LED Lightbulb Ornament
Intro: LED Lightbulb Ornament
Using an old burnt out incandescent bulb and a handful of blinky LED's you can make your own custom glass ornament. This project is easily be made and can be customized with almost any kind of embellishments to make it totally unique.
Enough talk, let's make!
STEP 1: Tools + Materials
- soldering gun
- glue gun
- hacksaw or rotary tool
- screwdriver or pokey tool
- safety goggles / face shield
- drill
- button cell battery
- LED's
- incandescent light bulb
- glitter
- white glue
- chopstick
- paperclip
STEP 2: Dissect Bulb
Once removed you'll notice there's also an inner glass portion which the element is fed through. I used a screwdriver to poke/break through the glass inside. Keep the bulb wrapped in the cloth and wear eye protection. This the most likely time your bulb will break.
After breaking through I carefully chipped away the inner edge of the glass bulb to create a wider opening. At this time I also drilled a hole in the metal bottom portion of the bulb. The black portion of the bottom is a ceramic-like alloy and is prone to shattering, go slow.
STEP 3: LED's
I soldered up these colour-phasing LED's along with some other LED's I had lying around, then tested to make sure my mishmash of lights worked.
STEP 4: Secure Insides + Wire Button
Next, I added a push button switch to operate my light. Leads were wired onto the switch, then the rotary tool was used to cut a small section from the metal sleeve of the light bulb and the switch was hot glued in place. The switch was then wired to the LED's.
STEP 5: Hook
STEP 6: Enclose
STEP 7: Embellish
The entire light bulb surface was smeared with a clear drying glue (I used Mod Podge, but any white glue will work), then liberal amounts of glitter was added to the gluey surface. Hang your ornament and allow the glue to dry.
You can apply a second layer of glue over the glitter after it has dried and seal all the glitter, preventing a glittery mess each time the ornament is handled.
STEP 8: Adorn
All that's left now is to find a place to hang your homemade ornament. The dried glue surface gives a nice fogged appearance and the glitter..well, glitter just makes everything better. You should make one, too! Make a few, they look great on the tree next to all those boring store-bought ornaments!
Have fun!
Did you make your own LED light bulb ornament? Post a picture of your results in the comments below.
Happy making :)
14 Comments
agis68 12 years ago
Handy_Bear 7 years ago
me too
Handy_Bear 7 years ago
Nice! Definitely gonna make it!
Seret1 8 years ago
SparkySolar 9 years ago
I got glass bulbs at Michaels, you do not have to deal with gases and wires
NightHawkInLight 12 years ago
JVTSolar 12 years ago
mikeasaurus 12 years ago
depotdevoid 12 years ago
mikeasaurus 12 years ago
ChrysN 12 years ago
canucksgirl 12 years ago
Very clever!
Robot Lover 12 years ago
fjordcarver 12 years ago