3D Printed Neopixel and Trinket Necklace

I got an UP! Mini 3D printer for Christmas this year.  Wowza.  I'm SO excited.. I haven't stopped playing with it since just about the minute I unwrapped it and I'm having tons of fun.

I printed a mermaid seashell, then I printed Elsa's crown from Frozen which I found on Thingverse.  I'm such a girl.

I've been making necklaces lately (this LED Turtle necklace that I made as a Christmas gift is my favorite so far).  It's a challenge to fit all the electronics and the battery and microcontroller into a small enough package that sits comfortably around my neck, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

I decided I wanted to design and print a pendant that is just the right size for a neopixel ring and Trinket microcontroller, with enough space for a small rechargeable LiPo battery and a nice flat back that closes up and looks pretty.  The ABS plastic filament my printer uses diffuses light really nicely so I decided to try using multiple thicknesses to add interest and texture.

This is harder than you'd think.. I've never done 3D design before and it makes me think in ways I haven't had use since high school geometry.   But it's also much easier than you'd think because there are some awesome free tools out there that had me up and running in minutes.

I have been using Tinkercad and I like it so far.. I've got a lot to learn but after 5-10 different attempts I ended up with a pretty delightful 3-D Printable necklace enclosure.


It's got a hole for the USB port for charging.  It has another hole for the wires to come out at the top.  It has a front side which is rounded to hide the electronics and a back side which is flat and smooth against my neck when I wear it.  (next step will be to learn how to make them snap neatly together, but hey, give me a minute, it's only my first day).  It also has a pretty cutout pattern of lines and circles to diffuse the light in an interesting way.

I printed it out, then painted it gently with gold leaf paint to give it some sparkle and more definition.  The paint is opaque so it really brings out the design.

For the electronics, I'm using a Trinket 3v and a LiPo charger, both of which I removed the battery connectors from and soldered directly to the pads instead.  (Those little connectors are SO BIG when you stack them up!  The components stack quite neatly without them)

I'm using a 12 Neopixel Ring and a single LED from a Neopixel strip in the middle.  The code is my new favorite "Holiday Twinkle Lights" sketch using FastLED.  I made this one gold and white fairy lights since it looks so nice with the gold leaf paint.

I'm also using a magnetic clasp as an on/off switch, which seems to be my new favorite switch method for necklaces.  It's super elegant and clean.

I'm pretty proud of this!  My first 3D Printed Design Thing and it feels so professional and slick.  :) :)

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Animated Glow Fur Neopixel Scarf Tutorial

So, this is exciting.

I've been invited to become a contributor to the Adafruit Learning Center -- Adafruit's online shop is where I buy most of the supplies for all the light-up costumes I've been making lately.

Adafruit's tutorial style is right up my alley.  They have a good number of beginner-friendly projects and a lot of the guides focus on LED wearables and cosplay.  The firewalker shoes and sparkle skirt tutorials are what got me all excited and interested in making LED costumes in the first place, and the Arduino lessons and project ideas made it actually possible.  I've opened up a whole new world of fun and learned so much this past year and I'm super excited and grateful to be able to contribute to the site that got me here.

My first tutorial was just published yesterday: Animated Neopixel Glow Fur Scarf

Check it out.  It's a pretty easy project -- beginner level sewing and beginner level soldering, with copy-and-paste-able Arduino code that I made pretty easy to customize.  I'm extremely proud of it.

Let me know if you make one!

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Secret of Nimh Sparkly LED Necklace

So, I have been making stuff.  I never stop making stuff.  I just haven't been posting about it all.  :)  Too busy traveling the world as a Mermaid, I think.

But this one is so much fun I want to share!

This necklace reminds me of the sparkly in the Secret of Nimh cartoon.  I mean, I've always wanted a Sparkly for my very own...  hasn't everyone?

I started with a neopixel.  I did a resin cast, embedding the neopixel inside.  Then I glued a small neopixel ring on the back of the hardened resin jewel and wired it up to the embedded pixel.  I love the neopixel rings, but  trouble is that they leave a dark spot in the middle, so adding a single neopixel in the center makes the whole thing glow more evenly.

I wired it all up to a beetle board.  These are super cute and teeny tiny, though they are a bit fiddly and sometimes I want to smash them with a shoe.

I tested lots of different LED code effects before I found this one on the FastLED forum and tweaked it so it gave me the look I wanted.. clouds, sparkles, fades, and the whole thing slowly cycles through the rainbow, giving me every color over the course of several minutes.   It runs on a small LiPo battery glued to the back of the beetle board.

I looked through my "steampunk junk" drawer and found the little pocket watch blank -- I probably got it at Michael's or a halloween store at some point.  I took off the back and the flip cover and used a dremel to rout out the inside metal tabs, and the whole necklace assembly fit perfectly right inside.  (I was tempted to leave the flip cover on, because a flip cover pocket watch necklace would be super cool too, but I decided it's better in it's constantly open state and who wants to walk around with a covered up LED necklace anyway?)

The new thing, the bit I'm proudest of, is the magnetic clasp / switch.  This has always been an issue for me with making LED necklaces.  Well, two issues -- one, where do you put the switch so it's not visible or rubbing against your neck, and two, how do you have an open-able clasp if the wires are going around your neck?  With this solution I fixed both problems in a most elegant way.

The magnetic clasp is a super simple solution, and much less expensive than buying an on/off switch.  I'm considering adding a non-wired magnetic clasp in there too, in case I want to wear this necklace when it's turned off... but.. why on earth would I want to do that?

Before you ask.. yes, I have considered making these for sale.  But, my MO for any type of thing I make seems to be this:

1. Make a whole bunch JUST FOR ME until I have way more than I can use
2. Make them for my friends as gifts / giveaways until my friends get sick of them too
3. Make them for sale, if I'm still excited about the process and if I can guarantee they won't break.

That's the issue with LED clothing, costumes, jewelry, etc... it breaks!  It breaks all the time.  I'm convinced that this is why it's taking so long for cool LED glow fur and costume bits to make it out to the retail stores.. I have to fix on my LED costume bits so often, and the fixes are usually pretty tricky and involve soldering irons and replacement wires and parts, that I just couldn't justify selling this stuff until I feel super confident it won't just fall apart.

Here's a picture of the guts.  I might add some kind of cover back there eventually but then there'll be issues with plugging it into the charger, so I've just left it techie-looking for now.  :)  And it's nice and smooth on my neck, and doesn't seem to want to spin around, so maybe I'll just leave it.

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Glowing Soulcaster Wristband - Inspired by the Stormlight Archives

I'm listening to the audiobook verion of Stormlight by Brandon Sanderson while working on things, and woke up this morning gripped with the inescapable need for a Soulcaster of my own.

From Wikepedia:

Soulcasting is a practice where objects are changed from one form to another. It has been shown to turn rock into smoke, purify the blood from poisons, and create food, and it has many other uses. Soulcasting is done by means of a device called a soulcaster that is powered by gems imbued with Stormlight. The type of gem placed inside the soulcaster determines what the caster can transform. With each use there is a chance of the gem cracking and being destroyed, especially when a large amount of matter is changed.

I think that sounds like a pretty useful thing to have.

So without further ado, I busted out the big box o' steampunk junk and the soldering iron, pulled out a few neopixels and an arduino micro controller (that's where the magic comes from) and came up with this lovely thing.

It's got three glowing gemstone spheres, set in brass for stability and maximum power transfer.  The straps are soft suede leather and it closes with two ornate brass buttons.  

The gemstones glow quite brightly fading between all the colors in the rainbow.  And of course, when I'm using it to transmute one kind of matter into another, they flash with a searing brightness.  

This thing is delighting me a whole lot.  It's also going to make a fantastic steampunk costume accessory.  What kind of mythical creature might steal and wear a soulcaster?  Are they of use to mermaids or fairies?  Maybe to this Steampunk Fairy.   What would you transmute with your very own soulcaster?

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LED Light-up Underwater Mermaid Seashells

My current plan for world-domination through illuminated fashion: a programmable LED swimmable mermaid tail.

Electronics and water don't play well together.  I am starting small, though I have to admit the more I play around with LED wearables, the grander my vision gets.   I'd better get started on this tail soon or it's going to have so many bells and whistles that it'll never get finished.

I just got back from NC Merfest (blog entry about that very soon!) where the Mermaid Atlantis and I showcased our newest collaboration: glowing LED mermaid seashell bras.

Atlantis specializes in silicone cast seashells and they're really gorgeous and durable.  My initial idea was to encase the LEDs and electronics in silicone, thus waterproofing and diffusing them in one easy step.  However, after a few prototypes we changed the design a bit (LEDs too close to the surface of the silicone shells read as "glowing nipples" which was NOT the effect we were going for!).  

The result is a super cool, swimmable waterproof seashell bra that looks and feels amazing underwater!

The shells are Mermaid Atlantis' "D Shells" product - slightly larger than the standard "C" shells she sells, and a bit thicker.  I encased the LEDs themselves in plastic to keep them waterproof and add to the diffusion, and then set them on the bra behind the seashells.  

The LEDs are Adafruit's neopixels - they're incredibly bright and are run from a Gemma and a very small LiPo battery.  The electronics live in a small waterproof case which is hidden at the back of the neck (beneath long flowing mermaid hair).  I haven't tested them for depth yet, but I swam down at least 8 feet and they continued pulsing and glowing in a most delightful way.  :)  And the nice thing about this setup is that they're programmable - I can change the color or pulse rate or brightness in just a minute or two.

We also wore them with matching slinky sequined Mermaid dresses at the Merfest's Masquerade Ball and felt like we absolutely stole the show.  :)  

Video of lots of mermaids swimming at MerFest!  You can see me swim by in the shells near the end.

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Silver Glow Fur Jacket

Today I finished my first glow-fur project.  It's a glowing silver-and-white fur lined jacket, and the cuffs and collar fur glow with delicious rainbow colors and animations.

I used Adafruit's Gemma chip along with their neopixels and neopixel strips.  The jacket is powered by a lithium polymer battery that's surprisingly light and really strong.  I think I'm hooked on lithium polymer.  This thing is awesome.

This jacket was kind of a nightmare to make.  Electronics can be so petulant if they don't get exactly what they want, when they want it, and prototypes are notoriously fiddly anyway even without the electricity to muddle things up.  I remade almost every part of this jacket at least twice, and I'm still not 100% satisfied with it, but I am 500% HAPPY with it.

The cool thing about using the Adafruit pixels is that each one is individually addressable.  What does that mean?  It means that I can plug this jacket into my Mac, and tell it what color combinations I want, or what animations it should run, or how bright it should be or any number of wonderful things.  If I want it fading from purple to red to purple I can do that, or I can let the rainbow colors shine.  

I've also got the option of adding on motion sensors, color sensors, or GPS sensors (so I can have it light up when I get to Starbucks, or whatever - I haven't quite figured out the why's of that one yet).  There's so much to learn.  It's a little overwhelming. 

But right now I have a sparkly rainbow light up jacket.  Squee!

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Update on my fancy Light-up Shoes

I've been modifying my light-up shoes and now they're extra-awesome.

I got some new velostat, which works a treat.  The velostat is a pressure sensitive material which basically gets turned into a sensor, so the shoes light up when I step down, instead of just being on all the time.  Yay for interactive stuff!!

I have to say, interactivity is my favorite thing about learning all this arduino voodoo.  I have made loads of web pages and done plenty of online imaging and making-of-pretty-things that appear on my computer screen in the "virtual world".  I've also made plenty of fashion and clothing from drawings or patterns in the "real world".  The thing that's floating my boat about arduino is the connection between the two.. I make a computer program and it changes something in the real world instead of just on-screen.  This, is magic.  

I can't wait to start adding accelerometers and motion sensors and stuff to my clothing.  I also want to make stuff that's remote controllable like my fairy lights.  The learning curve is pretty steep, but I'm finding myself in that exciting phase of discovery where every project opens up a whole new world and things are actually starting to make sense, instead of just respond when I poke at them.  I've got a very long way to go, but I'm having an absolute blast along the way.

So!  Here are my light-up shoes in new-and-improved action.  I used the firewalker code from Adafruit, and tweaked it so it works with the gemma chip I'm using.  I also figured out how to slow it way down - the code is written for a series of around 50 LEDs and I'm just using 5, so the animation went by too fast on the 5 LEDs.  I also tweaked the color a whole lot, but then ended up just changing it back to the original red-yellow-black-with-sparklies because, well, it's AWESOME.

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Light-up Shoes for Grown-ups. Well, for me anyway.

I have always wanted a pair of light-up shoes.  All the kids are wearing them.  They can stomp and their shoes light up with red or blue or sparkly and I've always been SO JEALOUS.

Tonight, I finished my very first set of light-up shoes.  I never, EVER want to take them off.  Yes, I am standing here, writing this, in light-up shoes.

It's very hard to photograph the outside of your own ankles.

I was inspired by this Firewalker Shoes Tutorial from Adafruit.  If you haven't ever poked around Adafruit, I highly recommend it - they have lots of light-up wearables tutorials and inspiration.  I want one of EVERYTHING.  

I don't like the Vans/Converse look so much so I decided to use a comfy pair of boots I had in the garage.  They are pretty cute and steampunk-y with buttons up the sides, but one of the buttons had come off and they'd been migrating to the back of the shoe closet.  I have a feeling they're never going to get forgotten about again.

I removed all the buttons and wired up 5 of Adafruit's neo-pixels to a brand-new Gemma.  This is the first time I'd used a Gemma, but I have a little experience with the neopixels thanks to my light-up unicorn horn project.  (What?  I haven't blogged about the light-up unicorn horn yet???  Here's a pic:

Rainbow Unicorn FTW!

I promise to go into detail about this project at some point.. maybe after the Halloween madness dies down)

I sewed the neopixels into the holes where the buttons had been, and sewed clear iridescent buttons onto the outside, and buttoned the shoes back up.  The iridescent buttons catch and diffuse the light from the neopixels and look just gorgeous.  They run off 3 AAA batteries, and the battery pack just slips nicely down inside the boots - I don't even notice it.

I originally wanted to add a velostat pad under the heel so the lights would react when I stepped down, like in the Firewalker tutorial, but the velostat I got was part of a bad batch and didn't work right.  I've ordered some more and will probably add this functionality in later on.

Regardless, I am absolutely DELIGHTED with how they turned out.  The Gemma uses a simplified (?) form of Arduino, and between the unicorn horn and this project, I'm starting to figure out how to tweak the code to get the lights to do cool things.  Each project is a little more exciting and a little fancier.

You know where this is all leading, right?  There will be a light-up swimming mermaid tail sometime in the not-too-distant future.  Oh, yes there will.

Video, which I couldn't embed for some reason, of the pretty lights

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