Red Echo

February 14, 2007

Today I stitched a velcro strap across the knuckles of the left laserfinger glove, with slots between patches of hook-side velcro stitched to the glove through which the laser wires can slide. Lena suggested this design as a way to keep the wires straight and even, while preserving articulation and the ability to detach the lasers and wiring from the glove, and I think it’s going to work well. I still have to repeat the process for the other glove; in the meantime I assembled two little battery pack/switch units. I had originally planned to use pairs of AAA batteries, but happened to notice N batteries for sale when I was at Radio Shack buying switches, and realized I could cut the size and weight of the battery pack in half while still having enough juice to last for a full night out.

3 Comments

  1. Have to ask what the end goal for these are ? Will you wear them while playing an instrument ? That’d be quite a neat appearance on a dark stage.
    Will they emit laser light from the devices mounted on the digits or … ?

    Very curious about this project

    Comment by norm — February 15, 2007 @ 12:21 am

  2. Yes, there’s a laser hidden underneath the white velcro strip on each finger. It’s like wearing a set of laser pointers, except that each laser follows one finger, so you can point just by… pointing.

    The plan is to wear them out to big electronica parties, like the one coming up this weekend. I’ve had a lot of fun playing with laser pointers while dancing, but it gets tiring, since I have to hold my hand at an odd angle and continuously press down the power button. With these gloves, I can just dance, and the lights will form little clusters that fly around the floor as my hands move, and I won’t have to think about it (except to make sure not to point at people’s faces!).

    I hadn’t thought of wearing them while performing on stage – that could look cool, especially since my keyboard is already such a glowing mass of red and green lights.

    Comment by mars — February 15, 2007 @ 10:31 am

  3. Very neat.

    I suppose for playing they would not be too useful as most of the time they be pointed at the keyboard.
    If the wires were some kind of fibre that could be illuminated as well they’d have light down the back of your hands as well.

    For a drum player some kind of light tipped drum sticks would be quit flashy in conjunction with the laser fingers.
    I wonder if acrylic would be suitable to make drum sticks and then put a small light on them to make them glow.
    Would look like a small light sabre I guess

    The laser fingers sound like they’ll be quite fun to take out and about and interesting to make

    Comment by norm — February 15, 2007 @ 3:41 pm