Designed by the sister duo Sarah and Lara Grant , Fortune Teller is a novel interface designed to work with the Arduino controller and Max/Msp. It is constructed from hand-made conductive felt made from a combination of steel wool and non-conductive wool fibers using dry felting techniques.
Dry felted steel wool and sheep wool blend
Carding of wool fibers
I absolutely LOVE the documentation of the felting process particularly the manual process of carding together of the wool fibers and the needle-felting of the conductive fibers. The Fortune Teller uses the differences in resistance of the conductive felt to create a range of values which is communicated to the Arduino to control an output.
Detail of steel wool and sheep wool blend
These ladies use fine grade steel wool to create the conductive felt. I would also recommend Angelina Fiber’s Aluminum Metal and Copper Metal for felting.