I have a few things coming in from adafruit on friday this includes: conductive fabric, spare needles, Bluetooth module, and some heating pads.
I have decided that fiber optics are not going to give me the look I desire, so I am currently looking at using thermochromic ink on a graphic to display a user input. This would be a grid of some sort that a user decides which portions are one color and which are the other. This would allow the user to write out or draw a design.
I still need to find a thermochromic ink that I can screenprint with. I found some from one source but it seems most of inks change color simply by rubbing them with your hand. I was hoping for a temperature threshold a little higher so that I could better control the color of the ink.
I’m hoping I have some time this weekend to design a graphic that I screen print onto the shirt. By the end of next week I hope to have at least a proof of concept that I can change the color of the ink with a heat source.