Draw Electrical Circuits Almost Anywhere With Bare Conductive Paint

If you could put circuits anywhere you wanted, what would you do with that? Build a toy? Turn your wall into an interactive display? Make your own battery-powered Tron costume? Turn that beat-up desk into a synthesizer? All that is possible, thanks to Bare Paint.

Bare Paint is just like any other water-based paint... except that it's electrically conductive! This means that you can actually paint wires onto things like models, clothes, furniture, walls, almost anything you can think of.

Bare Conductive Paint can paint almost anything you can think of

FEATURES:

>>Water-based, nontoxic and dries at room temperature.
>>Bare Paint can be applied to a wide variety of materials, including (but certainly not limited to) paper,
cardboard vellum, wood, metal, plaster, some rubbers, plastics and many textile.
>>Soap and warm water will take Bare Paint off of most surfaces.
>>Can last years if treated properly and kept dry.

A team of students from London’s Royal College of Art (RCA) is bringing interactive electronics to an entirely new level with their Bare Paint. Their product allows users to literally draw electrical circuits on a wall without the need for printed circuit boards or wiring. Able to be used on paper, plastic, fabric, or metal, the paint itself hardens quickly when exposed to the air. It can be used as a as a potentiometer that interfaces with a microcontroller, or for powering devices like LED lights or small speakers.

Bare Conductive Paint allows users to draw electrical circuits on a wall without the need for printed circuit boards or wiring

Bare Conductive Paint can also be used on paper

According to Matt Johnson, one of the inventors, the original idea was to develop a unique spin on wearable tech for an art project.

Four years ago, developers Isabel Lizardi, Matt Johnson, Bibi Nelson and Becky Pilditch noticed that people were exploring some creative approaches to wearable technology. At the time, fashion designers were making clothes with circuits in them and hardcore tech extremists were even dallying with biological embeds. But the students thought there must be a better way. They accomplished their task to make an easy-to-use conductive ink by perusing Wikipedia articles.

Bare Conductive Paint kit

After graduating, they collaborated with DJ Calvin Harris to produce the “Humanthesizer” project, which placed the paint on dancers’ bodies to create a human synthesizer. Among its accolades, their product earned an Honorable Mention at the Prix ARS Electronica in 2010, and won the Technology Strategy Board’s 2011 Disruptive Solutions competition. The video, “Humanthesizer,” (watch below) features the paint on Harris and a crew of ladies who act as human synthesizers.

Taking the conductive paint out the hands of industry and to DIY enthusiasts, Bare Paint is available in both a jar and pen. You can find Bare Paint online or at RadioShack stores around the United States.

Hoping to attract attention from festivals and music, TV and film studios, Bare Conductive designed several prototypes of touch-sensitive posters that trigger sounds and music. But judging by this CNN segment on the Bare Paint, we could see Bare Paint having massive potential in electrical engineering and electronics manufacturing.

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Draw Electrical Circuits Almost Anywhere With Bare Conductive Paint