leah buechler's wearable electronics

the for me happy-making sight of the great snow piles slowly peeling back and away from the curbsides means that the great dirty rotten teeth-like mountains of snow that have been gradually but inexorably melting are maybe just maybe on their way back into the air and the rivers. the weather people are trying their very best to keep us aware of the very real chance that snow will come again - a bit here - a bigger bit there - and that in fact a lot of snow can fall in march, april, and even in may! but spring and its big brother summer are definitely on the way!

all of this to get to the fact that i was talking about biking with a couple of my bike buddies the other day, and the inevitable discussion around gear cropped up. safety, and coolness (appearing cool, not necessarily feeling cool) are very high up on the gear-you-wear lists. so i was mighty happy to talk about this latest piece of cool wear from led artist/craftsperson leah buechley.

i found out about it from the good people over at talk2myshirt, who blog about wearable electronics - a topic that i find really interesting and which they cover better than anyone - that leah has recently developed a turn-signal jacket for cyclists. now, as one of the respondents to her posting on her own flickr site points out, a us patent already exists for such a beast.

i still think that it’s a worthy garment and i’d like to see something put together that has more all-weather features. i would also like to see it integrated with some form of solar panels integrated into either the bike, or the clothing itself. for now though it makes sense that the signals be up on the body of the rider and probably larger than she has them set up right now. visibility is key to survival on most busy roads.

if wearable electronics is something you’ve thought of or not, you really should check out leah’s amazing work and especially her very generously provided diy pages.

leah is seen here in a video in which she proudly shows off a few wearable electronic textiles including a very cool led-studded t shirt. on this same page you’ll see links to a complete how-to-make-your-own wearable electronic impregnated clothing. that has huge potential for anyone wanting to make a quick dent in a market that is literally lighting up. did i say that? on re-reading this it appears that i did!

here's "the lilypad", the heart of wearable clothing that could be designed by you . . . . .

if that idea leaps out and grabs you then you should also look here for another diy page for those of you interested in building electronic clothing using supplies that you buy here .