Assignment 2: Low-tech Wearable

Wearables | Spring 2021

Wanda Nyairo, M.S. Integrated Digital Media

As a notoriously slow eater, I’m always looking for ways to pay attention to my food and eat faster. For my low-tech wearable I wanted to make something that would help me remain focused on my plate, something that would bring to my attention the fact that my fork is no longer in my hand, something that could even keep my fork in my hand.

I began playing around with these OXO chip clip magnets I had lying around my apartment and using them to pick up various utensils.

At first I tried to pry the magnet out of clip so that I could use it in my wearable — I wanted to attach it to a two-finger glove that I planned to sew. However, that did did not work. I then came across magnetic tape with built-in adhesive which I thought would be easier to attach to cloth since it would lie flatter.

So I went ahead and sewed the two-finger glove. To do this I traced my thumb and index finger on a piece of cloth, cut it out, then used that piece to create a second piece of cloth of the same shape. I then sewed the two pieces together using an overstitch.

After that, I attached the magnets to the inside of the glove, turned the glove the right-side out and tried to keep the fork attached. Sadly, these magnets weren’t as strong as the other magnet so they didn’t catch the fork from inside the fabric of the glove.

I turned the glove inside out and tried again and the magnets were able to catch the fork! Although I would’ve preferred for the magnets to be concealed this obviously worked much better. It’s a lot harder for me to drop my fork on my plate when using this glove, which means I’m not taking long pauses between bites. And when the fork does fall on the plate (even accidentally) it makes a much louder sound than when I’m not using the magnetic glove, so it could make me more aware of how often I’m putting down my fork.