Hi there. I'm Kelly Hofer. A Wearable tech designer and photographer. My work can be found at www.kellyhofer.com. Here is a quick fiber optic project that I discovered when playing with leather and fibers.

Have fun creating it and share what you build. You can tweet your photos to @kellyhofer on twitter or Instagram.

This is a simple flower made of crackle fiber optic that can be made as a brooch, applique, hair piece, or can be built into a dress. The design can also vary and doesn't have to be a flower.

I got my Fiber optics from Aliexpress, search for ".75mm sparkle fiber optic" I bought several kilometers of it for $125 Canadian.

The LED is a simple SMD mount led, but standard bulb led's can be used as well. "SMD 1206"

The cr 2032 battery holder I bought while I was in china, but look for coin cell holders on aliexpress or wherever you shop.

Leather is the ideal material because it's easy to punch clean holes from it. But many other materials will also work. This is just what I had on hand.

The materials you'll need.

-.75mm crackle fiber optic
-Thick material. Leather works really well, other heavy materials like denim, thin rubber, canvas should work too.
-LED, smd 1206
-Battery holder with switch
-cr 2032 battery

Tools:

-Knife
-Hot glue gun
-soldering iron
-scissor
-third hand {optional}
-solder
-hole punch tool
-Wire stripper
-Lighter or fine heat gun
-Pen

Step 1: Step 1. Mark and Cut Holes in Material of Choice

-Mark a circle 1/2" in diameter on the back of your fabric/leather and divide into 8 parts.

-Punch or cut a small 1/16" hole every 8th around the circle.

Step 2: Thread the Fiber Optic Through

When threading them through, they should exit and come back under two holes from where you started. The first image shows the pattern of threading that I followed.

I chose to make the second round of petals a little smaller.

Place a dab of glue on the backside after you're happy with the size of the petals.

Step 3: Heat the Ends of the Fiber Optics

This step is very precise and very quick.

Hold your lighter against the fiber optic. The best method is holding it 1/8 of an inch from the blue flame part of the fire. Hold it there only till a tiny bead of fiber forms into a lens.

This method melts the end of the fiber and creates a perfect lens to place against the LED.