aeryn
Well-Known Member
So, I have a pretty kick-ass Widow costume i made for Starfest and the Avengers premiere. Check the thread here. It wil be undergoing some serious upgrades here this summer, and one of the major upgrades is her gauntlet(s).
During the scene where everyone is getting ready to go "Avenging" and find Loki, Widow powers up her guantlet. Here is a video capture of that bit from the movie: New project! Black Widow's Taser Gauntlet from Avengers - YouTube
So yeah. Going to do that. I will be working with the LilyPad sewable electronics modules and Arduino to make it happen.
Here's my plan:
1) The physical gauntlet
I've got molds ready for the bullet cuff (I should put a post in the junkyard for parties interested in Widow cuffs), so I would be casting new bullets and carving out grooves in them to hold EL wire that would light them up. The slots would punch all the way through, then i'd put in a translucent cover where each window is and give it a light coat of paint to disguise the hole. The glove and cuff would be a single piece that will velcro together on the palm-side. I will also have to make the glove part from scratch to be able to hide the lights in the back of the hand, too. The gauntlet will be entirely self contained = all circuit boards, wiring and the power supply will be attached to it and hidden on the inside.
2) Lighting up the bullet cuff
The cuff will be illuminated by two loops of EL wire. I found am EL driver board that is designed to work with Lilypad and sewable electronics and i'm super excited about it. Basically I hook up up to 3 EL wires (or tape or sheets), attach the inverter WITHOUT the power source (the board powers the EL off the same battery as the Lilypad) and use conductive thread to connect the board +/- to the Lilypad +/- and i'm set to go! Easy peasy.
3) Lighting the back of the hand
The next step is a matter of setting up a series of two sets of 6 or so LEDs to light up consecutively. Haven't figured out the schematics on that yet, but I'll be looking to see if there's an instructable or something someone's already set up before I try to re-figure it on my own.
4) The "Taser"
I plan on wearing this to conventions, so I can't exactly wire a REAL taser to the end. I would like some effect of the sort, though. So after the successive LEDs light up and the white ones at the end are illuminated, the Arduino will tell a set of 3 or 4 LEDs on the end to begin flickering, as if electrically charged. This I also have not figured out the schematics for yet, but I will be following the same research path as #3 on the list.
If anyone has any suggestions for working with Arduino or setting up the circuitry for the LED systems in steps 3 or 4, I'd love to hear them. This is my first time working with Arduino or anything this complicated in general, so I'm pretty excited and nervous at the same time!!
During the scene where everyone is getting ready to go "Avenging" and find Loki, Widow powers up her guantlet. Here is a video capture of that bit from the movie: New project! Black Widow's Taser Gauntlet from Avengers - YouTube
So yeah. Going to do that. I will be working with the LilyPad sewable electronics modules and Arduino to make it happen.
Here's my plan:
1) The physical gauntlet
I've got molds ready for the bullet cuff (I should put a post in the junkyard for parties interested in Widow cuffs), so I would be casting new bullets and carving out grooves in them to hold EL wire that would light them up. The slots would punch all the way through, then i'd put in a translucent cover where each window is and give it a light coat of paint to disguise the hole. The glove and cuff would be a single piece that will velcro together on the palm-side. I will also have to make the glove part from scratch to be able to hide the lights in the back of the hand, too. The gauntlet will be entirely self contained = all circuit boards, wiring and the power supply will be attached to it and hidden on the inside.
2) Lighting up the bullet cuff
The cuff will be illuminated by two loops of EL wire. I found am EL driver board that is designed to work with Lilypad and sewable electronics and i'm super excited about it. Basically I hook up up to 3 EL wires (or tape or sheets), attach the inverter WITHOUT the power source (the board powers the EL off the same battery as the Lilypad) and use conductive thread to connect the board +/- to the Lilypad +/- and i'm set to go! Easy peasy.
3) Lighting the back of the hand
The next step is a matter of setting up a series of two sets of 6 or so LEDs to light up consecutively. Haven't figured out the schematics on that yet, but I'll be looking to see if there's an instructable or something someone's already set up before I try to re-figure it on my own.
4) The "Taser"
I plan on wearing this to conventions, so I can't exactly wire a REAL taser to the end. I would like some effect of the sort, though. So after the successive LEDs light up and the white ones at the end are illuminated, the Arduino will tell a set of 3 or 4 LEDs on the end to begin flickering, as if electrically charged. This I also have not figured out the schematics for yet, but I will be following the same research path as #3 on the list.
If anyone has any suggestions for working with Arduino or setting up the circuitry for the LED systems in steps 3 or 4, I'd love to hear them. This is my first time working with Arduino or anything this complicated in general, so I'm pretty excited and nervous at the same time!!
