Film Negative Necklace

Intro: Film Negative Necklace

While Polaroid instant cameras have made a come-back in recent years, the vast majority of photography is still digital, leaving those of us who grew up in the age of film cameras stuck with shoe boxes full of old prints and developed film negatives.

In my case, I had a notebook of developed film leftover from my wet photography class in college that I'd hung onto with the intention of one day digitizing. It seemed like a shame that they were collecting dust, especially when some of the images were somewhat artistic, and so I decided to try and find an unconventional way to feature and reuse the film negatives.

STEP 1: Creating the Light Box Pendant

Design

The light box--or necklace pendant--is composed of two parts designed in Tinkercad [Image 1.1]. The front piece [Image 1.2] is where the film will be displayed, and the back piece [Image 1.3] will support the LEDs and battery.

I intentionally designed the light box so that the lilypad battery holder will be exposed on the backside for easy access to the on/off switch and for unobstructed battery replacement. While I contemplated hiding the lilypad inside the miniature light box, like a locket, I found that methods used to make it open and close for access to the switch and battery, such as hinges or magnets, would have increased the size of the pendant, and I wanted to make it as sleek as possible.

Construction

I printed the pendant using PLA filament on my Ender Pro3 [Image 1.4]. The .STL file is attached to the Supplies section of this Instructable, but I've also included the pendant dimensions in the above images in case you would prefer to hand-construct it out of some other material.

STEP 2: Painting the Pendant

If you 3D print your pendant pieces in the color of your finished design, you can skip this step. I didn't have any black filament on hand, so I used a Rust-oleum primer in flat black [Image 2.1] to paint the pendant pieces my desired color [Image 2.2]. If you choose to paint your 3D printed design, ideally select something that will bond well with plastic and let it dry [Image 2.3] before continuing.

STEP 3: Inserting the Lilypad

Once the paint on the pendant has dried, it's time to add the electronics to the back piece of the miniature light box. We begin by sliding the Lilypad battery holder into the groves on back piece so that the on/off switch is at the top [Image 3.1]. Use a pen or pencil to mark where the Lilypad positive and negative connection holes on the back of the pendant [Image 3.2]. Remove the Lilypad from the pendant [Image 3.3] and use a drill to create holes where you made your marks [Image 3.4].

Add superglue to the back of the pendant in the center of the four holes [Image 3.5], slide the Lilypad back into place [Image 3.6], and let the glue dry.

Note: It is important that you position the Lilypad so that the on/off switch is at the top. Otherwise, replacing the battery will be impossible.

STEP 4: Adding the LEDs

The Lilypad is composed of two positive connections located at the top near on/off switch and two negative connections positioned at the bottom, so I began with a circuit composed of one LED per pair of positive and and negative holes [Image 4.1].

To attach the LEDs, I began by bending the legs of a 3mm LED so that they were split 180-degrees [Image 4.2]. I then added a 90-degree bend to each of the legs and fed the legs into the drilled holes on backside of the pendant and out through the positive and negative connections on the Lilypad [Image 4.3]. Repeat the process for the second LED, ensuring the anodes (long leg) are attached to the positive connections, and the cathodes (short leg) fed into the negative holes on the Lilypad [Image 4.4]. Once the two LEDs had been inserted into the Lilypad, I bent the tips of the anodes and cathodes over the outside edge of the Lilypad to secure them in place [Image 4.5] before soldering the LEDs to the Lilypad for a secure connection [Image 4.6].

At this point you can move on to the next step or, if you're like me and want more light, you can add a second pair of LEDs to the circuit [Image 4.7] by soldering them directly to the legs of the LEDs already installed on the pendant [Image 4.8]. Attach anode to anode and cathode to cathode, and avoid negative and positive connections from touching. If you have any excess wire handing over the edges of the pendant, clip it away with some wire cutters.

STEP 5: Adding the Film Negative

First, cut a piece of clear plastic or plexiglass into a 33mm X 33mm square [Image 5.1]. (I used an old plastic candy mold I had stashed away in my craft supplies.) Add superglue to the inside rim of the front piece to the light box and press the plastic square into place [Image 5.2].

Note:There is limited space inside the pendant because of the LEDs, so select a plastic that is 2-mm or less in thickness.

Second, trim your film negative down to 33mm X 33mm [Image 5.3], add drops of superglue sparingly to the corners of the inside frame on the backside of the clear plastic, and place the film negative inside the front of the pendant and behind the plastic [Image 5.4].

Third, cut a piece of white paper into a 33mm X 33mm square [Image 5.5]. Standard printer or parchment paper works well for this step. Add a little more glue to the backside of the film negative and add the paper to diffuse the light from the LEDs [Image 5.6].

Let the glue dry.

STEP 6: Finishing the Pendant

Add superglue around the LEDs along the outer rim of the back piece of the light box pendant [Image 6.1]. Align the front of the pendant with the back so that the LEDs are sandwiched between the two pieces, and press them together until the glue dries and the two pieces are securely attached [Image 6.2].

Loop a necklace chain through the clasp on the pendant [Image 6.3], and your film box necklace is complete!

Comments

[sethsudha32]

Scenery pendent can you make

[marian424]

This is unbelievably and totally cool. What a great idea and a such excellent instructions!

[Teen Librarian 1212]

Hey there! I did a test and I LOVE how it turned out. :-) If you remember, I asked about doing this with teens at my library. I was concerned about soldering and you suggested giving it a try w/o soldering and instead hot gluing the LEDs down so they don't wiggle and making sure the LEDs have a nice tight connection. As you can see, it worked! I'm going to do another test adding copper tape on top of the LED leads and then adding a dab of hot glue on top of the tape to give the LED connections a bit more bite. I should also note that your link for the 3D printing of the 2 piece plastic pendant was spot on and the Lilypad battery holders slide right in. I do think that I will pre-drill those holes on the pendant so that's done b4 the teens do the rest of the project. Your projects are AWESOME and I look forward to more that I can crib for teen craft programs at our library.

[ramenkingandi]

Yay! It looks great! I'm so glad the hot glue worked!

[KerryB42]

This is wonderful and I can't wait to try it! Question: Do you have a picture of the back of the pendant? It would help me to conceptualize the design better before I start. Thanks in advance! Voted for you!

[ramenkingandi]

Hi there! Thanks for the vote. The back of the pendant is exactly what you see in the circle call-out in Step Four Image 4.6. The Lilypad slides into the groves of the back piece and is exposed for easy access to the on/off switch and battery. Hope this helps! :-)

[KerryB42]

Excellent, very helpful. Thanks!

[TheOriginalNerd]

This is a really neat idea (for negatives or slides). Thanks for sharing it.
Just an idea... might it be possible to add a diffusing layer of plastic between the LEDs and the image, in order to distribute the light a little more evenly around the image? But I like it either way.

[ramenkingandi]

I actually used a piece of white 2mm thermoplastic between the LEDs and film negative in another version of this with the same results. :-/ There just isn't enough space between the LEDs and the film to create an even glow. I did consider using small flat LEDs (like these: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13902) for this project, which might have left enough space between the film and the LEDs to create more diffusion, but I decided to go with the LEDs I already had on hand in order to simplify the wiring so people who are less savvy with electronics could recreate this project. Also, I kind of like the uneven effect; makes it look more artsy in my opinion. Haha.

[caitlinsdad]

Also packing in a tuft of fiberfill batting works well to diffuse the harsh points of light from the LEDs essentially making it a nice tiny lightbox. It would be fun to put tiny x-ray slides up to it.

[terrefirmax2]

Agreed!

[heathernewton]

I printed this and the back did not have the grooves cut out - would I have to pick that out in order to get the battery holder in there?

[ramenkingandi]

You shouldn't have to pick the groves out. Mine printed out on a Creality Ender 3 Pro exactly as you see it in the photos. I'm still a bit of a newbie when it comes to 3D printing, so I'm not the best person to help you troubleshoot. If I had to guess, maybe play around with your infill settings or use a software, like (free) Ultimaker Cura, to slice and prep the .STL before printing.

[Ricardo Furioso]

Looks like this would also work, with minor mods, for photographic slides. Thank you for sharing.

[ramenkingandi]

I like the idea of using slides. The pendant design could even be tweaked so that the slides could be switched out!

[Ricardo Furioso]

Slides are sturdier, easier to handle, and more modular than negatives.
Plus, they're positives, so you can see what you're seeing instead of the opposite. LOL.

[Penolopy Bulnick]

I just LOVE this idea for a necklace and the negative you have is just perfect :D

[ramenkingandi]

Thank you!

[jessyratfink]

Love it! What a neat idea :)

[ramenkingandi]

Thank you! :-)