Making an Electro Card using Bare Paint!

In this tutorial Bare Conductive will show you how to make a light-up greeting cards with LEDs! To do this we will use some Bare Paint, a battery and some standard, flashing and surface-mount LEDs.

To help you complete this project we've made all the components available in a Kit which you can buy at our online shop. Just select the Greeting Card Kit. Alternatively you can source the necessary components yourself through Farnell or Digi-Key!

Step 1: What You Will Need

Materials

Bare Paint or Bare Paint Pen
Paintbrush
A4 Coloured Paper - You can download the templates HERE
Scissors / Craft Knife
Wire snippers
Needle-nose Pliers
Glue Stick
Cutting Mat (if using knife)
Ruler

Components - We've included the links to where you can buy some of the components in case you want to purchase them individually

Standard LEDs - Digi-Key
3V Coin Cell Battery - Digi-Key

Comments

[poofrabbit]

This is great I had no idea a paint like this existed, you have my wheels spinning! 5 Stars!

[ChrysN]

Nice! I like the robot with the heart.

[extraslice]

How much in total should this cost to make?

[BareConductive]

I would imagine that making one card including the battery and LEDs would be around $6.00. The most expensive part would be the conductive paint.

We sell a kit for around $20.00 at http://www.bareconductive.com/store which has enough components to make 3 cards, and comes with a conductive paint pen which should last you for many more projects/cards.

[WrshpMzshn]

Also, how many LEDs can run off a single battery? If, for instance, I want to run 12 LEDs, what would I need for a battery? And is it better to run them in series or parallel?

[BareConductive]

The battery we suggest is 3V and we've tested it with up to 3 LEDs however, this depends on the LED and the length of the circuit you draw.

For the ones we're using if you wanted to light 12 LEDs you'd probably need between 3 to 4 batteries!

[WrshpMzshn]

Instead of a switch, could I just leave a gap in a Bare Paint line and bridge it with my thumb to close the circuit?

[BareConductive]

You could, though your thumb by itself is probably not conductive enough for the current to flow through. However, if you put some paint on it it may work!

:)

[rimar2000]

Interestingly, you can make a keychain flashlight with this technique.