This is such a cool idea. It’s a custom bracelet of a soundwave rendered in 3D. The bracelet is “designed” by the waveform of the message it encodes. And they’re a steal of a deal at $18.

The bracelets are part of the Sound Advice Project, a teen anti-drug abuse initiative, geared at getting parents to talk to their kids. The idea is that, as a parent, you record some message to your child (“Drugs are bad, m’kay”) and he or she carries that message with them at all times. Not sure that giving a 3D model of a soundwave is really the most direct way of talking to your kids, but it sure gets points for creativity and conceptual chutzpah.

It doesn’t say anything on the site (that I could find) about recording messages/making bracelets that aren’t teen/drug-related.

Editor’s Note: This post, from 2009, has suddenly gotten a resurgence of traffic. The organization that was selling these 3D bracelets is long gone. But the idea is still great, and probably not that hard to do. Seems like all you would need is a program for capturing sound waves, an image editor, a 3D rendering (CAD) program, and a 3D printer or laser cutter. If someone wants to try making one and sending it us, we’d be happy to post it here on MAKE!

Update: The original designer of the bracelet has chimed in on the comments below and is still offering soundwave bracelets for sale and he has an Instructable showing you how to make them yourself. Thanks, David!

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