Why? ‘Cause. There’s someone out there that needs one. Who? I dunno.

Also, because we can.

aka A Lit Up Bag of Poop Emoji… yup, this is the internet…

A simple press of a button on a Bluetooth controller app changes the light pattern displayed.

At the intersection of pop culture and technology. You know where to find it. Submitted for your approval.

What can you put in this bag? Well, a ton of...stuff. Everything should be coming up smelling like roses.

Like Drill Sergeant always said, "Get your poop together, Son."

You need to make this bag of holding, not sold in stores.

Step 1: String It Along...

Here's the scoop, so I had the setup from the Hunger Games flaming thermometer scarf and was wondering what else I could do with it. From that project I learned to use the FastLED library and worked a bit with Neopixel matrices for scrolling text. Hmmm, I had an Adafruit Bluefruit LE Friend Bluetooth module that I got a while back which I never used.

I went back to see if I could resurrect my Adafruit Floras which I thought I had fried when I attached my DIY Neopixel matrix to it. I attached the Bluetooth module to it but it didn't seem to work correctly with the sample Neopixel color picker sample code. The Adafruit Bluetooth Controller app on my phone connected so I knew the module was good. I probably missed some configuration change needed for Leonardo class Arduinos. Internal pin assigments are different from the UNO and that integrated UART is doing UARTsy stuff which should be done by the Bluetooth module.

Again, I turned to the trusty Arduino UNO to wire up everything. Going through the setup sketch for an UNO, I think I was confused before with which section to comment/uncomment if I wired up the Bluetooth module for software serial, hardware serial or SPI. Software serial was the one to use. I tried several of the sample sketches. I was monitoring the serial monitor and saw it kept on giving error messages. The sketch could not do the AT+FactoryReset. Several times I checked to see that I wired the module correctly to the matching pins defined in the header file and changing parameters for unused wires. Upon switching my RX to TX and TX to RX, the command sketches started to do something different but progressing. I found I needed to hit the hard reset button after the UNO is initially powered up or just after a sketch has been uploaded when connected through USB. There may be something where the Bluetooth module needs to be initialized or warmed up before the bootloader runs. The Bluetooth module does a reset and displays the module info in the serial monitor. You can now pair it with the Adafruit Bluetooth controller app installed on your phone(I used the IOS version) or mobile device.

I started out with the code for the Adafruit Bluetooth Controlled Neopixel Heaphones. Yeah, it was for use with an Adafruit Feather board but essentially compatible with my Arduino UNO and bluetooth module setup.

Instead of a short Neopixel strip that I used for testing the setup, I wired in my Neopixel 8x8 matrix.

I replaced the Cylon moving eyes effect with the FastLED Fire effect.

The other buttons called up various Neopixel patterns like Color Wipe(apropos for this project) and Rainbow Cycle(Yay! Unicorn Poop!).

Since I had this piece of thin dense packing foam to use as a diffuser, Neopixel matrix text characters would have been blurry. I was going to add in the scrolling text code to say "Aw, Snap!", "Oh, Poo!" or something brilliant like that. "I am so full of it." I do have 4 more buttons on the app to assign an action though.

Step 2: Bag It Up to Go...

This is a simple drawstring bag that also functions as a backpack. Similar to the Radioactive Raspberry Pi Drawstring Bag Backpack in construction. Well, exactly the same...

Start out with two pieces(or one long folded over piece)of fabric slightly larger(for seam allowance) than 12x18 for the front and back of your bag. I used some ripstop type fabric that I had laying around. The ripstop threads lend a nice grid-like effect when the lights shine through.

Using some pieces of brown and white felt, I created my poop emoji patch.

I appliqued/sewed on the poop emoji patch to one of the fabric pieces. I added a bit of fiber fill to bulk up the poop emoji. On the back of the fabric panel, you can also sew in some pockets for the light diffuser panel and to hold the electronics if needed.

You can now fold over the top edge of the two sides to create an inside channel for the drawstring. Sew and leave openings at each side of the bag so the drawstring can be used.

Use the back piece to cover the patch. Match up the edges of the pieces and seam around the two sides and the bottom, leaving the top open. Using a serger is great to sew and trim the edges as you go.

We need to turn the "pillow case" inside out so you have the nice finished seam on the outside.

The bottom corners are attachment points for the drawstrings. You can sew in fabric loops or use grommets to reinforce the holes to attach the drawstrings. I just sewed in some paracord loops at the bottom corners.

You need two pieces of cord for the drawstrings. Each doubled length should run a bit longer than the top and side of your bag. You should bind or "melt" the ends of the paracord to keep it from unravelling or fraying. Only "melt" the ends if you are a professional or crazy person. I may be overqualified as both. Be safe! Pin a safety pin to the end of a piece of cord so you can use that to feel around and pull/push the cord through the fabric channel. Route the cord through one side and back through the other side. Tie off both ends of your cord loop at the bottom corner. Do the same for the other piece of cord but start at the other side. When you pull on the two sets of drawstrings, the opposing loops should close off the top of the bag.

Install the electronics and let 'er rip...wait, connect to the Bluetooth app and light it up...