Janet's Enlighted Blog

Dancing With the Stars

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:22:00 +0000

Yes, that was my work on the results show tonight ... more info coming soon!

10 year anniversary!

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:35:00 +0000

This month, I'm celebrating the 10 year anniversary of my first full-body lighted costumes, the "Dudes in Tubes" suits (containing hundreds of motion-reactive color-changing LEDs, mounted in rubber tubes). I had dabbled in wearable electronics before that, adding lights to a tie, a hat, and a few parts of Halloween costumes, but this project induced the late-night "aha!" moment where I knew I'd found the right career for my eclectic mix of interests and skills. I even called my company "Eclectic Electric Cyberwear" for a while, but that was too much of a mouthful, so I changed it to Enlighted in early 2000.

See this page for more info about my early work, or watch the video on youtube.

more info on the Grammys

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:27:00 +0000

I've posted some background info and more photos (including a few from rehearsals) from last week's Grammy Awards, see this page.

Daft Punk and Kanye West at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:21:00 +0000

Yes, we were there, backstage! Daft Punk made a surprise appearance onstage with Kanye West, wearing their red lighted suits from the Alive 2007 tour (the same ones that we illuminated, with a few extra pieces, like gloves, pants, and shoes). We were also quite involved as creative consultants for the other portable lighting in the performance, and installed the aqua EL outlines on the violins. The lighted jacket and glasses were made by Nyx (friends of Enlighted).

We'll have more to say soon, when we add a page to enlighted.com, but in the meantime, here's the Daft Punk press release:

"The iconic and critically acclaimed French duo Daft Punk made a surprise appearance at the 50th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles Sunday night. For their first ever television performance, they teamed up with Kanye West to perform his 2007 smash hit "Stronger", which samples the group's 2001 single "Harder Better Faster Stronger" from their landmark album Discovery. For the Grammy Awards, Daft Punk and Kanye West performed an original version of "Stronger" they created specifically for this event, marking Daft Punk's only television performance in the 14 year history of the band."

daft punk's red robot suits

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:55:00 +0000

If we wrote our own "best of 2007" list of Enlighted projects, our top choice would have to be the lighted suits we built for Daft Punk's Alive 2007 tour. We had a great time working with the band and their amazing production team, and helped to develop their design concept and select the best way to achieve the effects they desired (in a relatively short time frame). Then, Enlighted installed hundreds of feet of EL wire and hundreds of LEDs on the jackets and helmets of their signature robot costumes.

Overall, it was an incredibly fun and exciting project, and even more thrilling to see the way the crowd responded when the lighted costumes were activated as a surprise during the encore.

Now that the tour is over, and we've had a little time to organize our photos, we've posted a description of the suits on this page.

back view of a jacket in our studio

testing at rehearsal

as seen during the encore of the Alive 2007 tour

10 Weirdest Tech Devices of 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:37:00 +0000

Someone over at PC Magazine likes us (we think), and has included our lighted clothing on their list of the "10 Weirdest Tech Devices of 2007" on pcmag.com. The silicone lighted nerve bra ranked #7, in case you're curious.

updates galore

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:05:00 +0000

I'm in the process of making some significant changes on enlighted.com ... adding new examples from my backlog of completed projects, and rearranging the gallery pages to improve the overall organization (250+ pages now!). I'll be using this blog for extra commentary on the new projects, so don't be alarmed if I start posting here a lot more often.

Lady of the Light

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:24:00 +0000

A recent article explains why LEDs are "my life".

Excerpt: "Janet Hansen didn’t get a Christmas tree, and she doesn’t need one. Her front window boasts rainbow Christmas lights year round and, as you step into her home, past bright geometric paintings popping off walls, through glowing vines and 4-D Escher designs, up the stairs and to the left, you enter Hansen’s studio—the home of Enlighted Designs Inc. and the place where Hansen’s bright ideas become even brighter."

See the full article at sdcitybeat.com

color-changing scarf on instructables

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:11:00 +0000

Good news for DIYers - I've joined the instructables online community, and for my first project I've posted directions for making a lighted color-changing fuzzy scarf (similar to the coat posted here and on my site, but with a more manageable number of lights).

Hopefully this will help as a starting point for the many people who ask me "how do you make lighted clothes?" ... while I can't sum up 10 years of experience in a quick tutorial, it should give you a better idea of the general process, and some of the steps that are involved.

Link to instructables.com

color-changing faux fur coat

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 06:24:00 +0000

Yes, I know it's been ages since I wrote anything here ... this has been a very busy year for Enlighted, but I'm finally catching up with some updates to the site. For example, this is one of my favorite new pieces, a polka dotted faux fur coat with over 400 color-changing LEDs embedded in the fur. More info on this page.

lighted fashion show at Trios this weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 18:54:00 +0000

I'm putting on an informal fashion show at the opening party for "The Art of Illumination" at the Trios Gallery in Solana Beach (I also have some lighted framed art on display in the show). The party is 7-9pm on Saturday, April 28th. For more information about the show and pictures from the preview party, please follow this link to the gallery's site:
http://www.triosgallery.com

yet another list

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 05:29:00 +0000

Our illuminated silicone nerve bra was featured in this list of "Blinding LED Products" on PCMag.com.

Excerpt: LEDs are semiconductor diodes that emit a single wavelength of light and can typically last up to 100,000 hours. Quickly replacing the incandescent light bulb, light emitting diodes are utilized in many tech products we see today, including USB devices, optical mice and laser printers. When multiple LEDs are grouped together, they can create a vibrant, sometimes way-too-bright display. You may have to shield your eyes from this week's top 10, a group of wacky LED products that includes a super-bright bra, pulsating light tiles, and flashing sunglasses.

we're number one!

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:50:00 +0000

... on this list of "The Most Spectacularly Awful Gifts You Can Get Your Girlfriend for Valentine's Day."

Sure, it's a dubious honor - they also misspelled the name of the business (it's ENLIGHTED, not ENLIGHTENED), and called the lighted bra an "electrocution waiting to happen" (which is grossly inaccurate, from a technical point of view, but I'll save my rant about this for another time).

Oh well, it's still good publicity. I couldn't call my work "edgy" or "fashion-forward" if there weren't some haters out there. :-)

this isn't a bomb, either!

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 00:42:00 +0000

As you may have heard, some hand-built LED signs with exposed circuitry caused quite a commotion in Boston the other day. Some people mistakenly thought it was a sinister device because "it had a battery behind it, and wires." Gee, that describes a lot of things that I wear. I wouldn't want to run into those cops in a dark alley.

BoingBoing sums it up well: "Wearing these bras in Boston could get you arrested."

speaking of publicity ...

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 06:08:00 +0000

My lighted bras and other clothing have been mentioned on a few more blogs lately ... for example gizmodo.com and nerve.com, and this nice little Yahoo/Reuters Weird News story.

(excerpt)
Brighten up your life with a bra that lights up
Thu Jan 25, 4:58 AM ET
SINGAPORE, Jan 25 (Reuters Life!) - Add a spark to your day -- and nights -- with lingerie that lights up.
A U.S. firm is selling bras and camisoles trimmed with colourful light-emitting diodes (LEDs), as well as sequins and feathers, that literally put your cleavage in the spotlight.
"Light-up bras make a popular addition to any outfit, and will definitely bring you attention," the company, Enlighted, says on its Web site (www.enlighted.com).
The California-based company custom-makes lingerie, including hot pink bras trimmed in marabou and lights and "wearable art" bras that have LEDs and sequins arranged in geometric patterns. It also puts LEDs on clothes, shoes and hats.
Enlighted says the clothing is safe and comfortable, despite all the wiring and the battery needed to power the lights.
"Our electronics are lightweight, flexible and concealed within fabric linings. Seriously, you'd forget about the lights if you didn't have so many people staring at you!" it said.

happy new year!

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 18:58:00 +0000

ok, so I'm a little late ... but there's a lot to catch up on, so I might as well start with something easy.

My lighted message bra got some more publicity - it was included in Dave Barry's 2006 Gift Guide, as an example of a comically unnecessary gift (people will stare at your bra, even without having flashing lights on it).
http://enlighted.com/pages/press2006barry.shtml

new bras & ties for sale

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 01:56:00 +0000

We've made some major updates to enlighted.com, including some ready-made lighted bras and ties, as a quicker and cheaper alternative to having a custom garment made (although we still accept those orders, too). The bras have 10 lights, mounted in either a strip of sequins or a row of feather marabou trim across the top of the bra. Here's an example of a pink bra with feathers and pink/purple lights:

Ties have 5 LEDs each, and are available in a few solid colors and in a fun new printed design that looks like a circuit board and has functional flashing red lights.

site updates: lighted hats

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 02:42:00 +0000

The lighted hats page has been updated to show even more examples - check it out!

it's all been done before ...

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 03:22:00 +0000

even lighted clothes - seriously!

I get a lot of messages from people who are excited to discover my lighted clothing business online, since they've already been experimenting with their own versions of lights + clothes, or they've been dreaming of this for years, but hadn't managed to put the parts together yet. There are many people pursuing these ideas, and we're a rapidly growing community. Personally, I think that decorative lights on clothes are an extension of the long tradition of using shiny sparkly things like sequins, rhinestones, and glitter on clothes. As technology permits us to add even brighter trims that emit light, it seems reasonable that even more people will try this combination.

Occasionally, I'll get letters from people who are upset because they thought their ideas for lighted clothing were completely original. For the record, I'd like to say that I did not "invent" lighted clothing, and I don't think it makes sense to attribute this entire field to a single person. I've spent nearly a decade developing my craft (which I hope is worth something), but I was just a kid when the earliest lighted clothing patents were issued in the US, back in the 1970s. And, historically, the earliest evidence of lights in clothes (or a desire for them, at least) that I've been able to find is this:

p. 72, figure entitled "Electric jewels, 1881", from Wolfgang Schivelbusch, "Disenchanted Night: The Industrialization of Light in the Nineteenth Century".
The text doesn't explain the image, other than saying that people of that time were fascinated with new uses of electricity. And yes, the year was 1881. 1881!

do you believe me now?

search feature added to enlighted.com

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 04:15:00 +0000

I'm in the middle of a big update to enlighted.com - it's still a work in progress, but the new search feature is ready now. Hopefully this will make it easier to find things within the site! (over 200 pages and counting ...)

where have I been?

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 15:07:00 +0000

Yes, I know it's been a long time since I posted anything here. Lately the demand for lighted clothing has been keeping me very, very busy. But I promise, I will make time to start writing in this blog more often!

how long do lights in costumes last?

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 08:14:00 +0000

part of my series of commonly asked questions and answers:

Q: What is the life of these lights? How many hours do these costumes last? If one light burns out, does the whole thing go out? Is it easy to replace a light?

A: With the proper care, many of my clients continue to enjoy their lighted costumes for several years. The LED lights themselves do not burn out like regular incandescent light bulbs (the type used in xmas tree lights, for example), and the connections are permanent, rather than replaceable. LEDs have a life expectancy of 100,000 to 300,000 hours, which is much longer than needed for a typical piece of clothing. If you used it 10 hours a day, every day, that would still be less than 4,000 hours of use in a year.
The durability of flexible electronics continues to improve, but they are still more fragile than the types of electronics that are protected by plastic boxes. The LEDs are vulnerable to excessive forces (they can be crushed), and while they do resist some moisture, they can become corroded after repeated exposure to sweat and/or washing. When a light does go out, it is most likely due to a mechanical failure, such as a broken/corroded LED lead or a broken wire. We try to find the right balance between making the wire connections as robust as possible, but without being too bulky, so that the fabric parts and electronic parts will have about the same lifetime.
The circuits are designed to be redundant, so that one breakage will not make the whole outfit go dark, unless that wire happens to be part of the power supply or the on/off switch.
The lights are not intended to be replaced by the end user, but if they are damaged somehow, they are usually repairable (if you can send the garment back to us).
The lifetime of EL wire is an entirely different story --- the half life of the glowing phosphor material in the wire (the time until the brightness fades by half) is typically between 3000 and 5000 hours of active glowing time. This is fine for many applications, but is something to consider if you need your garment to be lit for a particularly long time.

my scrolling message bra

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 18:19:00 +0000

A few gadget blogs and tech news sites have recently commented on my "mixed messages" bra. (thanks!) Yes, it's an unusual performance art piece, designed to confuse/amuse people who will tend to look at lights (and breasts), only to discover that the text of the message literally says "DO NOT LOOK". It's not intended to be particularly practical or serious.

Here's the page in my site: http://www.enlighted.com/pages/messagebras.shtml

I'd like to clarify a few things, for those who are curious:
- This was designed and built by a woman (me)
- I consider myself to be a feminist
- I recognize that some people are offended by the idea of drawing attention to bras, breasts, and women's bodies in general, but I think it's more disturbing to say that those things must be concealed, or that the woman herself has no voice in the matter
- Depending on the situation, it can be quite empowering to wear a lighted bra in public (with or without messages)
- This particular bra is more of a social experiment than a product, and I don't expect many people to actually want one

Here's an example of the kind of response I've gotten (from a guy) while wearing it:
Q. "Did you buy that, or did someone make it for you?"
A. "I made it."
Q. "Oh, but who built the electronics?"
A. "I did."
Q. "Oh, then who wrote the code?"

Yes, seeing how people react to this stuff can be quite enlightening.

where to buy lighting supplies

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 04:36:00 +0000

I know, this is long overdue, but I've been *busy*busy*busy*! Here are some common questions and answers:

Q. Where do you get the lights?
For most of my designs, I use LEDs, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes. LEDs with metal leads are intended to be mounted "thru-hole" style on a circuit board, although I typically use the leads to mount them in fabric. The most common thru-hole types are known as T1-3/4 (5 mm diameter) and T1 (3 mm diameter). The same light-emitting chip that is embedded within a thru-hole LED is also available in smaller "surface mount" packages. These are better suited for some applications due to their smaller size, but they are more difficult to connect to a circuit, and are not recommended for beginners.

You can get thru-hole LEDs from any electronics supplier, and I use a variety of sources, depending on the type of LED and the quantity. Here are some suggestions:
Local walk-in options: Radio Shack, Fry's, other electronics stores
Online electronics retailers: http://mouser.com/ ,
http://www.digikey.com/
Online surplus: http://www.allelectronics.com/ ,
http://www.goldmine-elec.com
Online LED specialists: http://www.theledlight.com/ ,
http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/

I also use EL wire and EL flat panel materials in some of my designs. These are available from some of the same electronics suppliers, although you will find the best selection of EL wire and drivers from a specialty dealer such as
http://coolneon.com/ or
http://www.coolightwest.com/

I mention these sites because this is the most common question I am asked (and not because I'm trying to advertise for any particular vendor).

deadlines!

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Hansen) — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 01:29:00 +0000

Deadlines are useful - they motivate me to work-work-work so I can focus on getting things done more efficiently and then (theoretically) take longer breaks in between projects. But, of course, that rarely happens, since new projects seem to appear and fill in any anticipated gaps. I'm currently working on some huge new projects with deadlines in late February / early March. This has made it hard for me to find time to post updates here, but I'll be able to reveal the details soon!