Do you like synthesizers but don’t want to compose your own music? And do you also live in a rainy country? Jessica Stanley is a researcher working with e-textiles and has a solution for you: a raincoat that generates sound when raindrops fall on it. At PIFcamp, she will experiment with different flexible and textile moisture sensor designs, using a mix of hydrophobic (waterproof) and hydrophilic (absolutely not waterproof) fabrics to move water through sensors and create interesting sounds. These will then be connected to simple analog synthesizer circuits and integrated into a raincoat to make a garment that creates its own soundtrack during a walk in the rain.
Jessica is currently a postdoctoral researcher based in the UK and works on medical research projects combining textiles and electronics. However, she is also interested in how textiles can make interesting interfaces for electronic devices and in projects that make electronics accessible to a wider audience. This will be her first time at PIFcamp, and she is keen to collaborate with others who have more experience on the audio electronics side of things, or to share her e-textile knowledge with others.