Flexible PCBs for you and for me: lessons learned from DIY-ing flexible electronics with artists, makers, hackers and engineers (emf2026)

Flexible circuit boards (flexible PCBs) are pretty cool: they are lightweight, can fold into small spaces, are bendable, and can be designed to stretch. You might have seen one inside a digital camera, a wearable, or connecting a screen to another board in a laptop or smartphone. Or you might have had one made for an electronics project. But have you ever made one yourself? Unlike conventional, rigid PCBs, chances are you haven’t, for a number of reasons. But it doesn’t have to be this way: this talk will tell you how (and how not to) DIY your own flexible PCBs for your next electronics project. This talk is part of an ongoing project on breaking flexible electronics fabrication out of research labs and specialised manufacturing facilities, and into the hands of makers, hackers, artists, and others. You will learn about materials and techniques for making flexible electronics, weird and wonderful uses for flexible PCBs, and hear about the results of DIY flexible PCB workshops in four different countries and counting. Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ about this event: https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/235-flexible-pcbs-for-you-and-for-me