Introduction: IPod Touch/IPad Stylus

About: Some kids at school call me the Origami Girl, which suits me because I like Origami. I also like writing stories, making stuff, and drawing.

Okay, I have been dying for a stylus of some sort, but I can't buy one and apparently all the really good homemade ones need conductive foam, which I don't have, and can't buy. So I looked on the Internet to see how to make one, and they're pretty simple-with one problem. They don't seem to work, at least not on my IPod touch, so I decided to improvise and try some stuff out. I remembered my friend saying that the reason why the IPod/IPad styluses work was because they needed to be a bit soft, like our skin, while online sources explain the electron stuff. So, for an even better outcome, commen sense told me to combine the two elements together.

Step 1: The Materials

You need: •Aluminum Foil/Tinfoil (whichever people call it) •cloth* •thread** •scissors •a pen*** •tape *For the cloth, it needs to be thin. I used the inside of a recently washed old swimsuit, as swimsuits have a soft thin inside cloth layer which has enough strength to stay together. **It must be thread, yarn is way to thick ***This stylus is rather reserved for which pen to use. It must unscrew only the tip of the pen, there must be a spring, and the ink barrel must fit through the hole in the tip of the pen but does not fall out of the pen due to the design. The barrel widening or 2 little nubs of plastic sticking out are some things that keep the ink barrel from falling out.

Step 2: Prep the Pen

Here you will need just the pen and maybe a pair of pliers. Unscrew the pen, and take out the spring and ink barrel. Then, place the spring back in first. This will cancel out any barrel movement when one pushes the button normally used to push the internal pen out. For the ink barrel, you will have to remove the ink dispensal section. This is where pliers may help. Also, it is best if your ink barrel has dried up, because then there will be less complications. There is no picture for this step because that section had already been removed. Once you are done with removing the ballpoint section, place the ink barrel back in FRONT of the spring. Screw the point back on. A part of the barrel should be sticking out the point of the pen.

Step 3: Finger Representation

This is where the scissors, cloth, and thread come in. Using the scissors, cut a 1 inch diameter circle (It doesn't have to be exact). Then, place a few scraps inside. Too little, it won't work, too much, it will become a hindrance and may fall off. Also, cut a long piece of thread, making it around 8-10 inches. Set aside for later use. Then, place the pen point (which is now the barrel part that sticks out) in the middle of the scrap pile, making sure it is on a slightly thicker spot. Then, using the cloths bits that surround the scraps, pull it so that it covers the pen. You should see a nicely sized bulge where the pen point is. Now, here is the part where you need intense focus and patience. Using the thread, wind it tightly beneath the bulge. After winding it several times, you should have at least 1 and 1/2 inches of thread left on each side. Tie the ends together twice. If you wish, you may tie some more knots for extra security.

Step 4: Conductive Section

Next, cut out a roughly 2 by 2 inch square of foil. Then, cut about a third of it off in the form of a trapezoid. Cut another strip of foil from the leftovers. Wrap the square-like foil around the point of the pen. Before you secure it with tape, slide one end of the foil strip under the covering to help conduct the electrons. When you tape the foil together, on the strip, only tape the edges. Leave the middle exposed so that the electrons in you fingers with be conducted. Now, you have made a very nice stylus, so go test it, and once you've confirmed it works, enjoy! I have done the last two steps on a few different things (bamboo skewers, a chopstick) to see the outcome, and they all turned out fine. If you need to modify the steps a little, go ahead. Also, you might need to find a "sweet spot", a place where it always works for this stylus as to guarantee that it will work.