PAM3.1 used solid trim, black stranded wire, and hot glue to make a more solid necklace with protruding LEDs for extra luminosity. Jen had difficulty working with the conductive thread, but in the end it was a learning process in e-wearables.

The Creation Process (as per Jen's description):

  1. I sanded down some LEDs so they would look more interesting and have less chance of catching on one’s clothes.
  2. I got the circuitry soldered and happy by itself and made sure the connections were good before…
  3. …gluing the two sides of the circuit to the trim, which was an adventure in itself! The hot glue was occasionally enough to melt the solder, so I had to keep away from the LEDs whenever possible.
  4. I sewed the zipper connections by hand, moving the middle “no light” state up towards red because there was space at the very bottom of the zipper, below the green switch, for being in an off/non-power-drawing state. I sewed big loops toward the outside of the zipper for the wire to hook onto.
  5. Carefully, I looped the side circuits into the loops and glued up the rest, leaving ample wire for the connections to the batteries.
  6. I taped two small button cell batteries (that I happened to have a pre-existing supply of) for each side, and then picked up some crimp connectors from RadioShack to make the connections onto the batteries. Then, a few loops of magnetic tape made the package compact and fairly easy to take apart for battery switch-ups.
  7. I looped some wire through the zipper pull and wound magnetic tape around it for a stylish, larger pull. In testing the zipper on the circuit, it seemed that a big pull was most comfort and afforded the least zipping resistance.

Pros

Cons

 

Circuitry Diagram