Paint Your Own Electric Circuits and Sensors With Electric Paint!

With Bare Conductive's Electric Paint you can literally sketch out a working circuit! Will wonders never cease?

What is the paint?

Electric paint is just like any other paint, except, as the name suggests, it can conduct electricity. Bare Conductive's electric paint is carbon-based, water soluble, and non-toxic and only becomes conductive when it is fully dried. The USP for paints like this is that you can literally paint electric circuits with it.

The paint is not as conductive as metal or copper wire, obviously, but it is ideal for low-current circuits and sensors.

bare conductive electric paint — Source: *Bare Conductive*

It dries in around 15 minutes and can be used to cold solder, repair PCBs, and many more other applications. The paint and the company's ready-made kits are great fun for DIYers, makers, hobbyists, students, STEM/STEM educators, IoT enthusiasts or engineers.

Bare Conductive's Electric Paint Circuit Kit is pretty cool

Bare Conductive has a great range of kits including their Electric Paint Circuit Kit. The kit contains everything you need to learn about parallel circuits.

You don't need any tools, programming skills, wires or special skills to use it straight out of the box.

Not only that, but the kit is simple, easy and, most importantly, affordable. At only £12 (plus VAT) a pop, you really can't go wrong.

5 great ways to use the paint

Here are some great ways you can use electric paint to show and tell, or just show off, and why not?

1. Use electric paint in the classroom

bare conductive kids paint — Source: *Bare Conductive*

Teach little ones about some of the basics of electronics in a fun and creative way. By utilizing the 10ml tube, electric paint is a great addition to the classroom.

According to Bare Conductive, "the tube is a great tool to demonstrate how basic circuits work while adding a creative twist to a science lesson."

So, why not give it a go?

2. Paint a capacitive sensor with the 50ml jar

bare conductive sensor — Source: *Bare Conductive*

One fun project you can do with the 50ml jar is to make your very own capacitive sensor. As the paint makes surfaces conductive, you can connect the painting object or surface to one of Bare Conductive's Touch boards.

This setup will let you toy around with triggering audio and visual signals as you hover your hand over the paint. Pretty neat!

3. Make a talking poster!

bare conductive poster — Source: *Bare Conductive*

By using Electric Paint and a paintbrush you can make your own interactive poster design. Have it talk or play music or whatever your heart desires.

"Either paint straight to the Touch Board or use Alligator Clips [to] make each drawing into a sensor. Doing this with kids? Electric Paint is non-toxic and easy to use."

4. Create E-Textiles with the 10ml tube

bare conductive e-textile — Source: *Bare Conductive*

One fun little project you can do with the 10ml tube is to make some DIY E-textiles. By combing the paint with conductive thread, and a microcontroller (sold separately), you can create imaginative, and fun, textiles.

The paint works well on most fabrics but it will come out in the wash as it is water-soluble. "Whether you’re making a talking cushion or an interactive finger puppet, Electric Paint will be a great addition to your e-textile project."

5. Create some liquid switches

bare conductive tilt switches — Source: *Bare Conductive*

The paint is also conductive when wet, so you now have even more possibilities to play with.

For example, more experienced users might want to consider making their own special switches. By taking a spoonful of wet paint, submerging it in baby oil, you can make your very own tilt switches!

Alternatively, you could let droplets of the paint make contact with a circuit to set it off at intervals. Why not even consider experimenting with liquid switches to trigger sound or light.

They also have some other cool kits you might want to check out

Bare Conductive has an entire range of other cool kits for sale.

- Electric Paint Lamp Kit - Transform any piece of paper into a touch-sensitive lamp with their Electric Paint Lamp Kit. As Bare Conductive loves to say, "paint, plug, and play!". Great fun, and highly practical, how could you resist?
- Touch Board Starter Kit - Within this kit, you’ll find a Touch Board, Electric Paint and everything you need to start creating basic interactive electronic projects. This kit is ideal for complete novices or seasoned pros. If this 'wets your whistle' you'd better hurry while stocks last!

- Touch Board Workshop Pack - Teach or learn to program, make music or create interactive projects with Electric Paint. It's like the Starter Kit, but better value bundle made for workshops of up to around 20 people. Share the awesomeness of electric paint with others!
- Touch Board Pro-Kit - For those looking to create and prototype custom projects using proximity sensing and Electric Paint sensors. This kit has everything you'll ever need to make a wide variety of awesome projects from "interactive wallpaper to musical instruments."
- Interactive Wall Kit - Bare Conductive's Interactive Wall Kit has all the tools and resources you'll need to quickly create robust and reliable large scale interactive walls and murals. Do yourself a favor and grab one today!