Lucky EL Wire Hat

In this Instructable, I will show you how to make an EL wire hat.

In my particular case, I made this hat for Saint Patrick's day.

I am currently attending Missouri University of Science and Technology, and Saint Pat's is a big deal here, so I decided to use science and technology to make a Saint Pat's themed hat.

You can use the steps here to make an EL wire hat for any occasion. You could make a heart for Valentines Day, pumpkin for Halloween or a tree for Christmas to name a few.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment or message me and I will get back to you.

I hope you enjoy!

Step 1: Materials Needed

To make this project, you will need a few things:

First of all, you'll need to buy some EL wire. I used coolneon.com.

• I bought the "5 Foot High Bright Long Life Hella Phat Plug and Play Unit" in green. This item comes with everything you need to start glowing.
• A hat (preferably with a rim which makes it a lot easier)  (I got really lucky by finding this green hat at goodwill)
• As always, a trusty Sharpie ;)
• An ice pick
• Scissors
• Fishing line, string or flexible wire (Fishing line doesn't block very much light at all)
• Batteries for the El wire driver
• Any color or type of fabric (about 6 inches by 6)
• Flexible cardboard
• A sewing needle, threader, and thimble
• A hot glue gun

Comments

[prapkevičius]

cool, but do you like that EL Wire high frequency pyyyyyyyp sound next to your ears? :D how to avoid this?

[The Porsche Fan]

Hello and thanks!
The noise really isn't a problem, unless you're sitting in a room by yourself or something. lol Whenever I've worn this hat, I've been hanging out with people or at a party where there is noise. The location of the inverter (above your head) basically eliminates noise anyway because the hat doesn't go down past your ears. Where the hat touches my head forms a "seal" of sorts by way of contact, muffling the noise. Great question though :)
Cheers

[sprudo]

Cool project - I went to St. Pat's there in Rolla in the 80's - had a blast. I'm sure you'll be popular at St. Pats this year with that hat!!