Introduction: Eyeball Throwies

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When you are faced with a mound of LEDs, it's almost inevitable that throwies will happen at some point.

When that point is in the run-up to Halloween, and teens are involved, then eyeballs are also somehow bound to crop up...

Step 1: Materials and Tools

You will need:

  • LEDs
  • Button cells
  • Ping pong balls
  • Duck/Duct tape
  • A thing to poke holes in ping pong balls*
  • Sharpies
  • Scrap plastic packaging.

*You can use a sharp knife, a hot soldering iron or an electric drill.

Step 2: Drilling

The first thing to do it make a hole in the ping pong ball that matches your LED.

Aim to make the hole as snug around the LED as possible.

I found that a drill with an 8mm wood-bit made a hole that was an airtight fit around a carefully-inserted 10mm LED.

Step 3: Eyeballing

Using your sharpies, create an eyeball design on the ping pong ball.

You can be as creative as you like - round pupils, slit pupils, bloodshot eyes etc.

Step 4: Highly Complicated Electronics

Put a button cell between the legs of the LED.

Well, there's a little more to it than that - you need to put a thin plastic shim between the cell and one leg of the LED, then wrap a strip of Duck tape around the legs and cell.

Step 5: Placing

When you're ready to use them, scatter the eyeballs dramatically around your garden, peeking out of flower pots or through cracks in walls.

You might want them peeping from bushes or trees, in which case just tie a loop of thin cod to the legs of the LED as well, then you can dangle it from a branch. To stop the cord showing up, darken it with sharpies, or use cord that is already dark, such as scraps of black wool.

As soon as you're ready to go, pull the shims out, and the eyeballs will glow spookily through the whole evening and beyond.

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