LED Flowers

Intro: LED Flowers

What would be a better present for your valentine than a bunch of flowers? The flowers I made glow nice in the dark and dont fade away. They dont need water, but electric energy to live. Here is how to make a bunch of LED flowers for your valentine.

I lend the circuit from the "Conrad Advent Calendar 2012". German users might know these electronic advent calendars that provide an experiment a day in the advent time. If you spent your advent time with the "Conrad Calendar", you can already go and make the circuit of Day 24. If not, you can buy them in every electronic component store.

STEP 1: Parts and Material

For the electronic circuit you need:

• 6 LEDs different colors
• CMOS IC 4007
• 3 capacitors, the original circuit uses 100nF caps, but I used 1µF capacitors to make the fading slower
• resistors: 3x 10M, 6x 4,7k
• 9 V battery and battery clip
• perfboard
• socket terminal strip
• wire

For the flowers you need:

• bell wire
• green insulating tape
• heat shrink tube
• white translucent paper
• green translucent paper

STEP 2: Solder the Circuit

Solder the circuit following the diagram to a perfboard. Instead of soldering the LEDs, use parts of the socket terminal strip where you can stick the flowers later.

STEP 3: Make the Flowers

Cut two pieces of wire (10 inches long). Solder the LED to one end of the wire. Isolate the contacts with shrinking tube. Twist the wire.

STEP 4: Make the Flowers (2)

Now wrap the wire with green insulating tape to get a nice stalk.

STEP 5: Make the Blossoms

Cut a piece of white translucent paper (3x3 inches). Fold it following the instructions in the video. I didnt made the video but used it for folding the blossoms:

Stick the blossom to the LED.

STEP 6: Make the Flowers (3)

Cut out two leaves of green translucent paper and tape it to the stalk.

Now make 5 more paper LED flowers...

STEP 7:

Stick the flowers to your circuit. Insert it in a vase, connect the battery and you are done. Give the LED flowers to your loved one and enjoy the fading blossoms...

Comments

[dalucero]

What kind of translucent paper did you use? From the images, it kinda looks like the paper used to stuff gift bags.

[mischka]

I used the paper we use to cover our breakfast (bread) in germany, but you can choose what you like. Also printed paper may look fine if it has a nice print....

[kostya]

Ich bin gespannt!Danke.Last year I made a bunch of 3 origami tulips with flashing LEDs inside. No chip at all. LEDs are soldered in parallel. Drinking straws(green) were used as stalks. I must say your LED Blumen look much more impressive.