Everything I’ve Ever Written for HackSpace Magazine
Issue number 4 of HackSpace Magazine, and the Wearable Tech Projects book.
I recently received a message from someone working through one of my old HackSpace Magazine tutorials. She was having trouble finding the digital resources for the project - the link on the article’s page no longer works. Ahh! I know how frustrating it is to be half way through a project and then hit a roadblock like this. I was instantly reminded me of one major goal I have for this website: to compile all the articles and tutorial resources I’ve written so I can make sure that they remain easy to find and easy learn from.
I’ve written many articles and tutorials, and I am lucky and grateful to have worked with wonderful maker publishers and partners over the years. But this means the work is spread out among various publications and websites. Eventually, I would like to have a single page here on this site that contains the full text (or links to) all the articles I’ve written, and continue to write, as well as any digital resources that go with the projects (3D models, code, etc.) It will be a little while before I can build that out the way I would like, so in the meantime, I am starting by collecting up the biggest chunk of the work that is in one place: the HackSpace articles.
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Opening spread for the feature article in issue number 4, The Wearables Issue.
First, a short story about how I ended up writing for HackSpace in the first place. I had already been making projects and posting about them online for a little while, sharing my creations over on Adafruit’s wonderful Show & Tell show, and at my local Mini Maker Faire here in Seattle. One day I received an email from an editor at a new UK-based maker magazine called HackSpace, asking if I wanted to write a wearable tech tutorial for them. Of course I said yes! It really was a dream come true, as the editor explained they were published by Raspberry Pi Press, and offered to pay me for the work. I set to work writing my first article for them, about how to put LEDs into a pair of snowboarding goggles. I turned in the article, hoping they would like it enough to ask me to write another one. But instead of simply asking for another article, they said they wanted to do a whole issue on wearable technology, and asked me to write the feature article for it - a whopping 12 pages.
Well, wearables are near and dear to me, so I dug deep and wrote that massive main article, added a showcase of other inspiring makers working in the field, and contributed a tutorial to the issue as well. Again, I just hoped they would continue to ask me to write for them. When the issue was published, I was completely shocked to see myself and my project, featured on the cover of the issue - I had submitted the photo for the feature article but I never imagined that it would make the cover of the magazine. Next, they asked for a total of 20 articles from me, so they would have enough material to compile into a book. So I did that too. Each article appeared individually in separate issues of HackSpace, and eventually they compiled all of their published wearable tech articles into one massive issue. And that’s how the Wearable Tech Projects book was born.
The whole experience was truly awesome, it was a TON of work, so much building, writing, and photography. But it really motivated me to keep making things while documenting and sharing everything, and I’m so grateful that I got to work with the great editors of HackSpace, who encouraged me, championed my projects, and made them look great in print.
Above: Finding the wearables issue on the newstand was a huge thrill, and the Hackspace team sent me a copy with one of the foil printing plates from the print run of the issue, which I’ll treasure forever. Below: Opening pages for a few of my HackSpace articles.
How to Find the Articles
Since writing these articles, Hackspace Magazine has been merged with MagPi, another magazine from Raspberry Pi Press. As of this blog post (June 2025), Hackspace still hosts all of their back issues on their website as free, downloadble PDFs. I really love that about them! Click here to view them all. You can use the table below to find my articles by issue number:
Sophy’s Hackspace Articles by Issue Number:
Issue 2: Build Custom LED Snowboarding Goggles
Issue 4: Top Projects: Ghostbusters Proton Pack; Wearable Tech Feature; Sew Lighting Into a Hat
Issue 6: Hello World Tote
Issue 7: Pimoroni NFC Nail Stickers Review
Issue 8: Color-Sensing Clutch
Issue 9: Tiny Lily Review
Issue 10: Smart Backpack w/Wireless Charging Pocket
Issue 11: No Code Needed: LED Shoes
Issue 13: NFC Data Cuff-links; Handy Sampler Sound Glove with Hallowing
Issue 14: Audio-reactive NeoPixel Mask
Issue 15: Write with Light: Light Painting Glove
Issue 16: Add Lights to a Cosplay Helmet
Issue 17: Wearable Game Controller Hoodie
Issue 18: Top Projects: Laser Cut Jewelry; 3D Printed Jacket Mod with LEDs
Issue 19: Laser Cut NeoPixel Necklace
Issue 20: Modular NeoPixel Patches
Issue 23: Motorized Wing
Issue 24: Multicolored 3D-Printed Jewelry
Book of Making vol. 1: Sew Lighting into a Hat
Wearable Tech Projects Book: All of the above
Another option for reading the articles is over on the Internet Archive at archive.org. This is a nice option because the issues are all searchable right in your browser, which is handy for finding the articles and projects you are looking for. Click here to view all of my Hackspace articles on the Internet Archive. (Thanks to my friend Liz Clark for pointing me to this!)
The Wearable Tech Projects Book
To view the Wearable Tech Projects book over at the Raspberry Pi Press website, click here. A free PDF of the book can be downloaded from that page. The book is also on the Internet Archive here. Project resources are available below.
Project Resources
Some of my articles had accompanying digital project files, like code, printable patterns, and 3D models. These downloads may or may not still be available over on Hackspace’s website, so I have compiled them all into one downloadable file, which you can grab by clicking the button below: