After the mid-term project we decided that we wanted to continue our study and experimentation of liquid and garments, essentially a Crying Dress 2.0. We wanted to build on feedback from the original crying dress and add other elements. For instance, we researched bioluminescent phytoplankton that lives in the Maldives. We aesthetically liked their glowing pattern and wanted to mimic it and incorporate it into the crying dress.

Another improvement we wanted to make was to more realistically capture the motion of rolling tears. The look of the first crying dress was very medical and the water flowed through tubes. This time, instead, we wanted the water to be free falling and roll of the fabric in a manner more similar to crying.

Lastly, we wanted to improve the concept conceptually. The first dress, one had to activate the motor. With the second version, the user puts on a mask with a sensor, as if masking their genuine emotions, and  triggers the motor to start pumping water.

The look is assembled in three parts essentially. A waterproof dress that the water can bead off. The dress also has pockets that contain the pump, circuit, and water reservoir. A mask that has a sensor that trigger the motor to begin pumping water. A necklace through which the water is pumped and drops onto the dress.

Why/Inquiry: How can we capture emotion in a garment? What is the emotional reaction of the observer of the dress? How does the dress affect the wearer; is it therapeutic, calming, or have the opposite effect? Does the observer perceive tears of joy or sadness?

Materials used:

Waterproof/Nylon fabric

Plastic Tubing

Water pump

Glow water (highlighter soaked in water)

In order to mimic the glowing effect of bioluminescent organisms, we soaked a highlighter in water. Different color highlighters produced different levels of glow when shined with the UV light. For instance the green and yellow shine the brightest. The different colors can be used to convey different moods and different sources of tears based on the wearer.

We have decided to make the crying dress 2.0 as three pieces:

(1) A tube necklace with punctured holes that drips the water onto the dress. The motor that pumps water into the dress is triggered by a sensor that detects when the user is crying.

(2) A mask with a sensor for tears that connects to the water pump

(3) A waterproof dress that serves as a canvas or template for the “tears” from the necklace. The dress will have a pocket that holds the pump and the water.

Inquiry: How can a garment act as a disguise or mask for real emotions? What is the emotional reaction of observers of the dress?

Problems still to be solved:

-How to make the sensor run on 9v rather than 5v

-How can we make a refillable container for the water that does not leak and connects to the tube for the pump

After thorough research, we moved ahead into the prototyping and experimental phase.

We sourced materials:

Tubes

Water Pump

Waterproof Fabric (nylon)

And we experimented with these materials to test our idea. We drilled holes in the tube and pumped water through it. We mimicked how the tube would be situated on the neckline to test how the water would flow and drop of the tube. We also wanted to test if the water would bead off the fabric in the way that we wanted. The tests were pretty successful.

Since we want the water to be fluorescent we are also experimenting with dyeing the water with the ink of a highlighter. When a UV light is shined on the water, it should glow in the dark. We want the water dripping from the tube to glow to mimic the bioluminescent phytoplankton. We are thinking of two ways to incorporate the UV light. 1) Shine the UV flashlight on the dress when the lights are off. 2) incorporate LED UV lights into the tube neckline that turns on when the user feels stressed.

After our proposal, we decided to narrow down our ideas and find a more concentrated area of research on which to base our device. We still want to focus on the idea of capturing emotion in a garment.

Timeline:

Sept. 18-25: Develop and research concept

Sept 25-Oct. 3: Experimentation with liquid flows

Oct. 3-10: Sample fabrication/materials and work on dress design

Oct. 10-16: 1st prototype

Oct. 16-23: 2nd prototype and final touches to project

We decided to focus on sadness as our main emotion and it’s physical reaction of crying. After research we found that multiple cultures in history have collected tears – ancient Persia, the Victorian times, and Roman times to name a few.

These tear catchers were used for many different reasons. The Persians used it when a sultan returned from battle, he checked his wives’ tear catchers to see who among them had wept in his absence and missed him the most. The Victorians believed that once the tears had evaporated, the mourning period was over.

We want to take this idea of a tear catcher and put it in a garment.

We began the project by first experimenting with microfluidics. We laser cut patterns into plexiglass to test how we could control the flow of water to mimic tears.  

The experiments with microfluidics were somewhat a failure as the water was flowing outside of the carved path. We needed to think of a different way to mimic the flow of tears.

We decided to experiment with using a motorized pump to pump water through tubes that were attached to a garment through a casing.

Essentially we want to create a mechanism following this system:

Fortunately the mechanism worked. However, the construction of the garment did not work. We chose fabrics – Vinyl and Spandex – that did not sew well together. It hindered the design of the dress. From here we need to create another dress using the same mechanism but using different materials.

two cultures review

I made this baby hat meant for 0-6 month olds. Obviously we can’t know what babies are thinking since they don’t have the ability to talk. One can gauge their thoughts and emotions based on reactions, but it is not always accurate. For instance a baby doesn’t really gain the ability to smile until 3 months old. Since they can cry, you know when they are upset, but you don’t always know when they are happy or excited. For instance, how do you know if a baby is actually enjoying the song you are singing to them? This hat has EEG sensors on the inside that would transfer the information immediately to a phone application to allow parents/caregivers to gauge a baby’s emotion more accurately. There are also small lights on the top of the hat that would light up when the EEG sensors detect that the baby is excited.