DIY – Turn Your Gloves Into Smartphone-friendly Ones

Winter gloves and gadgets don’t mix. Most touchscreens use capacitive sensing to complete a weak electrical circuit through skin and locate our tapping. And while wool, cotton, and leather gloves insulate hands from the cold, they block the body’s ability to shuttle electrons. Smartphone-friendly winter gloves are expensive (and often ugly), but you can make you own gadget-compatible gloves using a needle and a conductive thread.

At Popular Science, Taylor Kubota shares the simple trick:

1. Order silver-plated nylon thread (silver conducts electricity). This can be difficult to find in stores, but major online retailers carry it. [here]
2. Pick a pair of gloves to modify. Although leather works, it’s harder to push a needle through.
3. Stitch the figure of a star or other solid shape onto the glove’s index finger with the thread, making sure it will contact both the touchscreen and your skin.
4. Bundle up and tap away.

Other alternative option is to use a Capacitive Touchscreen Stylus. Chinavasion does not sell capacitive gloves, but USB heated gloves. If your hands feel cold while working on a computer, check out USB Fingerless Gloves for Men and USB Fingerless Gloves for Women.

via PopularScience