Digital tote
July 2024
In early 2024 I saw a talk by Spencer Chang, where he was explaining his fun and inspiring experiments in playful computing. I especially liked his webstone project, in which he was exploring ways to share websites through physical objects — in this case, through user-writable NFC tags embedded in small clay pendants and tokens. He was wearing a necklace that had a webstone attached, and it made sharing his website a charming physical and personal interaction.
So I wanted to create one of my own! I've had encounters in the past where people compliment something I've made and I wished I had an easy way to point them to more information about my projects. That's part of the motivation for this website. But could I make a fun Ramona-style way to share my work, beyond instructing someone to follow me on Instagram or navigate to a URL?
Ideally, I wanted a programmable NFC tag I could easily integrate into my textile projects. That means I needed a way to secure it to things, and it needed to be waterproof (or at least water resistant). I did some digging and found the perfect solution: WayTag 2-hole garment tags. They're…
- User-programmable (with an app like NFCTools)
- Sewable like a button (or maybe even used as buttons!)
- Heat-safe and water-safe, so they can be thrown in the washer
- Pretty discreet (about the size of a quarter)
- Only about $1 each
Webstone keychain
As an experiment I took a bit of hardware I had lying around from previous projects, and a scrap of black cotton duck fabric, and made a little keychain! The clasp in the middle separates into two parts. I don't know the name of this style of clip but the little silver prongs on either side pull down to release the lower portion, so it's actually quite easy to pull the bottom off in a smooth one-handed motion, then pass it around.
As a fun detail I took some fluorescent orange thread and made a fun sketchy zig-zag pattern with my sewing machine.
I wish I had a pic of the unfolded fabric with the NFC tag in it — essentially it's just a loop of fabric with the edges tucked in and folded over into a pocket. The tag itself is right under the zigzag square and is just a smidge smaller than the perimeter of the square.
I thought this quick experiment was a huge success — the tag works really well, it's eye catching, and it's cute! And having a physical manifestation of a digital project is satisfying and fun.
The digital tote
I wanted to build on this idea of carrying around digital assets. I have a friend who does digital art, and for their birthday I wanted to make the digital equivalent of a purse or tote bag. Something that has multiple "pockets" for things of varying "size" or "shape", and that would also serve as a fun fashion statement.
I did a bit of sketching, and came up with a rough plan:
- The basic form would be a sort of large keychain or bag charm
- There would be three clips like on my mini keychain, each with a separate NFC tag
- For "larger" digital items, there would be a detachable USB drive
- And for fun and visual interest... I wanted to add a pocket for a photobooth strip made out of a bright orange vinyl I had picked up in the scrap bin at my local fabric store
It didn't take long to sew it together, and I love the way it came out!
- The three detachable NFC tags can each hold a URL, google maps pin, phone number, email, contact card, or other things!
- The USB drive is 128GB and has both USB-A and USB-C ports — the chain is also detachable on both ends if you want to take it off entirely.
- The vinyl pocket on the back is perfectly sized for photo strips!
- I noticed that the glossy photo paper was sticking to the vinyl a bit, so I cut out a rectangle of plastic from a container of baby spinach to serve as a barrier between the two (and add a bit of stiffness)
The most time-intensive part of this project was definitely the embroidery here, which was all done by hand rather than with my machine.
I still have about 20 of these NFC tags left, so I'll do more experiments with this format soon!