The Spider’s Delight necklace comes in black acrylic that’s shiny on one side and matte on the other, giving you a few options on how to wear it. The Cthulu necklace is in hand-stained leather, and is also my first foray into oxidizing silver (which looks fantastic!) Both necklaces are being offered with one of Amy’s gorgeous greeting cards as a bonus if you preorder, too!

In an only-slightly-more-traditional nod to Valentine’s day, I’ve also just listed a few new necklaces with heart motifs. The Double Heart necklace is making its return after being retired from my line in 2010, now in gorgeous hand-stained leather and with a more cerebral cousin, I Love (Your) Brains. They are joined by the completely new Love Ninja design in both necklace and earrings.

Oh, and just so you know – if you order one of the new leather designs or anything else in my shop along with one of the preorders, the in-stock item will ship right away, but you’ll still pay only an extra $1 shipping for the preorder. So you can get something in time for a Valentine’s Day gift and follow it up with a spooky surprise for later!

Maybe you know someone who'd like a flask ornament?

For those of you outside of Portland and starting to feel the last minute crunch, I’m running a shipping special. From today through the end of December, any order of at least 3 items through polymath.etsy.com will receive a free upgrade to priority shipping as long as it ships to a US address.

This weekend (December 3-4) I’ll be in Seattle at the always amazing Urban Craft Uprising. It’s at the Exhibition Hall at Seattle Center (entrance at 3rd & Mercer) and runs from 11am to 5pm both days, with swag bags full of handmade goodies for the first 100 through the doors each day.

I’ve got a big booth at UCU for the first time ever, so you can expect to see a wide range of Polymathic fabulosity, including one of a kind pieces. Along with my laser cut acrylic jewelry I have some great new leather pieces, deliciously geeky holiday ornaments, and an expanded range of electronic sewing kits. I’ve also got some special gifts set aside for my fans, so if you saw my post about the show on facebook, twitter or the blog, be sure to let me know!

I'm in booth 17, near the back

Most of my inventory will be coming down off of the web before the show, but the new items will begin to be posted as of Monday when I know what has made it back home with me. I’ll also be at a show at ADX in Portland in a few weeks, so the Oregonians out there should stay tuned for more info to come soon.

Introduction to eTextiles – Sew a Glowing Ornament!

Want to add a bit of extra sparkle to your holiday decorations? This workshop is a great place to start, by creating a felt ornament that lights up thanks to a sewn-in LED. No prior electronics or sewing experience are required.

When: December 18, 2011 from 1-5pm
Where: ADX, 417 SE 11th Avenue
Cost: $25
Registration: glowingornaments.eventbrite.com

Please bring:
– Scissors
– needle nose pliers, if you have them

Conductive thread, fabric, and electronic components will be provided.

We’ll spend some hands on time laying out a basic LED circuit and sewing it on to fabric using conductive thread. You’ll learn how to convert standard LEDs into sewable ones, and how to make a basic battery holder.

Want more than one sparkling ornament, or to give one as a gift? Kits will be available for purchase.

About the instructors:

Shannon Henry loves to make things that blend the science & tech world with art and crafts. She has been crafting with fabric since she could handle safety scissors, and began integrating electronics into her art in 2008. Her eTextile work has been shown in San Francisco, New York, and Vancouver BC. She also develops laser cut jewelry and sewn electronics kits and tutorials, which you can find at her website, http://polymathdesignlab.com.

Cat Poole is a one woman instigator of perception bending mayhem. Through “Discovering Empowerment Through Creativity” workshops and Upcycled Electronics, she encourages all to defy their programming and void all warranties. Find out more at her site, http://cacophonouscreations.com.

When: October 22th, 2011 from 10am-1pm
Where: ADX, 417 SE 11th Avenue
Cost: $50
Register at etextilehalloween.eventbrite.com

Create a spooky light-up fabric decoration for your wall or door! In this workshop we’ll use Aniomagic‘s Sparkle platform to sew LED Halloween decorations that respond to ambient light levels.

Sparkle is one of a growing number of eTextile platforms meant for creating projects that integrate electronics with fabrics or paper. Sparkle can be programmed for interactive response without writing any code, and no soldering is needed as all of the components can be sewn together with special electrically conductive thread.

All materials are provided, including an Aniomagic Sparkle sensor kit with a retail value of $40. No electronic experience needed, some experience with hand sewing is recommended.

About the instructors:
Shannon Henry loves to make things that blend the science & tech world with art and crafts. She has been crafting with fabric since she could handle safety scissors, and began integrating electronics into her art in 2008. Her eTextile work has been shown in San Francisco, New York, and Vancouver BC. She also develops sewn electronics kits and tutorials, which you can find at her website, Polymathdesignlab.com.

Cat Poole is a one woman instigator of perception bending mayhem. Through “Discovering Empowerment Through Creativity” workshops and Upcycled Electronics, she encourages all to defy their programming and void all warranties. Find out more at her site, Cacophonouscreations.com.

Dreaming of bike gloves that light up to keep you visible at night, or an awesome illuminated costume? Or maybe you’d like to add a bit of extra sparkle to your living room with a glowing throw pillow… Whatever project you have in mind, if you’re curious about the process of integrating electronics into fabric, this workshop is a great place to start.

Shannon Henry and Cat Poole will start by touching on some of the interesting things being developed with eTextile methods and useful resources, then we’ll spend some hands on time laying out a basic LED circuit and sewing it on to fabric using conductive thread. You’ll learn how to convert standard LEDs (and other electronic components) into sewable ones, and how to use standard textile fastenings like zippers and snaps to switch your project on and off, plus lots of tips on how to make your project easier and make sure it lasts.

No prior electronics or sewing experience required. Conductive thread and electronic components will be provided.

About the instructors:
Shannon Henry loves to make things that blend the science & tech world with art and crafts. She has been crafting with fabric since she could handle safety scissors, and began integrating electronics into her art in 2008. Her eTextile work has been shown in San Francisco, New York, and Vancouver BC. She also develops sewn electronics kits and tutorials, which you can find at her website, Polymathdesignlab.com.

Cat Poole is a one woman instigator of perception bending mayhem. Through “Discovering Empowerment Through Creativity” workshops and Upcycled Electronics, she encourages all to defy their programming and void all warranties. Find out more at her site, Cacophonouscreations.com.

I Heart Art Portland and the PDX Etsy team are hosting a craft party at the Museum of Contemporary Craft this Friday – admission is sliding scale and benefits Japan earthquake relief efforts. There will be food and drinks, a DJ, great crafty prizes, and even hands-on crafting stations. I’ll be teaching needle felting, so be sure to drop by my table if you’d like to give it a try (preferably before you have much of the beer or wine – felting needles are sharp!) You can buy tickets on eventbrite.

Next Wednesday, June 15, brings the second annual Rebel Craft Rumble benefit for SCRAP. For $8 ($10 at the door) you get to watch local high-powered crafters put their skills to the test in speed-crafting rounds with reclaimed materials (plus a beer ticket just to make sure things stay rowdy.) Sister Diane won last year’s face off, and the winner will have to challenge her for the title – no small feat! I’ll be participating as well – not as a competitor in the main event, but in a mini-competition during the intermission. It should be a hoot!

I’ve already mentioned the upcoming mini-maker faire in Vancouver, but for those of you not quite that far north, I’ll be at Urban Craft Uprising once again this summer. It’s an early one this year – July 9-10, at the Seattle Center exhibition hall. As always, it promises to be chock-full of awesome, so I highly recommend dropping by if you’re in Seattle.

One more thing I wanted to mention – the awesome podcast/OPB radio show Destination DIY is currently raising funding for a new season on Kickstarter. Last time I checked they were at less than $500 left to their goal, with the rest of the week to complete it. If you haven’t listened yet, check out the show – and if you like what you hear, donate! Better yet, if you’re interested in building your sewing skills you can get a 4-class beginner or intermediate series from PDX Seamsters with your $100 donation. The class normally costs $130, and I can personally vouch for the Seamsters as I took some classes with them this spring, so it’s a killer deal that also supports local creative enterprise – what’s not to like?

First off, I wanted to mention that eTextile Tuesdays are picking up steam. Along with the eTextile Worksessions every other Tuesday at BrainSilo, Lynne Bruning is also hosting the eTextile Lounge: a global hackerspace every Tuesday night on uStream. So if you’re in Portland, come by the hackerspace to work, talk shop, and watch the ustream… and if not, jump on the ustream chat and participate from there!

Secondly, I seem to have picked up a new medium! I started needle felting earlier this year and I am totally smitten. I’ve been felting like a fiend, and playing with incorporating electronics into felted projects as well. The Starfield Fascinator at the top of this entry is a felted and beaded hair accessory that uses Aniomagic’s sparkle board to make the LEDs twinkle in various patterns – I hope to have video to post of it soon.

This is the Prince of All Cosmos, from Katamari Damacy, as rendered in wool.

The Prince of All Cosmos is a character from the wacky and much beloved Japanese video game Katamari Damacy – if you’ve played it, you’ll understand exactly why he’s standing behind that orange. He has a battery pocket in his back that works as a pressure switch, so the LED in his antenna lights up whenever his belly is squeezed. I’ve put up an instructable with everything you need to make your own, if you’re a fan. I did get a video of him, which you can take a look at below.

Bay Area Maker Faire has come and gone, as well – along with all of the awesome makers and made things, it was great to see the eTextile community pulling together there. I hope to see the group efforts continue and grow from here – for one, it’s really nice to be able to share booth-watching responsibilities with a group… being at Maker Faire without the chance to go look around is really a form of geek-torture!

Speaking of Maker Faires, fellow Cascadians should really check out the Vancouver BC Mini Maker Faire coming up June 25-26. I’ll be headed up to create an eTextile showcase, and I’ll be selling Sewing Electrified kits there, as well as potentially some finished works. It sounds like it’s going to be a ton of fun. Don’t let the ‘mini’ designation fool you – they’ve got 2 large buildings booked as well as outdoor space, so I’m sure there will be plenty to keep you in awe. I’m planning to debut 3(!) new LED embroidery kits there – and yes, that means that the contest winners will be announced soon! The designs are ready, but I’m making some additional upgrades to the kits – once I’ve got all my ducks in a row and the first set of new kits are ready to mail out, the announcement will go up.

Before I sign out, I should also mention that I’m looking to do more in the way of teaching. I’ve got a few things in the works, but if you’re aware of an organization or school that would like to host me to teach a class or workshop on sewn electronics, needle felting, or a combination thereof, drop me a line!

Interested in checking it out? Tickets are available at an early bird rate of $12.50 for a weekend pass until the end of April, at which point they go to their full price of $15.

If you’re an eTextile maker and you’d be interested in loaning me a project to show at the faire, please ping me on twitter or send me an email at shannon@polymathdesignlab.com. It’s my hope to introduce the faire-goers to the incredible breadth of possibilities in the eTextile world, so the more the merrier!

This isn’t a structured class or workshop, more of a regular time to get together and talk eTextiles, work on projects, learn new skills, etc. I’ll be bringing at least one current project that I’m working on, as well as lots of resources, and I’ll have some basic kits available for sale for anyone just getting started.

Whether you’ve been integrating electronics into textile projects for years or are just starting to consider your first, I’d love to see you there. Can’t make it this week? The ongoing schedule is posted on the BrainSilo calendar.

(Crossposted to BrainSilo)