire get brighter when the sound gets louder. I do have some
concerns with this because it is an outdoor concert, so the sound won’t be
echoing through an arena. It is also going to constantly be very loud so I
don’t think you would be able to tell the difference in the changing of the
lights. I do know that I want the wire to have some sort of effect. A
suggestion was that I could make the EL wire blink, which I have considered doing
because I really liked the way it looked with the battery pack. I could also
make it scroll to fill up a section of each number until it fills up the entire
number. Either way, I will have the numbers doing some sort of
“animation” rather than just lighting up.

These ideas are obviously still
developing as the process moves along.

Questions:

How do I make this project portable with the Arduino being
involved?

Which pocket do you think would be the best option to use?

What are ways to make this item more
interesting in ways to be noticed in a crowd of people?