process

We had a stash of old capacitors from an analog computer which we soldered together.
We twisted the legs together and soldered them so they remain in that position. For this broach we made a long line of capacitors which we later twisted into a spiral to fit around the mic.

We used a fried chip as the base for the broach. The broach pin can be found in a jewelry shop.

We soldered the base of the broach pin to the legs of the chip.

Here we attach a mini-jack connector to shielded microphone cable and to the microphone (square PCB on the right). The microphone is a coil found in an old radio. We connected two of its legs to the signal, and ground of the microphone cable. The cable is then connected to the mini-jack (mono plug).

Here you see all components prepared. We hot-glue and solder the capacitor chain onto the chip placing the coil in the middle.

Now this broach can be pinned to any shirt.
The mini-jack should be plugged into the input of a pre-amplifier. The output of the amplifier is connected to headphones/speakers. Listen to the electromagnetic disturbance!

Surfaces often need to be sanded so solder will stick to them. Here we sanded the base of the headpiece.

We bended the sides so it would fit on the hair band.

Soldering proved to be a bad option since components come loose as soon as you solder another one to the metal base [the entire base gets hot and everything falls off].
We decided to cover the base with copper tape (mainly for its color) and then glue the objects directly onto it.

We twisted two strands of metal wire (TCW18, diameter: 1.2mm) together for strength. The resulting piece can still be bent but can carry the weight of our coil without bending.

The coil and the metal wire have been hot-glued together. (Tip: apply tape to a fresh blob of hot-glue to shape its outcome into a smooth surface instead of a 'blobby' mess).
Here we soldered two cables to two legs of the coil. [We forget where we found this coil...]. Also, we realised after that two unshielded (regular multi-thread cable) was not good for this purpose. As with the broach, shielded (microphone) cable should always be used to reduce noise.

Here we twisted the two cables around the metal wire. These cables will eventually be connected to the mini-jack. Calculating extra length is wise.

Here you see the beginning of the construction of the base ornamentation. Resistors are glued to the base in different positions.

A fried chip and some old capacitors are added (with glue).

Finally we attach the base to the hair band by twisting wire around it (and soldering it together for added strength).

View of the table before we started, including coil, hairband and other material we used from an old radio casing.

Voilà!
Piece is connected to a preamp/amp and then to headphones.

Copper circuit experiments

We have decided to experiment with different material after conducting a few workshops with a PCB circuit which is easy to put together but not flexible and certainly already fixed in its design. We chose thin copper sheets to experiment with, extending the circuit on the body (rather than containing it in the smallest possible area).

By using long, thin copper tracks, the circuit can embed itself onto the surface of the body. So far we have build the pre-amplifier circuit successfully and will continue experiments in this direction. We expect that the long copper filaments might act as an antenna and modify the sound of the circuit. Perhaps this is the next workshop?