Embroidered Bits: E-Textile Synthesizers - a workshop by Afroditi Psarra

This workshop, instructed by Afroditi Psarra at the S1 project space in Portland in late June 2019, was an introduction to e-textiles through the use of programmable microcontrollers, digital electronics and soft conductive materials. The participants engages in hands-on prototyping, exploring the process of crafting electronics on fabric while experimenting with 8-bit sound and learning how to use ATtiny85 microcontrollers to create unique sonic textiles.

The workshop focused on the combination of traditional handicrafts with DIY electronics and the juxtaposition of the fragile nature of textiles with the loud and immersive soundscape that these embroidered synthesizers can create. Specifically, we focused on materials and techniques for creating the textile circuits and we briefly talked about coding the ATtiny85 microcontroller. Namely we used the Arduino IDE and the CapSense library to create textiles reactive to touch to trigger square wave oscillators and white noise generators. The workshop was open to everyone, no background in coding or sewing was required.